Unknown Universal Monster Film Date Revealed

[Da Boat]

I'm in the minority, I liked Van Helsing. Maybe not as a 'good' movie, but it was fun.
I also really loved the look of the Frankenstein Monster in it.

I also enjoyed Van Helsing. My favorite character in it was Mr. Hyde. I usually hate CGI but this as an awesome creation. The things I liked the least were the CGI werewolves and the guy playing Dracula.

I'd like to see some female monsters, but not a Wolf Woman. I'm thinking maybe Carmilla (classic vampire), or perhaps a witch (has there been any good witch movies? I can only think of two, both kids films). Medusa is a cool monster, not sure she could fit in a Universal Monster type series though.

Yea for whatever reasons, a female werewolf hold no appeal to me, a hairy woman, yuck.

I haven't seen the Solomon Kane movie, is it any good?

Pretty good genre movie, the guy that made this should have made Conan, would have been perfect for it. It has tons of fantasy stuff, demons, it is a period piece and contrary to Van Helsing, it has tons of gore and blood.

I'm surprised, didn't know anyone took that view. I suppose Werewolf of London was less hammy, but I couldn't take that flower that only blooms in the full moon treatment thing seriously, and the main character never really connected the same way as Lon Chaney Jr. It felt like it didn't really have a 'heart' to it, whereas Chaney was the heart and soul of the Wolf Man. What I guess I'm saying is it felt like WoL was better on a technical/film-making level, but the character failed to connect, and the seriousness clashed with the more silly elements like the flower subplot or the word werewolfery (even though I prefer that word over lycanthropy now since lycanthropy is the belief you are a werewolf, a delusion, versus the curse of werewolfery or actually in fact being a werewolf). Though to each their own.

Of course, Lon Chaney as the Wolf Man was much, much better after the original. The second movie is about him trying to find a way to die, and his character becomes a lot better from that point on.

I also hold similar views to the Spanish version of Dracula vs the Bela Lugosi one. The Spanish version was better shot and perhaps directed, but suffers too much from an inferior cast (especially in the case of the title character).

The comparison with both Draculas when talking about WOL and TWM is so accurate. In both cases you have superior versions or better made version that ultimately lack the heart of the most popular films and the casting of Lugosi and Chaney are key in why these two were more popular and more memorable.

The actor in Werewolf of London also is just not sympathetic enough.

Wolf Man (original and remake) has my favorite werewolf design. Too many other designs go too far with the wolf theme, giving them a monstrous snout, and that kills the 'man' part of 'wolf man' for me. By avoiding the wolf snout you keep the monster more human, and therefor more tragic.

Esp. given that it's Wolf MAN. One of my favorite designs was the one in the Jack Nicholson movie "Wolf" especially toward the end of the flick when he's become more and more lupine where his bottom teeth have come out of his mouth like crazy and he's covered in hair and blood. I still have a poster of it and it's scarier than any wolf-mouth werewolf would even look. He has wolf eyes and I think they should have given wolf eyes like that to Del Toro in Wolfman. That's the only thing I didn't like about Toro's look, the human eyes.

[simbob4000]

I understand the charming part although women fell more easily for manly guys back in the days than the heartrobs.

But here's why Chaney Jr works, he was a whiny drunk in real life and that's how he played Larry Talbot. It felt real cause Chaney was a tortured soul for real and as a viewer you pull for him.

He isn't a manly guy in that movie either. Chaney Jr. doesn't come off as a manly guy in the film, and he sure doesn't seem to be written as one. I didn't say he had to heartthrob, just that he shouldn't look like a Lon Chaney, Jr. does in the movie. His character is treated as, and written like, this handsome charming irresponsible guy, but Chaney, Jr. can't pull this off. The only way I could buy Ankers's character falling for Larry, as he is in the movie as played by Lon Chaney, Jr., is if it was made very clear she was after his money.

I couldn't have given a shit about his character in that movie, and I wasn't rooting for him that all. Actually, the less we have to see him as a human in that movie the better, because that part of the movie was horrible.

When was the last time you guys actually watched The Wolf Man? Because I remembered liking it when I was little, but I watched it again earlier this year and I was kind of shocked by how bad it was. Most of the badness coming down to Lon Chaney, Jr. being so terrible in the human part.

[Da Boat]

I didn't mean he was manly in the sense that he kicks ass and take charge but that he doesn't come off as effeminate, he's a big dude. Some women, esp. back then liked that.

But it just seem like we don't view Chaney Jr. the same way, I watched Wolf Man last year and he comes off as sympathetic to me, he's like a big sad dog that you want to save. That's what the part needed. But for sure the movie is pretty bad at times. But I said as much before. WOL is better made, but I love Wolf Man better still. Everything about it is more iconic. It's Rocky to WOL's Raging Bull.

[AdamFTF]

When was the last time you guys actually watched The Wolf Man? Because I remembered liking it when I was little, but I watched it again earlier this year and I was kind of shocked by how bad it was. Most of the badness coming down to Lon Chaney, Jr. being so terrible in the human part.

I watch it almost every year on Halloween. The strength of the Universal Monsters movies is that you sympathize a little bit with the monsters or their human counterparts. I thought Chaney made for a sympathetic character whereas I didn't really have much sympathy for the guy in Werewolf of London.

[Crimson Knight]

I didn't mean he was manly in the sense that he kicks ass and take charge but that he doesn't come off as effeminate, he's a big dude. Some women, esp. back then liked that.

But it just seem like we don't view Chaney Jr. the same way, I watched Wolf Man last year and he comes off as sympathetic to me, he's like a big sad dog that you want to save. That's what the part needed. But for sure the movie is pretty bad at times. But I said as much before. WOL is better made, but I love Wolf Man better still. Everything about it is more iconic. It's Rocky to WOL's Raging Bull.

Would you yourself like a sequel to The Wolf Man, incorporated into the universe, or a new remake, perhaps, something else, like Invisible Man, or Dr Jekyl, Mister Hyde?