Universal's Classic Monster Movies

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the atmosphere, the scares, but most importantly I love the movies. I love scary movies; the only sad part is, there really aren't that many that I actually enjoy around this time anymore. All the movies that come out nowadays are really just the same movie over and over again, that all have the same cheap scares again and again. I can't remember the last time I saw a horror movie that I actually thoroughly enjoyed. However, if there are a bunch that I will always love, it's Universal's classic monster movies.

I'm talking about Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), The Wolf Man (1941) and many others. Now these movies are by no means scary, at least in this day and age. I would imagine that back when they were released they were absolutely terrifying, but even so that doesn't take away the magic and charm of these movies. Since there are quite a few of these films I'm only gonna talk about a couple of them, but this shouldn't stop you from watching all of them, especially because a majority of them are on Netflix.

I'm of course going to start out with Dracula, the one that started it all. Now although there were Universal monster movies before this such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925), I would consider Dracula to be the most influential and the first of the monster movies to still have such a big impact in today's society.

Bela Lugosi stars as Count Dracula, giving an iconic performance that actors today still try to replicate. He was the one that gave us the hypnotizing Dracula stare, the hungarian accent, the subtleties of his movements and so forth. He was the first to make Dracula not only terrifying but also mysterious and enchanting. The technical aspects of the movie are also great even by todays standards. The atmosphere and lighting are still fantastic and it really helps pull you into the movie. Dracula is a movie that is still imitated to this day and it holds up extremely well still. Any movie fan should check it out.

The next movie I'm going to talk about is none other than Frankenstein. Having very little to do with Mary Shelly's novel, this is a movie that focuses more on the creature in a sympathetic sense. It's a movie that's about crossing the line between life and death but also one that asks what happens when that line does get crossed. The Monster (who is played by Boris Karloff in what is arguably his most iconic performance) is a creature just trying to belong but not knowing how. He can't speak or communicate in any normal way so to everyone around him he seems like a dangerous beast. The whole movie leads up to what might be one of the most iconic climax's of all time and it's one that shouldn't be missed. I should also point out that the make-up in this movie is top notch and that alone is worth seeing.

The final movie I'm going to talk about is The Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney Jr. His father Lon Chaney Sr was known as "The Man With 1,000 Faces", starring in such movies as the above mentioned Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notre Dame, so his son had some shoes to fill. Luckily for him though, he filled them pretty well, giving us another famous monster; the werewolf. Although not as iconic as Dracula or the Monster he's still worth mentioning. Bela Lugosi gave us all of Dracula's mannerisms that are still used today and Boris Karloff gave us the famous "monster walk" but Lon Chaney Jr gave us a normal guy trapped in a very unfortunate situation. While the other two monsters started off that way, Chaney starts off as a normal guy who one night gets bitten by a werewolf, from that point forward, his life is never the same. It's the story of a man trying to cope with this terrible thing that has happened to him and he does a great job doing it. Also the technical features should be noted about this movie. The atmosphere and lighting effects are absolutely fantastic. The woods are all foggy and mysterious, the night time scenes are perfectly shadowed so it gives us an uncomfortable feeling at all times and of course the make-up is fantastic. All of this together makes this movie an absolute treat to watch.

I would highly recommend watching these movies along with all the others in the collection. Such as The Mummy, Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), The Invisible Man (1935) and Phantom of the Opera (1943). I would also highly recommend Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein because it is a wonderful homage to all of these movies and it's a very funny movie as well.

These films all hold their place in history and for good reason. We still see their influences everywhere. Most recently in Tim Burton's film Frankenweenie which is a delightful homage to the classic movie. These are all movies that shouldn't be missed and I guarantee that you will all love them. They may not be perfect or even that scary anymore but they will bring you back to a time when they were new and terrifying and I'll always love them for that.