Almost a century after release, monster films still deliver jolts
Sometimes it's difficult for filmmakers to improve upon the original.
Universal Studios had planned to remake its famous monster movies of the 1930s and '40s, but after the 2017 release of "The Mummy," starring Tom Cruise, flopped at the box office, the series reportedly has been put on hold.
To celebrate the original movies and the monsters that scared previous generations, the Gateway Film Center is screening the series "Universal Monsters" through January. The films will be shown using 35-mm prints; one, "Creature From the Black Lagoon," will be screened in 3-D.
"These films are as moving today as they were 90 years ago because the stories and their appeal are timeless," said horror filmmaker Jason Tostevin, senior vice president and chief of staff at the Gateway. "The name 'Universal Monsters' is doubly appropriate. They really are universal. They're vulnerable characters we can connect to in any era. And they're scary."
For their era, the films were groundbreaking.
"The Universal Monsters created the horror-movie genre ... and really pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in cinema," Tostevin said in an email interview. "They were huge blockbusters because they gave audiences a thrill like they'd never had before, and they couldn't get enough.
"Today, we're all still chasing that thrill."
The series, which began on Monday with screenings of "Frankenstein," continues with "Dracula" (1931), screening from Thursday through Saturday; "The Mummy" (1932), Sunday through Tuesday; and
"The Invisible Man" (1933), Wednesday through Jan. 12.
This week’s movies feature three famed actors in the lead roles.
“Dracula” stars Bela Lugosi in the role that he made famous onstage. According to the Internet Broadway Database, Lugosi appeared as Dracula on Broadway in 261 shows, from October 1927 through May 1928.
During the 1930s, Lugosi continued to perform in horror and thriller movies, often as a monster or a villain. Biography.com reports that Lugosi bemoaned being typecast as a monster.
“I want sympathetic