Universal Putting Classic Monster Movies Including ‘Dracula’

I own them all on blu-ray, and some more extensive Universal horror sets on DVD which I've been meaning to upgrade but haven't because Scream Factory prices.

Great stuff, big fan.

I've been wanting to watch Wolfman and Mummy for a while. They could've done this for 31 days of halloween though...

The Wolfman is pretty cool.  The Mummy...well, it's a fun concept but there's not much else to it, it's worth a watch though.

Universal mostly ignores it's silent films, so they never include it as one of their classics. But I hear Kino's disc of the Chaney film is pretty solid.

The Lon Cheney version is not considered one of the Universal Monster Movies^TM. The official canon begins with Dracula and any horror movie that Universal Studios happened to make prior to that is considered separate.  

I didn't even know there was a Claude Rains version when I bought the set but I made the mistake of watching it.  Part of me wants to throw that one away and replace it with Chaney.

And should Creature from the Black Lagoon be considered one of the official monster movies even though it came out over twenty years after the other films in the set?

Dude’s in the Monster Squad

Yes.

He's a monster, and the movie is made by Universal. He came out in a time where they were making monster movies with a more sci-fi twist like It Came From Outer Space, Tarantula, The Deadly Mantis, and The Mole People. He just happened to be the only really iconic monster from that period.

I've always like the sequels probably more than I should. Like, Creature Walks Among Us is a really strange escalation of the concept, but I think the tragedy of the Gill Man's journey in that film somehow makes it work better than it should.

It's never said one way or another. It's alluded that the Gill Man dies at the end of each one (they recycle the shot of the sinking Gill Man from the end of the first at the very end of Revenge of the Creature). I'm assuming it's supposed to be the same Gill Man, because it's always been alluded that he's the last of his species.

If it further clarifies Doomsday's question about Universal Horror/Monsters and why each film is included on that particular set, here are the "three stages" of Universal Horror/Monsters broken down.

Universal started a huge horror push after Carl Laemmle handed the studio over to his son, Carl Laemmle Jr., who loved gothic stories and put Dracula and Frankenstein into production. After the success of those two films, Laemmle Jr. had thr clout to make more films of that type, most starring Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi. Most of the horror movies Universal made during the 30's were pretty solid, which is why the bulk of that set is comprised of films made from that period, and a lot of them were fairly original works (some loose adaptations, like films they did with Edgar Allan Poe titles), and there were very few sequels, with Bride of Frankenstein and Dracula's Daughter being the sole exceptions.

Universal was in debt to Standard Capital Corporation for a loan however, and when they couldn't pay it, Standard Capital took over the studio, ending that era after completion of Dracula's Daughter. They opted out of making horror films because they saw them as trashy, choosing to burn out Boris Karloff's contract with a crime thriller called Night Key rather than cast him as another monster and tried to disassociate with the actor. But they changed their tune when a reissue of Dracula and Frankenstein made them a lot of money, and quickly put Son of Frankenstein into production (starring Boris Karloff, lol), which started their run on Universal Horror which ran into the 40's. While Son of Frankenstein made money, they decided they would have made more money if it had cost less money, so they cut the budget of the horror films they were putting out, often making them as B-pictures.

I'd add that if one wants to single out Creature from the Black Lagoon as an odd duck on the set, then one would also have to point to The Wolf Man, because it's really the only iconic film made during this period. One could probably argue the Kharis Mummy films are more iconic than the original, since they established the tropes most associate with a Mummy film, but they're mostly not very good.

In the late-40's, Universal merged with International Pictures to for Universal International, and they opted to discontinue horror films once again, as they had gotten so cheap that they weren't drawing the crowds they used to and also the passing of Rondo Hatton caused the studio to balk at the previous regime's exploitation of the disfiguring disease that killed him by casting him as a movie monster, and they chose to distance themselves from it immediately by selling Hatton's last film, The Brute Man, to a poverty row studio. With the exception of a few thrillers starring Boris Karloff in the early 50's and satirizing the brand through State Capital's biggest success during their Universal run, their signing of comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Gothic horror was mostly dead at the studio.

Sci-fi horror started to boom in the 50's though, with films like Them! and Godzilla. Universal International had success with the genre with the pair of 3D sci-fi monster movies It Came from Outer Space and Creature from the Black Lagoon, and they continued to make further films in that tradition. There were a few films that featured more supernatural monsters, like Werewolf on Campus and The Thing That Couldn't Die, but they mostly chugged along with films like The Monolith Monsters. This last aggressive push at the studio ended with The Leech Woman in 1960, which was only made as the second half of a double feature with the Hammer import Brides of Dracula. Universal has made horror films since, such as The Birds in 1963 and dabs in the Halloween and Child's Play franchises, but they haven't really pushed the genre like they used to. Except maybe the Dark Universe, but we all know how that turned out.

The reason those eight specific films are on that set is mostly simple, they're the cream of the crop. While a decent amount of Universal Horror is pretty good, those films are the ones that have stature above the others. Even Phantom of the Opera is better than a good amount of its contemporaries, like it's shitty quasi-sequel The Climax, though its mostly included because it's a brand name and it's not a silent film. Arguments can be made, such as switching 40's Phantom with 20's Phantom or including other strong films like The Black Cat or It Came from Outer Space, but if one just wants to see the greats, those are the ones to watch.

Here's an image of the VHS collection.  One of you is going to have to report back on the quality of The Mad Ghoul , Captive Wild Woman and The Monster and The Girl.