This list has ’em all. We’ve got Dracula. We’ve got Frankenstein. We’ve got the Mummy, the Invisible Man, and the Wolf Man, too. We’ve got the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and we haven’t forgotten the Phantom of the Opera. But that’s not all: we’ve got their houses, their brides, their sons, and their daughters as well.
31. House of Dracula (1945, dir. Erle C. Kenton, 67 minutes)
Both Larry Talbot (a mustachioed Lon Chaney Jr.) and Dracula (John Carradine) ask Dr. Franz Edelmann (Onslow Stevens) to cure them of their respective monstrosities. Dracula, however, is insincere, and in no time at all, he’s possessed the body of Dr. Edelman to resuscitate the Frankenstein monster (Glenn Strange). Though more coherent than House of Frankenstein, the series is enervated by this point, and there is little sense of humor or—God forbid—horror in this movie.
30. Son of Dracula (1943, dir. Robert Siodmak, 80 minutes)
A woman from Louisiana (Louise Allbritton), obsessed with the occult and in line to inherit a plantation, marries Count Alucard (Lon Chaney Jr.)—read that backward—to achieve immortality. Her intentions are not entirely selfish but are nevertheless disastrous. Unfortunately, Chaney is miscast, never quite reaching the hammy heights the role demands. He is better at agony, and he just can’t say “the soil is red with the blood of a hundred races” with the same deadpan relish as a Boris or Bela.
29. The Mummy’s Hand (1940, dir. Christy Cabanne, 67 minutes)
An archeologist (Dick Foran) and his comic relief sidekick (Wallace Ford) find a broken vase in a bazaar, which leads them to the tombs of Kharis (Tom Tyler) and Princess Ananka (Zita Johann in recycled footage). These boys from Brooklyn are joined by a magician (Cecil Kellaway) and his daughter (Peggy Moran), but parlor tricks can’t inject life or interest into this dull horror comedy. The movie not only reuses footage from the original but features a nefarious high priest (Eduardo Ciannelli) waxing poetic about “children of the night.” The title mummy—let alone its hand—takes a backseat to Foran and Ford’s bargain bin Abbott and Costello routine.
28. The Mummy’s Tomb (1942, dir. Harold Young, 61 minutes)
Thirty years after the events of The Mummy’s Hand, Kharis (Lon Chaney Jr.) is revived to seek revenge against those who disturbed his tomb and all their “blood relations.” Like its predecessor, the movie heavily relies on recycled footage—at least eleven minutes of its sixty-one-minute runtime are taken up with flashbacks—but thankfully this time around Dick Foran and Wallace Ford have dropped their insufferable vaudeville shtick. As for Lon Chaney Jr., it might as well be anyone else under that mummy makeup.
27. The Mummy’s Ghost (1944, dir. Reginald Le Borg, 61 minutes)
Yousef Bey (John Carradine), the new High Priest of Arkam, travels to Massachusetts to retrieve Kharis (Lon Chaney Jr.), but Kharis is more interested in Amina Mansori (Ramsay Ames), an Egyptian student who gets a faraway look in her eyes every time her home country is mentioned. There’s also a dog whose powers to communicate danger to humans would put Lassie to shame. A surprising ending and an absence of recycled footage put this sequel slightly above its two predecessors.
26. The Invisible Man (1933, dir. James Whale, 71 minutes)
Slow, talky adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel. The temptations of invisibility—in particular, of disregarding conventional (and even unconventional) ethics—are discussed at length but never really explored dramatically. However, the special effects, by John P. Fulton, are spectacular; the best scene in the movie has Claude Rains cackling while tossing off his clothing and bandages before a horrified crowd of onlookers.
25. The Invisible Woman (1940, dir. A. Edward Sutherland, 72 minutes)
A dress model (Virginia Bruce) volunteers for an experiment that turns her invisible, but instead of plotting world domination, she exacts revenge on her lousy boss (Charles Lane) and snooty customers. There’s not much to recommend here—not even performances from John Barrymore and Margaret Hamilton.
24. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954, dir. Jack Arnold, 79 minutes)
These days, the Creature from the Black Lagoon (Ben Chapman on land, Ricou Browning underwater) is best known to audiences as the fish monster Guillermo del Toro saw and thought, “But what if you fucked that?” The original, unfortunately, does not live up to such fanfare, with a lousy character-to-creature ratio and a boilerplate Universal plot of nature and scientist run amuck. Still, Milicent Patrick’s Gill Man design is extraordinary, and you can’t help but admire any movie that begins with the dawn of time and the genesis of life on earth—Kubrick’s match cut in 2001: A Space Odyssey covers an instant by comparison.
23. The Invisible Man Returns (1940, dir. Joe May, 81 minutes)
A slight improvement over the original, this is more a riff than a sequel: coal mine owner Geoffrey Radcliffe (Vincent Price) is falsely convicted of murdering his brother and escapes execution through the use of an invisibility drug. Price’s vocal work (a combination of playful theatricality and menace) enables him to handle the shift from everyman to diabolical villain—Rains was no slouch himself, but Price better captures the mania that accompanies the intoxicating power of invisibility. Nevertheless, like its predecessor, the characterization is thin and the narrative mostly a vehicle for both the effects and a few bright, scenery-chewing moments courtesy of Price.
22. The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944, dir. Ford Beebe, 78 minutes)
Jon Hall, the only actor to play the Invisible Man twice for Universal, returns as an escaped mental patient whose chance encounter with a scientist (John Carradine) offers him the opportunity to take revenge on those who have wronged him. There is more character work than is usual in the series, and the script considers how invisibility imprisons much as it liberates, but by the mid-forties, most of its dramatic beats had been exhausted by previous entries, leaving the movie without much drive or energy or reason to exist.
21. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943, dir. Roy William Neill, 74 minutes)
Despite the title, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) never actually meets Frankenstein. Instead, after he is resurrected, Talbot heads to Vasaria to learn the now-dead doctor’s “secrets of life and death” in the hopes they will provide him with the means to find a permanent grave. This entry starts well enough, and the early scenes between the hulking Chaney (6’2″) and the diminutive Maria Ouspenskaya (5’1″)—the Roma woman whose son bit and transformed Talbot in the first film—provide an emotional backbone to the suicide mission. Unfortunately, an unfocused second half gets bogged down in a web of subplots, including those of Frankenstein’s daughter (Ilona Massey), his monster (a wasted Bela Lugosi), Talbot’s doctor (Patric Knowles), and the inspector (Dennis Hoey) investigating the lot of them.
20. The Invisible Agent (1942, dir. Edwin L. Marin, 81 minutes)
Frank Raymond (Jon Hall), whose grandfather invented the invisibility formula, agrees to use it and spy on the Nazis. The Invisible Man is the most elastic of Universal’s monsters—he (or she) lends himself to science fiction, horror, comedy, and in this case, a spy adventure. The results are reasonably entertaining; it is the best of the Invisible Man movies, though that bar is set quite low. Peter Lorre, who fled Hitler, has a small role as a Japanese (!) baron.
19. House of Frankenstein (1944, dir. Erle C. Kenton, 71 minutes)
Doctor Gustav Niemann (Boris Karloff) escapes from prison to learn Frankenstein’s secrets and punish “those for whom I have unloving memories.” He picks up Dracula (John Carradine) on his way to Visaria and, once there, unfreezes Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.). The narrative is a little crowded here—I haven’t even mentioned Niemann’s hunchbacked assistant Daniel (J. Carrol Naish) and Daniel’s Roma love interest (Anne Gwynne)—and the movie is at its best when it remains focused on Karloff. Still, there are some good moments, as when Karloff and Naish turn on the traveling showman who is giving them a ride, or when the freshly-revived Chaney walks into the movie at a 10/10 with the line, “Why have you freed me from the ice that imprisoned the beast that lived within me?”
18. Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955, dir. Charles Lamont, 79 minutes)
There are a handful of good gags in this movie, but few of them have anything to do with the mummy himself (Eddie Parker), who only has eight minutes of screen time. The result is unbalanced, far more comedy than horror. Furthermore, without makeup from Jack Pierce, the creature looks like little more than a trick or treater with a store-bought costume. Bud and Lou made one more movie together and then broke up.
17. Revenge of the Creature (1955, dir. Jack Arnold, 82 minutes)
In the first sequel to Creature from the Black Lagoon, a new team goes looking for the Gill Man (Tom Hennesy on land, Ricou Browning underwater) in the Amazon. But this time, they bring him back to South Florida, where he serves as the marquee attraction for the Ocean Harbor Aquarium. The movie doesn’t really pick up until the creature escapes, but the final thirty minutes or so feature some genuinely creepy moments, making full use of Milicent Patrick’s monster. Revenge is also the most modern of the Universal monster movies, with jump scares and even a pre-Psycho shower scene. A far cry from the Gothic castles of Dracula and Frankenstein.
16. The Mummy’s Curse (1944, dir. Leslie Goodwins, 60 minutes)
The last and strongest of the Kharis sequels has the mummy in Louisiana with a group of archeologists whose research benefits from the appearance of a woman (Virginia Christine) with extraordinary insights into their work. She is, of course, Princess Ananka, love interest to our mummy (Lon Chaney Jr.) and a revenant herself; the scene of her slow rebirth from the swamp is one of the best in the series.
15. The Creature Walks among Us (1956, dir. John Sherwood, 78 minutes)
After setting the Gill Man (Don Megowan on land, Ricou Browning underwater) on fire, a pair of scientists attempt to rehabilitate and integrate him into human society. For both Dr. William Barton (Jeff Morrow) and Dr. Tom Morgan (Rex Reason), the creature represents a possible step forward for mankind, but while Morgan dreams of the stars, Barton cannot escape the jungle, and he indulges in murderous jealousy. The creature walks among us, indeed. This third and final entry is the most sympathetic to the Gill Man, who can no longer breathe underwater and cuts an awkward figure in human clothing. A decidedly melancholy end to the Universal monster franchise.
14. The Mummy (1932, dir. Karl Freund, 73 minutes)
The mummy of Imhotep (Boris Karloff) is a relatively sympathetic monster: after being buried alive, he is resurrected by clumsy and ethnocentric British archeologists, and his subsequent violence is only a means of reviving an ancient, interrupted romance. Karloff’s dry performance is a highlight, as is Jack Pierce’s makeup; Imhotep’s face, more human than outright monster, has the wrinkled texture of old, water-damaged paper. Questions of imperialism are raised but not quite explored, and the script does have some howlers, like this one: “The British Museum works for the cause of science, not for loot.” Come again?
13. The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942, dir. Erle C. Kenton, 67 minutes)
A direct sequel to Son of Frankenstein. Ygor (Bela Lugosi) and Frankenstein’s monster (Lon Chaney Jr.)—who have inexplicably survived the events of the last movie—flee the angry mob and head to the village of Visaria, where the other son of Frankenstein, Ludwig (Cedric Hardwicke), has spent his life running away from his family’s legacy. Oh, and as the title promises, dad shows up as a ghost (also Hardwicke) to encourage Ludwig to continue his experiments. It’s mostly a vehicle for Lugosi’s wild-eyed performance, but there’s nothing wrong with that.
12. Werewolf of London (1935, dir. Stuart Walker, 75 minutes)
While searching for a rare flower in Tibet, the botanist Dr. Wilfred Glendon (Henry Hull) is bitten by some kind of creature. When he returns to England, he realizes he is afflicted with “lycanthrophobia.” The deaths add up, and Dr. Glendon works to find a cure while his wife, Lisa (Valerie Hobson), rekindles a friendship with her childhood boyfriend, Paul Ames (Lester Matthews). The world of Universal is packed with scientists who ignore their wives and fiancées in favor of their laboratories, but the presence of Paul raises the dramatic stakes, even if Lisa rejects his romantic overtures. She would rather be spending time with her husband, and there is an air of tragedy to the movie. Jack Pierce’s creature makeup, spare but effective, suits the tone.
11. She-Wolf of London (1946, dir. Jean Yarbrough, 61 minutes)
Phyllis Allenby (June Lockhart) is betrothed to Barry Lanfield (Don Porter), but a wave of local dog attacks, combined with her strange nightmares and wet clothes, convinces her she is a “Wolf-Woman.” Her aunt (Sara Haden) insists on maintaining silence and isolation, either to protect Phyllis or to protect herself. A solid entry in the series, She-Wolf of London favors psychological terror over outright horror and is well-served by strong performances from Lockhart and Haden.
10. Son of Frankenstein (1939, dir. Rowland V. Lee, 99 minutes)
The monster (Boris Karloff) is now a killing machine, more Jason Voorhees than sympathetic brute. Be that as it may, this is quite a good movie, largely due to a number of great, over-the-top performances: Karloff, of course; Basil Rathbone as the son out to vindicate his father; Lionel Atwill as the inspector who was never able to join the military because the monster dismembered his arm when he was a child; and Bela Lugosi, who turns down the role of the monster in the original film, as Ygor, the shepherd who survived a hanging and directs the monster to kill the jury who sentenced him to death. Lugosi gets the movie’s best line, when Ygor half-heartedly attempts to deny his guilt to Rathbone: “I scare him to death. I don’t have to kill him to death.”
9. Frankenstein (1931, dir. James Whale, 70 minutes)
The first sound adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel deprives the monster (Boris Karloff) of speech. Rather than a self-reflective almost-human, he is more childish, even animalistic, like a confused and playful pit bull unaware that its sharp teeth and ninety pounds can be dangerous. His appearance (sunken cheeks, square head, electrodes in the neck) was the invention of Jack Pierce, and would forever be associated with Shelley’s monster. Though surpassed by its sequel, Frankenstein boasts gorgeous, expressionistic cinematography from Arthur Edeson—he would go on to shoot The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca—as well as a sympathetic and subtle lead performance from the voiceless Karloff. There is also a delightful opening warning (“It will trill you. It will shock you. It might even horrify you“) from Edward Van Sloan.
8. The Phantom of the Opera (1943, dir. Arthur Lubin, 92 minutes)
A lavish, eye-popping remake of the 1925 classic. Claude Rains is a violinist whose skill is waning and whose investment in a young soprano (Susanna Foster) turns murderous after he is fired from the Paris Opera. Where Lon Chaney Jr. brings a histrionic pathos to the Wolf Man, Rains achieves the same effect through restraint, and his is one of the more moving of the Universal monsters. Phantom also benefits from the comic romantic sparring between Foster’s two suitors, an inspector (Edgar Barrier) and a baritone (Nelson Eddy), which has a touch of Rick and Renault in Casablanca.
7. Dracula (1931, dir. Tod Browning, 75 minutes)
There’s lots to love about Dracula: cinematographer Karl Freund’s use of chiaroscuro, particularly in the lighting of the Count’s (Bela Lugosi) eyes; Dwight Frye’s gleeful lunacy as Renfield; Lugosi’s straight-faced performance. And it’s that performance, most of all, that earns Dracula its position here. The movie is stronger in Transylvania than in London, and it cuts the novel’s scariest scene—Harker (David Manners) witnessing Dracula climbing the walls of the castle “in his lizard fashion.” But Lugosi waltzes right into the camp canon with his delivery of lines like, “I never drink wine.” Exquisite.
6. Dracula’s Daughter (1936, dir. Lambert Hillyer, 71 minutes)
Picking up right where the first movie ends, Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) is arrested for murder and enlists the help of Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger), a former student and psychiatrist. Enter Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden), and the Dracula family legacy continues beyond the death of the Count. Moody and erotic, even for a Dracula movie—at one point, the Countess’ manservant invites a desperate, possibly suicidal woman to pose for his mistress, and the tone is decidedly queer. A hypnotizing lead performance from Holden.
5. Drácula (1931, dir. George Melford, 104 minutes)
The rumors are true: the Spanish-language Drácula, filmed at night on the same sets as the English-language version, is the better movie. It shares many of the strengths of Tod Browning’s movie—Carlos Villarías’ Drácula and Pablo Álvarez Rubio’s Renfield are both superb—but it is also nearly thirty minutes longer, and thus, we get to spend more time with Van Helsing (Eduardo Arozamena), Juan Harker (Barry Norton), and Eva (Lupita Tovar), raising the dramatic stakes and increasing our investment in their fates.
4. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951, dir. Charles Lamont, 82 minutes)
Bud and Lou, newly minted private detectives, find a client of sorts in Tommy Nelson (Arthur Franz), a boxer who has been falsely accused of murdering his manager. Tommy receives an invisibility serum, enabling him to capture the real killers. One of the stronger Meet the Monsters movies, as Bud and Lou’s vaudeville antics lend themselves well to invisibility; in the climax, when Lou is miming a boxer’s moves while Tommy lands the real punches, he is practically balletic.
3. The Wolf Man (1941, dir. George Waggner, 70 minutes)
The appeal of the Wolf Man is that hero and villain are one; he is hunted as much as he hunts. Like Frankenstein’s monster, he is not complicit in his monstrosity, and this adds a classically tragic quality to the action. Unlike the monster, he is completely human, and therefore we are better able to project ourselves onto him. The inevitable fear and guilt find their ideal expression in Chaney, whose strength is in the sincerity of his anguish: he plays the part as a man sentenced to death. Solid supporting performances from Claude Rains, Maria Ouspenskaya, and (briefly) Bela Lugosi. The transformation scene, and Jack Pierce’s makeup, have arguably never been topped.
2. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948, dir. Charles Barton, 83 minutes)
Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) tries to stop Dracula (Bela Lugosi) from using Lou’s brain to revive the Frankenstein monster (Glenn Strange). Not only is this Bud and Lou’s masterpiece, but it’s the most monster-packed of Universal’s supergroup movies.
1. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935, dir. James Whale, 75 minutes)
The crown jewel of the Universal monster franchise. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) is strong-armed by a former mentor, Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), into making a mate (Elsa Lanchester) for his monster (Boris Karloff). The result is a succession of iconic scenes: Pretorius reveals to Frankenstein his collection of homunculi, including king, queen, priest, and devil; the monster befriends a blind hermit (O.P. Heggie), the only man capable of seeing his humanity (“Friend!”); and the creation of the bride herself, whose reaction to her betrothed is less than ideal. The entire cast is superb, but Thesiger, mad scientist par excellence, achieves camp perfection—and it is he who speaks the legendary line, “To a new world of gods and monsters!”
Bonus: Abbott and Costello Meet the Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954, dir. Sid Smith & Ed Sobol, 15 minutes)
Bud and Lou never made a feature with the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but in 1954, Universal debuted their new monster alongside the pair on The Colgate Comedy Hour. After jockeying with the Invisible Man over an inkwell, Lou reads from a murder mystery while fending off interruptions from Frankenstein’s monster and, finally, the Gill Man.
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