Chainsawmidget and the Universal Monsters.

[chainsaw midget]

Werewolf of London. 


This one is an unusual one. It doesn't have any of the familiar cast we've seen in the previous movies.  It doesn't have any really familiar characters.  It predates the Wolfman, so all the typically werewolf cliches haven't been established yet.  This lets it go some unusual directions.  For example, werewolfism is treated more of as a medical disease than a curse.  It doesn't take silver to kill a werewolf.  There's actually an antidote, but it only lasts for a single night.  After transforming intoa  werewolf, the guy is still intelligent enough to take a coat and a hat to disguise himself.  Most interestingly though, is the idea that a werewolf MUST kill every night they're transformed or the transformation is permanent.  They never really go into detail with this though or confirm it.  Considering one of the TWO werewolves (!) in this movie has been a werewolf for years ... well... he must have killed a lot of people. 

The movie leans hard into the ideas of jealousy and bad marriages.  There's also an odd bit at the start of the movie with a plant that has moving tentacles and eats a live frog.  It's a weird and interesting little thing, but it never becomes important to the plot and is forgotten after the one scene it's in. 

Most disappointingly of all though, is that we never once see a werewolf drinking a pino colada at Trader Vic's. 

[M.10rda]

Considering one of the TWO werewolves (!) in this movie has been a werewolf for years ... well... he must have killed a lot of people. 

Little old lady got mutilated late last night...
Werewolves of London again!

Warren Z really did his research! 

[lester1/2jr]

The Invisible Man

For the first time we move away from gothic setting, creepy tombs, and into something more modern.  (It was modern when they made it anyway.)  The move makes up for the lack of atmosphere from the previous films by being a lot faster paced and generally energetic.  While some off comic relief is more apparent here, Claude Rains manages to make up for it with a very wonderfully sinister and egomanical performance.  I can only imagine how breath taking the effects must have been back then, because even now they don't look that bad (for the most part.  There's a few instances where they don't quite work.)  This is also the deadliest of the monsters so far, with a confirmed body count over over 120 people killed. 

It's kind of a shame that typically the big monster actors of the era are considered Karloff, Lugosi, and the Chaneys because Rains deserves more recognition.

I used to study at the Boston Public Library in college and they would show movies in the big hall in the basement. I took a break from studying and watched this one night. It was me and a fair amount of homeless people. It seemed to go over very well, especially when he starts to lose his marbles.

[RCMerchant]

You don't see any of the Acquanetta "Wild Women" films ever mentioned with the other big name monsters. Not that their all that good, but at least as good as some of the Lon Chaney Mummy movies.

[chainsaw midget]

You don't see any of the Acquanetta "Wild Women" films ever mentioned with the other big name monsters. Not that their all that good, but at least as good as some of the Lon Chaney Mummy movies.

You don't.  She's not even in the set I have.  I'm also just now noticing it's lack of Mole People and This Island Earth.  (I've already mentioned it's lacking in other areas too.)  If I get a chance, I'll try to slip a few of them in at the end.


And for the latest movie ... Dracula's Daughter. 


This movie appeals to me.  Not that the others I've watched don't, but I feel I have more to say about this one because nobody ever talks about it like they do the others. 

In a way this movie could have been so much more, but I like what we did get.  Much like the Bride of Frankenstein, this sequel seems to take place immediately after the first one ends, and involves Von Helsing (it was Van in the first movie.  No idea why the change.) being caught at the scene of the crime with a dead Dracula and a dead Renfield.  John and Mina are curiously absent and never mentioned.  Dracula's daughter Countess Marya (pronounced 'Maria') Zaleska comes to claim and destroy his body hoping that would end her curse.  It doesn't and she tries tog et a psychiatrist to help her break break her vampirism habit.  That sounds like a bad joke but it isn't. 

I have to say, the Countess is quite the character.  While lacking Bela's accent (and sadly he never gets to appear in this movie either), her looks and the way she acts makes one fully believe that she could be his offspring.  She's very high class, while a cold demanding presence and while not the traditional beauty she's by no means unattractive. 

She's also cinemas first self loathing vampire and it's first lesbian vampire.  In all honesty, she should be a lot more popular than she is. And she has a neat little ring that she uses to hypnotize people. 

There's been some debate between viewers as whether or not she really even is a vampire.  They point out she's able to hold a cross and doesn't display any vampire powers on screen.  Personally I don't buy that.  We know she kills people by sucking out their blood and leaving two puncture marks in their neck and it's not like Lugosi showed a lot of powers on screen either. 

Also very notable is her servant Sandor, he's creepy in a way that still holds up wonderfully.  He's like the anti-Renfield.  Calm and collected, carefully well groomed, and continues to push her towards evil when it's obvious she doesn't want to be that way anymore. 

Sadly, the movies heroic leads are lacking.  The main couple tends to come off as unlikable a good hunk of the time and Von Helsing ... he does some pretty stupid stuff.  When they find the body of Dracula, he matter of factually tells them "Yeah, I killed the guy.  He was 500 years old already") and continues to try to explain vampires to people when he should be trying to make it look like he's not a multiple murderer.

[M.10rda]

Great review! I've never seen D'S D and now I want to check it out. 

[Rev. Powell]

I could've sworn I already posted that I agree that DRACULA'S DAUGHTER is underrated.

[chainsaw midget]

Son of Frankenstein. 

THIS is the movie where they knock it out of the park.  Good camera work, fast moving plot, strong characters, no lapses in logic or forced comedy relief.  This so far, feels like the gold standard.  It's got Karloff, Lugosi, Lionell Atwill, and Basil Rathbone all giving top performances. 

For the first time, our sequel doesn't pick up right after the previous movie ends.  This time it takes place a good deal longer.  How long?  So long that a child who wasn't even born in the last movie has grown up to be Basil Rathbone and has a young boy of his own. 

The Son of Frankenstein (now Von Frankenstein for some reason), has returned to the town where his father ... well, you know what his father did.  There he encounters a broken necked convict named Ygor who leads him to his father's monster, and he revives it, obviously FOR SCIENCE!! and to clear his father's good name.  Things go bad. 


One amusing tidbit is that even back then, the character expressed frustration that people were calling the monster by his family's name. 

The character work in this is great.  Wolf von Frankenstein (great name by the way) is even MORE arrogant than his father had been, and when he finally looses his cool, even more unstable. 

Bela Lugosi is completely unrecognizable as Ygor.  He lacks any of the charm and class you expect from Lugosi, while managing to pull of the evil just as strongly.  Within seconds you know this is a very dangerous man, a man that cannot be trusted, and a bad liar.  And unfortunatly, he's the only one the Monster of Frankenstein will listen to.  They're "friends" and as his friend, the monster kills whoever Ygor tells him to. 

Lionell Atwill plays the town's Inspector, a far more reasonable and understanding person than you would expect, especially given how when he was a child, the Monster ripped one of his arms right off.  There are scene with him and Basil where the two of them seem to be doing their best to act act the other.  It's fun stuff.

While the monster himself doesn't get a lot to do, there are a few really good scenes with him, especially how he handles the death of his only real friend. 

The movie also has one of the first real action scene we've seen so far. 

if there's anything bad I can say about it, it's just really minor things.  The movie doesn't seem to follow continuity of it's predecessors that well.  I already mentioned the change in Frankenstein's name.  The town itself has also changed names.  I forget what it was before, but now the town itself is known as Frankenstein.  Also, while Frankenstein's lab being far away from his house was a significant plot point in the previous movies, here it's located right next to each other. 

Over all though, Grade A flick. 

[chainsaw midget]

The Invisible Man Returns

The Invisible man does not return.  This movie has an entirely different Invisible man.  But he's also Vincent Price.  However this is very early in Vincent Price's career and he hasn't quite mastered the evil tone of voice he's better known for.  Then again, he is the good guy in this movie.  Aside for some brief moments of madness, where he talk about what he's going to do, he really doesn't do anything mad.  The movie is mostly about him trying to clear his name from being framed for murdering his own brother. 

The effects are more ambitious in this movie than the previous Invisible man, but don't hold up quite as well. 

This is a monster movie, but not really horror in any real way.  However it does firmly establish that Vincent Price is one of the Universal Monsters.  Don't let anyone tell you any different.

If you wanted to follow the previous naming conventions of the other sequels, this movie could be Brother of the Invisible Man.