Universal Monsters - 1950s

1950s

By the 1950s, Universal had retired most of its original line of horror characters, with Frankenstein's monster, Dracula and the Wolf Man having been retired with the Abbott & Costello film in 1948. (A competing line of horror films made by Hammer Film Productions of England would revive the Monster and Dracula in the late 1950s.) It was left to Abbott & Costello to keep alive public interest in characters such as the Mummy and the Invisible Man. But in 1954 Universal's horror films returned to popularity.

With the success of Creature from the Black Lagoon (directed by Jack Arnold in 1954) the revived "Universal Horror" franchise would gain a whole new generation of fans. The original movies such as Dracula and Frankenstein were re-released as double features in many theatres, before eventually premiering on syndicated American television in 1957 (as part of the famous Shock Theater package of Universal Monster Movies); the Hammer versions were also popular and, in turn, sparked renewed interest in the "originals". Soon dedicated magazines such as Famous Monsters of Filmland would help propel these movies into lasting infamy. Universal spent the last half of the decade issuing a number of one-shot monster films. By the early 1960s the original monsters were merchandised in the form of toys and model kits, the most famous of which were from the now-defunct Aurora Company.

• Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)
• Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953)
• It Came From Outer Space (1953)
• Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
• Revenge of the Creature (1955)
• Cult of the Cobra (1955)
• This Island Earth (1955)
• Tarantula (1955)
• Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)
• The Creature Walks Among Us (1956)
• The Mole People (1956)
• The Deadly Mantis (1957)
• The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
• The Monolith Monsters (1957)
• Monster on the Campus (1958)
• The Thing That Couldn't Die (1958)