The history of the "Big 5" American monsters 

The imagery of the 'grey' alien with a big head and black eyes has also made a similar transition into folk culture, although this is slightly different as people claim they are real, unlike Dracula

The ghost mask from Scream, which actually existed before the movie but was popularized by the film, is now an American folk monster.

I think skeletons got shortchanged in that list, they’re not as easy to stylise in a way that makes them identifiable as a particular character, but they are nonetheless always present with the Halloween cast

I wonder if "The Killer Clown" is a good example. Joker, Pennywise, and the like have certainty merged over the years into a singular, scary as hell character

Zombies kind of feel like they fit in that category, now yeah they’re not copyrightable because they’re from Caribbean mythology and the modern zombie (as in a slow moving flesh eating monster) is also not subject to copyright because the rights issue with night of the living dead lead to the zombies being public domain (even if non Romero made zombie movies didn’t use them until the early to mid 80s)

I think the best example of the American monster would be the headless horseman. The legend of Sleeping Hollow is one of the oldest pieces of American folklore and has become synonymous with Halloween in America.

Jason's Hockey Mask is 100% more associated with him than Hockey

Some relevant Frankenstein history for you: Mary Shelley's time was the enlightenment, particularly when electricity was becoming more and more well-understood. The big debate that had been just settled concerned the church, whereby Christian scientists (namely Luigi Galvani) believed that there were two kinds of electricity - the regular kind, and "animal electricity", which was supposed to be God's energy (or something like that), explaining electricity in animals like eel and such. Alessandro Volta proved the church wrong by demonstrating that he could animate the limbs of dead frogs with current from a battery. After that was said and done, they took Volta's demonstration to the next level at the Royal Instutition in England, where the corpse of a decapitated criminal was laid out on the table. They electrocuted the body and the body sat up, shocking the hell out of everyone in the audience, including Mary Shelley. This was apparently the original inspiration

Jason Voorhees, for sure, is becoming the generic slasher monster, with Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger following suit. We're also seeing clowns (like Pennywise), skeletons (including the Grim Reaper) and some kind of pumpkin-headed character gaining popularity in Halloween related decorations and costumes. I'm pretty sure the pumpkin head thing stems from the headless horseman from Sleepy Hollow, particularly as he was portrayed by Disney. It seems to have inspired the Samhain ghost from The Real Ghostbusters in the 80s, and there have been countless variations on the idea. I suppose it's because it takes the Jack-o'-lantern from being a decoration to having an actual character in itself.

The scream mask is also moving into generic halloween / monster signaling.

The modern day zombie is an American creation as well based of George Romero's creation

Nostalgic people: Modern Hollywood can only make sequels and remakes. Old Hollywood used to be more original. Old Hollywood: 9:50

JJ is essentially the official RU-vidr of Canadian culture and politics. The dude should be a guest lecturer at colleges. Just don't lose that mustache :)

It feels like clowns are a common target of horror movies, usually depicting a broken man or one on the verge psychosis

Characters like the Joker from DC comics and Pennywise from Sephen King's IT have really made the "Killer Clown" motif ubiquitous, although that is more of a type of monster then a specific individual monster like Dracula or Jason Vorhees.

The wicked witch of the West: As a character she isn’t that commonly depicted in Halloween decorations but witches are often depicted with green skin like hers. I don’t know if it was always like that but I think it’s inspired by the Metro Golden Mair musical. I think that before that, witches didn’t have green skin.

I think scarecrows can fit into the category too. Characters like Johnathan Crane from DC Comics and The Scarecrow from The Wizard Of Oz are quintessential examples of the trope.

I'd definitely agree that Jason Voorhees has somewhat transitioned into American folklore. There's probably a lot of people now that don't know goal tenders wore masks like that and just associate it with the Friday the 13th films.

The first creature that comes to mind as an example would be the little grey/green aliens that date back to the late 19th century that I'd say we've all become accustomed to over the years. Considering that the emoji used for 'alien' follows this design indicates that, much like Frankenstein and Dracula, the modern stereotypical 'alien' design seems to have followed a similar trajectory.

JJ has changed so much, he went from using Old School Nintendo Sounds to using New Nintendo Sounds.

On the topic of other popular movie monsters that have become folk icons, I would point to George Romero's depiction of zombies in Night of the Living Dead, and Universal's Creature from the Black Lagoon. These are monsters that everyone is somewhat aware of, even if one has never seen the films in which they first appeared.

Perhaps not quite as over exposed but Cthulhu is definitely in the “monster” pop culture lexicon to some degree.

I’ve studied STEM for a number of years now, across several different levels of education, and all I can say about J.J.’s scientific method is... I approve.

I’m gonna make the call that some time in the future, terminators are gonna become this sorta monster. “An evil robot army sent from the future to destroy humanity” Probably not anything like Arnie’s since it’s largely based on his face specifically, but that sort of exoskeleton, robot skeleton form is pretty prime for riffing.

When you think about it, the universal monsters essentially invented the idea of the cinematic universe. There were a lot of crossovers and vs movies, with recurring actors (Although, the movies didn't have much continuity and actors were replaced often)

This is kind of random but there's a 1960s Doctor Who episode called Journey into Terror, where the Doctor and friends land in a spooky house and are chased around by the Universal Dracula and Frankenstein's monster. The Doctor theorizes they're in a nightmare world created out of humanity's deepest fears that "exists in the dark recesses of the human minds." This was played straight despite the monsters being completely watered down versions of themselves that no adult and probably not many children would find scary, basically the stuff of Halloween decorations. But maybe the episode accepts the absurdity of that premise, because in the end it turned out they were just in an advanced haunted house attraction from 1996.

The genre has increasingly leaned into the demonic over time, so I submit these 3 characters. 1. The possessed doll. 2. The possessed child 3. Death itself. And I'd be remiss not to mention the clown.

It's very recent, but I think Slenderman could join the "generic monsters" crew. I guess it's just a question of whether people will recognize or appreciate slenderman in 10, 20, 30 years.

I would say the the girl from The Ring is up there as a recognizable horror icon, although that may not qualify as American.

Loved the video. I think a lot of the popularity of these monsters at Halloween time comes from the fact that they're all fairly easy to costume. Put a kid in their church clothes and either give them a cape, plastic fangs, and slicked-back hair or some neck bolts and you've got Drac and Frank respectively. For the mummy, you just wrap them in bandages (or even toilet paper), and the classic ghost is, of course, just a white sheet with holes cut for the eyes. A black dress and pointy hat with a crook in it gets you a witch. Wolfman is the biggest outlier in that he's harder to make easily recognizable with just a few props, but even it can be done without too much fuss. When Halloween comes around, kids need spooky characters to dress up as, and at the time, Universal's movie monsters were both ubiquitous and easy/inexpensive to do recognizably.

I find it really interesting that a lot of European horror-especially that of the avant garde film scenes in inter-war Germany and Russia- focuses on the horrors that stem from the human, whereas the Anglo-Americans try to paint the horrific as something incapable of being brought about by human hands...

I feel that North American monsters are The Headless Horseman, The Wendigo, the flesh eating zombie, and those based off infamous U.S. serial killers.

Probably the most accurate version of the monster in any Frankenstein movie is in Mel Brook's Young Frankenstein. The final scenes show the monster reading the Wall Street Journal.

Part of me wishes that the 50's B-movie monsters got this sort of treatment. Like, if the blob or the creature from the black lagoon showed up alongside Dracula and Universal Frankenstein

I think the characters from Lord Of The Rings are a pretty good example, their designs have become a standard. when someone thinks of a wizard a picture of Gandalf or some other Gandalf Inspired wizard comes to mind, same with the orcs and trolls and all of those, common depictions of them were very different before the movies came out. Kings, princesses, knights and dragons also have become very standardised, I don't know when the standard was set tho. Also: Aliens, Pirates, Cowboys are good examples. Cool video!

I think that Ghostface from the movie Scream is becoming public folk culture. The mask originally came from The Oriental Trading Company a couple years before the movie just as a mask for $1.99 and Halloween stores would also carry them.

JJ, you forgot the most horrifying American monster of all: the _Commies_

Fun fact: Dracula was a title that Vlad the Impaler had, and in Romanian it means, "Son of the Dragon." It was a title first held by his father, Vlad II, who was titled, "Dracul."

Not exactly monsters per se, but "The Flintstones" pretty much codified how cavemen were supposed to look.

I feel like more modern horror villains that have gone through such sequel situations like Jason, Freddy Kruger, and Michael Meyers can become new mainstays of Halloween.

“Scary, weird place full of superstitious people and murderous perverts” I don’t know about the British, but I think that is how Liam Neeson viewed Eastern Europe in Taken.

"...And a head that was screwed on with bolts on either side..." Those aren't bolts. The Monster is an electrical creature, brought to life by lightning; the studs on either side of his neck are terminals where the jumper cables are plugged in. There are a couple of movies in the Universal cycle that show the wires attached, and smoke coming off them.

It’s not exactly something you can dress up as, but “man-eating plant” has kind of undergone a similar pop culture genericization after Little Shop of Horrors. Of course there are earlier examples of plant creatures, but the modern concept of this specific monster archetype is very much informed by Audrey II.

Your videos were being used in my younger brothers social curriculum! My favourite Canadian educational content creator

I've noticed the xenomorphs from the Alien franchise pop up occasionally up in various media. Not just as a tie-in like in Fortnite recently but in a similar way to Jason Vorhees where they appear casually as a genericized "big spooky alien" character. Which is ironic, considering how unique their design is.

The Ray Bradbury animated movie "The Halloween Tree" that aired on Cartoon Network was quite a good Halloween movie that explained the holidays traditions and origins. I wish more people were more aware about it.

I think the slasher villains are starting to do that, and I predict that in the future Alien aliens will fall into this group. "Gray Aliens" in flying saucers are 💯 already in this pantheon if you will.

The British Dracula series is where Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee (Grand Moff Tarkin and Count Dooku) became very good friends.

I like how every time he talks about Dracula, the theme from Swan Lake plays

The creator from the black lagoon has gone through a long transition into this sort of cultural monster for Americans , though the idea of it as a fish man rather then anything else about it seems to be the most popular thing about it

4:03 They actually are a lot more similar to one another. Both had an extreme bloodlust with Vlad being recorded as being physochpathic and enjoying the sight of blood. Even at a young age, he was known for torturing small animals. Remember this is the same guy who made a forest out of impaled people not even sparing the women and infants, terrorized the countryside at night, enslaved children to work to death, forced people to eat each other's body parts, etc. I assume the direct reference to the bloodsucking/bat related aspects came from other stories, such as countess Báthory of neighboring Hungary who bathed and dined on hundreds of young women.

The process of these characters starting as parts of some dark literature or ancient history, then slowly becoming marketable, increasingly cartoonish, and family-friendly is very interesting. It's almost like every cultural and societal component is becoming suitable for the consumerist middle class culture. Though, I can't decide whether this is an inevitable outcome in today's (western?) societies or is purposely directed towards this way.

I think JJ is becoming Wolfman

I'm so glad I found this channel recently. Entertaining and highly informative! 👍

I think Cthulhu is one character we can already see turning into an American symbol of Halloween. Although it is a bit niche still, the works of H.P. Lovecraft have only continued to grow in popularity and penetrate pop-culture (which even as a Lovecraft fanboy is genuinely surprising considering the kind of person Lovecraft was and the kind of culture we live in today) and should it continue we'll likely see Cthulhu's tentacle-ly face in Halloween aisles in Walmart in no time. Doesn't hurt that H.P. Lovecraft's work has basically been public-domain since August Derleth and Arkham House saved them from obscurity.

The failure of Universal's "Dark Universe" is a great example of Universal thinking their "unique" IP in this area is valuable outside of the generic versions of the characters. They basically bet their entire strategy on it and got big actors signed on, only to it to go absolutely nowhere, with only one movie ever being released.

It’s always a good day when JJ uploads

Tom Tyler played the mummy in The Mummy’s Hand. Lon Chaney Jr. played him in the sequels.

1. The Ghostface Killer (Scream) 2. The "Evil Clown" (Killer Klowns from Outer Space, et al.) 3. Aliens that look like "👽" (American fascination of outer space via UFO sightings, 50s Sci-Fi etc.)

In a way, this is an interesting example of brand genericide. Universal did such a good job creating iconic takes on these characters that they became the default.

I also think that one important thing to consider when explaining how these five characters became so iconic is that their costumes are really easy to make. We didn’t have a lot of money so I often dressed as a vampire since I had some dress clothes and could just slick my hair back. If you take that into account than zombies are the most obvious next candidate.

I know he's no monster, but Snoopy has started to be a cultural icon in America

It is nice seeing a holiday themed JJ video just to freshen-up the channel a bit more!

I never thought my RU-vid habits of watching JJ and old Bela Lugosi clips would intersect! Awesome video!

Mothman, bigfoot, the jersey devil, wendigo(more native?), skunk ape, or heck even slenderman.

The scariest Halloween custome out there is an IRS agent

It's not really American, but when discussing monsters going from pop culture to folk culture, you can't ignore good old Godzilla. Back when he was first introduced as Gojira, was a legitimately terrifying character who evoked horrific memories of mid-20th century nuclear warfare. Since then, he has gone to appear in as many random crossover movies as possible and has even become something of a folk hero in Japanese and American culture.

I randomly stumbled upon this channel last week. Ive binge watched all your content, absolutely brilliant

Creating uniquely American monsters. Don't we have the elections for that?

I mean Billy the Puppet from Saw has seen so many parodies I'd say it deserves a spot in modern folk culture.

I first found you by mindlessly scrolling the shorts and then navigated to your channel and found the candy flavors videos. From there, on....you've earned a subscriber and I look forward to each video and short.

great video as usual. looking forward to next one

The editing on this video is just 🤌 chef’s kiss. Well done JJ!

"which is of course completely different to how the British think of Eastern Europe today" killed me.

Love the material you come up with. As it has been said: Information I didn’t realize I needed.

You're editing is so good. Loved the smash bros style monster reveal

Me thinking about Monster High as I watch this video: Oh shoot he's right.

I would say most of the original "80's" slasher characters have started or really entered that phase of cultural relevance. Like you mentioned with Jason but I would add Leatherface (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) as I've lost track of how many times shows use a hockey masked killer with a chainsaw as a stock character.

Excellent and well researched, your art is stunning. You went to a lot of work for this video and it shows!

I really enjoyed this video JJ. These classic monsters make me think of happy Halloween parties in elementary school.

Fun fact: In the past in Ireland when 'Trick or Treating' children said "Help the Halloween Party" rather than nowadays "Trick or Treat" which came from the U.S. Frankenstein is the most frightening book I've ever read 😰 Love your shirt 👌🏽

My grandpa was Transylvanian and when I was a kid he convinced me he was a Werewolf. We would howl at the moon together, and every Halloween he’d jump out and scare me to the point of tears in a werewolf costume.

I love your videos so much! Please never stop!

It is really crazy to see how much JJ has been blowing up, I remember being here below 100,000 subs

Rudolf the red nose reindeer comes to mind when I think of privately owned folk characters

Frankenstein is the doctor, not the monster itself (although you could argue he was a monster metaphorically speaking since no normal person would stitch bodyparts together)

Fun fact, the medal Bela Legosi wore in the film as Dracula was actually an ancient family hareloom he decided to wear with the costume. It really adds to the character.

The idea of a slasher in general, not one in particular but more of a merging of the major 5, Leatherface, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger And Ghostface. There’s a reason people run around with chainsaws and hockey masks on Halloween, we’ve merged together the idea of a seemingly unstoppable killing machine that borders on man and monster that lies behind a mask and that doesn’t use the weapons we associate mass death with but instead uses weapons meant to extract suffering. A bit morbid but it’s true.

I'm very curious to know if universal gets paid when stores sell halloween costumes that resemble the universal Frankenstein or the classy Dracula.

I knew before watching this exactly where their popularity came from. I was the youngest of four brothers born from the mid 40's to the mid 50's. We all saw every one of these movies at least ten times each, almost always on Friday nights. Boys in those days all built model cars and model monsters. I built Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman and the Mummy, and maybe a few others. But my brothers' models were always ten times cooler.

Evil clowns are very popular in American culture, especially with Pennywise and The Joker popularizing the concept in their own interpretations for decades, and they've been parodied multiple times in many pop culture properties. Maybe in the future, Evil Clowns would join vampires and werewolves as generic Halloween creatures.

That's a great analytical video JJ! Now I want to watch original Dracula and Frankenstein

maybe this is an interpretation on my end or just easily arguable, but i’d say slenderman is already starting to have this affect with the movie that came out, and he’s a very interpretable character. he treads the line between being an individual like Dracula but he’s also plain and simple enough like the mummy. idk if he’ll ever enter the same space as the goofiness of the munsters but he’s definitely got a very cynical, ironic space of humor that many of the creepypastas do

Interesting you used the term ‘wolf man’ I have always called them werewolves.(Sw u.s.) The werewolf has also always been a much more introspective character than say Frankenstein. Usually depicted as the most popular teenage boy, you feel bad he is turned into a monster in a sense, and the parodies I remember always wearing something like a varsity jacket and jeans.

Fun Fact: Generation 1 of the doll line Monster High was directly based on the Universal versions of the characters. This is very evident in the character of Frankie Stein. In particular, Universal lays claim to the monster’s green skin and neck bolts, which are not mentioned in the book. Frankenstein’s monster would otherwise be a public domain character. As a result, Mattel had to get permission from Universal to give Frankie these features. Universal’s Monster and his Bride were her official parents, and were sometimes used in promo art. Now with Generation 3 of these dolls, Mattel seems to have dropped the Universal association, as this time, Frankie’s skin is a minty blue instead of green and they don’t have neck bolts (much to Fan’s disappointment.) Perhaps to get around licensing, or maybe to cut costs for the neck bolts and the taboo of green being a “boy’s” color in the case of the skin (something that was an issue with G1 as the marketing team didn’t want to give her green skin for exactly this reason, which is lame.) Personally I like some of the other changes to this Frankie, but I wish they still had neck bolts. Maybe it can be an accessory down the line someday. Mattel still sometimes releases G1 Frankie stuff, and even recently released “Skullector” MH dolls of the Monster and his Bride themselves, but G1 and G3 Frankie are basically different characters.

JJ, I have been binging your videos for the last week. I just discovered your RU-vid and it’s very good. I see so much potential in you. Thank you for your videos. Such amazing content.

50's/60's monster movies. Dracula, mummies, Frankenstein. They were the inaugural "monsters" of the mass-media era, so they became the archetypes.

Similarly to the Universal monsters, the “Alien” and “Predator” franchises jumped the shark and eventually got combined into one universe.

I grew up watching the old Universal monster movies on TV, and they will always have a place in my heart. I think I've seen every single monster film that the studio made between 1931 and 1948 and many multiple times.

Bride of Frankenstein and the Abbot and Castello movies are actually pretty fondly remembered. They certainly aren't as famous but they still make the rounds