Fun Universal Monsters

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10



Updated versions of Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster, the Wolfman and The Mummy, appeared of course in the 1987 horror/comedy THE MONSTER SQUAD.

And - of course - a remake of this film has been announced as being "in development".

Universal sure seem to mean business!

It must be all those dollars that Marvel and DC are earning with their shared Universes.




 
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Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
It's not entirely easy, but I am going to have to go for Bela Lugosi for my third vote (after Boris and Elsa).

He brought, I felt, an intelligent malice in the few moments that were not chopped out of the film. And it is his style of walking as the monster that ended up being imitated by most people in the decades that followed these movies.

Lon did his best, but just remained a hulking menace during ghost. Glenn Strange never seemed to have much character at all, although he certainly looked the part.

Of course, lots of scenes of Bela talking as the monster were hacked out of the film. Luckily the script survived and one enterprising fan has attempted a reconstruction of sorts of all of these missing scenes.


So, if for nothing else other than this sinister moment....



Lugosi gets my third vote...
 
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Carol

Member: Rank 5
Lugosi gave himself to the role 100% - perhaps way too far for comfort; Chaney was so hugely versatile. And given that Karloff found the Monster a very limiting piece of typecasting, I wouldn't force him to be in at my number 1 or 2.

Some serious respect added for Elsa Lanchester if that's allowed?
Good poll!
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
That is a really good point about Elsa Lanchester Carol - and it has affected the voting.

Elsa is now part of the poll

Just click "change my vote" if you want to vote for Elsa too, Carol and thanks again for pointing out The Bride's right to be included! :emoji_alien:
 
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Carol

Member: Rank 5
That is a really good point about Elsa Lanchester Carol - and it has affected the voting.

Elsa is now part of the poll and so there are now three votes allowed - based on the (correct?) assumption that Boris and Elsa will get everybody's first two votes.

Just click "change my vote" if you want to vote for Elsa too, Carol and thanks again for pointing out The Bride's right to be included! :emoji_alien:

Thank you - I'm really chuffed you did that! Electrodes in the neck are all very well, but THAT wig must have been a chore and a half to act under.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10



This film was, made by rival studios Columbia, was, in it's time, obviously a blatant rip off of the Universal Monsters series, featuring a thinly disguised Dracula, going by the name of Armand Tesla - and the Wolf Man, although this one could talk just fine, even after being transformed.

It has it's moments however and is a nice curio, when one looks back at those monster films.

Bela Lugosi reprises his most famous role, albeit he is not called Dracula.

There are some shots where I thought the actor playing the werewolf looked suspiciously similar to Lon Chaney Junior too!



 
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chainsaw_metal1

Member: Rank 8
I've never had the chance to see it myself, but always wanted to, just for my own curiosity. It looks like a fun film, even if a little borrowed. Columbia wasn't always known for being on the up and up in their film making.
 

chainsaw_metal1

Member: Rank 8
I absolutely love the first one. The second one has some really great moments, but it's not quite the same. As for the thrid...ugh. If it had been a film all on its own, I would have loved it. The setting of it in China with the history therein would have made for a really great film. But they tried too hard to bring Rick and Evelyn back into it. And doing it without Rachel Weisz? Nope. Not a good decision. But the first one is great fun to watch.

And I still hate Tom Cruise. I hope it bombs.
 

chainsaw_metal1

Member: Rank 8
Not bad. Not good. Um...I guess I expected so much more from this film. I really like Luke Evans as an actor, and enjoyed his performance, for the most part. The story was decent, but again, I really had high hopes for this one. It just fell flat in the end.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
I finally saw it yesterday and have kind of mixed feelings about it.

In my opinion, if there is one fundamental mistake that could be made in a UNIVERSAL MONSTERS SHARED UNIVERSE, it would be to update the narrative to modern times.

This film ends by moving to the present day - and this year's THE MUMMY is also set in present day.

I think that the original films worked as well as they did because they were set in a strange gothic fairytale land of torch wielding villagers and castles, where sometimes the present day of automobiles and trains bled into the narrative.

If they can't get the tone and setting right then I see nothing but failure for any revival that sees us in totally realistic present times and someone can flip open a mobile phone while being chased by the Frankenstein Monster or the Wolf Man.

With that in mind, I liked the vast bulk of this film which could have worked as a nice introduction - if that dratted last scene had not moved everything to modern times and all potential for a franchise full of eeriness was lost.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Warner Bros. Pictures is mulling legal action over the use of the “Dark Universe” title as it is developing its “Justice League Dark” project and tie-in comics all branded with a ‘Dark Universe’ banner.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
More Creatures Join Universal’s “Dark Universe”


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Two more monsters are joining and two more rumored are confirmed to be a part of Universal Pictures’ recently announced ‘Dark Universe’ initiative that kicks off this weekend with “The Mummy”.

That film’s director Alex Kurtzman and producer Chris Morgan are the pair in charge of the initiative which was announced along with the casting of Javier Bardem as Frankenstein and Johnny Depp as The Invisible Man.

Now, talking with Fandom, Kurtzman revealed the complete line-up of characters joining the Dark Universe with multiple films planned beyond “The Mummy”:

“We know we’re going to do Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Phantom of the Opera, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Invisible Man.

There are characters within those films that can grow and expand and maybe even spin off. I think that digging into deep mythologies about monsters around the world is fair game for us, as well and connecting the monsters that we know to some surprising monsters could also be really interesting.”

And which other actors would he like to see in this universe, he says: “I’d love to bring Michael Fassbender in, I’d love to bring Jennifer Lawrence in, I’d love to see Charlize Theron in there, Angelina Jolie.”

The films will be connected by a mysterious multi-national organization known as Prodigium led by the enigmatic Dr. Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe) who protects the public from knowledge of the evil that exists just beyond the thin membrane of civilized society. The next film in the series is Bill Condon’s “Bride of Frankenstein” opening Valentine’s Day 2019.

The expansion talks hit as estimates for the opening box-office weekend of “The Mummy”, at least domestically, have been downgraded from $40 million to $35 million. Internationally though, the film is expected to do big business and has already had a record-breaking opening day in Korea.
 
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