Universal had quite the run back in the day, creating icon after icon that would haunt everyone's nightmares for nearly 80 years now. Which of their original monster movies did you like the most?
Creature From The Black Lagoon. Such a timeless and fantastic monster design. If the on and off rumored remake ever happens, I pray they stay as true as possible to the original regarding the creature. My hopes aren't up too high though as I really don't like any of the Universal remakes.
Lightening struck twice with Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. The first Frankenstein is my favorite horror film of all time and on of my all time favorite films period. I love the rest of Universal's monsters but for me The Monster stands head and shoulders above the rest.
I remember reading Fangoria magazine around 1980 and there was talk about a creature remake back then.
The Creature From The Black Lagoon for me as well. It is a great monster film that still holds up today. Especially the monster suit and the way the actors portrayed the creature.
I don't think that Phantom Of The Opera was from Universal. Universal did the 1940s one with Claude Rains. But since it's up there, I went with the 1925 Phantom.
I would say I like a lot of the cheapie 1940s sequels/monster rallies the best. HOUSE OF DRACULA, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN... Also forgotten titles like THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE.
It's the Creature From The Black Lagoon for me. Even though in many ways it's a re-telling of the King Kong style 'beauty and the beast' tragedy, there's something about the film that has resonated with me since I saw it as a child. The strangely beautiful Gill Man design, the gorgeous Julia Adams, powerful performances by all cast members, and an exotic locale. Add to that some truly beautiful imagery such as the underwater 'ballet' between the creature and Adams, and to me it's just a film that transcends its B-movie origins. The Revenge of the Creature is also a favorite. I think the 'Creature' films were a nice throwback to old style monster mayhem that had been largely replaced by the more sci-fi nuclear terrors of Godzilla, Tarantula, Them! and the rest of the fifties pack. Famous Monsters recently had a great retrospective on the Creature trilogy that is well worth reading.
Such a tough choice as these are all iconic horror films. The only fair way for me to decide would be to go by which one I watch the most and that would be Frankenstein. There aren't many perfect horror films out there, but in my opinion, Frankenstein is clearly one of them. As many times as I've watched it, it is honestly hard to find a single flaw in it. Creature from the Black Lagoon is definitely a close second followed by The Wolf Man. The limited edition blu-ray coffin set is by far the holy grail of my entire movie collection.
I haven't seen Creature since I was a kid, but I watched The Mummy for the first time this past October and it surprised me a great deal with it's mood and story arc of lost love that delves into the horrific. And Karloff is fantastic in it, and the make-up is great!
Great thread! I'm surprised that The Creature From The Black Lagoon is receiving so much love. I hope you all have a 3DTV since the recent blu-ray is awesome. I voted for The Invisible Man, though The Wolf Man comes in at a close second. The Invisible Man is such a bizarre film. You don't see the star of the film until the very end and there is almost no score whatsoever.
The Wolf Man edges out Frankenstein for me--largely on the basis of the superb score. It masterfully controls the mood of the entire film. Of the films listed here I'd rank The Invisible Man third. But the top 6 of these films are close in quality. I'd put The Mummy and the 1943 Phantom substantially below the rest. Pacing is a huge strength of The Wolf Man. It consistently moves forward, builds to a thrilling finish, and wastes no frames. And the final hunt sequence is bravura film-making all-around. The score, editing, and cinematography combine in the same way they do in the climax of the original King Kong. Aside from the lack of a musical score, Frankenstein is pretty close to perfect too. Too bad that Frederick Kerr's terrible work as Baron Frankenstein brings several sequences to a dead stop. I can see this poll was designed around the Blu-ray box. But I think The Black Cat should be a choice here too. It's a truly sensational film. P.S. Chaney's Phantom was indeed a Universal film CPT HOOK. Unfortunately they forgot to renew the copyright--which is why the rights are muddled (and why the Rains version finds its way into the Universal box sets).
They are indeed all classics making this a tough call.I nearly went with the silent PHANTOM.I saw that as a kid in a theater with a live piano score,a cherished memory.A few years ago though I was lucky enough to see a great 35mm print of THE CREATURE FROM THE BACK LAGOON with a terrific audience,hosted by our local Horror Host,"Dr. Madblood",in a great arthouse theater built in the 20's,IN 3-D.So much fun and the compositions are just gorgeous.Love that score too ! CREATURE may not be the BEST of Universal's output,it may not be the most historic,but it is the one I find the most fun,great movie !
Agreed. I've come to appreciate even the immediate sequels as well, although to a lesser extent. I'm not as familiar with the performance. What about it detracts from the overall film for you? Also, the spectrum of results in the poll make me proud to be a member here. Everyone's a favorite.
Sadly I still need to see a lot of these . I planned on grabbing the Bluray collection in Oct. but lack of funds put a stop to that. I will definitely be picking it up this Oct. though! Considering I still have many to see I won't vote, but my order so far would be... Wolf Man Invisible Man Dracula Frankenstein Frankenstein was the film I was most excitedd to see but it didn't do much for me. I definitely need to give it another viewing though. Invisible Man was the biggest surprise as I didn't have much interest in watching it but ended up loving it. It sits right up there with The Wolf Man for me.
Bela is great, but overall it isn't a very good movie. It's very stagy (which makes perfect sense given its origin), all of the action takes place off camera, and there's not much of a soundtrack to speak of. There was a HUGE leap in production values in the short time between Draculas and Frankensteins releases.
