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Universal Horror

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File:UniversalHorrorCharacters.jpg
A gallery of classic Universal monsters

Universal Horror is the name given to the distinctive series of horror films made by Universal Studios in California from the 1920s through to the 1950s. With their iconic gallery of monsters, Universal would create a lasting impression on generations of movie fans the world over.

1920s (Silent Era)

Universal's earliest success in the horror genre was Lon Chaney's The Phantom of the Opera in 1925, for which the actor famously designed and endured a torturous make-up. The interior of the Paris Opera House was recreated on an epic scale for the film, and remains the longest-standing film-set to this day. It was used for the 1943 remake with Claude Rains, as well as numerous non-horror pictures. The set is contained on Stage 28 at Universal, which was constructed specifically for the film and dubbed "The Phantom Stage."

Having already starred in The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1923, Chaney continued to be the studio's most bankable horror star until his premature death from cancer in 1930. Not long before his death, Chaney dubbed his earlier The Phantom of the Opera to make it into a talkie, although the version is now rarely seen.

1930s & '40s

File:Frankenstein titles.jpg
Title card from Frankenstein (1931).

In the 1930s, the studio scored massive success with Dracula (directed by Tod Browning) and Frankenstein (directed by James Whale), both in 1931 and launching the careers of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff respectively. Many of the horror genre's most well-known conventions -- the creaking staircase, the cobwebs, the swirling mist and the mobs of peasants pursuing monsters with torches -- were first seen in these films and those that followed, including The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939) and The Wolf Man (1940), which also established Lon Chaney, Jr., as a leading horror actor.

There was also a trilogy of films based on the horror stories of Edgar Allan Poe: Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), The Black Cat (1934) and The Raven (1935), the latter two of which teamed up Lugosi with Karloff.

In 1943, the "Phantom stage" was employed again for a remake of Phantom of the Opera, this time starring Nelson Eddy and Susanna Foster in a film that was as much musical as horror. Claude Rains played the Phantom.

Universal had a number of series, the most successful of which was the Frankenstein series, which continued with The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943). The Mummy and The Invisible Man also made multiple return visits to the screen.

Dracula had two sequels, beginning with Dracula's Daughter in 1936, and then Son of Dracula in 1943, starring Lon Chaney, Jr.

Three films during the forties brought all of Universal's monsters together in a single story: House of Frankenstein (1944), House of Dracula (1945) and the knockabout comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. In the first two, Dracula was played by John Carradine, with the third starring Bela Lugosi. Frankenstein's monster was played by Glenn Strange, and Lon Chaney, Jr., reprised the role of Larry Talbot AKA The Wolf Man.

Aside from Lugosi, Karloff, and Chaney, the Universal horrors provided steady work for a number of genre actors including Lionel Atwill, Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan, and John Carradine. Other regular talents involved were make-up artists Jack Pierce and Bud Westmore, and composers Hans J. Salter and Frank Skinner.

The series lost impetus towards the end of the 1940s, but The Creature from the Black Lagoon (directed by Jack Arnold, 1954) is still generally regarded as a legitimate "Universal horror".

Later influences & homages

File:Themunsters.jpg
The Munsters, featuring Herman (based on Karloff as Frankenstein's monster), Lily (borrowing the white streak in her hair from Elsa Lanchester's make-up in The Bride of Frankenstein) and Grandpa (a conglomeration of various mad scientists with a touch of Lugosi's Dracula). Son Eddie was a junior "wolf man", and Marilyn, just a plain old human.

From 1964 to 1966, the CBS sitcom The Munsters featured a ghoulish family based on several of the Universal characters, including Karloff's Frankenstein and Lugosi's Dracula.

Universal was the distributor for several films from the British Hammer Studios in the early 1960s, enabling Hammer to replicate many features of the original Universal horrors for the first time. Most notable was The Evil of Frankenstein (1963), in which sets, effects, plot and make-up all borrowed heavily from the Universal Frankenstein series.

Mel Brooks's 1974 parody Young Frankenstein paid brilliant homage to the films' style. Gerald Hirschfield's black-and-white photography particularly evoked the expressionistic style of the Universal horrors.

The Monster Squad, a 1987 film released by Tri-Star Pictures and directed by Fred Dekker, featured Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, The Wolf Man, The Mummy and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Ironically, the character designs were changed slightly so as not to infringe on Universal's copyright, but the movie itself was filmed on the Universal backlot.

In 1998, filmmaker Kevin Brownlow made the documentary Universal Horror. It was narrated by Kenneth Branagh, and featured interviews with many of the original stars.

Director Stephen Sommers has made two action/adventure-cum-horror films which use characters, plot elements, and themes from classic Universal Horror: The Mummy (1999) and Van Helsing (2004). The former was better received by both critics and audiences (and spawned a successful sequel, The Mummy Returns), while the latter was harshly criticized (though still a box office success).

In Mahou Sentai Magiranger, the main villains in the series each parodied and paid homage to many of the Universal Monsters.

Land of the Dead, a George Romero zombie film, used the original black and white Universal logo as a tip of the hat to the classic Universal Monsters.

See also


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