Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

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Jeff-Goldblum2
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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

Post by Jeff-Goldblum2 »

Watched The Mummy's Hand and The Mummy's Tomb.

I enjoyed them both well enough although I think enjoyed The Mummy's Tomb slightly more. You'll notice how the story and structure of The Mummy's Tomb can basically be viewed as a prototype slasher movie.

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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

Post by Kaiju no Kami »

My problem with the Mummy sequels after Hand is the movies are like 70 minutes long but they have 10 minute recaps in them.

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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

Post by fred25_ca »

Re-watching the Bride of Frankenstein (and really enjoying it) but man, that 5 years in between movies has really changed Karloff. He was perfect in the first one, his face so bony and scary. Not so in the sequel, he looks normal here. He's just as great when it comes to acting but he is a far cry from the walking corpse he was in the first one!

Just another reminder why I prefer the first one over the campy sequel. Old Frankie is absolutely terrifying in the 1931 version. A perfect movie, if ever there was one.
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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

Post by Jeff-Goldblum2 »

Just watched The Mummy's Ghost and The Mummy's Curse. Not bad movies I liked them.

There's a part in The Mummy's Curse that I really like. It's the scene where Ananka rises up from the dead. It's a particularly long scene and there is no dialogue or any other characters. Just Ananka rising out of the earth, caked in dirt and mud and then walking around.

In addition I really liked Lon Chaney Jr. as Mummy Kharis. Just the walk and mannerisms he used seemed really effective to me.

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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

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I find sort of silly when people say a modern of extreme it is when a horror film kills a young child, seeing as they did that in Frankenstein, all the way back in 31!

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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

Post by JAGzilla »

Man... I had been planning to stick to my new tradition of only watching these movies in October, but reading this thread is making me want to cheat. Or go batshit insane this October; that has a certain appeal to it, too. :lol:

As it stands, I'm a total noob with this kind of monster movie, and have only seen Universal's Frankenstein, The Wolfman, and Dracula so far, in that order. That would also be the order in which I'd rank them, conveniently; Frankenstein was fantastic, Wolfman was good but didn't grab me quite as much, and I agree that Dracula's weak second half drags it down.
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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

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kingkevzilla88 wrote:I find sort of silly when people say a modern of extreme it is when a horror film kills a young child, seeing as they did that in Frankenstein, all the way back in 31!
Keep in mind, though, that was a pre-code movie, and even then a lot of theaters cut the scene out when they projected it. It was later completely removed from the re-releases (as was "in the name of God, now I know what it feels like to be God!"), and those scenes were regarded as lost for a long time. It wasn't until the late 80s that they were restored to home video editions.
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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

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eabaker wrote:
kingkevzilla88 wrote:I find sort of silly when people say a modern of extreme it is when a horror film kills a young child, seeing as they did that in Frankenstein, all the way back in 31!
Keep in mind, though, that was a pre-code movie, and even then a lot of theaters cut the scene out when they projected it. It was later completely removed from the re-releases (as was "in the name of God, now I know what it feels like to be God!"), and those scenes were regarded as lost for a long time. It wasn't until the late 80s that they were restored to home video editions.
I think it still counts, it was shown in some theaters.

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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

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kingkevzilla88 wrote:
eabaker wrote:
kingkevzilla88 wrote:I find sort of silly when people say a modern of extreme it is when a horror film kills a young child, seeing as they did that in Frankenstein, all the way back in 31!
Keep in mind, though, that was a pre-code movie, and even then a lot of theaters cut the scene out when they projected it. It was later completely removed from the re-releases (as was "in the name of God, now I know what it feels like to be God!"), and those scenes were regarded as lost for a long time. It wasn't until the late 80s that they were restored to home video editions.
I think it still counts, it was shown in some theaters.
I'm not sure what you mean by "counts." I wasn't in any way saying it didn't "count." I was saying that it was controversial at the time, as it was considered by many to go to an inappropriate extreme, and that the standards that were in place for a long time afterward ruled it out completely.
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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

Post by Kaiju no Kami »

Frankly, I hate this mentality that kids and animals should not die in movies. Do kids and animals have character shields in real life? No? Then why should they in movies?
JAGzilla wrote:Man... I had been planning to stick to my new tradition of only watching these movies in October, but reading this thread is making me want to cheat. Or go batshit insane this October; that has a certain appeal to it, too. :lol:

As it stands, I'm a total noob with this kind of monster movie, and have only seen Universal's Frankenstein, The Wolfman, and Dracula so far, in that order. That would also be the order in which I'd rank them, conveniently; Frankenstein was fantastic, Wolfman was good but didn't grab me quite as much, and I agree that Dracula's weak second half drags it down.
In my house, there is no such thing as horror movies only in October. October is when we go crazy, but we watch horror movies all of the time. I'll take a well made horror movie over any of that pretentious film festival emotional rollercoaster Oscarbait any day of the week.
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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

Post by Jeff-Goldblum2 »

Just watched Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein as well as Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy.

As part of the Blu-Ray Legacy Collections I was happy to watch these at least as curiosities. They weren't bad actually I enjoyed them. I particularly like that they still have Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr. playing their roles as Dracula and The Wolf Man.

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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

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I was always surprised by how much I enjoyed the Abbott and Costello monster films, but like we discussed earlier; it mostly stems from the respect for the monsters. They weren't treated as jokes or with camp.
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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

Post by kingkevzilla88 »

eabaker wrote:
kingkevzilla88 wrote:
eabaker wrote:
Keep in mind, though, that was a pre-code movie, and even then a lot of theaters cut the scene out when they projected it. It was later completely removed from the re-releases (as was "in the name of God, now I know what it feels like to be God!"), and those scenes were regarded as lost for a long time. It wasn't until the late 80s that they were restored to home video editions.
I think it still counts, it was shown in some theaters.
I'm not sure what you mean by "counts." I wasn't in any way saying it didn't "count." I was saying that it was controversial at the time, as it was considered by many to go to an inappropriate extreme, and that the standards that were in place for a long time afterward ruled it out completely.
What I meant by "counts" is that it's still the first horror film to show the on-screen death of a child. Which is something I think that most of the filmmakers today wouldn't even think about putting in their film and when some do go through with it and start bragging about how edgy they are for doing so I can't help but think back to Frankenstein.

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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

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I cracked, and just got done watching The Invisible Man for the first time. While I guess I prefer the actual monster movies, this one was still very good, and they really did a lot to sell the idea that an invisible lunatic can be a major threat, nearly unstoppable with '30s technology. While I think I might've preferred a quieter, more sinister invisible slasher kind of guy, Claude Rains did a good job making this cackling, power-crazed whack-job scary in his own way. There was a lot of great comedy in the movie, too, particularly early on with the villagers. "How can I handcuff a bloomin' shirt?" :lol: But it was plenty serious when it needed to be, and the dark ending was welcome. Nobody wins in this one. This guy goes off the rails, and just ruins everything for everybody.


Also, I guess I'll go ahead and buy the Complete 30-Film Collection sometime soon, here. $65 on Amazon is a pretty impressive deal.
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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

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JAGzilla wrote:I cracked, and just got done watching The Invisible Man for the first time. While I guess I prefer the actual monster movies, this one was still very good, and they really did a lot to sell the idea that an invisible lunatic can be a major threat, nearly unstoppable with '30s technology. While I think I might've preferred a quieter, more sinister invisible slasher kind of guy, Claude Rains did a good job making this cackling, power-crazed whack-job scary in his own way. There was a lot of great comedy in the movie, too, particularly early on with the villagers. "How can I handcuff a bloomin' shirt?" :lol: But it was plenty serious when it needed to be, and the dark ending was welcome. Nobody wins in this one. This guy goes off the rails, and just ruins everything for everybody.
The Invisible Man is a fantastic movie, thou H.G Wells hated it. It's sad that the film doesn't get the recognition for what it did with its special effects. I pretty sure that this was the first time, that anyone did an invisible man on film.

Claude Rains is brilliant in it, his loud booming voice combined with the over-the-top nut job performance he gives. He is the Invisible Man as far as I'm concerned.

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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

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JAGzilla wrote:I cracked, and just got done watching The Invisible Man for the first time. While I guess I prefer the actual monster movies, this one was still very good, and they really did a lot to sell the idea that an invisible lunatic can be a major threat, nearly unstoppable with '30s technology. While I think I might've preferred a quieter, more sinister invisible slasher kind of guy, Claude Rains did a good job making this cackling, power-crazed whack-job scary in his own way. There was a lot of great comedy in the movie, too, particularly early on with the villagers. "How can I handcuff a bloomin' shirt?" :lol: But it was plenty serious when it needed to be, and the dark ending was welcome. Nobody wins in this one. This guy goes off the rails, and just ruins everything for everybody.


Also, I guess I'll go ahead and buy the Complete 30-Film Collection sometime soon, here. $65 on Amazon is a pretty impressive deal.
I believe I've said this before but what was so refreshing about The Invisible Man was he wasn't a sympathetic monster as the others were depicted; he is just a straight up diabolic madman. Claude Rains was always sort of the side man for me, but this performance solidified his place in the annals of horror history.

The effects are also so entertaining to watch, not nearly as dated as you'd expect. The Invisible Man doesn't get nearly as much recognition as it deserves.
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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

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The first time I watched the Invisible Man, I was surprised and taken off guard by how high-energy and modern it's sensibilities were compared to other movies, and even other Universal horror films at that time. A great film.

Added in 5 minutes 29 seconds:
If you guys are interested in looking at this, this is a sort of behind-the-scenes look at the making & designs of that Universal Monsters Halloween Horror Nights attraction I posted about before. They go into great detail about the concepts and looks of each of the monsters and they get them right IMO. This is what the Dark Universe should have been doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-FEf4v498M&t=1427s
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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

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Did anyone ever read The Wolfman: Hunter's Moon novel?
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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

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Just got done with Bride of Frankenstein. And yeah, I'd say it's at least as good as the original. Boris Karloff continues to do a heck of a job as The Monster.
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Re: Universal Monsters Series (1925-1956) Tribute Thread

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JAGzilla wrote:Just got done with Bride of Frankenstein. And yeah, I'd say it's at least as good as the original. Boris Karloff continues to do a heck of a job as The Monster.
I love pretty much every performance in that movie. I love that Karloff is probably the most grounded in the whole thing, in contrast to the delightful camp work by Ernest Thesiger and Dwight Frye, and the absolute scenery-chewing histrionics of Colin Clive and Valerie Hobson.

And, Lord! that production design! The monster making his way through that strange, expressionist cemetery set is one of my favorite images in all of cinema.
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