A New Monster Universe

Last weekend my friends and I went to see the new Dracula movie, Dracula Untold. It was a decent movie, about what you'd expect for this type of genre (which, considering my love of cheesy vampire flicks, I enjoyed immensely). 

But when doing a little research on the ending (and the potential it left open for a sequel), I stumbled across some news that made me very excited. Apparently Universal has begun a relaunch of the Universal Monsters franchise that made a splash from the 1920's to the 60's with big names such as Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney. Some of the truly classic monster films come from this series, films like Dracula, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Wolf Man . . . the list goes on and on. 

And now these films that shaped the horror/monster film industry are back! And sure, we can question for the thousandth time if Hollywood really has run out of new creative ideas (the answer is an obvious yes). But as long as they're going to steal from past genius, I'm more than thrilled to hear that monster universe is getting another moment in the sun. 

But better yet, Universal has borrowed from their Marvel counterparts and decided to launch a Cinematic Universe for their creepy classics (it's really all about franchising these days). With Spider-Man's Alex Kurtzman and Fast and Furious's Chris Morgan at the helm, this shared universe will feature big names in the monster world -- Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, the Invisible Man, the Bride of Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon -- in a cohesive cinematic world. 

Granted, Dracula Untold was written and filmed before Universal's plans came together, but last minute reshoots of the final scene made for a quick fix, stitching the famous vampire into the fabric of their new monster universe. And I for one can't wait to see what they have in store for us . . .