The Golden Age of Movie Monsters
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
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Some monsters call to mind very specific images. Their iconic on-screen personas overshadow their earlier histories. I’m talking about: Frankenstein and his Creature, Dracula, the Invisible Man, the Wolf Man, the Mummy. Why is this? Universal Pictures. These famous Monster faces inspired decades of Halloween costumes, and make up a distinctive brand of horror that defined early Hollywood cinema.
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Written and Hosted by: Dr. Emily Zarka
Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Thomas Fernandes
Editor/Animator: P.W. Shelton
Illustrator: Samuel Allan
Executive in Charge (PBS): Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming (PBS): Gabrielle Ewing
Additional Footage: Shutterstock
Music: APM Music
Descriptive Audio & Captions provided by The Described and Captioned Media Program
Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.
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Bibliography
Aldana, Reyes, Xavier. Gothic Cinema, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020.
Blake, Marc, and Sara Bailey. Writing the Horror Movie. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013.
Edwards, Kyle. “‘House of Horrors’: Corporate Strategy at Universal Pictures in the 1930s.” Merchants of Menace: The Business of Horror Cinema, edited by Richard Nowell, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2014, pp. 13-29.
Featherson, Ryan. “Universal Monsters: A Marriage of Science & Religion.” The Projector, vol. 13, no. 2, The Projector Journal, 2013, pp. 101-07.
Hall, Ann C. “Making Monsters: The Philosophy of Reproduction in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the Universal Films Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein.” The Philosophy of Horror, Ed. Thomas Fahy. The University Press of Kentucky, 2010, pp. 212-228.
Horton, Robert. “The Monster Mash.” Frankenstein, Columbia University Press, 2014, pp. 27-44.
Recovering 1940s Horror Cinema: Traces of a Lost Decade. Edited by Mario Degiglio-Bellemare, Charlie Ellbé, and Kristopher Woofter, Lexington Books, 2014.
Rubin, Rebecca. “‘Invisible Man’: How Universal Saved Its Monster Movies by Cutting Costs.” Variety, March 2, 2020.
Telotte, J. P. “Another Form of Life: Science-Fiction Marketing and The Blob (1958).” Film History, vol. 32, no. 4, 2020, pp. 119-40.
Warren, Bill. Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties, Vol. 1 1950-1957. McFarland, 1982.
Williams, Tony. “Classical Shapes of Rage: Universal and Beyond.” Hearths of Darkness: The Family In American Horror Film, University Press of Mississippi, 2014, p. 29-49.
Creature from the Black Lagoon has some of the most amazing stunts I've seen. Long continuous takes without coming up for air, the creature moving with almost inhuman grace and vanishing down into darkness. It is still eeriely beautiful and extremely impressive.
Swimming underwater on his back
You can see where Spielberg got some of the ideas for Jaws.
The beauty of the swimming is due to the marvelous Ricou Browning.
There needs to be a sequel video focusing on the British Hammer Horror films of the '50s and '60s. They tried to do something so different to Universal that they ended up owing Universal a huge debt.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate how stunning Dr. Z looks in this episode!
Just this episode?????
I've assumed for a while that she might be a siren, lamia or other beautiful creature.
@@davidpumpkinsjr.5108 Banshee. No she doesn't wail. :)
Oh you don't know how long I have had a crush on her.
@@maxttk97 simp
Love the aspect ratio of the video as an homage to those early horror movies. However, you didn't mention a Universal Monster that predates Dracula, The Phantom of the Opera. One of the most overlooked of the Universal Monsters from the silent Era. In fact, if it hadn't been for the success of Phantom, Carl Laemmle might never had given his son permission to produce Dracula or Frankenstein.
Josh Bare. I agree with you! It was made in 1925 during the Silent Film Era, but it deserves mention her!
She set the parameters of what she was discussing. And why.
The Phantom of the Opera is my favourite but I don’t think he belongs in Universal monsters group. He’s called phantom but he’s just a disfigured man, nothing supernatural about him 🦇
@@stleonia there's nothing "supernatural" about Frankenstein's Monster or The Invisible Man either.
Yeah, the Phantom of the Opera was the precursor to these monster movies.
Hands down, Dr Z nailed this episode. Beautiful job. It was the one I have been waiting for since the series began without realizing it. There is so much history in these movies that sets the stage for all future creature features and I wish that there had been more focus on the franchises themselves but that would have created an hour long documentary. This past October I revisited these classic films to get in the mood for Halloween and it worked like a charm. Thank you for this episode from the bottom of my undead heart.
Video formatted in 4:3 as a reference to the old film formats. I approve.
Thank you for noticing!-*Dr.Z*
These monsters (specifically the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Wolfman) were the basis of my first D&D adventures. I always love seeing them. Thanks for this.
I really like how there seems to be an A-list (dracula,Frankenstein monster, wolfman) and a B-list(the mummy, the invisible man, gillman) and all of them seem to correlate to fear of science: (frank and Griffin) Nature: (wolfman, and Gillman) and history (dracula and imotep)
It took me a minute to understand that "(frank and Griffin)" meant "(the Frankenstein monster and the Invisible Man)". "Imhotep" is the name of the Mummy (I knew that, but some people may have forgotten). You made a very interesting comment.
Perhaps a fear of what science can do without borders.
Imhotep is considered one of the big four, Kharis is second-string. You'd have to add deformity as a category for The Phantom, Quasimodo, and The Creeper. They don't have a sci-fi or supernatural gimmick.
I don’t know if I would call The Invisible Man a B-List movie, I would call it A-List it’s just not as immortalized as Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Wolfman
This year I've started watching through the UCM movies and it's been really fun. Werewolf in London and Son of Frankenstein were unexpected gems for me. It's also very interesting to see how things have evolved or been absorbed into pop culture, like the doctor's assistant not being named Igor until the third Frankenstein movie.
As a Svengoolie and Universal Monster movie fan, I have been waiting for this episode. Thank you so much.
At the risk of shameless self promotion… The TH-cam channel, Fanboy Cantina, two days ago released an episode featuring Svengoolie and the universal monsters.
And the time that Rich Koz had his 70th birthday, we did a career retrospective, tribute episode to him.
I really loved 'Werewolf by night' for all the throwbacks to this period in film history. Loved this video!
I did, too. I really appreciated that the monster was.more Lon Chaney Jr. than a man to wolf transformation.
Marvel Comics copied a lot of Characters from the Universal films. Hopefully we'll see some of them in Live Action soon.
@@AlejandroGuzman-mh7me universal didn't create those monsters. They just were first to put them on the big screen. Nothing was copied from Universal.
That was just a Loophole, That some of Their Monsters are in the Public Domain, Like Dracula and Frankenstein. But they were Certainly Influenced by the Universal films. And many of Comics were Blatant Ripoffs of Universal Characters like Werewolf By Night which was a Copy of The Wolfman. The Living Mummy was a Copy of the Mummy. And Marvel even had a Character called the Manphibian who was a Copy of the Gill-Man.
@@AlejandroGuzman-mh7me these characters had original creators. Universal just bought the rights to make movies of these monsters. I get the influence in film but no one copied Universal's characters because they weren't created by Universal. That's my point.
Anyone who was upset about "heretical themes" in Universal's Frankenstein clearly never read the book, or missed the point completely.
@@WS-dd8ow too true
@@WS-dd8ow Understatement of the Millennium!
I love the format change! this was brilliantly shot, congratulations to costumer, makeup artist and hairstylist You absolutely NAILED the look.
Drácula in Spanish is gold.
They filmed the English version in the day and the Spanish version at night.
I did not know that, that’s awesome
the Mexican cast was better, in my opinion. The cinematography is better too.
Dracula 1930 is a technical link between Phantom and Frankenstein. A very crude talkie with a lot of humm in the sound, a lot of silent scenes and very stiff acting to get close to the primitive microphones hidden in flower cases or behind curtains. Sound direction primarily by radio engineers instead of by film directors.
Frankenstein is the modern budget movie of the 30s...leading up to the big technical achievements like:
Drums along the Mohawk
Robin Hood
Oz, Jezebel
and Gone With The Wind that would close the decade.
So it is not oro?
Dracula wasn't the first Universal monster movie. The Phantom of the Opera starring Lon Chaney predated it by 6 years.
Exactly! Where's the Phantom?
I loved the Universal Classic Monster movies as a kid (still do). They still give me a chill in a way that modern horror films don't.
100%
Same
I was scared of the classic monsters as a kid. Going to universal studios and seeing Frankenstein had me shook
Any recommendations to watch for weekends?
@s.o.q2914
Try Dracula with Bella Lugosi, Frankenstein & The Mummy with Boris Karloff.
I wrote a murder mystery play called “Monster: Mashed and Murdered” that includes all the universal monsters!! It’s getting preformed next weekend and I am SO excited to see it :)
Ok I'm intrigued. You need to film it & upload it here for the rest of us to see it.
Pleas film and upload it
Where is the performance?
@@timothygreer188 it’s at my school, lol
@@lukasnovella9001 Well, break a leg
I would like all these chapters to be in the future seasons of Monstrum.
*Spectral Pirates
*Rougarou
*Elves
*Akkorokamui
*Teke Teke
*Haunted Houses
*The Bogeyman
*The Portrait of Dorian Gray
*The Phantom of The Opera
*The Hunchback of Notre Dane
*Enfield Horror
*Skunk Ape
*Yowie
*Morgawr
*Owlman
*Ningen
*The Bloop
*Dover Demon
*Men in Black
*Imps
I'd even add some internet horror suggestions to the list, like a video on the SCP Foundation, the Backrooms, Tara the android, heck even one on screamers.
Back in the day, always loved to scan the T.V. Guide to see what Universal Monster features would be playing for that week. What a very lovely tribute this video was!
The first 2 Universal Monster Movies, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925) both starred "The Man of A Thousand Faces" Lon Chaney. He was Tod Browning's first choice for both Dracula and Frankenstein but died before the projects were given the green light. His son Lon Chaney Jr as Larry Talbot in The Wolf Man (1941) would be a major part of the sequels and the studios other horror films for the remainder of the 40s. When Universal was sold they didn't put money into new monster films because Britan had put a ban on American horror flicks thanks to MGM's "Mad Love" starring Peter Lorre and "The Raven" with Lugosi and Karloff. So our most memorable monster actors actually put the breaks on the genre because MGM tried to top Universal. They also revived it when a theatre owner revived Dracula and Frankenstein as a double feature, resulting in huge box office takes and leading to the original movies being re-released by the studio to surprising success, forcing the new executives to give the go-ahead to Son of Frankenstein (1939) starring Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.
Son of Frankenstein was ok, Bela Lugosi carried the film as Yigor though
@@Tob1Kadach1 That's because the film was basically written for Lugosi. All said it was the perfect movie for Mel Brooks to parody in "Young Frankenstein"
I truly love these universal horror movies. The were pain meds for a very painful childhood. Thank you for this.
I'm rereading Dracula right now (along with many many others through the lovely Dracula Daily listserv), and it's interesting how the popular image of Count Dracula is so different from how he's described in the book. As with Frankenstein's monster, now that I think of it. Interesting to see how one company affected pop culture so much!
Love the novel Dracula. What a fast paced read. The novel Frankenstein…. Not an easy read. In my opinion. Makes a better movie. Dracula movies are always good. The book is better.
Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" is somewhat slow, but it is definately the first science fiction novel in the English language. She takes the time to explain the processes, and to link the fictional processes to actual technical knowledge at the time on electricity, chemistry and fibulation (moving dead muscle with electric shock).
Being the first, she bogged down in a bit more establishment than was necessary to engage the reader.
Poe, who wrote Sci Fi, detective and horror the next two decades learned how to shorten the explanations for the shorter form as he ran a magazine and needed short stories to fill it.
Verne, Wells and Burroughs would hit the modern medium between the two
Stokker's Dracula was also written almost 100 years onto the English language novel experience.
Frankenstein was written in the era of ponderous style, like Cooper, Melville, Bronte. Austin proved more popular with the pleasure reading set as it was quick and lighter.
Nice documentary, but it's odd that it almost completely overlooks the Chaneys, both Lon Sr (for "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and especially "The Phantom of the Opera") and Creighton AKA Lon Jr (for "The Wolf Man", a major character in the Universal horror classics but is barely a footnote in this video!).
Would you consider doing a follow up to this on the Hammer Horror Monsters? Obviously for next Halloween but just asking.
Why wait for Halloween, Monsters are like puppies. They aren't just for a specific holiday period, they're year round.
This is exactly what I was thinking too. Would be the perfect sequel.
I'm a huge fan of the classic Universal horror movies, and this video is wonderful! Marvelous job, Dr. Z!
massive shoutout to costumers, creative directors, special effects people, and everyone involved with that. its so incredible
So glad you mentioned Milicent Patrick, about to finish reading a book on her and she was "the bomb" in creativity that they tried to credit to men.
We did the mash, we did the monster mash.
It was a graveyard smash.
ROTFLMAO! 🤣 Well Played My Friend, Well Played Indeed! 👏 🙌👍
Thank you for mentioning Ms. Patrick. I am an elementary school art teacher and use her as an art lesson either during October or women's history month (sometimes both).
*Wereduck:* "Kids today don't appreciate the classics. You're scared of like random kid stuff. Puppets, clowns, little girls in wells. What is wrong with you guys?"
*Frankenstein:* "Frankenstein think it stem from latent fear of being perceived as childish and regressing to place where you no longer in control."
Though pictured, Jack Pierce's contributions were a glaring omission. If you ask a small child to draw Frankenstein's monster, he or she will inevitably draw Pierce's make-up design. It's timeless and enduring.
Incredibly well-researched and produced. One thing I did notice was the black and white clip of Claude Rains from 1943 version of Phantom of the Opera, the only one of the Universal "monster" movies made in glorious, riotous technicolour and the winner of two Oscars, for Cinematography and Art Direction. Also, thanks for including the still of Al Lewis as Grandpa in The Munsters. Loved that show as a kid! Thanks again for a wonderful, wonderful trip down memory lane.
Also missing is the hunchback
@@gdiaz8827 I believe they're just focusing on the "Golden Age" being after the advent of talking pictures. The original Hunchback with Lon Chaney Sr. is superb. The bravura remake, with Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara and Cedric Hardwicke (who was in Ghost of Frankenstein and Return of the Invisible Man) was made by RKO, not Universal.
1930s black and white suits you Dr Z!
So we’re just gonna skip right over the Wolf man and not even mention Lon Chaney jr.?? Or his dad ?? Shameful..
I'd like to see an episode about Gill Man and other half-man-half-fish monsters. It seems to me that there is an interesting progression of the fish monsters' relationship with human women through The Creature From The Black Lagoon, Humanoids From The Deep, and The Shape Of Water.
If you don't know about Humanoids From The Deep, it was a truly horrible movie where fish monsters are repeatedly trying to forcibly mate with human women.
Anything about the Universal Monsters I immediately flock to as it became the gateway into Horror for me and even now I still hold a great love for these classic creatures.
The picture of Carl Laemmle shown at 3:49 is that of Senior, not Junior. Carl Sr. wasn't too keen on horror pictures himself but he gave Jr. the green light to go ahead anyhow. Other than that and a few mispronunciations like Karl Freund's name it was a nice little doc. Short sweet and to the point.
I love classic horror films, along with the monster ones I also enjoyed The Old Dark House (1932), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), The Black Cat (1934) & The Raven (1935). The Island of Lost Souls (1932) was ok but mainly watched it for Charles Laughton.
Funnily enough, Bela was also responsible for the iconic movements of Frankenstein’s Monster, it’s because of him that the stuck out arms look is so iconic…which was actually used to criticize his performance despite the fact that he was actually sticking to the continuity of the previous film(in Ghost of Frankenstein, the monster was brain-swapped with Ygor and also made blind.). Sadly, any references to the previous flick were gutted, including any speaking lines for Frankie.
Some notable horror movies from the modern era:
Jacob's Ladder
In The Mouth Of Madness
Event Horizon
Coraline
Hellraiser
The Shining
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Interview With A Vampire
They Live
Alien
The original Jacob's Ladder of course, not the trash remake
I would like all these chapters to be in the future seasons of Monstrum.
*Sea Serpents
*Leviathan
*The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow ✅
*Phantom Vehicles
*Boogeyman
*Ghosts
*Possessed Dolls
*Shadow People
*Undead
*Goblins
*Bigfoot
*Man-Eating Plants ✅
*Creepy Clowns
*Killer Robots
*Swamp Monsters
*The Mummy
*Scarecrows
*The Invisible Man
*Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
*Merfolk
*Demons
*Skeletons
*Stingy Jack (Jack of The Lantern)
*Gnomes
*Sea Monsters that attacked Submarines
*Alien Abductions ✅
*Ogres
*Ghouls
*Lich
*Cyborgs
*Witches
*Kaiju
*Cthulhu ✅
*The Rake
*Revenants
*Vampires
*Dagon
*Ogopogo
*Colossal Claude
*Spectral Carriages
*Kappa
*Flatwoods Monster
Some of these have already been done
@@mecahhannah Yes & they have been checked to indicate this Fact.
@@itwasagoodideaatthetime7980 vampires were covered in the Dracula video, and Jack O’ Lanterns were covered in the Will O’ the Wisp video
@@Caldor64 They may have forgotten to cross those off. Or in the case of the vampires not crossed it off. Because there are more types of vampires then just Dracula out there.
@@itwasagoodideaatthetime7980 I was just trying to point out that some of the content they want to see already exists so they can go watch it
Dr. Zarka would have made a fantastic 1930s starlet.
I just love American classic horror films
I've always leaned more towards Universal's Sci-Fi films, the likes of "It Came from Outer Space" and "This Island Earth." I also liked the atomic radiation-spawned creature films, such as "THEM!" (Warner Bros) and "Tarantula" (Universal). I felt sorrow for the Gill Man in "Creature from The Black Lagoon" and the lycanthropically-accursed Larry Talbot in "The Wolfman." Claude Rains (his voice anyway) created my favorite movie madman in "The Invisible Man" (Universal). However, when I think of my favorite scene from Universal's monster films, I think of the scene from "The Bride of Frankenstein" when the monster (Boris Karloff) stumbles down the stairs of an underground crypt. Gasping for breath, the monster falls onto a coffin containing the well-preserved body of a lovely woman. With just a wave of the monster's hand over the dead woman's shrouded face and him softly uttering one word ("Friend?") yours truly broke down like a little kid. That scene hit me especially hard since I once worked as a cemetery groundskeeper and occasional grave digger. The job wasn't creepy at all. I considered that work as an honor and somewhat sad at times. My Romanian grandmother and mother thought Bela Lugosi was perfect for the role of Count Dracula. Thanks, Storied, for this informative and entertaining video.
All great films you listed there
@@Tob1Kadach1 -- Yes, indeed! Those films were innovative, well-directed and well-acted. Cheers -- W
LOVE the intro here. Really cool 👍
Phantom being overlooked in this video as he often is in the universal monster merch lines too 😭😂
Hi Dr. Emily!!! I REALLY like old monster movies, like "Frahnkenshteen" (starring Gene Wilder‼‼‼) 😆 I also LOVE new interpretations of creatures like the Gill Man (in The Shape of Water‼‼‼) 😍 You, Emily, played an AMAZING (& funny at the end) hostess for this documentary‼‼‼ ❣❣❣
Its Frankenstein, du doof
About the black lagoon monster: Doctor Z mentioned it wasn't based on any previous lore, but I heard some versions that the creature might have been inspired by the "Ipupiara" a river monster from the mythology of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, with many shared features with it's Universal Studios counterparts. It would be interesting if Doctor Z and her crew did some research at the topic (perhaps turning it into a Monstrum ep about Black Lagoon Monster/ Ipupiara would be a good idea).
This was awesome I love the Universal Monsters I hope they make a comeback one day.
I was terrified of the step-drag sound of the Mummy, which of course meant my older brothers kept making that sound in the hallway at night.
I think Scooby-Doo is a good example of a show that both builds on the legacy of these monsters movies but also satirizes it. They have the same tropes, the dark lighting, the storms and the monsters. But all told in a very kid friendly way which exposes the monsters for being unreal. Also it comes 30-40 years after the original trend, so you can see it coming back into fashion as kids who watched those movies grew up and began making their own media like Scooby-Doo
The 1931 film took a lot of liberties with the story, as written by Mary Godwin (she was not yet married to Percy Shelley) in 1818. Her creation, no monster, was erudite, intelligent and named Adam.
Nevertheless I loved these films as a kid, had plastic Aurora model kits of them, Frankie, Dracula, Wolfman and Phantom of the Opera, read the Famous Monsters magazine from Forrest J Ackerman, rewatched the films when they ran on TV. Absolutely brilliant
I own the Universal Monsters Bluray collection, has some really good films. Dracula, Dracula (Spanish Version), Frankenstein, The Mummy, Bride of Frankenstein , The Invisible Man, The Wolfman, The Phantom of the Opera (1940's version) & Creature from the Black Lagoon.
The intro sequence for the win!
Godzilla is trying to eat me so I gotta go....oh no! [CRUNCH]
Everytime I go to Universal I go to the Horror Movie Makeup Show. Practical effects and makeup will always reign supreme!
It's amazing to think about how much these depictipns influenced pop culture on not only horror but these characters as well. You've touched briefly on Dracula, but the most jarring is Frankenstein's monster for sure (for better of for worse). Truly a deserved episode and very well made.
Fun Fact: Millicent Patrick used to work at Disney for a time in 1939.
Ted Cassidy comes to mind.
Who knew a lumbering hulk could be a hunk.
Lurch was inspired by the sinister mute butler Boris Karloff played in another Universal Horror film
‘The Old Dark House.’
I grew up watching these classics on television and now own the DVD sets of each. One thing that always got to me was the tragic plight of the main "monster". To me, Dracula was the only true monster without any redeeming characteristics and I was happy when we was destroyed. But the others always seemed so sad. Frankenstein's monster: Created, mistreated, abandoned. Wolfman: Man does a good deed and ends up cursed because of it. Mummy: Man does everything to be with his love. Invisible Man: Scientist experiments on self and goes mad. Creature/Gill Man: Creature living in its habitat, only to be attacked to be captured for other men's greed/research/entertainment. I think that part of the "horror" of these stories is that there is a human connection that we can make with them. Just my humble opinion.
I agree with you. What seems to underlie each of these monster stories is that even if you are a good person and live a virtuous life, you still could fall victim to a terrible fate. And that's very scary. What if we really don't control what happens to us?
This is a really fun overview of the Universal Monsters! Dr. Zarka has done a great job with the research and presentation!
As a horror scholar myself, I really appreciate the way she approached not just the overt history that was spoken about, but some of the other, lesser known (and potentially even more controversial for the period) films in Universal's lineup * looks hard at Dracula's Daughter *. There is so much to talk about with this topic that it makes me really want just an entire series of videos on the Universal Monsters - particularly because Dr. Zarka's presentation was such a delight!
Such an awesome part of my childhood, saturday afternoons with way too many bowls of sugary cereal (Monster Cereals, of course!)
Bela Lugosi's still undead.
I was hoping someone would make this comment. 🤣 Well Played My Friend, Well Played Indeed! 👏🙌👍
The bats have left the belltower
The victims have been bled
Red velvet lines the black box
Without the universal monsters you don't get Michael, Jason, Freddy, Ghostface, etc.
Man, this gives me waves of nostalgia. When I was a little kid in the 70's, these were THE movies to watch. The old black & white horror flicks in general, but especially the Universal Monsters. This was before the slasher movie craze, and yes, the more recent Hammer movies were acknowledged, but they took a backseat to the classic icons. These movies helped form the person I am today.
And Dr. Z, in another time you could have been a silver screen icon!
Dr Zarka in full Fay Wray mode, amazing!
German Expressionism and Universal Classic Monsters gave birth to everything I associate with the best of modern cinematic horror. Thank you so much for covering this.
You make a great silver screen icon!
As a child, I saw the 1931 Frankenstein on Shock Theater, a packaged promotion for TV broadcast in the late 50s & early 60s. I was terrified of the dark & had bad dreams for years. I later wrote a doctoral dissertation on Gothic fiction & film, & taught Gothic literature in college.
I also saw Frankenstein (1931) for the first time on Chicago's Shock Theater in the late 1950s. As a kid, I absolutely LOVED that show. Today my movie collection contains every classic horror movie that I could find. Still love them.
Not bad choice so close to Halloween. it feels like we come up with so many interesting ideas for new videos but it seems like the don't get chosen because The Munsters that we mentioned are overly sexualized like the succubus, mermaid, lamia and my personal favourite alraune
Ahh the originals always had a place in my house. With a few exceptions I usaly like originals best. One is John Carpenter's the Thing is far superior to the original from the 50s.
Best. Monstrum. Ever.
It’s always been crazy to me how studios haven’t realized that making monster movies into action movies just doesn’t work
It worked perfectly with the Brendan Fraser Mummy
04:31 Lugosi's Dracula never actually had fangs.
The shout out to Abbott and Costello was super sweet!
When she mentions how universal monsters were embracing and embodying social taboos at the time, it makes me think that perhaps the inverse is the direction to go with. The 2020 invisible man has the protagonist breaking social norms and trying to escape her husband and her abusive relationship while the monster tries to uphold those social norms and take his wife back, by force if necessary.
So influential that they inspired adaptations in other countries, boxes of overly sugary cereal (using chunks of candy no less), toys and plastic model kits.
I had to look twice at Dr. Zarka writing something in the black and white segment. It was done so well, I thought this was a real vintage film and she was an actress with the typical hairdo of the time.
Before I was 7 years old, I used to be scared of those Universal monsters. I used to cover my eyes when the wolfman made his appearance! 😂
This was fantastic! Well done to all involved!
These movies are my kind of horror: Spooky and atmospheric, relying on timeless stories that make you think rather than today's gore for gore's sake. These were true pieces of art. It's sad that they just don't make 'em like they used to.
I would say the Universal Xenomorph (the original, dontcha know) is pretty iconic.
The balance between the nostalgia and "feel" of the classics with the culture of audiences of today can be a precarious issue for film makers. I agree that Tom Cruise and Universal's "Dark universe" fell by the way side because they didn't have that balance. the Mummy Franchise with Brendan Fraser can be seen as good example of adventure with original old school ideas. Being an 80s kid, The Monster Squad was a great O.G monster mashup film. Hugh Jackman in Van Helsing was alright as an adventure story for me.
A most excellent topic, I truly love the Universal Monsters. Perhaps, throughout this next year you could break each of these characters down and give them their own episodes. I believe people would love it. You look gorgeous!!
Awesome intro I grew up with the classic Universal Monsters.
Fitting since you've previously looked at some of them in previous episodes: Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, and Werewolves. And fitting how you used a lot of SpongeBob background music for the backdrop.
Though not all Universal Monster reboots were that bad, the previous 2 The Mummy 1999, and Wolfman 2010 gained cult followings, since they still retained what the monsters mean to the audiences while expanding or reworking what made them stand out.
So did Van Helsing 2004 since that would've been the best way to revive this early cinematic universe, it would've been more better than the 2017 Mummy.
Look at this reviewer here for more info:
th-cam.com/video/n7bRi5FDqKU/w-d-xo.html
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Yeah the universal monster verse though that died a horrible death before it could even get off the ground.
The real movie was the monsters we made along the way.
I’ve been on a bit of a Universal Horror kick this year, so this really hit the spot.
Dr. Zarka, Your look for this episode is Classy, Amazing and Gorgeous! As always, entertaining and informative. THANK YOU.
Very good video, but you needed to talk a little more about Lawrence Talbot. The Wolf Man, along with Dracula and Frankenstein, is one of the three great monsters.
i actually have the Universal Monsters movies on DVD I enjoy them so much not even that scary to me but still love them
This video definitely deserves a sequel that looks at the rise of the slasher flick. There's no getting away from the fact that movies like Friday the 13th were ham-fisted attempts of enforcing social norms around sexuality, the guy basically punishes teenagers for getting dirty before marriage, a call back to the classic urban legend of the Hook Handed Man who stalks couples out for some naughty time in the woods (also a good episode idea)
I doubt that much thought was put into those movies initially. That formula came from Halloween and John Carpenter and Debra Hill wrote it that way because that's what teenagers did back then, bang and blaze and drink.
I disagree: Why would these exploitation filmmakers create ham-fisted diatribes against sex? Who would that appeal to?
What's really going on in those slasher movies is simple fan service: The people behind the camera knew that their audience liked to see young people partying and having sex, and they liked to see characters killed off in gruesome ways, so they gave us what we wanted: first one, then the other.
The "morality" angle is a post-hoc projection from academics after the fact.
I don't think I've ever heard of Mrs. Voorhees referred to as "The guy".
@@Tamlinearthly 'The "morality" angle is a post-hoc projection from academics after the fact.'
*Completely* agree. There are a multitude of things I could mention in this category, but one easy one that comes to mind is the popular fallacy surrounding the Final Girl being the chaste virgin who doesn't drink, smoke, or party while her slutty, immoral pals are killed (i.e. punished) by the killer - several Final Girls from the earliest slasher movies debunk this: Jess from Black Christmas, Scotty Parker from Silent Scream, Alice and Ginny from the first two Friday the 13ths, Kit from April Fools Day... the list goes on.
There are a lot of takes on horror cinema and slashers in particular that are dubious at best, or outright erroneous which are largely taken as gospel.
8:01 Just pause it here and read.
Wow.
I can't even quote any of that in this comment without serious risk of it being deleted. I'd say I'm glad things are better now...But they most definitely are not.
The creature from the black lagoon ,the mummy and count Orlock (Nosferatu) are my favourite monsters. I really like the mummy starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushin but I think the Brandon Fraser ones are my favourite mummy films except the third one.
The creature from the black lagoon is universals original creation as far as I know and is the only one not rebooted/ remade. There were two attempts (one by John Carpenter) but we're sadly both cancelled during production.
A day late is better than never!
Want to make sure we only give you the best!-*Dr.Z*
@@pbsstoried y'know me... it could be a month late, and I'd watch it happily!
Hope everything is ok.
i love dr. z in tihs universal aesthetic! but definitely have been thinking about universal monsters bc of the halloween season and marvel's werewolf by night but also bc of filmmakers like guillermo del toro citing the universal monsters as inspiration especially for thoughtful monster/horror movies (i really want GDT to make a frankenstein movie)
I love the Universal monster movies. I just saw Creature from the Black Lagoon in 3-D at the BFI London at the weekend. If you get the chance to watch it in the original 3-D you should, it's great fun.
The Creature did get a 3-D release on the Universal Monster Blu-Ray set,
Just not on 4-K sadly. ☹️
Another awesome Samhain episode! Thanks for going all out on this fine holiday!
why am i not surprised The Phantom of the Opera is missing from the group thumbnail?
Great video! As usual I like the videos with Dr. Zarka the best, as it deals about monsters.
I just want to give some suggestions. The Michigan dogman. There are some youtubechannels who just focus on the Michigan dogman. Maybe a hysteria?
Morbach monster - how American soldiers stationed in Germany invented a German legend in the 1980s and become popular in the USA since then.
Although it is widely discussed, the beast of gevudan, shouldn’t be left out by Monstrum.
Skinwalker - a link to the Michigan dogman. Already explained by Dr. Emily Zarka?
Ratcatcher of Hameln - altough disscused widley, origins of this tale should not be left out by Monstrum.
Red riding hood - also the origins shouldn’t be ignored by Dr. Emily Zarka.
Muhkalb - not popular and only German language sources, but Monstrum with Dr. Emily Zarka may wants to cover this strange monster to a worldwide audience.
Flying Dutchman - I am sure this Ghostship story shouldn’t ignored either.
Wild man - European folklore, not really a monster but not really a human beeing either.
Walpurgisnacht - no Monster, but telling the story of the dances of the witches at the Brocken in the Harz Mountains in Centralgermany. There were more supseted witchesmeetingplaces in wahts now modern Germany, but only the Brocken or Blocksberg in older sources survived in collective german memory.