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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