Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Dracula in Books
Oct 10, 2017 (Updated Oct 11, 2017)
The beautiful Mina has been scarred by vampires and is at risk of being sucked into their Undead world. But she is a plucky gal. Although the whole story is very OTT, there are many vivid passages as the little troop pursue Dracula across Europe and finally kill him in the nick of time before sun sets over the Carpathian Mountains. Although mightily baroque, the tale is worth reading for these descriptions...howling wolves and all. Of course it has been deconstructed as an allegory of the Good overcoming the External Threat at a time when Europe was in turmoil. So, all in all, a heavy-duty read, but probably worthwhile if you're a true horror fan.
Evil of Dracula (1974)
7.5
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Dracula, played by an uncredited caucasian, was shipwrecked in the 1600s in Japan, when Christianity...
Nosferatu (Eine Symphonie Des Grauens) (1922)
8.6
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Highly influential silent horror film; an unauthorised adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. The...
vampires Dracula
Danse Macabre
8.6
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It was not long after Halloween when Stephen King received a telephone call from his editor. 'Why...
Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories
8.0
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Vengeful ghosts, ravenous rats, gypsy curses, and the walking dead await you in Dracula's Guest &...
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated House of Frankenstein (1944) in Movies
Jun 18, 2020 (Updated Jun 18, 2020)
This "monster rally" approach would continue in the following film, House of Dracula, as well as the 1948 comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
The plot: After escaping from prison, the evil Dr. Niemann (Boris Karloff) and his hunchbacked assistant, Daniel (J. Carrol Naish), plot their revenge against those who imprisoned them. For this, they recruit the powerful Wolf Man (Lon Chaney), Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange) and even Dracula himself (John Carradine). Niemann pursues those who wrong him, sending each monster out to do his dirty work. But his control on the monsters is weak at best and may prove to be his downfall.
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) had been the first on-screen pairing of two Universal Studios monsters, but The House of Frankenstein was the first multi-monster movie. Early drafts of the story reportedly involved more characters from the Universal stable, including the Mummy, the Ape Woman, the Mad Ghoul, and possibly the Invisible Man. Working titles—which included Chamber of Horrors (a reference to Lampini's travelling horror show) and The Devil's Brood—emphasized the multi-monster nature of the story.
The multi-monster approach, which emphasized box office appeal over continuity, was used in House of Dracula the following year and later in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. The House of Frankenstein marked Glenn Strange's debut as the monster. Strange, a former cowboy, had been a minor supporting player in dozens of low-budget Westerns over the preceding 15 years. He reprised the role in House of Dracula and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and cemented the popular image of the monster as shambling, clumsy, and inarticulate. Boris Karloff, who had moved on from playing the monster to playing the mad scientist, reportedly coached Strange on how to play the role.
Some continuity errors are evident in the finished film. After Dracula is thrown from the carriage, he looks over to where his coffin has landed; in a close-up, part of his mustache is gone. Also, when Talbot transforms into the Wolf Man for the final time, his hands lack fur.
Karloff's performance in this film is his last in Universal's classic horror cycle.
Its a fun entertaining movie starring the uninversal monsters.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated House of Dracula (1945) in Movies
Jun 18, 2020
The plot: This monster movie focuses on the iconic vampire, Count Dracula (John Carradine), and Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney), better known as the Wolf Man. Both beings of the night are tired of their supernatural afflictions, so they seek out Dr. Franz Edelmann (Onslow Stevens) for cures for their respective curses. While trying to aid the imposing creatures, Edelmann himself develops a transformative condition, adding to the many ghouls lurking around the foreboding landscape.
The working titles for the film were Dracula vs. the Wolf Man or The Wolf Man vs. Dracula.
Although Glenn Strange appears as the Monster in most of the film, footage of Chaney as the Monster from The Ghost of Frankenstein and Boris Karloff from Bride of Frankenstein was recycled; Karloff appears in a dream sequence, while Chaney, as well as his double Eddie Parker, are seen in footage in a fire scene.
Strange recounts that a scene with the Monster stuck in quicksand was particularly arduous for him. On top of three hours of getting into makeup, Strange spent the rest of the day buried in cold sand, including during the lunch break, and was so cold by midafternoon that he could barely feel his legs. Lon Chaney Jr. attempted to help Strange keep warm by passing him a bottle of scotch, with the result that Strange was so drunk that after getting out of costume and makeup, he had difficulty dressing himself in his street clothes. Chaney's drinking contributed to his reputation as being difficult to work with, and probably was the reason Universal let him go after the film was completed.
The film, which was the seventh Universal film to feature Frankenstein's monster, as well as the fourth with Count Dracula and the Wolf Man, was a commercial success, but was one of the last Universal movies featuring Frankenstein's monster, vampires, and werewolves, with the exception of the comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), in which all three appear.
Its a fun entertaing horror film starring the universal monsters.
Blade Trinity (2004)
5.8
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Blade is a day-walking vampire hunter. When the Vampire Nation hatches a plan to frame Blade in a...
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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) in Movies
Feb 7, 2018 (Updated Feb 9, 2018)
You want to know the plot? Well, a gaggle of Chinese vampires feel they aren't getting the respect they deserve, and so they recruit Dracula as a sort of foreign signing to help with their brand awareness, or something. However, also on a lecture tour of China is Dracula's nemesis Van Helsing (Peter Cushing, using all his powers to elevate deeply suspect material), even though they've apparently never met before, and he sets off with a gang of local kung fu experts to sort the problem out. Cushing is not required to do any kung fu, the Chinese cast are not required to say 'Transylvania' more often than is absolutely necessary, and Christopher Lee flatly refuses to participate (Dracula, who appears to be overdoing his make-up, is played by another actor).
Nevertheless this is still schlocky good fun, although the script doesn't even make sense on its own terms and credited director Roy Ward Baker doesn't seem quite sure of what to do with the kung fu genre. One of the most bonkers of the late-period Hammer horror movies, not that this is necessarily a bad thing.
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
7.7
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Count Dracula moves from Transylvania to the German city of Wismar, where he sets his vampiric...
Phantom der Nacht Phantom of the Night West German Vampire