It was on 5 March
1943 when Hollywood introduced the first cinematic universe to the world.
The
was the date when Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man had its New York
premier—a week later, it would have its nationwide opening. The film was a
sequel of sorts to both The Ghost of Frankenstein and The Wolf Man
. . . interestingly, Lon Chaney Jr. played the titular monsters in those films.
This time around, he reprises his role as the tragic, cursed Larry Talbot and
Bela Lugosi appeared as the Creature; in fact, it was originally planned that
Chaney would play both roles but it proved to be way too physically demanding
for him.
The
script was written Curt Siodmak, German-American novelist and screenwriter, who
wrote primarily science fiction and horror. Roy William Neill directed the
film.
Four
years have passed since the Wolf Man’s ravages and the specter of
Frankenstein’s progeny. On a wind-whipped night in Cardiff, two tomb-raiders—one
of whom played by famed character actor Jeff Corey—pry open the Talbot family
crypt under the full moon’s glow. They snatched the wolfsbane that sealed Larry
Talbot’s fate. Moonlight strikes his motionless body, ignites the dormant
curse—and Larry rises from death.
That’s
another facet of Talbot’s curse: Immortality.
Talbot,
through some misadventures, meets Dr. Frank Mannering (Patric Knowles); begs
Mannering to alert the authorities before he kills again. Mannering and the
police find the Talbot family tomb, discovering the truth; an escaped Talbot, haunted
by his immortality and lycanthrope nature, flees Wales to seek out the Romni
seer Maleva. She whispers of Dr. Frankenstein’s lost research as the only
possible cure. Together they traverse Europe toward the scorched ruins of
Frankenstein’s Vasaria estate, each step a gamble with fate.
Once
there, Talbot discovers an ice-encased Creature and breaks him—hoping the
Creature will lead him to the knowledge that will free him of the curse. Events
happen and all leads to the inevitable clash between the Wolf Man and the
Creature. Both Talbot and the Creature are swept up in a flood and lost.
Despite
lukewarm reviews, the film did well and Universal Studios planned a sequel.
Studio press releases called the film, Chamber of Horrors, hyping it as
a monsterfest spectacular starring Lugosi, Chaney, Boris Karloff, Claude Rains
and other Universal horror film stars. Dracula. The Frankenstein Creature. The
Wolf Man. The Invisible Man. Kharis, the Eternal Mummy. It was billed as a
horror film fan’s dream—or nightmare—come true. Siodmak wrote the screen story,
this one called The Devil’s Brood. It promised to be an ambitious
project.
Alas,
I guess, it was too ambitious.
Edward
T. Lowe wrote the screenplay, keeping some of Siodmak’s elements and Erle C. Kenton
would helm the film; Karloff would star as Dr. Gustav Niemann, the mad
scientist, John Carradine as Dracula, Glenn Strange as the Frankenstein
Creature and J. Carrol Naish as Daniel, a hunchback convicted of murder. Ladies
and gentlemen . . . your monsters.
Not
the hyped monsterfest some were promised but, nonetheless, it would bring in
the fans.
At the
beginning of the film, Niemann’s obsession with reanimation lands him in a dank
prison cell, condemned for trying to duplicate Frankenstein’s forbidden work.
There he meets Daniel, a hulking hunchback whose twisted body Niemann promises
to rebuild once free—if Daniel will serve as his assistant. When an earthquake
shatters the prison walls, the pair slips into the night.
As they
flee, the pair meets a traveling showman, Professor Lampini. In a savage moment
of ambition, Niemann and Daniel murder Lampini and seize his prized showcase: Dracula’s
embalmed remains. Niemann, hell-bent on revenge against Burgomaster Hussman—the
man responsible for his incarceration—rests his plans on Dracula’s revival.
Under flickering lantern light, he awakens the vampire and sends him stalking
the Burgomaster’s granddaughter-in-law, Rita. Hypnotized, she leads Dracula to
Hussman’s manor, where the old ruler falls under fang and bite. The
Burgomaster’s grandson sees the horror and raises the alarm. As screaming
citizens give chase, Dracula scrambles back to the carriage where Niemann
waits—only to find himself jettisoned into the road. Dawn breaks, and the
rising sun turns him to dust.
Undeterred,
Niemann and Daniel press on to the flooded ruins of Castle Frankenstein in
Visaria/Vasaria. On the way, Daniel rescues Ilonka, a spirited Romani woman,
from a jealous lover’s whip. Grateful and intrigued by Daniel’s gentleness, she
joins their expedition. Upon reaching ruins of Castle Frankenstein, they find
Talbot and the Creature. A love triangle forms between Talbot, Ilonka and
Daniel
Chaos
and monster-on-monster violence ensues.
While
the film doesn’t hit the scare level of the original Dracula, Frankenstein and
Wolf Man films, House of Frankenstein did thrill its fanbase and, again,
Universal brought back Chaney, Carradine, Strange, screenwriter Lowe and
director Kenton.
Carradine’s
rather suave, dapper Dracula seeks cure for vampirism from Dr. Edelmann (Onslow
Stevens), who uses his own blood for transfusions—with unexpected side effects. Meanwhile, Larry Talbot arrives
seeking relief from werewolf curse. After transforming into Wolf Man under full
moon, he's taken to Edelmann's castle. When Talbot attempts suicide by jumping
into ocean, he discovers cave holding the Creature. Despite finding rare fungi
that might cure lycanthropy, Edelmann hesitates to revive the Creature—at the
same time, the good doctor undergoes a very nasty metamorphosis of his own . .
. and it doesn’t go well.
House of
Dracula would be the final Universal Studio’s
final “serious” film featuring their classic monsters. It was an end of an era.
In 1948, Universal released Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein—reuniting
Chaney and Strange with Lugosi returning as Dracula—and the film became a
classic and spawned more Abbott and Costello films featuring other Universal
monsters.
None of
them were as good as A&CMF.
The
Gillman—the creature from the Black Lagoon—joined the Universal Monsters’
pantheon and people loved it. However, Universal Studios shifted gears: Giant,
mutated creatures and alien invaders thrilled audiences throughout the 1950s.
Universal released its final vampire film, a hybrid Western/vampiric gunslinger
film called Curse of the Undead.
And
that, you see, was the first cinematic universe. It was brief, silly, some
would say, but damn, it was glorious for us fans. Those three films really
ignited our imaginations and some found the inspiration to become storytellers,
writers and directors. Makeup FX. What have you.
The
Japanese Kaiju films introduced Gojira/Godzilla and Gamera and their respective
cinematic universes. In 1987, Monster Squad reunited versions of the
Universal Horror movies and 2004’s Van Helsing emulated the formula. A
few years ago, Universal Studios attempted
to create a new shared Dark Universe—Tom Cruise’s The Mummy and The
Invisible Man would be the first; however, The Mummy proved to be a disastrous
flop, a critical and box office bomb.
The
Dark Universe died right there.
That
said, the original Universal Horror cinematic universe gave way to the MCU, the
Arrowverse, the new DCU and the ever-expanding Star Wars Universe.
I’d
love to see another Dark Universe reboot. Maybe it will happen but I have some
doubts.
Who knows?
Today,
I watched those three films and it brought back a lot of memories. Good
memories.
Just what
I needed for Hallowe’en.
Be
seeing you.
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