75 Years of Universal Monsters

Book excerpt: They were like Gods. Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Phantom of the Opera, the Bride of Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, and Invisible Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon formed a modern-pay pantheon that ruled the mythical kingdom of Hollywood. They dwelt at Universal, their Olympian-like home in the hills of northern Los Angeles. Their stories were the stuff of legend in the most successful horror films ever made. Both the Bela Lugosi version of "Dracula" and the Boris Karloff version of "Frankenstein" debuted in 1931, 75 years ago. They were followed by films that featured the Mummy, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man, the Phantom of the Opera, and many others. For twenty-five years, from 1931 to 1956, these famous monsters of filmland headlined box office marquees around the world. This book is a loving tribute to the immortal gods and monsters that we celebrate on this seventy-fifth anniversary of the Golden Age of the horror film. This second edition updates material to include "The Shape of Water" (2017) and "The Mummy" (2017) with Tom Cruise.