Badmovies.org Forum

I didnt see a thread for this already available. so excuse me if I may be treading over some old ground here. How many of you members grew up seeing these films on television when you were kids? There are so many classics here even amongst the B films that Universal produced during the 1940's. From the early days of the silents like HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA with Lon Chaney, Sr., to stuff like the Gill-Man trilogy and big bugs of the 50's, Universal covered a lot of territory in a 40 year span.

A lot of the genre film greats of that era gave some iconic portrayal during that time as well..Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Jr., Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone, John Carradine, Lionel Atwill, George Zucco and more made these movies the classics they are today.

Some hits from the 20's:

Hunchback Of Notre Dame(1923), Phantom Of the Opera(1925), The Cat & the Canary(1927). The Man Who Laughs(1928)


The Thirties:

Dracula(1931), Frankenstein(1931), The Mummy(1932), The Invisible Man(1933), The Black Cat(1934), Bride Of Frankenstein(1935), Werewolf Of London(1935), The Invisible Ray(1936), Son Of Frankenstein(1939)

The Forties:

The Mummy's Hand(1940), The Wolf Man(1941), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man(1943), Captive Wild Woman(1943),
Son Of Dracula(1943), The Mad Ghoul(1943), Weird Woman(1944), House Of Frankenstein(1944), The Scarlet Claw(1944), The Pearl Of Death(1944), The Mummy's Ghost(1944), House Of Dracula(1945)

The Fifties:

It Came From Outer Space(1953), Creature From the Black Lagoon(1954), Tarantula(1955), Revenge Of the Creature(1955), This Island Earth(1955), The Mole People(1956), The Incredible Shrinking Man(1957), The Deadly Mantis(1957), Monster On the Campus(1958), The Thing That Couldnt Die(1958), Curse Of the Undead(1959), The Leech Woman(1960)


These are only partial listings as there are so many more gems from Universal's catalogue from that era.

I'd like to hear from those who enjoys these films..what are your favorites? Well-known or not so well known. :smile:

There's a lot of really great stuff here, so it's hard to narrow it down to just a few.

Bela's Dracula, the classic Frankenstein's, Invisible Man, and the Lon Chaney Phantom of the Opera are particulate favorites.   

Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein being by far the most fun.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
(http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/587/abbott-and-costello-meet-frankenstein-lobby3.gif)

The Wolf Man (1941)
(http://houseofhorrorblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/the-wolf-man-1942.gif?w=700)

Dracula (1931)
(http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxecxgX3Pi1qav174o1_500.gif)

Silent horror: THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI & NOSFERATU are two that hold up by modern standards.

My favorite Universals are the Frankenstein series. Also worth mentioning is THE BLACK CAT.

Non-Universals from the 1930s: FREAKS and WHITE ZOMBIE.

Don't forget Val Lewton's movies of the 40s and 50s that reinvigorated the genre. Especially the two CAT PEOPLE movies, THE BODY SNATCHER, and Jacques Tourneur's NIGHT OF THE DEMON (not a Lewton production but in the same style).

EYES WITHOUT A FACE just barely makes it under the 1960 dividing line.

So-bad-it's-good roadshow classic horror: MANIAC (1934).

(Not all of those are Universals, of course, but they all have the same classic horror feel...)

I love pretty much everything mentioned in this thread so far. Throw in Charlie Chan, Sherlock Holmes and Bulldog Drummond movies to boot. Also there's the Thin Man films, Philo Vance films, etc.

I'll also mention VAMPYR, THE QUATERMASS films, THIS ISLAND EARTH, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, and of course the one and only:

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Kingkongposter.jpg)

King Kong

I'd also like to add The Old Dark House (1932). 1 of the 1st haunted house movies.

(http://lyhiyhendused.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/the-old-dark-house.gif)

(http://24.media.tumblr.com/3cd6d3e268968db5944efdc4fc3c3fe3/tumblr_mwoxfkKMlk1qf83cro1_1280.jpg)

(http://verdoux.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/the-old-dark-house-1932-20.jpg?w=640)

indeed a creepy movie - It's a must watch horror classic.

A few more Universals:

Man Made Monster(1941),House Of Seven Gables(1940), Strange Case Of Dr.Rx(1942), Sherlock Holmes Faces Death(1943), The Invisible Man's Revenge(1944), Frozen Ghost(1945), The Spider Woman Strikes Back(1946), The Black Castle(1952), Cult Of the Cobra(1955),  The Monolith Monsters(1957)

And before the Old Dark House there was Cat & the Canary(1927) for the "haunted house" mystery thing.

Other notables:

Silents: The Golem(1920), Waxworks(1924), The Unholy Three(1925), The Lost World(1925), The Bells(1926), Metropolis(1927), The Unknown(1927)

Others from this golden age:

Dr.Jekyll & Mr.Hyde(1931), Murder By the Clock(1931), The Most Dangerous Game(1932),  Mystery Of the Wax Museum(1933), Murders In the Zoo(1933), The Ghoul(1933),  Death Takes A Holiday(1934), Chandu the Magician(1932), Mask Of Fu Manchu(1932), The Black Room(1935), M(1931), The Walking Dead(1936), Mark Of the Vampire(1935), Mad Love(1935), Return Of Dr.X(1939)

Dr.Cyclops(1940),The Ghost Breakers(1940),The Devil Bat(1940), The Devil & Daniel Webster(1941), The Devil Commands(1941), Dr.Renault's Secret(1942), I Walked With A Zombie(1943), The Seventh Victim(1943), Return Of the Vampire(1944), The Lodger(1944), Picture Of Dorian Gray(1945), Hangover Square(1945), Strangler Of the Swamp(1946)

The Thing From Another World(1951), Donovan's Brain(1952), War Of the Worlds(1953), House Of Wax(1953), Beast From 20,000 Fathoms(1953), THEM!(1954), Godzilla(1954), Forbidden Planet(1956), Curse Of Frankenstein(1957), The Fly(1958), House On Haunted Hill(1959), I Was A Teenage Werewolf(1957), Horror Of Dracula(1958), Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad(1958), Fiend Without A Face(1958), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea(1954), Rodan(1956), The Mummy(1959)

I loved watching these movies when I was a kid.  They were usually on TV on Saturday afternoons or Saturday nights with lots of commercial interruptions.  I have many, many of them on DVD now.

Same here! Most of these were on late as you said, it made for creepy viewing after midnight when trying to watch these and sometimes adjusting the 'ol antenna on the tv to make sure I could see every little minute. :smile:

Cripes!
That's because this is BAD movies-not GOOD movies.  :wink:

Lugosi is my favorite actor-DRACULA,WHITE ZOMBIE (which is NOT Universal),the RAVEN,and SON of FRANKENSTEIN are my favorite of his films.
I Grew up with Famous Monsters of Filmland in the late 60's and 70's-watched late night Creature Features on uhf channels....old school horror is my passion.
I still own 100's of old horror film fan mags from the 60's and 70's,have lotsa books about them too-,and I'm a Grandpa! my passion is still strong.

Look at my sig down below...at my Tumblr accounts-check it out.  :cheers:
 

We used to watch them on WNEW 5's Creature Features which showed most of the Universal stuff in the way of Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfie and the Invisible Man, as well as some other bad 50's and 60's B-Movie stuff.  It's been 45 years since I first set eyes on Creature Features, and 34 years since it's demise in 1980, but Saturday nights still have a place in my heart, which sadly is now empty with the passing of all these years.  :bluesad:

For the heck of it though, here's a quite faithful reproduction of the opening for WNEW 5's Creature Features, done by a good friend of mine. Enjoy  :smile:

http://youtu.be/B_qE7g9nq3A (http://youtu.be/B_qE7g9nq3A)

I know he's been mentioned but I feel like since I put up Kong's poster, his needs to go up here as well....

(http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.607991791005994770&pid=15.1)

I thought people might get a kick out of this.

http://youtu.be/0thH3qnHTbI

These classic movie monsters, might they be symbolic of transformation? Of humanity's need to adapt, kill or be killed, hunt or be hunted, the need to protect ourselves against unseen monsters that stalk the night?

Just throwin' that out there.

A Tribute To Classic Monster Movies (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVL3z8Qomx4#ws)