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Universal Monsters Pt. 3 1980s-Today

Updated: Jan 26

Part 3/3 of the Universal Monsters Series


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By the end of the 1970s the formula for monster horror movies became stale; audiences knew what to expect and part of that expectation is that the monster is impervious to everything except Western Christian symbols…specifically. The world had changed dramatically from the original Universal Monster movies by the time the 1980s rolled around. Gone were the days of silent, black and white films that built suspense with the imagination. Horror in the 80s was dominated by showing it all, sometimes too much. Monsters were made of human flesh as the slasher craze continued, the villains could be vanquished via real-world weapons.


The 90s then ushered in the days of closeups, special effects, huge box office revenues, and indie films from studios we consider big-dogs today like Miramax and New Line Cinema blowing up. Disaster movies like Independence Day ran alongside the Disney Renaissance animated films like The Lion King (1994) and horror wasn’t as big of a thing, natural or supernatural. Although it wasn’t the biggest thing, some of the biggest horror things came from the time period including both Scream (1996) and The Blair Witch Project (1999), both changing the horror genre forever in their own rights.


The lack of monster movies trend continued into the 2000s and horror focused on established titles becoming extended, never-ending franchises like Saw (2004 to 2025), Hostel (2005 to 2011), and Scary Movie (2000 to an upcoming film) coupled with the increased use of CGI for special effects. Money towards movies increased alongside the box office returns for quite some time alongside general growth in Western countries throughout the 80s, 90s, and somewhat into the 2000s right up until the financial crisis of 2008. Almost 17 years ago now the United States and by extension the rest of the world went into the Great Recession, a period I’ll go into more detail about later on that impacted every facet of Western life. Coinciding with this, internet use became more widespread which led to faster communication and the invention of social media.


Although in 2003 DVD rentals surpassed VHS tape rental revenues for the first time in history that soon became irrelevant with the invention of streaming services and the digital world making DVDs obsolete. Not only did this change the way that studios made money on movies but it changed the way movies are advertised, viewed, reviewed, and critiqued. It took only 6 years for a new goal to be set that signified the end of DVDs short reign when in 2009 movie ticket revenues surpassed DVD revenues for the first time. Unfortunately for studios that didn’t mean much because ticket sales also crashed in part due to  the increased use of the internet and the Great Recession limiting consumer spending.


The start of the 2010s melded into the late-aughts due to the persistent global economic struggles. Following government changes America was able to begin recovering economically and interest rates remained low throughout the decade, making borrowing money easier than ever for everyone, including studios. For film the decade is marked by Cinematic Universes in particular, the Marvel CU, DC Comic Extended Universe, Harry Potter, X-Men through Fox, Sony’s attempts with Spider-Man, and as will be mentioned later a failed project called the Dark Universe that intended to revive Universal Monsters from a modern perspective.


Those following the MCU wanted to capitalize on the obvious success of superhero films and the nostalgia that Disney was able to tap into once again to draw huge, record breaking audiences throughout the decade. While doing this Disney also released a number of extremely successful animated projects including Frozen (2013) as well as live-action remakes of their beloved titles like Cinderella (2015) and The Jungle Book (2016). On the other hand non-Disney movies only managed to be top grossing in box office revenues 2 times during the decade, Avengers: Endgame (2019) being the highest grossing at $2.79 billion, Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) at $2.04 billion, and Avengers: Infinity War (2018) grossing $2.04 billion dollars–all made by Disney.


One Redditor commented on an r/flicks post, “You can define the 2010s by three letters: MCU,” in regard to what movies defined the decade in retrospect after the decade had ended. For horror in particular, new and inventive ways to be scary took over with movies like It Follows, Get Out, and Midsommar re-defining the genre. Diversity in production and storytelling also became a big focus of the 2010s as social movements like Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, and the #MeToo movement.


The #MeToo movement in particular had a strong impact on Hollywood due to it originating in the industry in reference to big-name producers abusing power to abuse female employees like Harvey Weinstein. That diversity paid off into a plethora of new and creative horror stories that felt fresher than decades past and breathed new life into the genre. While at the time we thought the 2010s to be weird, with circumstances like the scary clown craze that came and went without explanation, planking, Kony 2012, songs like “What Does the Fox Say?” and Pokémon Go-to the polls during the 2016 election, the decade has had nothing on the 2020s.


We are seeing somewhat of a horror renaissance right now, huge projects and remakes or re-adaptations like The Invisible Man (2020), Nosferatu (2024), Wolf Man (2025), Frankenstein (2025), Salem’s Lot (2024), and Cuckoo (2024), are bringing in mainstream audiences and films like Pearl (2024), Longlegs (2024), I Saw the TV Glow (2024), The Menu (2022), and Smile (2022), have managed to crack through into the mainstream also. Some really good and exciting movies have come out or are rumored to come out with a lot having come out this past year alone. With this monster movies have risen alongside a return to world issues reminiscent of the 40s and 50s when they popped-off initially. Problems went from individual big-bads like a targeted attack on your home in the 2010s following the lack of feeling safe within one's self whereas now the big bad monsters are more abstract and focused on broader groups of people whom we perceive to have nefarious intentions.

Spoiler and trigger warning

This is the one and only trigger warning in the video: horror movies are generally rated ‘R’ when they come out and thus cover topics that can be horrifying like murder, gruesome curses, apocalyptic circumstances, and hauntings of all kinds. If you are squeamish or troubled by dark and macabre topics this video and channel probably aren’t for you–which is more than okay. On the other hand if you like horror, find the macabre to be the most fascinating, and/or like historical context to media then welcome and carry on.



The 1980s

As mentioned in part 2 of the Monster series, the more modern the time, the more documentation of that time period. Exponential increases have occurred following advancements like cameras, phones, and so on–much of which was either invented in or re-designed in the 80s. By the 80s technology previously reserved for the military or government had become available for many consumers in the Western world. The technological advancements of the 80s onward directly impacted the film industry in huge ways with advancements in filming and sound capabilities as well as the addition of computer generated images or CGI in film. Ideas that once had to be created with the audience’s imagination could now play out in front of their very eyes, a big leap for horror in particular that often relies on visual elements to build and maintain horror.


Technology is not the only thing that impacted films however, the growing push towards conservatism by the Boomer generation as they reached adulthood changed the direction of media and counter-culture media. Horror often challenges and pushes ideas and expectations surrounding social norms in particular and by the 80s the social norms had become far more conservative than previous decades. While older generations still wore the hippie liberal badge with honor, proud of their accomplishments in the Civil Rights, LGBTQ Rights, and Women’s Rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s, the younger generations wanted stability, comfort, and something more akin to the 1950s catalog cover that never was.


Issues in the 80s like the Crack Epidemic and subsequent “War on Drugs” combined with the continued Cold War and emergence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic helped to push mainstream Western youth more conservative. This is heavily reflected in the media of the time with polar opposite extremes in either direction of media and the increased competition from cable network programming film studios had to rethink movies. Many horror comedies came out during the period which feels like it falls in step with keeping up conservative leanings in content while still trying to appeal to an array of audiences. Ultimately the problems Westerners wished were in the past didn’t bring audiences out, as they opted for comedies, dramas, and fantasies en masse.


Movies

As mentioned the 80s horror scene revolved around comedies, slashers, and huge, new titles premiering that we consider revolutionary or iconic today like Friday the 13th (1980), Poltergeist (1982), Gremlins (1984), Fright Night (1985), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and Child’s Play (1988); and the list goes on and on. Quintessential franchises like Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Dawn of the Dead solidified their contributions to horror during the decade and onwards while helping steer the genre (for better or worse) as recently as this decade. As far as monster movies they were few and far in between with only 3 quote-unquote “high profile” ones being made that will be covered in this video. I haven’t included horror comedies in this series and won’t be starting now–so although a handful of Universal Monster-esque horror films came out in the 80s as horror comedies they will not be covered.


The Howling (1981)...

...which is an American film directed by Joe Dante, written by John Sayles and Terence H. Winkless and based on the novel also called The Howling by Gary Brandner. Produced by Michael Finnell and Jack Conrad it became fairly successful, having received positive reviews and grossing $17.9 million at the box office in the United States and Canada. Three separate quote-unquote “high profile” werewolf horror movies came out in 1981 alongside The Howling, Wolfen, and An American Werewolf in London. The last of which won’t be covered in this project because it is a horror-comedy.


Karen White played by Dee Wallace, lives in LA and is a news anchor on TV. A serial killer, played by Robert Picardo, named Eddie Quist is stalking Kate and the police have her meet him in a porn theater in order to capture him. Kate is forced to watch films and the police shoot and kill Eddie once he enters. The trauma causes her to have amnesia about the incident and her therapist refers her to a place called the Colony, a resort where patients receive treatment.


Kate and her husband, Bill Neill played by Christopher Stone, do go to the Colony where they meet people like Marsha. Marsha makes advances at Bill but when he rejects those advances he ends up getting scratched by a werewolf while returning to his cabin. Due to the attack Karen asks her friend Terry, played by Belinda Balaski, to come to the Colony where they connect Eddie to the resort, whose body isn’t accounted for at this point. In a reversal Bill ends up meeting Marsha in the woods by a campfire and the pair hook up then transform into werewolves while that’s happening.


Terry is then attacked by a werewolf but is able to cut the monster's head off, escapes and makes it to the therapists’ office to call her boyfriend, Chris Halloran played by Dennis Dugan. Unfortunately, once Terry discovers the file that connects Eddie to the Colony he attacks her in wolf form and bites her neck. Having overheard this attack on the phone Chris sets off to the Colony with knowledge of what it really is and with silver bullets.


Meanwhile Karen comes face-to-face with Eddie again and he transforms into a werewolf which causes her to splash acid on him and run away. When Chris arrives at the Colony he runs into the disfigured Eddie and Chris shoots him with a silver bullet upon seeing him try to transform. It’s revealed that everyone in the Colony is a werewolf that can shapeshift whenever they want, no full moon required. Having survived, Karen and Chris burn the Colony down. They start to drive away from the burning Colony.


A werewolf survived the battle however and breaks into the car, bites Karen, and then is shot by Chris. The silver bullet turns the werewolf back into human form which reveals the werewolf that bit Karen was Bill. Karen decides she’ll warn everyone about werewolves and use her own transformation as proof. During the worldwide broadcast she’s shot by Chris in front of a live audience. People watching around the world assume it’s special effects. In a bar Marsha is with a man who orders a rare burger for her and Karen’s broadcast cuts away.


As with many horror works the idea of, The Howling, being adapted from a book to a film was initially sparked by Stephen King and a blurb from him that Steven Lane saw on the cover of the book. The rights then got sold to Warner but upon Lane discovering the rights had been sold he partnered with that director, Jack Conrad and set the film up at Avco Embassy Pictures. Conrad left early on and drafts didn’t hit so the director Dante hired Sayles to rewrite the script. The finished script didn’t really align with the book but proved good enough as it followed a self aware tone that Dante also used in Piranha 1978.


Special effects of the film were top of the line for the time, which the film is regarded for. Scenes included things like air bladders and latex facial applications to portray the werewolf transformations on screen. Not only were makeup and effects techniques used but also stop motion animation and puppets to further differentiate the werewolves from humans. Regarded as both silly and that the special effects are impressive, The Howling will always be held in comparison to the other 2 big werewolf films that came out the same year. While An American Werewolf in London is a horror-comedy so won’t be covered in this project, Wolfen 1981 isn’t and is the next film to be covered.

Teenage Frankenstein reviews

Wolfen (1981)...

...is next up and directed by Michael Wadleigh and written by David M. Eyre, Jr. and Michael Wadleigh Wolfen; also based on a novel. The novel, The Wolfen, is written by Whitley Strieber and came out in 1978. The film follows Albert Finney as Detective Dewey Wilson, a former NYPD officer who is assigned to investigate the murder of a high profile individual, Christopher Van der Veer, his wife, and his bodyguard. All three were brutally murdered in Battery Park which kicks off the plot.


The security firm that Van der Veer utilized blames the murders on left-wing anarchists but the condition of the large bodyguard’s body (which had been torn to pieces) Dewey doesn’t believe their story. Due to the high profile and violent nature of the crimes there’s a lot of pressure on Dewey to get the case solved quickly. Dewey starts working with a criminal psychologist on the case, Detective Rebecca Neff played by Diana Venora, to ensure the case gets solved.


Meanwhile in the Bronx a man explores an abandoned church that Van der Veer’s company plans to demolish and is attacked and killed by a monster. The murder is connected to the Battery Park murders so Dewey and Rebecca are called in to investigate. Later after Rebecca escapes attack with the help of Dewey at the church the monster kills a bridge worker. The coroner, Whittington played by Gregory Hines, discovers non-human hairs on some of the victims so calls in a consult from Ferguson played by Tom Noonan, who is a zoologist. Ferguson identifies the hairs as coming from an unknown subspecies of Canis lupus or the gray wolf. He analogizes what wolves have faced to what Native Americans experience–both hunted and almost extinct due to colonization.


Dewey goes to a Native activist he arrested years prior who works in construction, Eddie Holt played by Edward James Olmos, to try and find out more to help the case. Eddie says he’s a shapeshifter which makes them believe he’s the murderer and Dewey decides to tail him that night. While he does this Ferguson goes to Central Park to look for more clues and is killed in a tunnel. After spending the night with Rebecca, Dewey sees a man riding Ferguson’s motorcycle past while he’s leaving Rebecca’s place. After a failed sting operation that gets Whittington killed Dewey goes to a bar and learns from a group of Natives that the killer’s true nature is a wolf spirit called Wolfen.


An elder informs that Wolfen only kills to protect their hunting ground but that it killed Ferguson due to not wanting friendship or understanding from non-Natives. Upon learning this Dewey and Rebecca want off the case but they and their superior are cornered by the Wolfen pack. Their superior isn’t able to escape but once Rebecca and Dewey do the pair goes to Van der Veer’s penthouse apartment where they are cornered by the pack’s alpha male.


In an attempt to fix things Dewey smashes a construction model, representing what threatened their hunting grounds, but is now no longer a threat to them. The Wolfen flee once the police are about to arrive and Dewey tells police the attack was carried out by terrorists rather than werewolves. In the end Dewey believes that the Wolfen will continue to go after the weak and isolated in society but that it’s not dissimilar to what happens between humans through class conflict. Eddie and his friends look out over the city at the end, with the understanding that they will be invisible to humans while they predate them.


The in camera effect that is used to show the wolf’s perspective is something notable about the film and the early techniques it utilized. It has been claimed however that the film had been over budget and over schedule which caused the studio, Orion Pictures, to attempt to fire Wadleigh. Despite being allowed to finish filming Wadleigh was let go and retained his director credit while Richard Chew oversaw putting together the film and wasn’t credited.


Orion Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., released the film theatrically on July 24 and it grossed $10.62 million at the box office. Having been released just a few months after The Howling and An American Werewolf in London, both outperformed Wolfen at the box office. Critics have praised its handling of the subject matter which is quote-unquote “often exploited” in the horror genre. Nominated for 4 Saturn Awards despite being decently regarded it’s not nearly as well known as the other werewolf titles of the same year.

How to Make a Monster reviews

Silver Bullet (1985)...

...the next film, came about after a markedly quiet time on the monsters front during the 80s, which came out 4 years after The Howling and Wolfen. Based on the Stephen King novel, Cycle of the Werewolf, the movie is directed by Dan Attias. Distributed by Paramount Pictures on October 11, Silver Bullet stars Gary Busey as Uncle Red, Everett McGill as Reverend Lester Lowe, Cory Haim as Marty Coslaw, and Megan Follows as Jane Coslaw.


Jane and her paraplegic brother Marty have a contemptuous relationship they must overcome quickly when a series of murders takes place in their rural town. Obviously the town of Tarker’s Mills, where the 2 are from, is in Maine and the story takes place in 1976 rather than present day 1985. The victims include a decapitated railroad worker, a pregnant woman, and a shitty father are all killed. When Marty’s best friend, Brady, is also killed the town forms a vigilante group. The sheriff attempts to stop them but once confronted with Brady’s father he backs down and lets the townspeople’s witch hunt commence.


Three of the people in the vigilante group are killed when they are hunting for the killer in the woods but the survivors claim they saw nothing out of the ordinary later on. With no resolution and murders on the rise, the town is put under a curfew that causes the 4th of July festivities to be cancelled. The Coslaws decide to have their own celebration in the yard, inviting Uncle Red, the mother’s alcoholic brother. Marty receives a custom motorcycle wheelchair from Red which he uses to sneak out and light fireworks on a bridge. The werewolf sees the display and goes after Marty who is able to fire a firework into the wolf’s eye.


Now that the wolf is injured Marty gets Jane to help him find someone who has an injured eye. They soon discover that Reverend Lowe is missing his left eye, having had a terrifying werewolf dream earlier in the film. Marty decides to send anonymous notes to Lowe, telling Lowe that he knows his secret and encouraging Lowe to kill himself before more people get hurt. Now aware that Marty is onto him, Lowe tries to run him off the road and traps him under a bridge. Lowe rants about doing God’s work and tries to kill Marty who is saved by a passerby.


Both Jane and Marty convince Red that Lowe is the werewolf and the killer. With Red on their side he then convinces the sheriff to do his job again and investigate Lowe. The sheriff ends up finding Lowe locked in his garage in order to stop himself from killing again but the sheriff ends up being the next victim before he can arrest Lowe or do anything further. Worried that the wolf will come after them next, Jane and Marty give Red silver items to take to a gunsmith who melts them down into a silver bullet.


The next full moon the group waits for Lowe aka the werewolf who cuts power to their house and breaks in to attack Red. Marty gets the silver bullet and shoots the werewolf in the right eye which causes it to revert back to human form, revealing Lowe. He then dies and the trio embrace with the ending message that Jane can now tell Marty that she loves him.

Despite the werewolf growl-talking in the novel that was taken out of the screenplay after being rewritten. Busey was able to ad lib his lines at times for his character Uncle Red, saying he felt particularly connected to him. King requested that the werewolf monster be more plain and camouflaged rather than the 1980’s quote-unquote “hulking monsters” in other films. Unfortunately this didn’t pay off and instead left the creature with few werewolf characteristics and resulted in some calling it a were bear rather than a werewolf. The actor who played Lowe, McGill, ended up performing most of the bear-suit scenes after the producers of the film were unhappy with a hired dancer's performance in the suit.


Released theatrically by Paramount Pictures in October of 1985, the film grossed $12.36 million at the box office. Famous film critic Roger Ebert claimed he thought Silver Bullet had been a spoof of the Stephen King novel but enjoyed it for what it was. Overall however the movie is not well regarded, noting it doesn’t entertain or surprise for most of the plot. The appearance of the wolf–or rather the lack of wolf-like appearance–also contributed to the roasting of the film by fans and critics alike. Although as a horror film it didn’t impress much, Busey's performance and the trio of himself and the 2 children, one handicapped, made the film more endearing and enjoyable for some.


No other high-profile, serious horror films focused on the Universal Monsters came out in the 1980’s. It’s not insane to wonder if the failures of the previous films contributed to the lack of motivation for studios to create more monster movies that aren’t comedies. It’s also possible that the circumstances at the time didn’t warrant audiences being drawn in by the macabre, cursed, and monstrous.

Revenge reviews


The 1990s

The 1990s started with the Berlin Wall falling in 1989, signifying the beginning of the end of both the Soviet Union and thus the Cold War; fifteen independent countries then existed throughout the Eastern Bloc and anti-western sentiment started to rise. At the same time new music genres gained popularity like grunge, Euro-dance, and hip-hop; reshaping and influencing culture for the youth in particular. In addition to political and cultural changes the internet became more advanced and offered the ability for users to self-publish and connect in new ways.


The spread of the internet and more consumers having access to computers globalization increased which proved good in instances like education in safe sex curbing the HIV spread in the developing world. International organizing bodies also came to be as the world became more connected and shifted away from outright wars like the European Union in 1993 and the World Trade Organization in 1995. On the domestic front for the United States, Jeff Bezos launched Amazon in 1994, an AI computer beat the best chest player for the first time in 1996, and Google was founded in 1998—all of which still play huge roles in our lives today.


Businesses became adopters of information technology, Viagra was approved by the FDA, and 2 famous standoffs between federal agents and civilians occurred as the threats from abroad diminished significantly.


Movies

The 1990s saw an increase in indie films and independent movie studios being able to be profitable and draw audiences. Studios like New Line Cinema and Miramax Films are notable for being leaders of the independent film studio success in the 90s despite them being the big studios that indie films go up against today. New filming techniques and animation technology helped Disney’s Renaissance peak during the decade, starting with The Little Mermaid in 1989 and peaking with The Lion King in 1994. The official end of that renaissance is considered 1999, animated musicals having lost some of their mass appeal by them. We can still see the impacts of this period today; Disney Adults for example, often children during this period, spend buckets of money on seeing new adaptations, purchasing merchandise, and visiting the parks.


Only three animated musical films were able to compete with Disney in this regard despite countless attempts by competitors and those are The Nightmare Before Christmas, Anastasia, and The Prince of Egypt. Aside from indie and Disney, the demand for action movies saw a big increase following Die Hard. The success of the movie created a new formula for other action films: an everyman is placed in an environment, ranging from places like a presidential plane or a prison island, to go up against a villain that is going after innocents.


Horror on the other hand was revitalized by Wes Craven in 1996 with the release of Scream, a film that satirized the genre and focused on critiquing how cliche the genre had become. Stereotypical characters played into the most well known tropes while featuring and appealing to high school to college aged demographics. During the 1990s skepticism of known or popular things grew, a belief that the popularity made it inherently bad.


Frankenstein Unbound (1990)...

By 1990 the appetite for monster movies returned with Frankenstein Unbound, directed and written by Roger Corman with F. X. Feeney is also credited as a writer. It’s a science fiction horror film based on Brian Aldiss’ 1973 novel also called Frankenstein Unbound. Corman had spent nearly 15 years away from directing and was paid $1 million to direct this film or about $2.4 million in 2024. The producer, Thom Mount, approached Corman to direct the project who then approached writers Wes Craven and Floyd Mutrux to handle the adaptation before going on to pick Feeney for the task.


Taking place in 2031 the film opens on Dr. Buchanan, played by John Hurt, and his team are working on developing a weapon that is an energy beam. This beam is meant to destroy everything in its path and is the ultimate weapon. Buchanan’s hope is to create a weapon so powerful it ends war (which we all know now is not only impossible but very dangerous). He also aims to not impact the environment, something we haven’t seen in many, if any of the monster films covered thus far. The prototype they’re working on has side effects that cause global weather patterns to be impacted, rifts in time and space, as well as people all together vanishing.


Buchanan is caught in a time-space rift on his way home from the facility and is transported back to 1817 Switzerland. Now in a village he meets Doctor Victor Frankenstein, played by Raul Julia, and the 2 talk about science and experiments over a meal. Frankenstein reveals his younger brother has been killed and that a trial will occur soon to determine if the boy’s nanny is innocent or guilty. By this point in the series it’s obvious that this movie’s tale picks up towards the end of the Frankenstein novel, just before Victor’s chase of his monster commences.


Villagers are talking about a monster they claim to have seen in the woods and believe that the monster is the killer rather than the nanny. At the trial Buchanan sees a young woman taking notes that he becomes intrigued by. This woman ends up being Mary Shelley, played by Bridget Fonda, who is the actual real-world author of Frankenstein. The judge isn’t having the talk of monsters at the trial however and the nanny is found guilty of murder and sentenced to die on the gallows. Despite this ruling Buchanan knows that the monster is responsible rather than the woman and he tries to convince Frankenstein to come forward and reveal the truth about his monster’s existence and responsibility. Cowardly as always Victor refuses to do that so Buchanan goes to Shelley for help, confessing that he’s from the future.


Despite liking one another Shelley and Buchanan part ways, Shelley not wanting to be more involved in knowing the future. Alone on his quest Buchanan drives his car to Frankenstein’s laboratory and finds him talking with the monster. This, also from the book and earlier movies, is the monster confronting Victor and demanding that Victor make him a female companion and without one has now deprived Frankenstein of his love also. Frankenstein begs Buchanan for help in resurrecting his fiancé and Buchanan does assist. Buchanan also re-routes some of the electrical currents they will collect from the lightning to power the laser in his car also. The lightning strikes and eventually the laser is fully charged and the previously-deceased woman is reanimated. A fire breaks out at the same time which destroys the castle but Frankenstein, Buchanan, and the 2 monsters are transported to the future via a rift in time and space.


Landing on a snowy, remote mountain the monster and Frankenstein try to get the woman monster to come to them but Frankenstein is forced to shoot her. This sends the monster into a rage and he kills Frankenstein then goes off into the snowstorm followed by Buchanan. Buchanan aims to kill the monster once and for all and ensure he doesn’t attack other people. They both end up in a computer and machine filled cave and upon his entrance Buchanan is greeted by a machine that addresses him by name and welcomes him back. It is revealed that the cave is the brain of a nearby city that happens to be the last surviving city after Buchanan’s laser weapon destroyed the world. Buchanan uses the laser to kill the monster once and for all, burning him to death. While Buchanan walks to the nearby city in the snow the monster’s voice is heard saying he can’t be killed and that for now he is only unbound.


The last line sums up the vibe–all the big studio tricks got pulled out of the bag and it was cringe and unappealing. The monster design was not well received although the performances and overall look of the film are considered good. Regardless, the movie bombed at the box office, grossing only $335,000 and the director stated when he went to see the film only 6 people were in the audience. All-in-all the film didn’t even recoup the salary of the director and could have contributed to why another Frankenstein film didn’t release until 1994 and took the concept back to its roots.

Dracula 1958 reviews

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Before that film came out Bram Stoker’s Dracula came out in 1992, two years after Frankenstein Unbound. Seeing as the wacky creative freedom of the 80’s and 90’s hadn’t translated into Universal Monster success this movie also takes the story back to its roots, focusing on the novel. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola the novel was adapted into a screenplay by James V. Hart. Theatrically released in the US in November of 1992 the film cost about $40 million to make and covers themes prevalent at the time like the AIDS epidemic and the making of quote-unquote “others” in society.


The movie opens with Vlad Dracula, played by Gary Oldman, in 1492 returning victorious from a battle against the Ottoman Empire to discover his wife, Elisabeta, has died by suicide after his enemies tricked her into believing he died in battle. A priest informs Dracula that his wife is damned to hell forever due to her cause of death and in a rage Vlad desecrates the chapel, renouncing a Christian God that would curse him. He declares he’ll rise from the grave to avenge his wife’s death and use all powers of darkness that he can to accomplish this. He drives his sword into the chapel’s stone cross and then drinks blood that comes out from it, which transforms him into a vampire.


Cut forward to 1897 and a solicitor named Johnathan Harker, played by Keanu Reeves, arrives at Transylvanian Count Dracula to take it as a client after his colleague, Renfield, went crazy. Renfield, played by Tom Waits, is now locked in an asylum run by Dr. Jack Seward, played by Richard E. Grant, as per the tale goes. Upon arriving at the castle Dracula finds a picture of Mina Harker, Jonathan’s fiancé played by Winona Ryder, in Johnathan’s belongings. She’s identical to his wife Elisabeta, leading Dracula to believe that Mina is the reincarnation of his wife. He immediately sets out to England with soil in tow and leaves his vampire brides to take care of Johnathan.


Dracula goes after Mina’s best friend, Lucy Westenra, played by Sadie Frost, seducing and biting her. Mina is staying with her while Johnathan is away and after being bitten Lucy begins to act oddly and her health declines rapidly. Lucy’s former suitor Quincey, Dr. Seward, and her current fiancé Arthur Holmwood, all call upon Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, played by Anthony Hopkins, to aid them with the vampires. Meanwhile Dracula, looking young and handsome, finds Mina and charms her, even getting Mina to develop feelings for him. Mina goes out with Dracula on multiple occasions and then hears word from Johnathan that he’s escaped the castle and recovered in a convent.


Despite the situation between Mina and Dracula she flees to Romania and marries Johnathan upon hearing he’s alive and well. Now heartbroken and mad Dracula turns Lucy into a vampire. This is short lived however as Van Helsing, Quincey, Arthur, and Seward all kill Lucy the next night. Mina and Johnathan then return to England while the crew of men goes to destroy Dracula’s soil reserves. Due to Renfield having warned Mina of his presence he kills Renfield and then visits Mina in Seward’s quarters to confess to killing Lucy and terrorizing Mina’s friends. She admits she still loves him and that she also remembers some of Elisabeta’s previous life. She insists that Dracula make her a vampire and he obliges but has to make an escape when Van Helsing’s group breaks into the room. Mina begins to transform and Van Helsing is able to hypnotize her.


The group learns that Dracula is headed back to his castle in his last box of soil. They depart and intercept him but by reading Mina’s mind in reverse-hypnosis mind control he’s able to see them coming and escape. The group splits up with Mina and Van Helsing going to the castle while the others try to stop the ship they believe is transporting Dracula. That night Dracula’s brides descend on Van Helsing and Mina, chanting to her until she eventually tries to go after Van Helsing. He puts a communion wafer on her head that slows the transformation after leaving a mark and surrounds himself and her in a ring of fire to ward off the brides. They survive the night and Van Helsing kills the brides the next morning.


Dracula arrives the next day with the hunters following him and the hunters end up in a battle with the Romani people. Quincey is stabbed while Dracula bursts back into action at sunset from his coffin. Jonathan and Quincey slit Dracula’s throat and stab him in the heart with a kukri knife and let Mina retreat with Dracula while Quincey succumbs to his wounds. Dracula lies dying in the same chapel from the start of the film and he and Mina kiss as the cross repairs itself. Reverting to his younger self he asks Mina for peace and she puts a knife through his heart, causing the mark on her forehead to disappear, symbolizing she’s free of the curse. She decapitates Dracula and gazes up to see Vlad and Elisabeta now going to heaven together.


Unlike other Dracula tales this one more directly relates back to Vlad the Impaler who is often thought to be the inspiration for Count Dracula. In this 1992 adaptation of the novel Dracula’s backstory is portrayed in a way that makes him more sympathetic to the audience. One critic points out that this over the top rendition wipes away the campy portrayals of the character at the time. The performances are considered exceptional and big names like Hopkins, Oldman, and Ryder all appear. Keanu Reeves’ accent has caught a lot of heat and has been given the title of one of the worst movie accents of all time. Adjusted for inflation the worldwide gross at the box office makes this 1992 film one of the highest grossing vampire films of all time.

Return of Dracula reviews

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)

In 1994 Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein released, a science fiction horror movie directed by Kenneth Branagh and written by Steph Lady and Frank Darabont. Kenneth Branagh portrays Victor Frankenstein, who in this adaptation is an obsessed medical student. This film is considered the most faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein even though there are several differences and changes in the adaptation. Released by TriStar Pictures, a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, the studio that released Dracula 1992. Released in November of 1994 the film cost approximately $45 million to make, and despite not being as successful as Dracula 1992 it still performed well.


Opening in 1794 Captain Walton is leading an expedition by ship to the North Pole that has become trapped in ice. The crew of the ship sees a figure coming towards them after hearing a jarring sound. The man is Victor Frankenstein who tells them to grab their weapons and come with him, the crew releasing dogs that chase off into the distance. The sled dogs are killed by whatever creature made the noise earlier out of their sight. Victor finds out that Walton is also a little mad, wanting to continue the expedition despite being dangerously stuck in bad conditions. Due to this Victor tells Walton and the ships’ crew his life story which is presented via flashback.


Growing up in Geneva, Switzerland, Victor and his adopted sister, Elizabeth Lavenza played by Helena Bonham Carter, fall in love. Before Victor leaves for medical school his mother dies giving birth to his brother, William. Due to this loss he vows to find a way to conquer death. Following this Victor and Henry Clerval, played by Tom Hulce, go to study under Shmael Augustus Waldman, a professor who has researched how to create life. Waldman warns Victor not to use such notes because he would create an abomination. The professor dies shortly after, killed by a patient he’s giving a vaccine to that is later hung in the square. Victor takes the criminal’s body, a leg from a peer, and Waldman’s brain to assemble a creature using Waldman’s notes.


Completely engrossed in his work he pushes Elizabeth away when she comes to Ingolstadt to take him home amid a cholera epidemic. Victor is able to bring his creation to life but is instantly horrified by its appearance and attempts to kill it. The creature, confused and super fresh, steals Victor’s coat and gets out of there as soon as possible. The creature attempts to steal food but is driven out by the townspeople, appalled by his appearance. He takes up shelter in a family’s barn where he stays for months without being caught.


The creature learns to read and speak by observing the family and tries to build a relationship with them by leaving food. He ends up killing a debt collector seeking to collect from the family and this allows him to speak with the blind, elderly man in the family. The family isn’t down with him when they return and chase him from the farm, then fleeing in his absence. He finds Victor’s journal in the coat and learns about his creation only to return to the farmhouse and see the family has fled. He burns the house down and vows to get revenge on Victor.


Meanwhile Victor returns home so that he can marry Elizabeth but discovers that his brother has been murdered. The family believes it was a servant, Justine played by Trevyn McDowell, who grew up alongside Victor and Elizabeth. She is blamed and ultimately hanged for the murder but Victor knows that the creature is actually responsible. The creature abducts Victor and demands that Victor create a female companion for him in exchange for leaving Victor alone so Victor starts collecting the necessary tools. Things go too far for Victor when the creature insists that they use Justine’s body for the new creation and he breaks his promise to create a new creature. To get his revenge the creature breaks into Elizabeth’s on her and Victor’s wedding night and rips her heart out.


Stricken with grief and urgency Victor races home with the intention of bringing Elizabeth back to life. He stitches Elizabeth’s head onto Justine’s body and is able to reanimate her, but of course she’s not fully herself. The creature arrives and demands Elizabeth is his wife and while the 2 fight about that Elizabeth sees her reflection and horrified by it she sets herself on fire. The mansion burns down and both Victor and the creature are able to get out, which returns the story to the start revealing that Victor chased the creature from there to the Arctic. Once he’s done telling his story he just dies of pneumonia and Walton then discovers the creature mourning Victor. They prepare a funeral pyre and invite the creature to stay with the ship but the creature decides to stay with Victor’s body and burns alive. Facing, literally, the consequences of blind obsession Walton, the ship’s captain, decides to turn back and return home.


Originally the film’s script was sold to Coppola’s studio with the intention of Coppola directing the film, having also directed 1992 Dracula. Rather than direct he opted for an executive producer role and demanded that De Niro be cast as the creature. Branagh was chosen to direct the film by Coppola and he brought in Darabont to do a second draft of the script that included more novel elements and motifs. Seeing the film as a family tragedy similar to that of Shakespeare’s works but rather than embracing death the character Victor Frankenstein runs away from death. In preparation for the role as the creature De Niro reportedly studied stroke victims to create his voice.


The original screenwriter for the film Steph Lady has said that the film was a quote-unquote “shocking disappointment” and that it had gone from a tragedy that made one think to a monster movie. The second writer has also stated that he doesn’t see the script he wrote portrayed on screen in the film. Both Lady and Darabont have said that the director Branagh made it more loud and big than it needed to be, believing the source material to be subtle. Critics were also unamused and found it to be more of the same in regard to the material and misses in the overall project coming together behind a vision. Some have stated that Branagh attempted more than he could handle and that this ruined the film. Despite these critiques the film grossed $112 million at the box office. Following this it would be 20 years until another serious adaptation of Frankenstein would be released.

Curse of the Werewolf reviews

Wolf (1994)...

The same year however Columbia Pictures released Wolf, directed by Mike Nichols and written by Jim Harrison and Wesley Strick. Starring Jack Nicholson as Will Randall and Michelle Pfeiffer as Laura Alden the film cost approximately $70 million to make and is also a Columbia Pictures released film. Will Randal is a chief editor at a New York publishing house and runs over a large wolf while traveling a Vermont country road. When he attempts to help the wolf he’s bitten which begins his story.


Raymond Alden, a tycoon played by Christopher Plummer announces he’ll be taking over the publishing house that Will is a chief editor at. Now aging and sickly Will takes a demotion while his protege Stewart, played by James Spader, takes his position. Alden’s daughter, Laura, is introduced to Will just before he discovers his wife is having an affair when he smells Stewart’s scent on her. He surprises the 2 while they are hooking up at Stewart’s place, confirming his suspicions. He bites Stewart’s hand and then leaves, leaving Charlotte also.


Laura and Will start seeing one another and Will spends the night at the Alden’s following a fainting spell. Awakening in a transformed body Will mauls a deer and wakes up later covered in blood. Will visits a pagan expert named Dr. Vijav Alezais played by Om Puri who informs him he’s transforming into a werewolf. He gives Will an amulet to help prevent him from completely transforming. He transforms that night anyway and breaks into a zoo and steals handcuffs from the police officer trying to arrest him and attacks a group. Will wakes up with no recollection of what happened the night before in a hotel room.


Aside from the werewolf situation Will is still fighting the changes at his work and he organizes a group of writers that threaten to leave unless Will remains editor in chief. Alden agrees to let Will remain and Will then fires Stewart, pissing on his shoes to mark his territory while the 2 are in the restroom. After finding a person’s handkerchief from the attack the night before he realizes he’s hurt someone and cuffs himself to his hotel radiator. Laura arrives and makes him feel better and less afraid of transforming, then spending the night together. He slips out of the room later on in the night and goes around Central Park in his transformed state.


The next morning it’s revealed that Will’s ex-wife has been found dead in Central Park with canine DNA on her. Later that night Will makes Laura lock him in a horse stable while she goes to the police. At the station she sees Stewart who now has golden eyes and is acting oddly, proceeding to attempt to assault Laura which gets him mauled by Will. Will had discarded the amulet that stopped a full transformation when he went to attack Stewart and after Laura shoots Stewart Will runs off into the woods. Laura ends up having heightened senses and then Will howls for her and it’s revealed her eyes have begun to change.


The film grossed about $131 million worldwide and has been critiqued for having a good start to the film that fizzles out. Critics have also said that the werewolf aspects work better as metaphors than they do when they have Nicholson actually transform into the werewolf on screen. Despite a seemingly lukewarm reception amongst fans and critics the film was nominated for a Grammy and 6 Saturn Awards, winning 1 for Best Writing.

Evil of Frankenstein reviews


The 2000s

Unlike the start of the 90s the start of the new millennium is marked in the United States by the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. The attacks resulted in a War on Terror used to engage in widespread conflicts around the world under the guise of eliminating terror groups which had the unintended consequence of only increasing and creating terror groups. Internet use continued to grow domestically alongside overseas wars and concerns about climate change caught on to mainstream culture and became more widely accepted.


Video game consoles like the Play Station, Xbox, and Wii dominated markets and Christmas lists during the decade. Early on in the decade TiVi introduced people to the ability to control live TV that cable and satellite companies quickly adopted and developed. Although TiVo’s market domination was short lived it contributed DVR boxes. Once Netflix was created in 2007 and then Hulu in 2008 people quickly opted to choose them and began moving away from cable. Other sites wanted to compete by making their own versions some of which included Blockbuster, CinemaNow, iReel, Movieflix, Amazon, and iTunes.


Having been created earlier on in the decade iTunes was announced by Apple and the iPod followed around the same time, two things that changed the music industry and digital media forever. Social media is another 2000s creation that has become ingratiated with our modern lives; the first, MySpace in 2003 and Facebook joined the space as a quote-unquote “social networking” site (which is a pretentious way to say the same thing) after it launched in 2004.


Apps like Facebook, YouTube (officially launched in 2005), and Twitter (founded in 2006) have become essential pieces of the movie ecosystem. They are places to share opinions about movies, oftentimes having direct impact on initial box office success and failure, market upcoming movies via trailers and social media campaigns, and arenas for copyright law on the internet to play out.


Movies

Overall movies of the 2000s have been called quote-unquote “eclectic” and big successes ranged in genre from musicals, indie films, and documentaries to Lord of the Rings 3. Interest in documentaries in particular saw an increase the genre had not before following Moore’s Bowling for Columbine 2002, March of the Penguins 2005, and An Inconvenient Truth 2006. The 2000s marks the official beginning of blockbuster movies being expected to pass $100 million on opening weekend and $200 million in box office revenue to even begin to be considered successful. This helped limit the types of movies studios would invest in and thus what stories would be told with the focus on exponential returns.


Horror movies of the decade veered towards what is sometimes called “torture porn” and graphic violence, not unlike the 1980s explosion of the same thing but with better, more realistic effects captured on higher tech equipment. Genres that we now consider core horror like found footage came about with the first big, well-marketed one being The Blair Witch Project 1999 followed by the best and most popular example of the genre’s success Paranormal Activity 2007.


In addition to found footage the true crime horror also took off alongside psychological horror. Studios looked to gain lucrative profits by cheaply making and adapting horror movies which resulted in the genre becoming one of the most popular of the century. Being low budget, easy to make, and not requiring the pomp and circumstance of big names or marketing campaigns studios liked that horror has a built in audience. Although studios loved the films they were often disliked by critics and gained poor reputation as z-films.


Dracula 2000 (2000)...

Dracula 2000 came out in 2000 and is also known under the titles Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 2000 and Dracula 2001 during international releases. Directed by Patrick Lussier the film is also co-written by him alongside Joel Soisson. The film builds on the Bram Stoker novel by making Count Dracula resurrect in modern day America. Produced by Dimension Films and Neo Art & Logic the film was distributed by Miramax Films and cost approximately $54 million to make. Gerard Butler stars as Dracula, Johnny Lee Miller as Simon, Justine Waddell as Mary Heller and Mary Van Helsing, Jennifer Esposito as Solina, and Christopher Plummer as Van Helsing.


Starting in London in the year 2000 a descendent of Abraham Van Helsing named Matthew owns an antique shop over the Carfax Abbey site. Van Helsing’s secretary Solina and her boyfriend Marcus break into the antique shop’s underground vault along with their friends Trick, Nightshade, Dax, and Eddie. They are seeking valuables but instead find a coffin, silver and sealed. Eddie and Dax try to open the coffin and are impaled by spikes which causes their blood to spray over the coffin and also alerts Van Helsing to their presence in the vault.


The group decides to take the coffin under the misguided belief it contains the valuables that they are looking for and board a plane to New Orleans. Van Helsing makes arrangements to pursue them and his apprentice Simon accompanies him. On the plane Nightshade unlocks the coffin which contains a dried up Dracula body. He’s awakened by the blood on his coffin however and soon attacks Solina, making her a vampire, along with her group. Now revived and satisfied Dracula has a vision of a woman, Mary Heller, who can also see him. The plane crashes into a swamp in Louisiana and believed to be dead the passengers are taken to the morgue.


Dracula exits the plane crash and turns a reporter into a vampire and then travels to New Orleans in search of the woman from his vision. After Van Helsing and Simon get to New Orleans they are able to take out most of the new vampires that Dracula has created. Van Helsing then confesses that he’s not a descendent but the actual Abraham Van Helsing that defeated Dracula back in 1897. Since then he’s extended his life by injecting himself with Dracula’s blood but has not been able to find a way to permanently take Dracula out over the last century. What he has learned is that Dracula is enraged by God and Christian iconography and is vulnerable to silver. Van Helsing also reveals that Mary is his daughter and that she has a connection to Dracula due to being conceived after he started injecting himself with Dracula’s blood. After Mary’s mother learned the truth about Van Helsing she left with Mary.


While this is going on Dracula finds Mary’s home via her friend Lucy that he then turns into a vampire. He ends up killing Van Helsing here at Mary’s place and upon her finding her father’s body Dracula ambushes her with his 3 new vampire brides, Solina, Valerie, and her friend Lucy. Simon arrives however and saves her momentarily as the pair rush into a church cemetery. Dracula abducts Mary and explains that he’s searched for a born creation like him rather than someone he turns into a vampire. Having taken her to a rooftop he then transforms Mary then reveals that he is Judas Iscariot, the Apostle that sold out Jesus to the Romans. After the crucifixion he claims to have hung himself in atonement and was revived and turned into the first vampire.


Dracula claims his goal is to spite Jesus by spreading immortality through vampirism to all humans and corrupting them. Mary suggests he can’t die because he hasn’t asked God for forgiveness but Dracula states he will never ask either God or Jesus for forgiveness. Simon is then brought to Dracula by Solina and Lucy after he kills Valerie and Dracula offers his blood to Mary. She pretends to bite and then she and Simon kill the 2 remaining brides. The pair want to kill Dracula to avenge her father and Dracula ends up tangled in cables from a large, lit crucifix, after he tries to attack Mary. Dawn breaks as Dracula looks at the image of Jesus on the crucifix and the sunlight lights him on fire, killing him. Having released Mary from vampirism before he dies later on Mary is now the guardian of Dracula’s remains and makes sure he stays dead.

Meets the Space Monster reviews

Van Helsing (2004)...

Four years after Dracula 2000 the action horror Van Helsing released, directed and written by Stephen Sommers. Rather than just about one monster it is based on Dracula by Bram Stoker, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and The Wolf Man by George Waggner. Starring Hugh Jackman as Van Helsing the film cost between $160 and $170 million to create and is a Universal Pictures production, the first in this Universal Monsters series that has been covered in a while. The film resulted in a video game of the same title released by Vivendi Universal Games on PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance at the time. Following a similar plot to the film the character, Van Helsing in the game also voiced by Jackman, goes on the plot’s adventure.


That plot opens in 1887 Transylvania with Doctor Victor Frankenstein, played by Samuel West, creating a monster alongside his assistant Igor, played by Kevin J. O’Connor, and Count Vladislaus Dracula, played by Richard Roxburgh. Dracula kills Frankenstein because he refuses to follow his plans for the creation and Igor watches on having been bought off by Dracula. A mob then storms the castle that causes the monster to flee to a windmill with Frankenstein’s body. As the mob burns the windmill the monster screams “why” while the mill burns to the ground, appearing to have killed him.


A year after this Gabriel Van Helsing travels to Notre-Dame de Paris, working as a monster hunter with the Knights of the Holy Order. At the Notre-Dame, Van Helsing kills Dr. Jekyll after he has a battle with Mr. Hyde, taking his arm off with a circular saw blade. Back at the Vatican headquarters Van Helsing is given the task to go to Transylvania and kill Dracula. He’s also also tasked with ensuring Anna and Velkan Valerious who are the last surviving members of a Romani family that vowed their descendants would kill Dracula or spend all eternity in Purgatory. While in Transylvania Anna and Velkan battle a werewolf under Dracula’s control and Velkan falls into a gorge with it as it bites him and Velkan shoots it with a silver bullet. His death means Anna is the last living descendent.


Friar Carl, played by David Wenham, aids Van Helsing and is also a weapons creator. The pair arrive at a village and come upon Anna fighting Dracula’s three brides, Verona, Marishka, and Aleera. This battle results in the death of Marishka that also causes the other 2 brides to flee from the village. Velkan visits Anna that night and warns her of Dracula’s plans but turns into a werewolf and gets away, Anna and Van Helsing pursuing him. Velkan ends up at Frankenstein’s castle where they find Dracula’s plan to use Frankenstein’s experiments to give life to thousands of vampire children. Dracula plans to use Velkan as the conduit for the electricity. Van Helsing and Dracula get into a battle and Dracula considers him an old foe. The vampire babies are brought to life with the experiments but due to not having the original monster the children soon combust one by one.


Van Helsing and Anna come across the monster while escaping and the monster reveals he’s the key to the machine that would give life to Dracula’s babies. Velkan hears this information and returns to inform Dracula. On the group’s journey back to Rome the squad is attacked by the brides and Velkan near Budapest. Van Helsing is bitten by Velkan who dies in the battle alongside Verona, another bride. Aleera is able to abduct Anna however and offers to trade her for the monster at a masquerade ball happening that night. This sick party ends up being populated entirely by vampires but Carl and Van Helsing are able to rescue Anna anyways and detonate a blast that takes out the entire ball.


The crew now goes to Anna’s castle where Carl explains Dracula’s lore, the son of Valerious the Elder who was killed in 1462 by the “Left Hand of God” and that he made a pact with the Devil to live again. Valerious was told he could kill Dracula and get salvation for his family but, unable to kill his own son, he imprisoned him in an icy fortress instead. Using a fragment given to Van Helsing by a Cardinal earlier in the film they are able to unlock the painting that tells the lore and it operates as a doorway to Dracula’s lair.


Upon entering the doorway they find the monster who tells them that Dracula has the cure for lycanthropy, which Van Helsing needs, because only werewolves can kill Dracula. Anna and Carl are sent to get the cure while Van Helsing tries to free the monster. He’s unable to before the monster is struck by lightning and the children are animated.


Both Dracula and Van Helsing transform into their beast forms and have an intense battle in the laboratory and the monster helps Anna escape Aleera. Aleera is killed by Anna with Carl’s help because Aleera tries to monologue instead of just killing Anna. Both Dracula and Van Helsing return to human form when the moon is blocked and while in that state Dracula tells Van Helsing that it’s him who killed Dracula and that he can restore his memories.


Van Helsing doesn’t want that however and when he reverts back to werewolf form he kills Dracula. With Dracula dead his vampire babies also die and Van Helsing still in animal form lunges at Anna who uses the cure to stab him in the abdomen. She is killed in this process however and Van Helsing holds her body while crying in his human form. Him and Carl have a funeral pyre for her on a cliff overlooking the sea and Van Helsing sees her reunite with her family in heaven while the monster leaves town. Van Helsing and Carl are off on their next adventure.


Universal Pictures set out to reinvent their iconic monster properties due to the success of The Mummy 1999 and The Mummy Returns 2001. They intended to replicate the formula of those films with these other properties. Since The Mummy had success with an action-adventure tone they wanted to create that for Van Helsing. The film saw success on opening weekend ranking #1 and going on to gross $300.25 million worldwide with $120.17 million coming from the US. Despite box office success, reviews of the film are generally negative. Fans and critics felt that it was a hollow attempt at a creature feature that utilized far too much CGI. While I love the callbacks to different horror films many hated that and felt it was cheap and just meant to be audience draws rather than real plot aspects.



The 2010s

The start of the decade followed the financial crisis of 2008, which the global economy was still recovering from. Despite this rough start the economy grew through 2019 and accelerated in the second half of the decade with investments in infrastructure and new tech proving to be fruitful. Similarly to the 2000s however the use of the internet and social media continued to grow, by the end of the decade being completely ingratiated into most American’s lives. More connection increased globalization that led to apps like Spotify and Apple Music meeting the demands for music variety and personalization by creating subgenres.


Social media became an important tool for social movements that also increased during the decade. Movements like Occupy Wall Street in 2011, Black Lives Matter beginning in 2013, and the #MeToo Movement that blew up in 2017 benefited from social media which aided in making those movements nationwide. Along with the aforementioned targeted movements general rights for LGBTQ+ people rose in places like the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, while they were attacked in Russia and China. Disruption of industries with apps like Uber or Postmates became a big focus of new businesses in Silicon Valley that dominated app markets and the tech space by the end of the decade.


By 2016 rising tensions had reached a fever pitch and culminated in the US electing Donald Trump as President despite losing the popular vote following the rise of his populist MAGA ideology, and England voted to leave the European Union in a 52% to 48% vote. The decade ended with the impeachment of Donald Trump for weaponizing the US government for political gain or abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, becoming only the 3rd President in America’s almost 250 year history to be impeached. Aside from politics but adjacent due to it being used as a political tool: terror attacks and mass shootings increased domestically during the decade in striking, shocking, and heartbreaking ways.


Movies

Disney came back with a vengeance and kicked every studio’s ass during the decade, releasing half of the 50 highest grossing movies at the worldwide box office. The main driver of Disney’s success was the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the countless films they released and are still releasing that tie back to it. Major film studios wanted to replicate Disney’s box office success and establish their own unlimited cinematic universes; examples are Warner Bros. direct competitor the DC Extended Universe, Sony’s own competitor and Marvel property, Spider-Man, and Universal with an attempt to revive Universal Monsters into a universe, the Dark Universe.


Aside from cinematic universes YA novel film adaptations dominated with franchises like Harry Potter, Twilight, and Hunger Games. The latter of which began a trend towards adaptations of YA dystopian fiction. Other studios attempted to replicate this success too but failed before it would be worth covering.


General horror movies of the decade however followed the dark trends of the time and catered to the audiences fears; for example when no one felt safe in their homes anymore post-recession movies about break-ins increased. Religious horror saw a revival as more possession movie franchises gained popularity like Insidious and The Conjuring. For the most part monsters became people or people-like again rather than scary beings that live under your bed; more cannibals than vampires. The trend of studios remaking classics also continued with new additions to the Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises.


The Wolfman (2010)...

It took 6 years for Universal to release another monster film and no other studios released big monster movies in that absence. Based on The Wolf Man 1941 film written by Curt Siodmak this movie is directed by Joe Johnston and written by Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self. Despite assurances that Johnston could get the film done on budget and schedule it went over with re-shoots and a delay in when the film would be released multiple times. All of the changes added to an already large budget and cost $150 million to make.


Ben Talbot is murdered in 1891 in the woods of Blackmoor by a humanoid wolf, later being found mutilated in a slaughterhouse. Lawrence Talbot, played by Benicio del Toro, his brother who is an actor living in America, returns home once he finds out about Ben’s death. Lawrence reunites with his estranged father Sir John, played by Anthony Hopkins, upon his arrival back home. When Lawrence is at the local pub he overhears people talking about the murders being a wild animals’ doing but others blame Romani people camped outside the town. Someone mentions that 25 years earlier a person had been murdered in a similar fashion and that was suspected to be a werewolf.


Back at the estate Lawrence tours around and it becomes clear his mother died by suicide at the estate when he was a child. He recalls seeing his father standing over his mothers body and then he was sent to a hospital in London for a year due to delusions after the event. Wanting to get to the bottom of it Lawrence visited the Romani during the full moon and while there the townspeople raided the camp in search of a bear who they blame for Ben’s death. A werewolf then attacks the camp, killing Romani and townspeople before biting Lawrence and getting out of there.


Maleva, played by Geraldine Chaplin, helps Lawrence and sutures his hand. Another Romani insists to Lawrence that he is now cursed and that he should be killed before he inevitably kills others. Maleva however informs that only a loved one can release him from the curse. After tossing and turning all night with bad dreams Lawrence is already healed and has developed vitality and heightened senses. An inspector, Francis, played by Hugo Weaving, arrives to investigate and suspects that Lawrence is involved due to his mental health history.


Lawrence becomes scared that he’ll hurt Ben’s former fiancé, Gwen, played by Emily Blunt, if she continues staying at their estate and he sends her away. He then follows his father to his mother’s crypt and sees that Sir John locks himself in a room, giving Lawrence a cryptic warning before Lawrence starts to transform and flees into the woods. While in the woods he ends up killing hunters and the next morning he’s arrested by Francis. Lawrence is taken back to the asylum he’d spent a year at as a child and is forced to receive terrible treatments from Dr. Hoenneger, played by Anthony Sher. Sir John visits Lawrence and explains what happened 25 years prior, that he was bitten by a boy in India on a hunting expedition and became infected with lycanthropy. It’s revealed that not only did Sir John bite Lawrence but also killed Lawrence’s mother and brother, Ben.


Sir John was able to get away with this with his employee locking him in every full moon and even considered suicide. Driven mad by his curse he now embraces it and lets loose during his transformations. He leaves a razor for Lawrence in case he considers the same during the impending full moon. Lawrence is paraded as a case study at Dr. H’s lecture and despite him warning the attendees of how dangerous it would be during the full moon they carry on. He transforms and kills the doctor and orderlies before he escapes and goes on a rampage. He visits Gwen at her antique shop the next day and asks for help, both admitting they love one another and kissing.


Unfortunately, Francis is waiting at Talbot Hall and has armed himself and the local police with silver bullets. Gwen attempts to find Maleva and seek a cure for Lawrence but she is informed there is no cure and that the only way forward is for Lawrence to die. Lawrence arrives at Talbot Hall to find that Sir John has killed his loyal employee and one of Francis’ men but he loads a silver gun only to find Sir John removed the powder years ago, rendering it useless. The two get into a fight as the full moon rises which transforms both men into werewolves. The fight results in Talbot Hall being set on fire but Lawrence is able to decapitate Sir John, removing him as a threat.


Gwen and Francis then arrive and Lawrence attacks Francis, biting him. Gwen grabs his gun and runs off into the woods with Lawrence chasing after her still in werewolf form. With Gwen cornered she pleads with Lawrence not to hurt her and he’s able to see through his wolf form and recognize her. Police and hunters arrive and distract Lawrence while Gwen shoots him, causing him to revert back to human form. Lawrence thanks Gwen for setting him free and he dies in her arms while Francis watches as the full moon rises.


The film was announced in 2006 but after a revolving door of directors, actors, and writers, the film still hadn’t been filmed in early 2008, with the script still being reworked. Originally budgeted to cost $85 million the film was shot in England villages and estates that required on-location reshoots in 2009. The make-up for the film was created by Rick Baker who was eager to work on the project when he heard of Universal’s plans to remake the film. Baker and del Toro wanted the make-up created for the 1941 film to be the inspiration behind the 2010 remake’s make-up but after thousands of art renderings the 2nd option was chosen. The film had been planned to release in November 2008 but got pushed numerous times as production was delayed.


The movie grossed approximately $142.6 at the worldwide box office which means it flopped in relation to the budget. Considered a monetary failure, the film also didn’t thrill watchers, with a 4.8 out of 10 as an average rating. Critics point to the lack of suspense as a failing point and felt that the CGI harmed the film rather than helped it like the creators thought it would. Even the president of Universal at the time, Ronald Meyer, called the movie quote-unquote “crappy” and that he felt it wasn’t a good move.

Created Woman reviews

The Dark Universe that Could've Been...

Before covering the next film and the Universal films that followed it’s important to go over the Dark Universe that never was. Dracula Untold 2014 was meant to be the first of many in a plan from Universal to relaunch its Universal Monsters characters to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe that had started taking over the market. Called the Dark Universe, this plan was announced in July 2014 and would include a new horror-focused take on the Universal Monsters. Dark Universe started to be developed as early as October 2013 and one of the core ideas was the films would be primarily horror to pull away from the action-adventure tone that many remakes of these monsters had taken.


Originally Dracula Untold 2014 had been the intended first film to kick off this relaunch, coming out just months after the announcement. Unfortunately the film severely underperformed and missed meeting expectations so the connection between the film and the Dark Universe was downplayed and swept under the rug. The studio then decided The Mummy 2017, starring action star and personal one-sided-nemesis of mine, Tom Cruise, would be the official start of the relaunch (a hilariously corporate studio move). Listed now as a fantasy action-adventure film it officially released June 9, 2017 in the United States. This is funny because in May 2017 Universal dropped what monsters would have feature films, a website dedicated to the project, official logos, and special music.


Before The Mummy came out it was announced who the cast of additional characters would be alongside the hero-character Cruise in The Mummy: Dr. Jekyll slash Mr. Hyde played by Russell Crowe, The Invisible Man played by Johnny Depp, and Frankenstein’s monster played by Javier Bardem. I’d argue that your Victor Frankenstein is far more important than your monster but that’s just me. It was also revealed that movies would include Frankenstein, Wolf Man, The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, Phantom of the Opera, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Van Helsing, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. None of those movies would come out.


The Mummy definitely disappointed (which could’ve been predicted from the casting of an action star for a horror reboot) critics and fans alike. Despite making hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office the studio felt it did not perform well enough and postponed all of the plans for the Dark Universe. By early 2018 the studio decided to rethink the approach to Universal Monsters and opted for standalone adaptations rather than a cinematic universe.


Dracula Untold (2014)...

Despite Universal distancing itself from Dracula Untold 2014 being in the Universal Monsters cinematic universe, it is still a Dracula remake that had been intended to be so. Directed by Gary Shore and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless the film is based on Bram Stoker’s novel with the twist that Dracula is Vlad the Impaler from the Ottoman Empire, a prince known for his cruel and vicious nature. With a budget estimated between $70 and $100 million, the film released on both regular and IMAX screens and grossed approximately $217 million worldwide.


Opening in the 15th century, Vlad Dracula played by Luke Evans, is a prince in Romania and Transylvania having been a ward of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and soldier for the Ottomans. Dracula wants to get away from his past and his actions as a soldier known for his ruthlessness so he minds his own business at his castle. After finding a helmet and following a stream Dracula and his soldiers are attacked by a creature in a cave that he barely escapes. He finds out that the creature had been a vampire, a former General from the Roman Legions named Caligula that had been tricked by a demon and stuck in the cave.


After celebrating Easter with his family an Ottoman group arrives and demands that Dracula’s sons be given as tributes for the current Sultan. Obviously not wanting to do this Dracula goes to the cave seeking help and he is offered blood to get temporary access to the vampire's powers. As long as he doesn’t drink human blood, which he’s warned he’ll crave, he will become human again in 3 days. If he does drink human blood he’ll become a vampire and the vampire in the cave will be freed. Dracula is attacked by the Ottomans upon returning to his castle but is able to kill all of them and then sends his castle’s subjects away to a Monastery for their own safety, including his family.


The Ottomans are able to attack that Monastery after tricking him into using his powers to defend against a decoy attack. Trying to stop the attackers from taking their son, Dracula’s wife is fatally wounded and asks Dracula to drink her blood in order to save their son with the vampire powers. Dracula does drink her blood and becomes a full-on vampire while also lifting the curse that contains the other vampire in the cave. He then goes back to the monastery and makes everyone a vampire also and then blocks out the sun with black clouds.


Dracula tries to get his son back with his army of vampires but once he does he realizes the error of his ways when those vampires want to eat his son and have lost their ability to relate to humans. This makes him say goodbye to his son who is saved by a monk that has a cross, and his son goes on to be Prince of Wallachia. Dracula intends to kill himself and the vampires he’s created by moving the clouds away and burning them in the sun but someone who is inspired by Dracula and believes he is good intentioned saves his life with his own blood. Flashing to the present day it’s revealed that Dracula has met a woman named Mina in London, England and the Master Vampire aka Caligula aka cave vampire watches them from afar.


It was a tad misleading to state that this would be Dracula in the present day when that present day is only arrived at in the end. Pre-production began in 2007 despite not being filmed until late 2013 after switch ups in deals, directors, and cast members. Dracula Untold 2014 ended up debuting at #2 after Gone Girl, one of my all time favorite movies. Box office aside however the film is not well liked by critics or fans. People walked away feeling that this version of Dracula did not frighten or suspend like previous versions while some felt it was just alright. Some critics pointed out that making him become a monster for noble reasons took something away from the fear-factor of the plot. Others didn’t love the battle scenes as the gore rather than more of the traditional stalking of individual people to drink their blood. Overall the studio and fans considered it a enough of a flop to change the entire studio’s Universal Monsters direction.

Must be Destroyed reviews

Victor Frankenstein (2015)...

Victor Frankenstein came out one year later in 2015, released by 20th Century Fox the film is based on the 1818 Shelley novel but not related to the Universal Monsters. Directed by Paul McGuigan and written by Max Landis the film stars James McAvoy as Victor, Daniel Radcliffe as Igor Straussman, Jessica Brown Findlay as Lorelei, Andrew Scott as Inspector Roderick Turpin, Charles Dance as Baron Frankenstein, and Freddie Fox as Finnegan. With a budget of $40 million the film had studio expectations to reach in terms of box office performance. The adaptation is told from Igor’s perspective unlike the source material and shows Victor becoming a legend rather than reciting his legend, a new twist.


Beginning in 1860s London with Victor Frankenstein, a medical student with grand ambitions who attends a performance and helps save an aerialist named Lorelei. He’s able to save her with assistance from a hunchback named Igor, the film’s narrator, who is enslaved by the circus’ ringleader that has feelings for Lorelei. Victor is impressed with Igor’s knowledge of anatomy that he’s been able to gather on his own and decides to rescue him. Victor drains the cyst on his back which is causing him to be physically deformed and also gives him a corrective harness that will help improve his posture post-cyst. Victor gives him the name Igor Straussman after his roommate who’s never around.


Feeling indebted to Victor, Igor becomes his assistant for his experiments which center around artificially resurrecting life. Victor’s experiments are very upsetting for the religious police force that views them as blasphemy. Taking body parts from dead animals Victor tasks Igor with reanimating them and then uses them to create a monstrous chimp creature he names Gordon. Victor is upset when Lorelei returns and he views her as a distraction for Igor. After an experiment goes awry and results in Victor and Igor having to kill Gordon, Lorelei tries to convince Igor to stop Victor. Igor doesn’t want to do that though due to feeling sympathetic towards Victor’s obsession rooted in feeling responsible for his brother’s death. Victor’s father blames Victor which adds to his guilt and thus his drive to succeed in his experiments.


Due to the experiments’ bizarre nature Victor gets expelled from the university but does gain financing from a wealthy peer, Finnegan, who shares in Victor’s desire to create artificial life. While Igor and Victor begin making plans for a humanoid creature they named Prometheus their personal relationship becomes strained as Igor grows closer with Lorelei. Police eventually raid Victor’s lab, fed up with his experiments and hoping to destroy any inventions. During this raid Igor finds the corpse of Victor’s actual roommate Igor who appears to be dead from an overdose. Igor realizes that real-Igor’s missing eye is one that Victor provided for a previous experiment.


Victor and Igor are able to escape when Finnegan sends a carriage for them and they arrive at his estate. Although Finnegan is offering them all they need to complete their Prometheus creation Igor is suspicious of him and still processing the discovery of real-Igor dead and mutilated. The pair end up falling out and Victor proceeds onto Scotland alone to finish the Prometheus creation. Finnegan then abducts Igor with the intention to kill Victor once he can weaponize the Prometheus creation for his own. Igor is thrown into the Thames River and left to drown but is rescued by Lorelei who saves his life.


Now that Igor and Lorelei know Finnegan’s intentions they set out to save Victor who they find on the verge of finishing his experiment with the necessary lighting strike to animate the monster. Despite pleading with Victor not to, he turns on the machine which then causes a surge that kills Finnegan and his employees. The monster awakens and Victor believes Prometheus to be his resurrected brother, Henry. Prometheus doesn’t have consciousness however and can’t talk so Victor comes to the conclusion that his experiment is a failure. After an officer fires on Prometheus he goes on a rampage and kills the officer and almost kills Victor. Realizing that he needs to do something Victor helps Igor stab Prometheus in its 2 hearts.


The next day Lorelei delivers a letter to Igor from Victor in which he apologizes for the suffering caused and wants Igor to live his life with Lorelei. Things are left open ended with Victor telling Igor to stay ready because he might come back one day and ask for assistance. He also states that Igor is a good creation, running off to the countryside to proceed experimenting.


As mentioned before the film had a steep budget of $40 million but generated $34.2 million worldwide with only $5.8 million coming from North America. Projected to gross $12 million throughout the first 5 days of release it didn’t crack $200,000 on the first night so projections were drastically lowered to $3-$4 million over 5 days. It did break a record however, for having the lowest opening gross for a movie released in over 2,500 theaters, a title it held until Friend Request came out in 2017. The box office does match the sentiment in this movie’s case, with many believing the fresh perspective hadn’t been so fresh. Believing that other Frankenstein movies reigned superior, fans felt that it didn’t offer much for them, ultimately being regarded as a mid-film.




The 2020s

The 2020s have been…eventful so far, to say the least. Officially beginning in March 2020 for the USA, the globe shut down due to the COVID-19 virus. The virus spread rapidly, could be asymptomatic, and had no known treatments at the time, resulting in over a million deaths worldwide.


Unfortunately the pandemic became politicized and wearing a mask to protect everyone or being vaccinated became a statement rather than a personal health choice. That same year the US Presidential Election proved to be a catalyst with Joe Biden winning and Donald Trump starting election denial claims before the election had occurred. These election claims culminated in an insurrection attempt at the US Capitol Building that aimed to interrupt official election proceedings and therefore attempt to steal the election using planted, fake electors from multiple states at Trump’s behest.


This was just one of the anti-government protests and demonstrations in the world during the decade with the summer before being filled with anti-racism protests following the George Floyd murder by a police officer. Global conflicts have increased alongside domestic issues; Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and Hamas attacked Israel in 2023. Both conflicts have resulted in the seemingly stronger nations struggling to control the situation like the world had assumed they would, drawing into question national security and defense realities for every country.


While not many crazy tech advances have occurred outside of AI concerns becoming more prevalent as it is starting to steal jobs from writers and tech professionals, cultural changes have been aplenty. During the 2023 strikes in Hollywood for example large parts of creative’s demands from studios centered around their jobs being protected from AI.


Movies

So far studios have continued to revive older titles or dip into pre-made fan markets to ensure big box office returns, and some examples are: Barbie 2023, The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2023, Dune: Part One, Two 2021 and 2024, Bad Boys for Life 2020, and Godzilla vs. Kong 2021. Disney has continued to expand the MCU and other studios have added new additions like: Spider-Man: No Way Home 2021, Inside Out 2 2024, Top Gun: Maverick 2022, Deadpool & Wolverine 2024, Jurassic World: Dominion 2022, and Despicable Me 4 2024.


On the horror front there’s somewhat of a boost right now in the number and frequency of high-profile, blockbuster horror. Some of this has been through remakes of big titles like Candyman 2021 and Salem’s Lot 2024. There’s also been an increase in movies in general of diverse representation and storytelling that horror has benefited from which is a continued trend from the late 2010s. This is coinciding with the revival of Universal Monsters titles from studios like Netflix, Universal, and 20th Century Fox.


The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023)...

Silence descended again on the monster movie scene until 2023 with The Last Voyage of the Demeter, a Universal Pictures film directed by André Øvredal. Written by Bragi Schut Jr. and Zak Olkewicz the film focuses on a specific part of Dracula by Bram Stoker rather than the novel itself. Adapted from “The Captain’s Log” portion of the book it stars Corey Hawkins as Clemens, Aisling Franciosi as Anna, Liam Cunningham as Captain Eliot, David Dastmalchian as Wojchek, Javier Botet as Dracula, Woody Norman as Toby, and Jon Jon Briones as Joseph.


The majority of the movie takes place on a merchant ship named Demeter. Opening in August 1897 the ship washes ashore in England and police find a log that had been kept by the captain, Eliot, among the wreckage. A month earlier the ship had made port in Bulgaria and received cargo bound for London that included multiple large, wooden crates that the local Romanian workers refused to bring aboard due to needing to leave before sundown. Upon hearing that the Demeter needs more crewmen, a doctor named Clemens attempts to convince the crew that his medical skills made him valuable.


Clemens is a black man who’s having trouble finding a place on a ship headed back to England and has to compete with ship crewmen for a spot. Another man is chosen over him for the open crew position but after he saves the Captain’s grandson, Toby, from being crushed and the man chosen over him leaves due to a dragon emblem being a bad omen he’s chosen as a replacement. Once on the ship Clemens discovers a woman inside a crate full of dirt, she’s barely alive and he performs a transfusion to treat what he believes is an infection. That night Clemens and another crew member see a figure hidden in fog on the deck.


The next night all the animals being transported are dead along with the ship dog which causes the crew to believe there is a rabies outbreak. The woman who’s name is Anna wakes up and warns them about a monster aboard that came from Transylvania and feeds on blood. She informs them he’s called Dracula where she’s from and that she is actually a slave of his that provides him blood so that the town can live in peace. She shows the crew multiple bites on her body and informs them that Dracula is ready to feed and here now.


Dracula bites the crew member that had seen the fog with Clemens and turns him into a vampire-like creature. Toby is also bitten by Dracula after being trapped in the captain’s quarters while running away from the vampire crew member. That crew member is then tied to a mast on the ship's deck and when the sun rises the next morning he bursts into flames. Clemens attempts to save Toby but he dies and they wrap his body in sailcloth to have a burial at sea for him. While having the funeral Toby’s body begins to move which causes the Captain to unwrap him, revealing Toby to the sunlight. Toby catches fire and burns the Captain who won’t let go, Clemens has to throw Toby into the ocean in order to end the ordeal.


After all of the harrowing events the crew decides to destroy the ship and hopefully drown Dracula so he cannot reach London. Unfortunately things get off to a rocky start when Dracula kills the Captain and 2 other crew members while also biting Anna when she tries to save Clemens. Clemens returns the favor by rescuing her and hitting Dracula with an axe which allows Anna to cause Dracula to be crushed by part of the ship’s mast. Anna and Clemens then jump ship and believe they have killed Dracula but before the ship sinks it reaches the British shores. This allows Dracula to use his strength to push the mast off of his body that Anna had used to trap him and he shouts triumphantly.


Anna and Clemens are then left floating on debris from the ship when Anna tells him that she’s becoming a vampire and that the transfusions simply delayed the process rather than cure her. She doesn’t want to become a vampire so she self-immolates when the sun rises, leaving Clemens adrift at sea. He eventually drifts to shore and arrives in London and ends up in a tavern. While sketching a portrait of Anna in his notebook he hears a signal knock from the Demeter’s crew only to see Dracula dressed up and laughing at him. Just as quickly as he appeared he disappears and Clemens is left searching around, leaving the pub he ends up seeing Dracula’s shadow following him. Clemens vows then and there that to honor his dead companions he’ll send Dracula back to hell himself.


The writer of the film has said that he was inspired by a miniature of the Demeter and then adapted the Captain’s Log portion of the novel into what has been described as an Alien-inspired film. Having been in development since Bram Stoker’s Dracula that came out in 1992 the film changed hands and directions numerous times between the early 2000s and even up until early 2021. A multitude of production companies are credited with having worked on the film, including: DreamWorks Pictures, Reliance Entertainment, Storyworks Productions, Studio Babelsberg, Phoenix Pictures, and Wise Owl Media. Distributed by Universal Pictures in 2023 the film grossed a total of $21.8 million despite costing $45 million to create. Fans and critics are both mixed about this film, some saying the fresh angle works well and others believing that how the film came together left them wanting more. A Vulture writer saying it’s distinguished from other Dracula films because of its quote-unquote “delicious mean streak” in reference to the surprise cruelty faced by multiple characters.

Blackenstein reviews

Werewolves (2024)...

Not just one, not just two, and not even just three monster movies are coming out or have come out recently aside from The Last Voyage of the Demeter. December 6, 2024 Werewolves released, directed by Steven C. Miller, written by Matthew Kennedy and is about a super moon turning humans into werewolves. Distributed by Briarcliff Entertainment it was produced by Burke Management, Monty the Dog Productions, and Solution Entertainment Group, originally starting production in 2022.


Although lesser known than some of the bigger titles coming soon it grossed $1.86 million on opening alone. Currently Werewolves is not available to rent and only to purchase for $19.99, which I’m not spending to review it. Without the plot available online there isn’t much else to say about it other than it’s available, it’s a modern werewolf movie, and if you buy movies without knowing if they’re good then have at it.

7 Golden Vampires reviews

Nosferatu (2024)...

With much, much bigger fanfare Nosferatu hit theaters on December 25th, Christmas Day, with Focus Features distributing in the US and Universal Pictures internationally. Directed and written by Robert Eggers the film has been much anticipated as a remake and refreshed adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel as well as the 1922 German silent film that is also an adaptation of the novel. Although Nosferatu 1922 is about Count Dracula the creator, Henrik Galeen, changed details like names to differentiate it from the source material and avoid copyright infringement. Despite the changes they got sued anyway by Stoker’s widow for violating copyright and a court ruled that all copies of the film had to be destroyed. In horror community fashion even back then, some copies made it and the film went on to be considered a masterpiece and originator of the horror genre.


The source material ensured horror audiences would be enthused while the star studded cast ensured mainstream audiences would take note. One of those draws is Bill Skarsgård, famous for his portrayal of the clown, It, in the recent remakes, plays Count Orlok also-known-as Nosferatu who is basically Count Dracula in the novel’s description.


Lily-Rose Depp and Nicholaus Hoult are 2 other names familiar to audiences; Depp for her roles in Voyagers 2021 and familial connection to Johnny Depp and Hoult for his roles in Warm Bodies, Mad Max, X-Men, Renfield, The Menu, and so on with the pair playing husband and wife in Nosferatu, Ellen and Thomas Hutter. Willem Dafoe, the busiest man in Hollywood, is also in the film as the Van Helsing-like character, Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz. Dafoe has also been in Saturday Night, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Kinds of Kindness, Gonzo Girl, Pet Shop Days, Finally Dawn, Poor Things, The Boy and the Heron as a voice actor, Asteroid City, and Inside all within 2023 and 2024.


Aaron Taylor-Johnson from Kick Ass, Craven the Hunter, and Bullet Train alongside Emma Corrin who played Princess Diana in The Crown are another couple in the film, Friedrich and Anna Harding. Familiar faces throughout the cast to a variety of audiences definitely helped generate organic buzz around the film. Despite a long line of recent box office failures this Focus-slash-Universal film grossed $156.4 million so far and is still in theaters almost a month from when it was released as I’m writing this. The budget is an estimated $50 million for the whole film, marking this as a change in tide for success of monster movies more akin to that of the original monster movie days.


The intention to make a remake of Nosferatu 1922 was announced in July 2015 with Robert Eggers to direct and write the film. Between then and the film being made Eggers stated he’d been surprised that the remake of something so big would be given to someone for their second movie. Luckily for other horror fans Eggers has a deep connection to Nosferatu and became inspired by the novel also, even adapting it for a high school play. Originally Anya Taylor-Joy had been cast opposite Harry Styles as of 2020 but by 2021 scheduling issues caused Styles to drop from the project. Following negotiations and changing of parts within the group the final result in casting ended up exceeding expectations.


The film finished 3rd in its opening weekend behind Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Mufasa: The Lion King but in terms of critical response most fans have been generally impressed. With an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes and an aggregate rating of 8/10 critics are impressed with Eggers, the script, and the cast that is able to build fear. Having captured the suspense that earlier monster movies had been able to portray it has been well regarded by most since the release. Nosferatu 2024 has been nominated for and won numerous awards already from critics associations and upcoming awards like Critics’ Choice and the British Academy Film Awards.

Monster from Hell reviews

Wolf Man (2025)...

In a sign of the times another monster movie just came out this past weekend, Universal Pictures’ reboot of the 1941 film The Wolf Man. While less massive than the campaign and anticipation for Nosferatu 2024, Wolf Man has still had a decently sized marketing campaign leading up to its January 17, 2025 release in theaters. Originally meant to be part of the Dark Universe, the studio had shifted away from that approach and accepted a pitch from Ryan Gosling for the current Wolf Man with him as the lead and Derek Cianfrance directing. Cianfrance left the project however which caused Gosling to drop his main role and instead take a producer role and Whannell became the director with a new cast.


Taking place in 1995 this Wolf Man is a modern take on the legend of the curse. In the mountains of Oregon a virus is linked to wildlife and during a hunting trip young Blake Lovell, played by Zac Chandler, and his father witness a creature lurking amongst the trees. Flash forward to 30 years later and Blake, played by Christopher Albott, his daughter, Ginger, and Wife, Charlotte, played by Julia Garner live in San Francisco. After receiving word that his father has been declared dead after being missing for an extended period of time Blake decides to take his family to see his home and vacation there to reconnect.


This story is the basis for the film’s plot and I won’t be saying much more about it because it’s extremely new. Notable changes however are the locations, background, and names of the characters, opting for American rural mountain background rather than English estate in the forest of the originals. Despite taking place in Oregon the forest scenes in the film were shot in New Zealand in the South Island’s Queenstown with structures like the house being built in Lane Street Studios in Wellington, New Zealand. The same composer for The Invisible Man 2020 came back to create the score for this film and Whannell has said he wanted the final song to end on an emotional note.


Thus far Wolf Man has grossed $16.8 million worldwide and is up against a budget of $25 million for the studio to make returns on. Response to the film has so far been mixed from critics and fans, receiving a C- in a CinemaScore rating that polled audience members. Vulture has critiqued the focus in the film on the transformation rather than the story but that feels in line with The Wolf Man 1941.

Terror of Frankenstein reviews

The Bride! (2025)...

Slated to come out September 2025, The Bride! is written, directed, and produced by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Warner Bros. Pictures is behind distribution while a variety of studios are listed as responsible for producing the film including Domain Entertainment, Pie Films, First Love Films, Pilot Productions, and MGMT Entertainment. Jessie Buckley is cast as Frankenstein’s bride while Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s monster with actors Penélope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal, Julianne Hough, and more cast alongside them. Announced in August 2023 the remake is intended to be Bride of Frankenstein 1935 from Netflix, but Netflix dropped the project allegedly because of the 2023 Hollywood strikes. Unable to keep both this film and their other Frankenstein remake, Netflix opted to keep the Guillermo del Toro directed latter film.

Dracula 1979 reviews

Frankenstein (2025)...

Not much is known about the other Netflix remake, Frankenstein, also set to be released this year. As mentioned, this film is directed and written by del Toro and based on the Frankenstein 1818 novel. Produced by Double Dare You, Jacob Elordi of Euphoria fame is the monster while Oscar Isaac is Victor. Mia Goth, Christopher Waltz, Felix Kammerer, and Lars Mikkelsen also play parts in this remake.


In the past del Toro has said he wanted to make a quote-unquote “Miltonian tragedy” version of Frankenstein more similar to Frankenstein 1994’s original script. Starting in 2007 the project wasn’t revived until Netflix picked it up in 2023. Andrew Garfield had originally been cast as the monster but had scheduling conflicts that led to the casting of Elordi, which actually has me very excited. I love Garfield, he is my Spider-Man and I’m sticking by that, but he feels more like Victor than the monster to me. No official release date has been announced yet for the film but hopefully more information will be out soon.

Nosferatu the Vampyre 1979 reviews
 

Conclusion and What's next? graphic

 

Conclusion


More now than ever I believe that societal fears are rooted in change; the fear that things will never change, the fear that things will change, that they are irrevocably changed or changed in a way we didn’t like. Although Universal Monsters movie frequency rose and fell throughout the decades horror movies in general stayed fairly consistent, what those horror movies were about seemed to evolve. As much evolvement as we’ve had I think that change is more of a circle than we realize, that the feeling that the grass is greener on the other side creates discontent for fear to grow.


Thank you!

Thank you for reading! graphic

Thank you for reading and/or watching part 2 of this Monsters series!! I hope to finish the projects I’d set out to finish in 2024 (which is this series covering the history of big monster movies as well as the full iZombie review) ASAP. I don’t post on social media anymore so this site is the best way to see recent posts. This year, 2025, I'll be writing single reviews of horror movies that will be posted to this site.


Irregardless of what I do with Red Rose Horror thank you for reading this article! If you're interested in the video for this article or other videos visit the homepage or https://www.youtube.com/@redrosehorror


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