For the first week I decided to watch the first 8 Universal horror films from the sound era.
The movie that started it all Tod Browning's Dracula reportedly made people faint when it was first shown in theaters. Eighty-eight years later, it's still an unnerving, if very flawed film. Bela Lugosi is still the iconic Dracula, his slow deliberate line delivery and icy presence are so associated with the character now that one would think Bram Stoker had written him that way! Edward Van Sloan and Dwight Frye are also great as Van Helsing and Renfield. With that said, some of the editing in this film is sloppy and the direction is often uninspired. The maginifcent set design is somewhat wasted as a result. The choice to replace Jonathan Harker with Renfield in the first act was also a mistake, as we shift focus away from his character in act two, causing the film to loose focus.
Score: 8/10
Frankenstein is an unqualified masterpiece. Director James Whale, by focusing in on the plight of the monster, is able to condense Mary Shelley's classic story into a 70 minute film with seeming ease. Boris Karloff, like Lugosi before him, is absolutely brilliant as the monster and the make-up by Jack P. Pierce is deservedly iconic. Colin Clive also puts in a fine performance as Frankenstein, the obsessive and, later, haunted scientist who tries to play god. The Gothic sets and atmospheric lighting combine with Arthur Edeson's cinematography to create a truly chilling mood. It is filled with now classic moments, from the creation of the monster (in that instantly iconic Kenneth Strickfaden set) to the fiery finale, and one scene near the end of the film remains shocking to this day.
Score: 10/10
A loose adaptation of the Edgar Allen Poe story, the first of three featuring detective C. Auguste Dupin, this film is about a mystery involving a circus ape, a mad scientist and a series of murders. Like all of these early universal films, this movie is heavy on atmosphere. It's at its best when focusing on the mad Dr. Mirakle played by Bela Lugosi and his ape Erik. The detective element, with Leon Ames as Dupin is somewhat undermined by the fact that we, as an audience, already know the answer to the mystery. The romantic scenes between Dupin and Camille are pretty stilted, and don't really suit his character anyway. The climax, anticipating King Kong, also feels a little out of place. Altogether, it's an uneven but still pretty entertaining film.
Score: 7/10
4. The Old Dark House (1932)
A forgotten Gothic horror classic The Old Dark House sees husband and wife Philip and Magaret Waverton (Raymond Massey and Gloria Stuart) and their friend Roger Penderel (Melvyn Douglas) seek shelter in an old decrepit mansion during a storm. Soon after they are joined by Sir William Porterhouse (Charles Laughton) and his female companion Gladys DuCane (Lilian Bond). The five strangers soon find that the old house and its inhabitants (brother and sister Horace and Rebecca Femm played by Ernest Thesiger and Eva Moore and their butler Morgan played by Boris Karloff) hide a dark secret. Once again James Whale directs with panache and the cast are all at their best, especially Laughton.
Score: 9/10
The third classic universal monster movie, the mummy's first outing is distinct from the later entries for it's focus on Boris Karloff's resurrected Egyptian priest, rather then the mindless bandaged covered zombie of the sequels. Perhaps it was my mood (I was excessively tired the night I watched it) but I found The Mummy a somewhat dull affair, held up only by Karloff's steely presence and the intriguing back story for Imhotep. Van Sloan's Dr. Muller seems all to ineffectual as the Mummy's adversary for their conflict to really be engaging and the romance between Zita Johann's Helen and Arthur Byron's Sir Joseph didn't really work for me.
Score: 7/10
This remake of a 1932 German film is a bit of a mixed bag. The Secret of the Blue Room sees three men (played by Paul Lukas, Onslow Stevens and William Janney), all suitors of Gloria Stuart's Irene von Helldorf, agree to stay in a room in her house, on three separate nights, that has a deadly history. Filled with twists and turns and well acted by all the cast it is a well made mystery thriller. Unfortunately the suspense is undermined by a solution to the mystery which is incredibly easy to predict almost from the get-go.
Score: 7/10
The third horror film Whale made for Universal, The Invisible Man takes a more comedic approach then the director's earlier efforts. The story of a scientist whose invisibility experiments drive him insane, the film takes full advantage of it's quirky concept, exploring the real life implications of turning invisible (for instance, could one digest food without being seen?) The performances are strong all around, especially Rains as the titular villain, but it's the state-of-the-art special effects by John P. Fulton, John J. Mescall and Frank D. Williams that is the real star, making Jack Griffin's invisibility really believable.
Score: 9/10
A landmark film, The Black Cat is the first pairing of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. It's also considered progenitor of the psychological horror sub-genre. A truly unnerving film, it tells the story of a WWI veteren (Lugosi) who returns to Hungary after years in a Russian prison camp to exact vengeance on his traitorous commanding officer (Karloff). The two actors are magnificent together with Karloff's cold, steely presence contrasting wonderfully with Lugosi's fiery, exotic charm. David Manners and Julie Bishop are also solid as the newlywed honeymooners stuck on the middle of Lugosi and Karloff's feud. For a film made in 1934, it's quite shocking at times, with many violent and sexual acts implied throughout. The ending is, sadly, a little rushed, but, on the whole this film is a slow, steady descent into madness. A near masterpiece.
Score: 9/10
Shocktober will return next Sunday, where I'll tackle an iconic slasher franchise...
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