Universal Monsters - Later Influences & Homages

Later Influences & Homages

In 1957, Hammer Film Productions began producing their own series of monster movies in Eastmancolor, starting with The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958). Universal was also the distributor for several of the films, enabling Hammer to replicate several features of the original Universal horrors in The Evil of Frankenstein (1963).

In 1962 the television show Route 66 had an episode, "Lizard's Leg and Owlet's Wing", written by Stirling Silliphant, which was a homage to the Universal monsters, starring Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Peter Lorre playing themselves, and with Karloff and Chaney donning, for the last time, their original Frankenstein's monster and Wolf-Man make-ups.

From 1964 to 1966, the CBS sitcom The Munsters featured a ghoulish family based on several of the Universal characters, including Karloff's Frankenstein and Lugosi's Dracula.

The 1960s hot rod Kustom Kulture and the related lowbrow art movement often paid tribute to Universal's legendary monsters usually in a nostalgic (although sometimes ironic) way.

Mel Brooks's 1974 parody Young Frankenstein paid brilliant homage to the films' style. Gerald Hirschfield's black-and-white photography particularly evoked the expressionistic style of the Universal Horrors.

Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) featured the character Magenta (played by Patricia Quinn), whose shock hair was modelled on that of the Bride of Frankenstein. The film is a parody of B-movies; the title song "Science Fiction/Double Feature" references Universal's film The Invisible Man.

The release of movies featuring the Universal Monsters in the Shock Theater television packages of the late 1950s and early 1960s made them available to a new audience developing a keen interest in these films and is largely responsible for the Monster Boom of the early 1960s.

This new interest would have far reaching reverberations from the kids that grew up during this time, when they began coming of age. The sustained interest from those that had developed an interest in the horror genre when they were young was greatly responsible for the creation of the horror punk genre of music in the mid-to-late 1970s with bands like The Damned, The Cramps, Sid Terror's Undead and The Misfits.

The long running children's TV favourite Sesame Street became a platform for one of Universal's key figures: Bela Lugosi's Dracula became a Muppet in the guise of Count von Count.

In 1986, the first entry in the Castlevania series was released in Japan. It featured several homages to the Universal and Hammer horror films, notably the inclusion of a Universal-style Frankenstein's monster as a boss. Later Castlevania games would continue to pay tribute to the classic horror films, while at the same time forging their own identity as a more dramatic and story-driven series.

The Monster Squad, a 1987 film released by Tri-Star Pictures and directed by Fred Dekker, featured Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, The Wolf Man, The Mummy and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. In 1998, filmmaker Kevin Brownlow made the documentary Universal Horror. It was narrated by Kenneth Branagh, and featured interviews with many of the original stars.

In 2004, Stephen Sommers directed Van Helsing featuring the characters of Dracula, his Brides, a Wolf Man, and the Frankenstein Monster. The film was a homage to the classic Universal monster mash up movies of the 1940s, such as the Frankenstein Meets and The House of series proved popular at the box office despite mixed reviews. Stephen Sommers had also directed both the remake of The Mummy and its sequel, The Mummy Returns. The release of Van Helsing sparked the release of several deluxe DVD box sets featuring restored versions of many Universal Horror films, in particular those of Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, The Wolf-Man, The Invisible Man, The Mummy and Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Some of the characters in the video game Darkstalkers are inspired in the Universal Monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, The Wolf Man, The Mummy and The Creature from the Black Lagoon)

Castlevania, based on the video game franchise of the same name, was slated for a 2009 release as a movie until its reported cancellation and would have utilized motifs of the Universal Monsters.

The 2009 film House of the Wolf Man is an homage to the 1940s monster films House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula. Unlike Dekker's Monster Squad or Sommers' Van Helsing, Eben McGarr's film is intended to look and feel like a Universal film of the 1940s. Ron Chaney, grandson of Lon Chaney, Jr. stars in the film.

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives starting scene was a homage to Universal Monsters mainly Frankenstein's Monster, the director had confirmed this and said "If you turned down the colour it would look great in black and white". Jason Voorhees is resurrected in a similar fashion to Frankenstein's Monster.

Universal Monsters Online is a F2P online multi-player game where you play as classic monsters like Dracula, The Wolf Man and Frankenstein. It is currently in beta testing stage.

The movie Frankenweenie contains many references to the Universal Monsters, such as Frankenstein's Monster, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Mummy, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Wolf Man and Dracula. There are also references to other monster movies such as Godzilla, Gremlins, Horror of Dracula, The Fly and Gamera.