Classic Universal Horror - Page 3

Wolf Man vs Dracula sounds like it could have been very entertaining. Shame.

The Wolf Man is my favorite Universal monster film. Chaney Jr.'s physical performance of Talbot and the Wolf Man are so very unique. I still find that you have to really pay close attention to detect that they were the same actor. It was a different world back then, but Talbot still comes off as a bit of jerk and a little creepy. Yes, I was spying on you with my telescope, isn't that charming of me? But you still feel for the big dope after he realizes what he has become.

Dracula is my second favorite. People above have described it as boring, but I've never found it so. Yes, it has no musical soundtrack, but I find that to be one of the most powerful aspects of its moody dread. Of course you could argue that there are many missed opportunities from Dracula's brides to his off screen final confrontation with Van Helsing, but there is still so much that is told with sound and visuals that I cannot condemn it for it's faults. Less sometimes is more, I guess. Lugosi always seems to be in control of the room and Fry's Renfield still gives me the creeps looking up out of the hold of the Demeter.

There is also one thing that I find so much more appealing about these old Universal Horror films and that is that the villains are allowed to be bad. They slaughter innocents, cause terror and when on occasion you are asked to sympathize with them, it is never spoon fed to you by other characters.

Not familiar with any of the rumors but I wouldn't be surprised if it was similar to the film that was made. It's got a dark humor to it- roughly equivalent to the way Bride of Frankenstein both honors and sends up its predecessor- and in many ways I like it better than the Lugosi film.

I would like to think it had plenty of lesbian subtext and Ernest Thesiger as the best Van Helsing ever.

No Thesiger, but you can judge the rest for yourself.

This is why I don't visit much anymore...

Has anyone picked up that "The Wolf Man vs. Dracula - An Alternate History For Classic Film Monsters" book?  I'm seriously considering it, as well as this..........

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Draculas-Daughter-Alternate-History-Monsters/dp/1593934750/ref=lh_ni_t

 

That's right, they also published the unused script for "James Whale's Dracula's Daughter"!

 

 

 

They've also put out the following:

 

"Dracula starring Lon Chaney" - http://www.amazon.com/Dracula-Starring-Lon-Chaney-Alternate/dp/1593934785/ref=pd_sim_b2

"Robert Florey's Frankenstein starring Bela Lugosi" - http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Floreys-FRANKENSTEIN-Starring-Lugosi/dp/1593934793/ref=pd_sim_b3

"Cagliostro starring Boris Karloff" - http://www.amazon.com/Cagliostro-Philip-Riley/dp/1593934769/ref=pd_sim_b4

I've been watching the hell out of these all week long.  I'd never bothered to watch Dracula with the Kronos Quartet score before....................and now I'll probably watch it that way from here on out!  Great stuff.

 

Anyway, my drawn-out marathon has me longing for the return of Gothic horror and monster movies.  Sure, I'll always have these, the Hammer films, and a few others (Naschy flicks, The Monster Squad, etc.), but I would LOVE to see these come back into popularity again.  The Wolf Man remake might be flawed, but it was a good start.  At the time of its release, Universal was chatting up the possibility of eventually resurrecting all of the old guard and eventually crossing them over with one another again on down the line.............citing Marvel's recent success in doing so.  Of course, The Wolfman didn't even make back its budget worldwide...............thus killing any sequel and further hindering plans to revitalize the Universal Monsters.  I have no doubt the Universal will try again at some point, but it is a real shame that things didn't turn out better.  The Wolfman was certainly not a perfect film, but I think it would have made for a nice rough base in what could become a solid run of new old school monster movies.

 

I have no doubt that the "classics" will be fully revived at some point in the coming years (or decades).  I just hope it is sooner, rather than later.

Barnes & Noble's Criterion sale is next week and you could do a lot worse than grab the 1932 Island of Lost Souls blu ray.

Upon further reflection, and despite Lugosi's shit performance, I think Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is my favorite of the movies, not best. Perhaps it's due to childhood nostalgia, but I still enjoy that Talbot's main motivation is to die. That always seemed really fucked up and bleak, especially during World War II when people were trying to avoid thoughts about Hitlers and whatnot. Of course, the best part of the movie is posted below. It's been stuck in my head for days, so now I'm going to spread the joy! 

 

P.S. Universal, announce the fucking blu rays already. Fuck

 

 

Ask and ye shall receive...

 

THE UNIVERSAL MONSTERS ON BLU