Something Creepy This Way Comes: It’s The Perfect

Time For The Greatest Monsters Of Film

By Kim J. Harmon

Ever since Thomas Edison produced a 16-minute version of Frankenstein in 1910, unsuspecting villagers around the world have been besieged by hordes of hideous monsters. From creatures stitched together from the remains of fresh corpses and creatures that survive by drinking the blood of their victims to creatures that shape shift into wolves at the height of the full moon the countryside (wherever it may be) has been under attack for nearly 100 years.

The list goes on and on – the re-animated dead, vampires, werewolves, ancient Egyptian mummies, the living dead, alligator people, hunchbacked bell ringers, gill men living in the depths of an Amazonian lagoon, phantoms haunting the bowels of an old opera house, man-eating plants, jelly-like creatures from outer space, aliens too numerous to mention and all bent on world domination, gigantic apes, evil dolls, mutated insects and arachnids, flesh-eating ghouls, mad doctors, enormous reptilian creatures, axe-wielding maniacs, demons, witches and ghosts, ghosts, ghosts.

But when Universal Studios released Van Helsing in 2004, it paid homage to the greatest of all these monsters; the monsters that (for want of a better phrase) gave unholy life to the genre of horror. The genre could not exist without them and will continue to exist because of them.

N Dracula

N Frankenstein’s monster

N The Wolf Man

It all began back in 1891 when Thomas Edison invented the first practical movie camera. Just five years later, French director George Melies (who produced hundreds of films) produced a two-minute short film called The Devil’s Castle, regarded as the first horror film ever made.

THE PLACE – An ancient castle.

THE SCENE – A bat flies through an open window and transforms itself into Mephistopheles himself, a spirit of the devil. The evil Mephistopheles conjures a young girl and some supernatural creatures, one of which brandishes a crucifix in an effort to banish the monster.

In 1910, Edison produced the original version of Frankenstein, a 16-minute short that was thought lost until one print was discovered within the collection of an old film buff. But it wasn’t until 1920, with Robert Weine’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, that the true essence of the horror movie was born and began to find appeal.

What followed was series of silent classics, horrifying in their own right – Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1920) starring John Barrymore; Nosferatu (1922) starring Max Schreck; The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1922) starring Lon Chaney; and The Phantom of the Opera (1925) also starring Lon Chaney.

While the audiences of the time were certainly horrified by these creatures, it was more because of the ghastly nature of the subject matter. It wasn’t until 1931 – and the introduction of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi – that horror became ssssscaaaaaarrrrryyyy.

 

“Look! It’s moving. It’s alive. It’s alive. It’s alive, it’s moving … it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, IT’S ALIVE!”

—Dr Henry Frankenstein

Frankenstein (1931), directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff, is perhaps the classic and definitive monster/horror film of all time. Produced by Carl Laemmle Jr, it has been said this film saved Universal Studios from possible bankruptcy and spawned a 100 years of horror.

It is the story of a mad scientist, Dr Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive), who seeks to create artificial life by stitching together the remains of fresh corpses. Ultimately, the monster (Karloff) breaks free of the castle and terrorizes the countryside.

One of the most memorable scenes in the film was of the monster approaching a little girl, Maria, beside a lake. She is throwing flowers into the water and is unafraid of the bewildered monster, which only seeks understanding of what has happened to it. The monster joins her, but when it runs out of things to throw in the water it picks the little girl up and throws her into the water.

It is a horrifying image, one Karloff objected to and one that was originally cut from the film (only to be restored much later).

It was because of scenes like that and the one where the monster is strung up on a wooden stake by the frightened townspeople that the producers had Edward Sloan (Dr. Waldman in the film) introduce the movie with a warning –

“How do you do? Mr. Carl Laemmle [the producer] feels it would be a little unkind to present this picture without just a word of friendly warning. We are about to unfold the story of Frankenstein, a man of science who sought to create a man after his own image without reckoning upon God. It is one of the strangest tales ever told. It deals with the two great mysteries of creation – life and death. I think it will thrill you. It may shock you. It might even – horrify you. So if any of you feel that you do not care to subject your nerves to such a strain, now’s your chance to – uh, well, we warned you.”

Now, the monster does not resemble the monster in Mary Shelley’s 1818 gothic novel Frankenstein; Or, the Modern Prometheus. The horrifying visage was a creation of make-up artists Jack Pierce, who developed the flat head, the droopy eyelids, and the bolts in the neck.

Also, the role of the monster was originally offered to Bela Lugosi, who turned it down because the creature had no dialogue (the monster did not speak until Whale’s wonderful sequel The Bride of Frankenstein in 1935). Karloff – neé William Platt – was an unknown at the time and his name was absent from the opening credits (although he was credited at the end of the film).

This film spawned dozens of remakes (Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein in 1974 was a spectacular homage), the latest being the 2004 USA Network film Frankenstein, which aired this month.

Universal Studios also produced the original version of Dracula in 1931, directed by Tod Browning and starring Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi. Browning had directed such silent classics as The Unholy Three (1925), The Unknown (1927) and the lost film London After Midnight (1927), all starring Lon Chaney, but Dracula was his crowning achievement.

“The spider spinning his web for the unwary fly. The blood is the life, Mr Renfield.”

—Count Dracula

In the film, the Transylvania count – while hosting Renfield in his spooky old castle – finalizes the purchase of Carfax Abbey and books passage to England. There, he begins preying on the unsuspecting Mina.

Director F.W. Murnau had wanted his film Nosferatu to be called Dracula, but the estate of author Bram Stoker would not authorize it. Stoker’s widow, in fact, fought to destroy all known prints of the film (and nearly succeeded).

The Academy©-Award winning Karl Freund photographed Dracula for Browning and created some stunning scenes, most notably the opening sequence establishing the scene. And then there was the harrowing ride Renfield took through the countryside, looking out the window of the horse-drawn carriage and discovering to his horror that no one was driving and a bat was hovering overhead.

The first 20 minutes of the film are almost utterly silent – save for a few strains of Tchaikovsky and Wagner (composer Philip Glass created a new soundtrack for the film in 1999 which lends a new creepiness). Fear builds through the creaking sounds of coffin lids and the eerie camera angles.

Interestingly, Universal Studios – as it produced Browning’s Dracula – was at the same time producing a Spanish version of the movie using the same script and the same sets. The English-language version was filmed in the daytime while the Spanish-language version, directed by George Melford (who did not understand or speak Spanish) and starring Carlos Villarias as the count, was filmed at night.

While the Spanish version is far more artistic, the English version is far creepier.

For the rest of the decade, moviegoers were chilled with shocking sequels to Frankenstein and Dracula – such as The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939) and Dracula’s Daughter (1936).

It wasn’t until 1941 that a new monster was discovered.

“Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.

—Sir John Talbot

Lon Chaney Jr, already a veteran of some 69 movies (mostly westerns), was cast as the unwitting Lawrence Talbot in The Wolf Man, directed by George Waggner and also starring Claude Rains (famous for his role in The Invisible Man) and Bela Lugosi. Although The WereWolf of London was produced in 1935, it was Chaney Jr who truly brought this creature to life.

In this film, Talbot returns home only to be attacked and bitten by a werewolf outside a gypsy camp. With its black trees and the fog floating through the woods, this was one of the most unsettling scenes ever filmed.

Although mindful of the legend, Talbot initially scoffs at it – until villagers begin getting ravaged by a monstrous beast.

Perhaps Chaney’s best performance was as Lennie in the 1939 film Of Mice and Men, but his work as the werewolf forever linked him to the horror genre. Although from time to time he had roles in other classic movies (such as High Noon in 1952), his career was never the same. His last role was as Groton in the 1971 film Dracula Vs. Frankenstein and he died two years later of liver failure at the age of 67.

While the horror genre would take many different avenues in the decades to come – such the giant bug invasion of the 1950s, the demonic possessions of the 1960s and ‘70s, and the flesh-eating zombies and axe-wielding maniacs of the 1970s and ‘80s – the foundation for its very existence remains the wonderful Universal films of the 1930s and early ‘40s.

Director Stephen Sommers took that to heart with Van Helsing (2004). In the film, the noted vampire-hunter returns to Transylvania to battle the evil count and at the same time has to match wits with Frankenstein’s monster and werewolves.

While Sommers does transform some of the myths to fit his vision of the movie (something that many purists did not appreciate), Van Helsing is a strong homage to the great monsters that made the horror genre possible.

Recommendations

Other great horror films (and monsters) – The Old Dark House (1932), King Kong (1933), White Zombie (1932), The Thing From Another World (1951), Them! (1954), The Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Horror of Dracula (1958), Psycho (1960), Dementia 13 (1963), Night of the Living Dead (1968), The Exorcist (1973), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), The Shining (1980), The Evil Dead (1982), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) and Jeepers Creepers (2001).

There are superb collections – The Dracula Legacy, The Frankenstein Legacy, The Werewolf Legacy and The Mummy Legacy – also available on DVD. Each collection contains all the important films linked to that particular monster and all come complete with biographies, documentaries, and other extras such as production stills.