Something else weird and noteworthy about these old 30's horror flicks that you didn't mention, .. . they often feature NO MUSIC, or VERY LITTLE of it. And I often find that it actually WORKS - making them creepier!
I agree with you that the Universal Monster Movies established America's celebration of Halloween. At 86, I have nothing but fond memories of the Universal Monster Movies in growing up. I am impressed with your excitement of the Universal Monster Movies as a modern young person. I guess what we are saying is that these movies will live forever and were an elemental foundation for the movies that have shaped our lives through the years!
In high school, I had a great English teacher. And although I had seen a Lot of Universal horror movies, I never saw the original Frankenstein. She comes in and sets up a projector and plays the 1931 Frankenstein. I was enthralled. The feeling I had that day never left. Many thanks to great teachers!
Bride of Frankenstein is such a fun watch. Creature of the Black Lagoon I enjoy seeing that black & white underwater photography. Fun video. Best day & Best wishes to you & yours.
I find the Universal Monsters movies immensely re-watchable. Even to this day. I have strong memories of watching these on TV years ago as a kid. and i hear what you're say about some seeming slow today's standard. But that's part of the charm i think. I have been really enjoying the Icons of Horror series. top content dude! And Happy Halloween!
I grew up watching Creature Features on wgn tv in chicago in the late 60s and 70s. These were the best horror films in my opinion because of Saturday night creature features. They are entertaining now but as a kid these scared the crap out of me. I love the classics.
In high school, I had a great English teacher. And although I had seen a Lot of Universal horror movies, I never saw the original Frankenstein. She comes in and sets up a projector and plays the 1931 Frankenstein. I was enthralled. The feeling I had that day never left. Many thanks to great teachers!
Universal Classic Monsters (1931-1956) famously began with Dracula 1931, and Frankenstein (1931) and the studio branded them as such, it introduced a new way of film making, and the first few talking pictures to the audience, the audiences were enthralled and rightly so. And in 1931, most of the public had only the radio for entertainment, what a great way to introduce film to them. Absolute classics and far superior to many of today's movies and horror productions, because they relied on suspense primarily. Who can forget the introduction of Dracula, The mummy, The Wolfman or Frankenstein.
The first time I saw one of these movies was when I saw Frankenstein in high school in 2010. It was a media studies class, and we were being taught about classic horror. The teacher put on Frankenstein, and I just completely blanked on it. It was in black and white, it had no music, it was on a small TV, I got bored fast. Then early last year, I got curious and bought the Frankenstein Legacy Collection, and I actually sat down to watch the full series, and I actually grew to like them. I think, with these classic movies, you need to be in the right mood. You have to want to watch them. Now I own the UM Classic boxset, that one with all the Legacy Collections, and my favourites have to be the Karloff Frankenstein trilogy, Dracula and The Invisible Man, that last one being my fiancée's favourite. Son of Frankenstein is probably my favourite Universal Monster's movie, and as for Dracula, it's very hokey and definitely very stagey, but it's great to watch whenever it's on TV. There's just something magical about it...
I really enjoyed all of your Icons of Horror videos, Heath. The Universal Monsters was a great way to conclude the series, at least until next year :-). Thank you for all the time and effort it took to make them. Happy Halloween!
Thanks for the awesome and kind comment, Rob. I bet I'll be back to this series well before October of next year. They've been really fun to do and I think the response has been great.
You certainly have good taste for these movies. I definitely look forward to seeing the worth-watching Universal Monsters films, specifically Bela Lugosi's Dracula. Now, the Abbott and Costello Meet the Monsters films are definitely a fun crossover film series you can introduce yourself to the Universal Monsters. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is probably the best out of the bunch and how it's now 75 years old. Frankly, I'd check out a video of you discussing your opinion on the Abbott and Costello Meet the Monsters film series.
I recently was an eBay auction on a box set of ALL the Complete Legacy Collections (30 films), and have taken to watching one film a night in chronological order. I just finished up "The Wolf Man"-tomorrow, it's "Ghost of Frankenstein".
I bought the Blu-ray box set of all the legacy collections a few months ago. I'd collected the DVD sets over the years, but I love the way these movies look on Blu-ray!
Us Monster Kids owe Forry Ackerman and "Famous Monsters From Filmland" Magazine from the 1960's for keeping the Universal Monsters in our consciousness.
And also the syndication packages of the sixties that brought dozens and dozens of universal films to television for the first time ever, raising them in the public conscious of the youth at the time and fueling a second wave of monster fandom.
Thanks for sharing ur love of the universal monsters with us. It's nice hearing what another fan's opinion about them. These monsters r the foundation of so many aspect of our pop culture. I love how u mentioned that these movies can sort of exist across different time periods at the same time. It could be renaissance, gothic, medieval, sci fi, industrial, even in just one movie. It's all melded tgt as if the whole movie is a dream where u jump from one place or time to another.
There was other monster films before these that are lost pieces of media that can't be found, but I love the universal monsters my favorite is the bride of Frankenstein
I have the boxset you introduced,I still haven't watched them all yet. Not like I haven't already seen them all. I also used to have the second set with the old movies. The Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame are true classics that cant be watched very easily because they are silent. But any true horror fan owes it to themselves to watch these.
Creature from the Black Lagoon is included in all Universal Monster collections, home video series, and merchandise line-ups. It is definitely not “lower tier.” It is on the level with the other classic Universal Monsters.
We can agree to disagree. I think my point was that The Invisible Man, The Mummy, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon do not share the same status as Dracula, Frankenstein, and Wolf Man (to a lesser extent) in our monster culture. Not that Universal has turned their back on those characters or the movies are impossible to find, and I still stand by that statement. For example, Universal bundled a box set of the first wave of Monster Movies with mini-busts (as seen in these videos) of Dracula, Frankenstein, and Wolf Man. The other three icons didn't get mini-busts, and their movies never came in a bundled package. I see tons of merchandise every Halloween for the big three, much less so for the others. We could even look at the Hammer films versions of these characters from the late fifties and into the sixties and seventies. Dracula and Frankenstein dominate. The rest are still popular, but I don't think they're on the same level. If you think they are, then that's awesome.
Richard Strange I can understand the commercial reasons for including the Creature in these collections, but it is a jarring, inappropriate inclusiveness. In the main, the "Universal Classic Monsters" are totally, 100% Gothic horror. Shoehorning a 50s sci fi monster into the mythos seems to me to be entirely a cash grab. The Creature movies should have been included in the Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection series.
@@ronsterm7076 the Creature from the Black Lagoon has been included in anything and everything with the Universal Classic Monster logo for scores. It is nothing new.
Also, the Mummy franchise is awesome awesome awesome. The Mummy franchise is the original slasher movie franchise. Those movies are such a good time. I love the Lon Chaney Jr. Mummy movies.
The Reason that Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera aren't released by Universal is because they are in the public domain. Anyone can sell them, and Beat Universal's price.
Great Video dude I absolutely love your Icons of horror series keep up the fantastic work also Frankenstein is my favorite Universal monster Boris Karloff is amazing ! ;)
Relatively new fan of the Monsters but I adore them all so much! My favorite is Dracula but I seriously do love them all! Great video, love seeing other's passion for these films!!!
I was just tweeting yesterday about Creature from the Black Lagoon. He hasn't gotten the reboot love the other characters did. Sure, John Carpenter tried, and a few other folks have tried, but it feels like time for more Creature from the Black Lagoon. Of course, I picture that story in a swampy, nearly Swamp Thing setting.
Hi Heath I have a lot of the original Universal horror movies myself. I have Dracula, The Mummy , Frankenstein, the Bride of Frankenstein,The Invisible Man , the Wolf Man, the Fly ( all 3 movies) and The Creature From The Black lagoon ( all 3 movies) . I also have 13 Ghosts, the Thing ( Howard Hawks).The Invisible Man,Frankenstein,The Creature movies are all in the Universal Studios Home Of The Original Monsters (I suppose you'd cal it a collection). But the collection has extra features such as a documentary about the movie.And I absolutely every one of them.
I would recommend you checking out "Frankenstein" 2015. Its Directed by Bernard Rose (CandyMan) it has Xavier Samuel as the monster, Tony Todd as the Blind Man, Danny Houston as Victor Frankenstein, and Carrie Ann Moss as his wife. It all takes place in Modern day and pays respect to the source material. (With a few liberties of course every movie does.) I think Universal should do what this movie did with its Universal Monsters for today with their "Dark Universe". Because if you like or hate the new "Invisible Man" and/or "The Mummy" ... Doesn't matter they don't really follow the story of these characters AT ALL. Which sucks because Unlike MCU and DCEU these things don't have sources and sources to pull from. They have the original books (For the characters that are based on books) and the Universal Films that they own the rights to. (So obviously they can't start stealing things from HammerFilms) So it sucks when these new films don't have ANYTHING to do with the source material besides one aspect. (It has an Invisible Person(s), Vampire, or a Mummy) Look at "The Shape of Water" for example (Hate or Love it) Its a very decently made film, but its just the directors Fan Fiction of the Gill-Man. Now if that movie was a remake of "The Creature From the Black Lagoon" You would have some higher expectations. (It needs to take place at the Black Lagoon in the Amazon for example.) It just having a Gill-Man wouldn't make it a good "Creature" movie. Then look at "The Mummy" 1999 or "Young Frankenstein" Both are completely different style and genre of film. But still pay respect to those stories/plots even more than the past 3 reboots have. Its not like everything that comes out with an Invisible character takes from the source either. "HollowMan" was the last thing to resemble the original storyline of "The Invisible Man" and that was 20 years ago after 70 years. So its not like these stories have been ran into the ground. (Example: Hotel Transylvania has Dracula in it and doesn't follow his story ya know lol) So even if these characters design are still alive and well today, their stories are pretty much lost, so a modern casual audience could also enjoy them without pissing of the target demographic.
We saw the Creature from the Black Lagoon in 3D that was really great I throw a big Halloween party and I show them all to everyone and they love them.
Great video, Heath! While the Mummy series does seem to descend in quality, I do give one of the sequels credit for one of the most shocking endings. I had to rewind it the first time I saw it to make sure I didn’t miss something.
I own them all, managed to complete the collection fully early this year :P Love them dearly, glad to see you show some love for this Oldie monsters :P
I really enjoyed your video on the Universal horror films. I have seen a number of people on the computer giving there opinions on the movies. After watching yours I think your was the best. Towards the end of your show you talked about the Creature series. I couldn't agree more with what you had to say. I feel the creature series belongs with the 1950's S.F. Universal films that came out between 1953-1960. I love all of these films that Universal did during those years. They should be talked and written about separately and not be included in the films from the 1930's-1940's. In my opinion the Creature series has been talked and written about to much. Some of these authors and so called experts in their books blasting Bella's acting in Dracula and all the other universal horror films, tearing them down; pointing out; in their opinions all the faults in the films production and the acting by the players. It seems to me that to many of these so called experts have forgotten the main reason these films were made. They were made to entertain the public and they didn't criticize or look for moral reasons the films were made. Oh well I guess I feel these movies should be watched for there entertainment value and enjoyed just for that reason alone. Keep up the good work. I will watch your other videos and comment on them. In the future..
The internet seems to love to tear these things down, but that's not what we do here. These movies are the foundation for pretty much all of horror cinema. Sure, there was horror before the Universal Monsters, but they've influenced everything that came after them in a profound way. They created horror as we know it, and even Halloween as it exists today. We owe these movies so much gratitude, and I have nothing but love for them. Long live the icons!
nice heath on another note mego relaunch debacle continues they picked the wrong store in target to carry theses figures its a nightmare to find wave 1 forgot about wave 2 and 3 and i made mego aware of the bs personally i gave up
I've probably got a video about this coming soon. Still can't find wave 2 even though it launched over a month ago. Unless something changes quickly, it's not looking good.
I like the Wolf Man remake with Benicio Del Toro as well, which really leans into that gothic, dreamlike European tone. The ending is a bit disappointing, but I think most of it works.
Hey, thanks for the sub! This will be the last Icons of Horror for now. I'm not sure when I'll be coming back to it, but I definitely have lots more to say about the icons of horror, and there are still lots of them left. This was something I thought would be fun for October, but I am a huge horror fan and could take about it forever. You have not seen the last of this series.
It's so funny that even if I feel like I know this monsters so well watching this made me realise I can't really say I remember the plots of thoes films. I need to fix this soon :)
I feel like you have to be interested In filmmaking and respectful when watching these films because I see so many people who I’m guessing are around my age (15) who just haven’t seen or just shit on these films or both. They dismiss them because they’re in black and white and that kinda pisses me off.
There’s a dvd you might want to get cause all universal monster movie trailers Grampa’s monster movies hosted by al Lewis as grampa Munster . It’s on RU-vid .if you want to check it out first
Ooooooooooh! Dude...I've met him! It all just clicked into place. Cortlandt Hull was at Wonderfest in Louisville, Kentucky when I was in attendance four years ago, I believe. He has a bunch of DVDs about horror movie history and The Witch's Dungeon seems to be his brand. I had completely forgotten that he had a museum that you could visit because CT is a very long way away for me. I honestly also forgotten all about meeting him until you mentioned Witch's Dungeon!
The 3D version of the first movie presents two images side by side instead of integrated together to create a 3D image. That's not a big deal for me because I don't have a 3D TV or pursue 3D. But the second movie is not in HD, it's a standard definition file, which is obviously a no no for Blu-ray. They're issuing a replacement disc, but some people who have gotten that replacement are saying there's are still some problems with the HD mastering of the second movie. I think the big 30 movie box set currently has the correct version, but the 3-movie "Legacy Collection" Blu-ray set is still in the process of being corrected.
@@CerealAtMidnight You can get the anaglyph versions of Creature and Revenge from DVDRParty on iOffer if you ever want to see them in 3D; no need for a 3D tv just good old fashioned red/blue glasses, which are supplied. I was surprised that the only 3D effects that didn't work were the underwater shots... you'd think it's ideal to see someone floating in mid-air, but with no/little reference to depth in the background it just doesn't work. Thanks for the info.!
Great video, I have that Universal monsters boxset and The mummy film, my question would be, can you recommend some Universal horror films that are not based on the monsters? I have The old dark house which is brilliant. thanks
Outside of The Old Dark House, I'm less well-versed, but I'd say Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Black Cat, The Raven, Tower of London...that's what immediately comes to mind. Of course, White Zombie, too, but that's not Universal.
1 bela Lugosi never said I vant to suck yer blood. 2 lon senior phantom is not in the set because it’s in the public domain and partially lost 3 the gill man is the most tragic one in my opinion. He has a great arc through the 3 films.
The universal version of frakenstine the first adaptation of frakenstine that’s available and easy to get hold of. Technical Edison did the very first Frankenstein adaptation but the film is virtual impossible to obtain the nerd some how got a little footage of it but not much. The Spanish Dracula is easier to get hold off. I don’t know how all the dark universe remakes keep bombing but they our do some how. The wolf man remake had dal Turo involved.
I only came to the Universal Monsters around six years ago. I had certainly been aware of them, but I'd never actually watched them. I can honestly say it was one of those life-changing experiences where you feel like your DNA has been changed. I recognize that I wouldn't have fully appreciated them if I had been younger, so they came at just the right time for me.
The Spanish version of Dracula was a excellent movie I got the Creature movies and there was no problem playing with it the classics had style, Nosferatu was the ultimate vampire he was a ugly killer.
That annoying Nostalgia Critic would definitely have gone for the cheap intro option... This guy on the other hand obviously has a little more integrity. I'll Subscribe to that. Regards from Scotland.
Have to say i agree with most of these, however with the mummy movies i Will sadly have to disagree with you, when it comes to the first mummy movie i skip to the scenes with Boris Karloff as well as the flashback scene as I find the rest of it so dreadfully boring, and I actually Think the sequels Are Much more entertaining
That's not a Universal movie. The 1920 version with John Barrymore and the 1931 version with Fredric March are both from Paramount and the 1941 version with Spencer Tracy is MGM. Great movies, though, especially the John Barrymore version.