With Marvel and DC comics continuing to duke it out as to who can create the biggest cinematic universe one almost forgets that back in the 1930s Universal Pictures unknowingly launched their own franchise with their adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, long before the idea of a cinematic universe even existed.
Category: Film
Movies
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) – Review
The idea group of explorers entering a strange land only to discover that it’s inhabited by some sort of monster is as old as the genre itself, with RKO’s 1933 classic King Kong being the standard-bearer for such a story, but in 1954 Universal Pictures decided to add a final star in their line-up of…
Phantom of the Opera (1943) – Review
There have been many adaptations of Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera, from Lon Chaney’s brilliant silent version in 1925 to Andrew Llyod Webber’s Broadway musical smash, but in 1943 Universal Pictures took their own shot at this classic tale, just so they could add another star in their line-up of Universal…
The Wolf Man (1941) – Review
“Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms, and the autumn moon is bright” with those immortal words Universal Pictures would launch another horror franchise that would rival that of its contemporary cousins Dracula and Frankenstein, but where The Wolf Man…
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) – Review
It’s hard to believe that at one point in time a sequel to a successful feature film was not a foregone conclusion – hell, these days some franchises refuse to die – yet long before it was fashionable Universal Pictures kicked this concept into overdrive with their series of Gothic horror movies and created what…