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Woody Allen is a pedophille
Dracula
(1931, Tod Browning)

I've been extremely interested in the Universal Monster Collection ever since I bought on blu-ray, so I decided to start with the first of the collection. Dracula is the original film about everyone's favorite blood-sucking vampire. Say whatever you want about this film, but it is iconic. Bela Lugosi's performance along made Dracula a household name, and a horror icon. This film forever cemented Dracula's look, accent, and legacy into our brains and pop culture history.

Now onto the film itself. Honestly, it was just kind of alright. I can see how audiences were shocked and amazed by what they saw, but since most people are now desensitized to everything, it wasn't that exciting. I still very much appreciate the film, both for it's legacy, and its technicality. The highlight of the film by far was the brilliant performances. Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye are both fantastic. Renfield was by far the highlight of the film, I was delighted whenever he showed up on screen.

I much more preferred the beginning of the film rather than the end. I wish we saw more of Dracula's Transylvanian castle, and not just the two rooms we were shown in the film. I think the film would have been much more interesting, and even scarier, if Dracula had given Renfield a much more in depth tour. The parts with Mina Harker were interesting, but also confusing at time as Dracula's actual powers were never fully explained.

Overall, it's a fun classic horror flick, and a pretty good start to the Universal Monster Movie collection that I hope to complete soon.




Woody Allen is a pedophille
Frankenstein
(1931, James Whale)

Frankenstein, the second film in the Universal Monster Collection, seemed like a must watch after Dracula. I had read in sources everywhere that Frankenstein was a superior film, so I was excited to see what I would get. It was pretty much the same reaction.

I'm not going to go through the whole pop culture shtick that I did with Dracula again, but this film had a very similar impact. This film created the look of Frankenstein's Monster that would become a staple in pop culture. I had previously read the Frankenstein novel in school, and I couldn't stop picturing the monster from this movie, despite never seeing it, and the fact that this film came out over a century later. That proves how much of an impact this film has had on pop culture.

Most of my comments on this film are very similar to those of Dracula. I was never really scared, and I wish they had explored the character more. There was only one scene in particular where I really felt that the character of the monster was being really explored, and that is the scene with the girl and the pond. I'm sure most people would agree that is the best scene in the film by far. I also enjoyed all of the beginning scenes in the lab, but after the monster escaped, it all sort got pretty predictable and boring. I know it's a fantasy movie, but how the did the monster find Frankenstein? It wasn't that big of an issue, but it took me out of the movie for a little.

Overall, I thought this film was very similar to Dracula both in pop culture status, and in quality. I guess if I had to choose won, this one was the superior film.




I don't really have an interest in watching Dracula or Frankenstien, but I like your approach. I feel similarly about The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Godzilla. They are classics I really want to see. Learning about the roots of these iconic symbols is interesting.



Nope, very nicely written, straight forward reviews of Dracula and Frankenstein. I enjoyed reading them and would agree with you totally on Dracula and mostly on Frankenstein. I would just add my observation that we're not suppose to really be scared of the monster but have empathy for it.

What other films will you be watching from the Universal Monster Collection?



Woody Allen is a pedophille
I would just add my observation that we're not suppose to really be scared of the monster but have empathy for it.
That was the criticism I made about Frankenstein. Besides the scene with the girl, there were no time that I really sympathized with the monster. I honestly thought that the mob against him was for the most part justified, what would you do if an insane creature murdered your daughter?

What other films will you be watching from the Universal Monster Collection?
The Mummy review is coming later tonight. I will also be watching The Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein,The Wolf Man, Phantom of the Opera, and Creature of the Black Lagoon. I will not be at home until mid July, so that is when I will watch and review them.



...The Mummy review is coming later tonight. I will also be watching The Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein,The Wolf Man, Phantom of the Opera, and Creature of the Black Lagoon...
Cool, I've never seen The Mummy but I'd like to. I really enjoyed The Invisible Man and Phantom of the Opera. I haven't seen the rest. I look for your reviews.



I enjoy seeing that these old, dusty classics occasionally get some attention. They're both on my "immortal classics" list, in spite of the fact that they are missing a lot of what makes movies work today. Both of them were shot in the early days of sound. Sound production just meant that there was a microphone hanging over the set and the cast had to gather in the middle of the scene and yell really loud. It was all "real time", with no voice-overs.

Yeah, the acting was melodramatic and wooden (nobody know how to act for sound yet) and the plot line was thin, but they were inventing a medium. Actually, my favorite part of both films is the thinly veiled imitation of the look of the German Expressionists. Both of these movies still look and behave like silent films. I love that stark, contrasty black and white look. It's worth noting that for Dracula, the cinematography was done by Karl Freund, who shot one of the benchmarks of expressionism, Fritz Lang's epic Metropolis. Freund did oodles of German silents before coming to the US and ended his career shooting the I Love Lucy TV show. Frankenstein was done by an American, Arthur Edeson, but he was clearly mimicking the German look of movies like the Cabinet of Dr Caligari with all those oblique, stark, dramatic, high contrast shots.



Woody Allen is a pedophille
Hell or High Water
(2016, David Mackenzie)
I got to see Hell or High Water early, and I was planning on doing a review for it before it came out. However, I am very laze, so I waited until now to write the review.

The movie follows two brothers as they rob banks in order to get money to save their parent's farm. If you think the plot sounds a bit clichéd, it's because it is. The movie follows a pretty simple formula, with stereotypical characters. Ben Foster plays the ex-con, who only robs banks because it's fun. Chris Pine plays the "good guy" brother. Who doesn't want to commit crimes, but does it because he wants to save the farm. Jeff Bridges also plays the "headed for retirement" cop who's on his last mission.

The movie suffers from being far too preachy at times. There is a whole scene where one of the characters describes how banks taking land is similar to people taking land from Native Americans. It was a pretty eye-rolling scene. Something I appreciate about the film is that it did not glorify violence. The small amount of violence in the film was messy and unpleasant. There were some strange plot things that happened at the end, but I'll won't spoil anything. If anyone has seen the film, I'll be glad to spoiler talk it with you in the thread.

The highlight of this film was the heist scenes. They were just fun. The second heist was especially entertaining, and I really enjoyed some of the banter between the two brothers. The cinematography was also very well done. Overall, pretty average film that I would recommend seeing. Especially considering that every other movie that has come out this summer has been utter garbage.




Woody Allen is a pedophille
The Mummy
(1932, Karl Freund)
I was supposed to write this review about 2 months ago, but better late then never. The Mummy is my personal favorite out of all of the Universal Monster Movies I have seen, and that surprised me a lot. I expected to love films like Dracula and Frankenstein much more, but to me, this is just the superior film.

Unlike what most people assume, The Mummy is not about a bumbling corpse wrapped in toilet-paper terrorizing people. Instead, the "monster" in the film is a wise, smart spoken, and slightly off-putting man named Imhotep. Something I always love about the Universal Horror films is how they focus more on an looming threat, instead of focusing on what's scary right now. What I mean by this is that The Mummy never has any jump-scares or chases, but it manages to maintain suspense by having an overbearing, and seemingly unstoppable threat.

There are many scenes that I love in this film, but my favorite is probably the opening. Something about the slow moving nature of it makes it really tense, and i love the reveal of Imhotep. I actually think that the reason I like this film more that the other Universal Monster Movies is because of how much I love the monster. Imhotep is such a good villain. He is manipulative, smart, and always seems to have the upper hand, unlike other monsters, who are just, well, monsters. Another thing I love about Imhotep is that in the end, his intentions aren't really that bad.

Overall, really great classic horror film, and my personal favorite Universal Monster movie. (Not by that much though)...