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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2018 13:41:33 GMT
And who's your favorite?
Been binge watching my boxsets again being it's Halloween season (to me at least).
I go:
1. The Wolf Man 2. Frankenstein 3. Dracula
Anybody else rank Dracula a distant 3rd in this race like me - although he may in fact be the most iconic horror figure of All-Time?
Watching it right now - and to be blunt - I'm bored.
The Wolf Man and Frankenstein boxsets always seem to be my 'Go To's |
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Post by Catman on Sept 23, 2018 13:44:13 GMT
1. Frankenstein (pure monster)
2. The Wolf Man (a little too much angst)
3. Dracula (just a giant human mosquito)
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2018 13:47:36 GMT
1. Frankenstein (pure monster) 2. The Wolf Man (a little too much angst) 3. Dracula (just a giant human mosquito) i love The Wolf Man - but always felt Larry was a pathetic sap and a loser
he comes off as a stalker too that can't take 'no' for an answer. didn't his dad state he was visiting from college? he looks like a 50 year old boozer.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 23, 2018 14:01:40 GMT
Rank all the movies, or just each monster? Or each monster’s, er, oeuvre? Monsters: 1. Dracula — I guess I’m outvoted on this thread, but he’s the only one who could, potentially, seem really creepy to me. The concept of the vampire as someone you knew in life, tapping at your window after death (the whisperer in the dark, “the drainer of bodies and killer of souls,” as John Dickson Carr phrased it), is terrifying. Lugosi’s Count isn’t quite up to that level—who is? Maybe only Schreck, Kinski, Jourdan—but he’s close, and entertaining. 2. The Wolf Man — the concept of the werewolf could be scary, but I hardly ever see it done well. Oh well. 2. Frankenstein Monster — never found him scary. The movies are great, but I’ve just never found him scary. As for the movie “ oeuvres,” Frankie probably had the best movies, with Frankenstein, Bride, and Son all first-class. The Wolf Man is fine, if a bit streamlined for my tastes, and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is a really fun little “crossover.” I really like the English-language Dracula ’31, though it seems no one else does (  ), the Spanish version is intriguing if not especially good, Dracula’s Daughter is the finest vampire movie Universal ever did, and Son of Dracula is perhaps a failure but a fascinating one. Wolf Man… Well, he didn’t really get his own sequel, but Chaney was surprisingly good in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. And how about the Mummy? |
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Post by tavaresmd on Sept 23, 2018 15:19:34 GMT
1 Frankenstein
2 Dracula
3 The Wolf Man
But Dracula is my favorite monster
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2018 15:29:58 GMT
Rank all the movies, or just each monster? Or each monster’s, er, oeuvre? Monsters: 1. Dracula — I guess I’m outvoted on this thread, but he’s the only one who could, potentially, seem really creepy to me. The concept of the vampire as someone you knew in life, tapping at your window after death (the whisperer in the dark, “the drainer of bodies and killer of souls,” as John Dickson Carr phrased it), is terrifying. Lugosi’s Count isn’t quite up to that level—who is? Maybe only Schreck, Kinski, Jourdan—but he’s close, and entertaining. 2. The Wolf Man — the concept of the werewolf could be scary, but I hardly ever see it done well. Oh well. 2. Frankenstein Monster — never found him scary. The movies are great, but I’ve just never found him scary. As for the movie “ oeuvres,” Frankie probably had the best movies, with Frankenstein, Bride, and Son all first-class. The Wolf Man is fine, if a bit streamlined for my tastes, and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is a really fun little “crossover.” I really like the English-language Dracula ’31, though it seems no one else does ( ), the Spanish version is intriguing if not especially good, Dracula’s Daughter is the finest vampire movie Universal ever did, and Son of Dracula is perhaps a failure but a fascinating one. Wolf Man… Well, he didn’t really get his own sequel, but Chaney was surprisingly good in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. And how about the Mummy? meh.
the mummy blows - he's pretty far down there with The Invisible Man.
he's kind of like Rodan and Mothra in the Godzilla movies.
from your recs above - I loved Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man.
Ever see House of Frankenstein?
Guilty pleasure of mine - all 3 are in it.
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Post by Raimo47 on Sept 23, 2018 17:28:39 GMT
1. Dracula
2. The Wolf Man
I don't like Frankenstein.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 23, 2018 17:53:04 GMT
meh.
the mummy blows - he's pretty far down there with The Invisible Man.
he's kind of like Rodan and Mothra in the Godzilla movies.
from your recs above - I loved Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man.
Ever see House of Frankenstein?
Guilty pleasure of mine - all 3 are in it.
Hey, I love the Mummy! OK, not the scariest monster, but I loved Egyptology as a kid, and the Karloff movie is great. Really, really great. The other few are fun programmers, not the quality of the Karloff original but still a good time—like Uni’s simultaneous Sherlock Holmes series or something. And how can you not like The Invisible Man? One of Claude’s best villains, and using only his voice, too. I think the scenes in the beginning, with his coming out of the snow, are splendidly creepy, and he’s not cursed like Drac, the Mummy, or Wolfie, or ignorant like Frankie—he’s just out-and-out nuts, like Dr. Pretorious, Saul Femm, or Ygor. I like House of Frankenstein, mostly for Karloff’s mad scientist, but it’s slightly disappointing that both in this one and in House of Dracula the monsters don’t really get to strut their stuff, scare-wise: that duty falls to Karloff in the former and Onslow Stevens in the latter. (Luckily, Uni’s screenwriters finally figured out what to do with all the monsters in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.) HoF does have a great sequence with John Carradine’s Dracula, though. Oh, and what about the Gill Man? Where’s he on the rankings? |
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 23, 2018 18:07:32 GMT
I also want to give a shout-out to the lesser-known Uni movies and monsters—or, at least, those that aren’t mentioned as often. I’m a big fan of Lon Chaney’s Phantom of the Opera, one of the few times the Phantom was played as a genuine monster and not as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s pretty boy. (Still like the musical, though. ) The movie’s not great—it went through a number of different directors, and it’s something of a mess cinematically—but it’s decent, and the sets are amazing. Ygor, from Son of Frankenstein, is one of the great movie villains of them all, and probably Béla Lugosi’s best performance. Lugosi also gives us a great mad scientist in Murders in the Rue Morgue, Robert Florey’s weird, expressionistic consolation-prize for not directing Frankenstein. I mentioned The Old Dark House’s Saul Femm—oh, and the whole Femm family, too! And of course Hjalmar Poelzig and Vitus Werdegast in The Black Cat ’34, one of the few Uni horror pictures that are still genuinely horrifying. Countess Zaleska, Dracula’s Daughter, of course, and Irving Pichel’s excellently underplayed Sandor. I really like Uni’s half-horror, half-mystery whodunits, probably patterned after Charlie Chan, as well: Horror Island, The Black Cat ’41, and especially Night Monster. Night Monster’s undergoing something of a renaissance or rediscovery among classic horror fans, and it deserves it: it’s great. Definitely recommended if you haven’t seen (or heard) of it. |
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Sept 23, 2018 20:27:55 GMT
1. The Wolf Man
2. Frankenstein
3. Dracula
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Post by them1ghtyhumph on Sept 23, 2018 22:28:39 GMT
Too difficult to choose.
Dracula mesmerizes me
Karloff should have been nominated for Bride of Frankenstein
I named a dog after Larry Talbot
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Post by politicidal on Sept 23, 2018 23:28:51 GMT
Invisible Man.
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Sept 24, 2018 0:47:01 GMT
The Wolf Man
Frankenstein
Dracula
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Post by merh on Sept 30, 2018 22:04:03 GMT
Dracula
Frankenstein
Wolfman
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Oct 1, 2018 14:21:49 GMT
Go Frankie!  R.I.P. Phil Hartman, one of the best Frankenstein's monsters. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2018 15:11:26 GMT
I guess none of them rank as 'frightening' anymore. But I was a huge fan of them all, my entire life.
I answered 'other'. The reason being? "Bride Of Frankenstein" is by far the most thoughtful, technically proficient, and well executed film of them all. It really stands alone as a 'fantasy/satire'. He took all the 'once upon a time' scary motifs of the first one, and swung them upside down to satirize human nature in general. Unfortunately, Mel Brooks "Young Frankenstein", which is nothing short of a loving 'homage' to it, has reduced it's legacy. Whereas Whale's tale was a 'sly parody', Brooks's film is more 'over the top'. I love them both, but regret "YF" has reduced the original "BOF" 'remembrance'.
Also, the second Dracula film, again, has more 'meat' on it than the original. Where the original was looking strictly for chills, "Dracula's Daughter" is a psychological thriller, and I think it holds up fairly well. The woman on woman scene was edgy for 1936, as well.
Number three will be a tie. Whale's "Invisible Man" (<---along with "Old Dark House") are decent precursors To "The Bride", and "The Wolf Man" was Universals last great "A Lister Original". Forget Lon Chaney Jr, how about Maria Ouspenskaya? She was a major 'acting coach' in Hollywood, who was trained along with Stanislovski, or by him.
Now, to be sure, I have no 'hate' for the original "Dracula" or "Frankenstein". I love both those films. Especially some of the 'still imagery', which transversely? Both those films, particularly "Dracula", are partial 'silent films', which has dated them a bit more than the others. Hollywood hadn't found it's 'way with words' yet. Of course this helped create some great imagery (Dracula's first bite', Renfield in the bowels of the boat, the amazing 'cross cutting' revealing Karloff's monster for the first time'), but they plod along in terms of moving dialog, ie, the dialog speeding things along.
"The Son Of Frankenstein" works well, too.
As to the rest, I think they need their own category. Universal lots used to refer to them as 'the monster rally films'. Generally, some human wants to rule the world with the unleashing of all these ghouls, and WE root for whichever is our favorite. The human is generally 'the bad guy'.
"Abbot and Costello Meet X, Y, and Z") was about as good a way to end the series as anything.
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 1, 2018 15:24:33 GMT
These are excellent choices, @mickeeteeze (Bride and Dracula’s Daughter would probably make my top 5 Uni horrors), but I think @screamingtreefrogs was talking about rating the monsters as monsters.
By the way, do you really think Young Frankenstein diminished the prestige of Bride of Frankenstein? Maybe the hermit scene, but if anything YF is really a spoof of Son. And I’ve never known anyone who thought Bride lost its greatness because of YF. (Both are great, very funny movies.)
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2018 15:57:44 GMT
These are excellent choices, @mickeeteeze ( Bride and Dracula’s Daughter would probably make my top 5 Uni horrors), but I think @screamingtreefrogs was talking about rating the monsters as monsters. By the way, do you really think Young Frankenstein diminished the prestige of Bride of Frankenstein? Maybe the hermit scene, but if anything YF is really a spoof of Son. And I’ve never known anyone who thought Bride lost its greatness because of YF. (Both are great, very funny movies.) Ooops! I guess I'm going with Frankenstein, then. But not by much. Thanks! I find most people under the age of 40 have never seen "BOF", and if they have, will almost invariable have a stronger association with Madeline Kahn and Gene Hackman. I believe "Bride Of Frankenstein" to be a top 10-20 films of the 1930's, any genre. It's just SO subversive. I'm sure much of it would be 'lost in translation' today. I find the film to be more like a "Gullivers Travels" meets "Wizard Of OZ" type of thing, as opposed to a 'horror' flick! Thanks! |
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Post by QueenB on Oct 1, 2018 22:49:49 GMT
1. Dracula
2. The Wolf Man
3. Frankenstein
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on Oct 2, 2018 13:28:29 GMT
Ref: The Mummy
I absolutely hated it as a kid, found it dull and boring, which explains why I have never seen any of the sequels apart from the Abbot & Costello romp. But I have come to admire it later in life, and since it's the October Challenge I have purchased the sequels for some fun viewings (not expecting greatness in any of them!).
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), the Spanish version is intriguing if not especially good, Dracula’s Daughter is the finest vampire movie Universal ever did, and Son of Dracula is perhaps a failure but a fascinating one. Wolf Man… Well, he didn’t really get his own sequel, but Chaney was surprisingly good in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. 
