Dracula, Frankenstein, the Invisible Man; whether it’s from books, television or film, odds are you’ve heard of all these characters. Over the past century, the popularity of these characters have skyrocketed due to their appearances throughout the media. Ever since the Universal Classic Monsters Franchise, many films have taken inspiration from these movies and continue to inspire many filmmakers to this day.
Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, was released in 1931 and was an adaptation of the 1897 novel by Bram Stoker. Dracula was one of the first films in the Universal monster franchise which later introduced famous characters such as Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, The Wolf Man, the Mummy, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. These characters became household names and spawned countless movies that are still being made to this day.
What was also unique about these films at the time was that they had characters crossover in other films, such as Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, starting the first shared universe in film. So no, Marvel did not create shared universes. They have the Universal Monsters to thank for that. A few of these movies also featured popular comedy duo Abbott and Costello, where the duo would run into and interact with these horror icons, like in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
The Classic Universal Monster Franchise Ended in 1956 with The Creature Walks Among Us. Trying to recapture the success of the original franchise, Universal attempted to reboot/create a new shared universe starting with 2017’s The Mummy, which starred Tom Cruise. The film was a massive box office disaster ending all plans to create a new shared Universe.
Dracula, being one of the first classic monster movies, is also one of the most influential of the monster films. Over the years, there have been countless interpretations of Dracula in the media and some of them even directly reference the original 1931 film. One of the most recent examples being Universal’s Renfield which references the original film several times. Other Modern attempts to capitalize on the classic monsters include The Mummy trilogy starring Brendan Frasier, Invisible Man 2020, and The Last Voyage of the Demeter.
So, this Halloween, maybe check out one of the original classic monster films, as they are the ones that inspired several modern horror movies and still continue to inspire horror to this day.