Movie Talk - Universal Studio's Creature from the Black Lagoon Movies

"Man, these folk coming up and interrupting my fun time with myself!"

Next up for the spooky month is a look at one of the final Universal Studio Monster: The Creature from the Black Lagoon or “The Gill-Man.” The Creature (“Gill-Man” sounds lame) came about in the 1950’s when horror was trying to branch out from the supernatural. Now, you had mad scientists doing bad science, nuclear tests gone wrong, beasts from eons ago inflicting havoc, aliens coming from the sky, and all sorts of mad hysteria. Universal Studios wanted to get in on that action, so the Creature was born. The Creature movies were the last few movies that Universal Studios did in this branch of horror. It’s a monster whose influences can be felt today. Just look at Abe Sapien from Hellboy and the beast from The Shape of Water for examples.

The Creature was featured in three movies: Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Revenge of the Creature (1955), and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956). Now, I saw the 1954 film a long time ago. It was one of the only Universal Monster movies they had at Movie Gallery. When my sister got the collection, I watched it as well the second movie. I didn’t even get around to watch the last movie until a couple of days ago when I marathoned them all. So, how did Universal’s last Monster fare out in his movies?

Movie Talk - Universal Studios' Dracula Movies

Dracula: Hmm... I'm quite good in the novel, it seems.

Well, it’s time to return to the Universal Monsters once again. Since I’ve gone through my favorites like the Frankenstein Monster and the Wolf Man, it’s time to touch upon the Count himself: Dracula or Vlad the Impaler. He was the one who started it all with Dracula released in 1931. Even though he’s not the first vampire to hit screens (there was Nosferato in 1922), he’s definitely the most remembered and most parodied.

Now, of all of the monsters, he’s probably my least favorite. Even though he was the one who got this all started, he’s on the low end of the list. He’s not bad, per se, but he lacks something the other monsters don’t lack. I think it has to do with the fact that he is just an evil predator. He’s just going around taking advantage of anyone and killing them. The rest of the monsters have more going on than just being destructive. The Frankenstein Monster’s a destructive but naïve dude, the Wolf Man is a dude struggling with the beast inside, and the Gill-Man (who I’ll get to later) is just a dude who wants to be left alone… and get a hot lady on the side. Drac’s just evil and that’s it. Still, are the movies good? Let’s find out.

On today’s list is the following: Dracula (1931), Dracula’s Daughter (1936), and Son of Dracula (1942). Now, I do remember seeing Son of Dracula when I was younger. I hadn’t seen the 1931 movie until a few years ago when my sister got us that big collection. As for Dracula’s Daughter, I didn’t see it until a few days ago where I watched all three movies back to back. I was going to watch the Spanish version of Dracula, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. It’s basically the same as the 1931 version but with Spanish actors. The same sets are even used for it.

Movie Talk - The Universal Studios' Mummy Movies

Since we’re in the month of Halloween, I thought it was time to return to the Universal Monsters once again. This time, it’s the Monster with a preference for limping: the Mummy. By the way, I’m going old-school, so there will be no mention of the 2017 trainwreck with Tom Cruise. I still haven’t seen the movie yet but if I get that bored, it might be a watch. Unlike movies such as Dracula and Frankenstein, The Mummy was a bit of an original idea. It was influenced by the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb being found in Egypt. The rumors about curses befalling those who opened those tombs also played into crafting the movie.

I saw The Mummy long ago when it was available at Movie Gallery. As for the other movies, I actually didn’t see those until somewhat recently. When my sister got me and my dad the whole Universal Monster Collection, I pretty much went through the Mummy movies. They were pretty short movies, so it was pretty easy to do. I might have seen one of them as part of a marathon beforehand, but I’m not sure. I did know about them through those Crestwood books I used to pick up at the library. I re-watched them all for this post. There was another movie along with that collection that has Abbott and Costello in it, but I’ll skip it for today.

Movie Talk - Universal Studio's Wolf Man Movies and Team-Up Movies

Well, I hope y’all had a safe Halloween. I was at work doing my thing as usual. Yes, I’m a little late on this one. It was actually a pretty busy weekend. Next up on this week’s edition of Monster Talk, here are the Wolf-Man movies and the “monster team-ups.” Unlike Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Invisible Man, the Wolf Man wasn’t based on a book. He shares that distinction with a couple of other monsters.

I first saw the Wolf Man as well as the Frankenstein Monster through Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man years ago. I actually didn’t see the movie, The Wolf Man, until later. I think I also saw Abbott and Costello Meets Frankenstein around that time too. I saw House of Frankenstein on AMC when they did a marathon of the movies. As for House of Dracula, I just recently watched it for the first time a couple of nights ago. I had seen snippets of it online, though. I also did a re-watch with the others.

Movie Talk - Universal Studios' Frankenstein Movies

Dude, calm down! He just had a hangover from being dead! That's all.

Since we’re coming upon All Hallow’s Eve, I wanted to get to these movies. I’ve rarely talked about any movies from this era on here, so I might as well do it with these. Today, I’ll be talking about Universal’s Frankenstein movies. I’m only looking at the main movies that involved the Monster. The others involving the Wolf Man and others will have to wait.

I more or less went into my history with the monsters before, but a little refresher on Frankenstein isn’t bad. I first saw Frankenstein when I was probably in third or fourth grade. I was also able to see Son of Frankenstein since it was also at Movie Gallery. I didn’t see Ghost of Frankenstein until sometime later on TV. I did read a book about it earlier. I actually didn’t see Bride of Frankenstein until last year. It was on Netflix and I hadn’t seen it yet. Since it’s the season for scary movies, I did a refresher on these four movies.

Random Thoughts On... The Universal Monsters

I thought I would really change it up today and talk about a genre I’m not a big fan of: horror. I don’t know why I’m not into horror that much. My dad and sister like horror movies. I know I’m not a fan of most modern horror. I’m really not a fan of gore. If I do watch any horror movies, they’re usually older ones like the Halloween series, the Friday The 13^th series, or other stuff. I do like horror movies with a sci-fi feel like The Thing and the Alien series. I think it also has to be a pretty good movie for me to really get invested.