Fantastic!

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

best movie i've ever seen.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This documentary about the unique horror franchises that came out of Universal studios during the 20s and 30s, pretty much ending with the Wolfman in 1941, really is universal, in that the documentary makes ties from the Universal films to the German silents that were their forerunners, and even ties the Universal monsters to subliminal guilt some felt over WWI, embodied in its often deformed survivors. Maybe this guilt is one reason isolationism held the U.S. from entering WWII until it was almost too late? But I digress. The film analyzes in detail the Dracula, Frankenstein, Invisible Man, and Mummy franchises, and talks a little about the Wolfman. They entirely omit any discussion of Creature from the Black Lagoon, probably because that was the 50s, and after the nuclear bomb and the Nazis who is really afraid of a giant fish anyways? The documentary mentions that the production code and the loss of Universal by the Laemmles is what really ended the classic cycle of horror at Universal, because the new owners just never got the hang of making horror with the same insight into the public's subliminal fears like the films from the 20's through 1936 did.Commenters include author Ray Bradbury, who says he drew some of his inspiration from these films, and James Karen, giving his boyhood memories of seeing these films in the theater as a child. He had no ties to anybody at Universal, but just seems like someone who is young at heart. He is still with us and soon to be 94. Film critic David Skal gets annoyingly enthusiastic, but maybe horror is his passion. He is being shot in a room full of horror memorabilia, but, hey, maybe he has rooms in his house each dedicated to all different kinds of film including anime? Boris Karloff's daughter Sara, Gloria Stuart - once a Universal contract player, and Carla Laemlle also talk about their experience in and around the sets of these famous Universal horror films.Horror films from other studios are also mentioned such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde as well as Mystery of the Wax Museum and King Kong.This film does a very thorough job of discussing Universal horror films in general, and ends with a bit of a mystery, almost sounding like a curse. Carl Laemmle Jr., head of Universal at the time the Laemmles went into bankruptcy, came down with an undiagnosable illness and lived the rest of his life as an invalid. A chilling end to a chilling and fascinating documentary.It only makes me wonder, how can a studio make such a great documentary filled with thorough understanding of their own film history, and then treat that film history so shabbily? Probably Paramount and Universal are the two worst studios about giving no care at all to their catalogue of classic films.

Universal Horror is a look back at how Universal got started in the horror movie business. The film includes a heavy dose of very welcome film clips and some interviews with experts on the subject, famous fans, and a few stars that actually worked at Universal in the 30s. Having been a fan of Universal horror films for about 45 years, I was already familiar with most of the information presented in the movie. However, I did learn a thing or two and find some bits interesting. There's also a lot of information presented on non-Universal horror. There are big chunks dedicated to German films, silent films, and King Kong. I appreciate this. Universal didn't exist in a vacuum and drew its early inspirations from a variety of sources. I'm glad these inspirations were given screen time. A few things that stuck out to me: 1. The Cat and the Canary (1927) – I'm a bit surprised how much time this non-Universal movie was given, but it looks great. I've seen the 1939 film, the 1979 film, and others inspired by this movie, but not the 1927 film – something I intend to take care of shortly. 2. The clips of the Universal films look fantastic. It's easy to forget how good these movies look, even though they were made 80+ years ago. I also enjoyed the comparisons to German expressionist films of the 20s. Very enlightening. 3. Fay Wray – I was a bit shocked to see an extended interview with Fay Wray as she never appeared in a Universal horror. Her recollections of filmmaking in the 30s is a highlight of the movie. She was a real looker back in her day. 4. Finally, I was a bit surprised that the Universal history presented in the film ended prior to The Creature from the Black Lagoon. I know it came out way past Universal's heyday, but it was just as about as important and impressive a film for its time as Dracula, Frankenstein, and Co were for theirs.As with all documentaries, I rate them based on two criteria – was it effective and was it entertaining. Effective – somewhat. If you're a longtime fan of Universal like I am, there's not a lot of new ground covered here. If you're new to these films, however, it would probably be hugely informative. I'll give it a 7/10 for effectiveness. Entertaining – I always enjoy seeing clips from these old films. Here, they've cherry-picked the very best scenes. It's a lot of fun. I'll also give it a 7/10 for entertainment value. So, it should come as no surprise that I've rated Universal Horror an overall 7/10.

. . . jotted down 22 pages of notes about it (in the ball park of how many GONE WITH THE WIND would merit). The primary commentators for this 1998 feature-length documentary running 95 minutes, 22.13 seconds are sci-fi author Ray Bradbury, POLTERGEIST actor James Karon, film historian David Skal, TITANIC actress Gloria Stuart, KING KONG actress Fay Wray, and film historian George Turner. 1931 Dracula cast member Carla Laemmle, niece of Universal Studio's founder Carl Laemmle, makes an appearance, along with Karloff's daughter, Sara, and "Eva" from the 1931 Spanish version of Dracula, Lupita Tovar. Three dozen classic horror films are referred to, with clips included from most. Some of these still available flicks are not even from Universal, such as THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932). This is a good resource for young people whose horror knowledge may begin with Freddy, Jason, and Michael--or, heaven forbid, with Jigsaw! It can teach them the A, B, C's of early horror, such as the original Fab Four: Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, The Mummy, and The Wolf Man. Every film buff needs to see this feature at least once.

I acquired this via an imperfect VHS copy culled from a U.K. TV screening (which was followed, as per the closing announcement, by one of the very films it dealt with i.e. James Whale's sublime THE OLD DARK HOUSE {1932}), rather than any of the "Anniversary Edition" DVDs on which it has been featured (since I never got around to upgrading them)! Given his reputation as a film restorer, Brownlow is well-known for his love of Silent cinema, so it is somewhat surprising to find him involved in this valediction to the Golden Age of Horror (which it is, since he does not exclusively treat the Universal Studios product) though, not that a considerable amount of time is devoted to the genre efforts which emanated from that pre-Talkie era.Therein, however, lies the documentary's chief problem: while I loved the fact that such masterpieces as Paul Leni's Silent THE MAN WHO LAUGHS (1928) and Michael Curtiz's Warners-produced MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (1933) were discussed in some detail (more predictably, we also get Paramount's magnificent 1931 version of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE and RKO's no-less-startling KING KONG {1933}), this resulted in a number of Universal films being either not given their due or omitted entirely! The appraisal of the second phase of their heyday proves especially skimpy: considering that we would get various SE DVDs over the next few years of Dracula, FRANKENSTEIN (both 1931), THE MUMMY (1932), et al, where their histories are exhaustively illustrated, one would have liked this to delve deeper behind the scenes of some lesser but still classic stuff such as the atypical 'prestige' production TOWER OF London (1939), seen briefly in the opening credits and then never again, THE MUMMY'S HAND (1940), which is completely neglected, and the troubled FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1943), again, mentioned only in passing! Indeed, of the myriad sequels to the original Universal monster movies, unsurprisingly, the only two to receive the requisite attention (since they are among the very best the studio turned out) are the second and third Frankenstein outings (with some on-set clowning relating to the latter being intriguingly shown in color!), with the maligned-but-irresistible 'monster mashes' or their subsequent spoofing at the hands of comic duo Abbott & Costello hardly being addressed at all! That said, we do get to learn some new anecdotes (at least, speaking for myself) including the now-lost MGM effort London AFTER MIDNIGHT (1927), directed by Tod Browning and starring Lon Chaney, having apparently inspired a vicious murder and that, similarly, the Bela Lugosi/Boris Karloff vehicle THE RAVEN (1935) was singled out as being representative of the "degenerate" level to which Horror had sunk. Also, I had always wondered why Edgar G. Ulmer never worked again for the studio during this time after the first Karloff/Lugosi teaming in THE BLACK CAT (1934), which we are also told was among their most commercially successful ventures, and this was because the director fell in love with a woman who was married to the Laemmles, the family that ran Universal! Needless to say, the documentary is fascinating and makes for a thrilling catalog of some of the most memorable moments not only in horror but movie history, with interjections from several historians, buffs (who watched these pictures in their childhood when they first emerged), relatives of the people who made them and, in a handful of cases, among the very few remaining survivors from that era – actresses Lupita Tovar (Mina in the renowned alternate Spanish-language version of Dracula), Fay Wray, Gloria Stuart and screenwriter Curt Siodmak. However, as I said, I missed hearing about a good many titles (like, say, Universal's first stab at the "Wolf Man" myth in WEREWOLF OF London {1935}, the just-as-seminal 'mad doctor' flick THE INVISIBLE RAY {1936} – once more starring Karloff and Lugosi – but also strictly 'B' stuff such as the "Inner Sanctum" series or the unlikely "Jungle Woman" and "Creeper" franchises) that, in the long run, I feel one is better off reading a book on the subject if he is to get 'the full story'!