Book Review: Universal Monsters: The Invisible Man by J. Tynion et al.

Universal Monsters: The Invisible Man written by James Tynion IV, art by Dani, and colors by Brad Simpson

A new version of the horror classic The Invisible Man is crafted by James Tynion. Jack Griffin is an obsessed scientist. He's studying monocaine powder, which has very unusual properties. Griffin wants to work in secret but he shares a lab under the tutelage (and financing) of Doctor Cranley. He's also been hanging out with Cranley's daughter Flora, who believes in him and wants to get married. But Griffin is much more interested in his monocaine-based formula which will cause a living being to become invisible. As he becomes more successful, he becomes more obsessed, more secretive, and less humane than ever.

The book does a good job creating a new storyline for the classic character. His larger story arc is familiar but plenty of details have been changed, resulting in new suspense and horror. He already has sociopathic tendencies even before he's exposed to monocaine's influence. The art underlies his secretiveness and hostility, with Griffin's face typically shaded in an environment already full of blackness, figuratively and literally. This is one of the better adaptations of the Universal Monsters canon.

Recommended.

Movie Reviews: Creature Features from the Black Lagoon

In honor of Halloween, I've revisited a Universal Monsters classic and watched its sequels for the first time!

The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) directed by Jack Arnold

An Amazonian expedition yields a fossilized hand from millions of years ago, a hand with webbed fingers. Doctor Carl Maia (Antonio Moreno) rushes down river to get help extracting the rest of the skeleton, presumably buried in the limestone wall that the hand came from. He leaves two locals behind to keep an eye on the camp. Maia meets up with David Reed (Richard Carlson) and Kay Lawrence (Julia Adams), both scientists who are ichthyologists. After selling them on the value of his find, they consult head of the project Mark Williams (Richard Denning), who agrees to fund the expedition that could prove both scientifically and financially rewarding. 

They rent a bigger boat to go back up stream, only to discover that Maia's camp has been ransacked and the two men are dead in their tent (a previous scene showed a shadowy attack by the Creature). Undaunted, they start excavating the limestone, but a week's worth of work yields no results. The scientists guess that some of the limestone may have fallen into the river and gone down the stream. The boat captain says there's a lagoon at the end. Locals call it the "Black Lagoon" and claim it is a paradise, though no one has come back to tell about it. They sail to the lagoon, barely making it through one narrow channel. In the lagoon, they scuba dive to get rocks to compare with the limestone--if they are the same age, chances are good more fossils will be found. But lurking in the watery depths is the Creature, a pre-historic gill man. They don't notice him at first until Kay goes swimming and realizes there's something else in the water. David wants to investigate it, keeping it alive. Mark wants to capture it dead or alive, cashing in on the potential. The Creature has other plans.

The movie turns into a classic "pick 'em off one at a time" horror as members of the expedition are killed. The scientists try a lot of smart schemes that don't work, partly due to the conflicting ambitions of David and Mark. Kay is a scientific equal with them but also winds up as the damsel-in-distress more than once. The tight pacing keeps things exciting as they switch from researching for science to fleeing for their lives. The Creature is smart enough to block off the narrow channel, forcing more confrontations and a higher body count.

The film has a lot going for it. A large portion of the film is underwater, with the Creature stalking the crew members, including an extended and amazing sequence where it mirrors Kay's swimming. Those scenes look like they are on location, with an actual lake bottom and not some tank at the studio. The creature design is the best ever by Universal. The suit looks credible and detailed, working both as the Creature walks on dry land and as it swims. It is quite graceful and agile in the water. The Creature's face is haunting and odd, just what you want for a monster from the dark. The rest of the body, which gets a lot of show time on the land and especially in the water, looks like an authentic aquatic creature. The movie looks great and the effects hold up (except for a bat in a cave that has some visible wires above it). The story works well, with interesting characters dealing intelligently with a situation they are not at all prepared for.

Highly recommended.

Revenge of the Creature (1955) directed by Jack Arnold

A new expedition shows up in the remote Amazon, this time planning on capturing the Creature and returning him to civilization. Well, not so much civilization as a marine park in Florida. The same boat captain leads Joe Hayes (John Bromfield) to the infamous lagoon where they manage to subdue the creature and pack him up for transport. The creature is in a coma and eventually revives at the marine park, where Bromfield works with animal psychologist Clete Ferguson (John Agar) to revive the creature and study it. The Creature's arrival is a sensation and draws lots of crowds and press, including ichthyology student Helen Dobson (Lori Nelson), who takes a liking to Feguson. They go into the tank and start up typical stimulus/response experiments using a cattle prod. The creature is chained to the bottom of the tank, so presumably he's securely trapped. He eventually breaks the chain and breaks out of the institute, leading to a chase along the waterways of Florida.

The movie takes an obvious premise (a second expedition properly equipped to "bring 'em back alive," the King Kong plot) and goes through the motions. There's less underwater photography here and more explanations about what is going on. One awkward (to modern ears) conversation has Ferguson asking if Helen is planning to marry and have kids or keep working. She turns the question back on him and he responds that he doesn't have to decide. Their romantic pairing gets more screen time than is probably needed. The show does not stint on Gillman action, though, with plenty of menace and attacks throughout the movie. This film is not as sharp as the first but is still entertaining in a B-movie sort of way.

Recommended.

The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) directed by John Sherwood

Doctor William Barton (Jeff Morrow) puts together a team of scientists to go to the Florida Everglades to recover the Creature, who apparently didn't die at the end of the last film (or the film before). Barton brings his wife Marcia (Leigh Snowden) though they are a bit estranged. She is beautiful and naturally catches the eyes of the other scientists, especially Jed Grant (Gregg Palmer). She has to rebuff him several times. That doesn't satisfy the jealous and somewhat deranged Barton, who has financed the mission so he can help mankind "get to the stars." He is not clear on how that will work and Doctor Morgan (Rex Reason) argues with Barton's outlook. Grant sees humanity as floating between the stars and darkness, maybe the Creature can provide insight into resolving that tension. When Grant and Morgan dive to find the Gillman, Marcia tags along. She succumbs to nitrogen narcosis, making her delirious enough to remove her scuba gear. They return to the surface, failing to catch the monster. They sail further into shallow waters and have to confront the Creature from a smaller boat. The fight winds up with a subdued Gillman who has been hit with narcotics but also has been accidentally set on fire. They take him back to the big boat and bandage him up.

When they go to remove the bandages, the gills are missing and the hard skin has been replaced with soft, human-like skin. Also, the Gillman has reverted to breathing with lungs rather than gills, giving credence to Barton's "helping evolution along" theory. Grant and Morgan are still reluctant to go along. They make some clothes for the Gillman since his skin is less tough. They return to San Francisco, where Barton has a larger facility to keep and study the Gillman. The other issues (like Grant hitting on Marcia and Barton's slightly insane attitude) are still rampant and lead to some tragic outcomes.

This movie leans more into philosophical speculation about the Gillman and his symbolism as a transition from one mode of living to another. The Creature changes from a sea to a land creature, paralleling the "from earth to the stars" transition that Barton wants for humanity. The other scientists are a lot more skeptical about the outcome even while hoping for it. Any concrete movement in that direction is lost in the lust and paranoia of the Barton-Marcia-Grant love triangle, which turns out to be highly dysfunctional. The movie has some underwater action along with some land action, which is interesting but not as exciting as the first film. Having the creature in clothing looks a bit weird, like they were trying to save on the budget more than trying to humanize the Creature. I enjoyed watching the film but probably won't go back to it.

Mildly recommended.

Happy Halloween to all!

Book Review: Universal Monsters: Frankenstein by M. Walsh et al.

Universal Monsters: Frankenstein written and drawn by Michael Walsh and colors by Toni-Marie Griffin

Following the narrative of the 1931 movie, Michael Walsh retells the story of Doctor Frankenstein creating his monster. The wrinkle he throws in is a young boy named Paul. He's at the cemetery when Frankenstein and Fritz come to dig up a fresh corpse. That fresh corpse is Paul's father. The boy hops on their cart and winds up at the tower laboratory. He witnesses the creation of the creature and tries to connect with it. Unlike its reaction to Fritz and the doctor, the monster is at least gentle with Paul. But things don't go well as things go on.

Walsh does a good job capturing the feeling of dread from the movie. He expands Elizabeth's role in the story, giving her more backstory and having her interact with Paul. Finding a new perspective is tricky after almost a hundred years of Frankenstein imitations, reboots, and reimaginings. Some touching moments balance out the horrific ones. It's a nice supplement to the movie.

Recommended.

Book Review: Universal Monsters: Dracula by J. Tynion et al.

Universal Monsters: Dracula written by James Tynion IV, art by Martin Simmonds, and letters by Rus Wooton

This retelling of the Dracula story follows the Bram Stoker novel with a shift in focus. The emphasis is on Renfield, the lawyer who went to Transylvania to do Dracula's paperwork so he could come to England. The story starts with Renfield in Dr. Seward's asylum, having come off a boat where all the crew was brutally killed. Naturally, as the only survivor, Renfield is thought guilty, though he is a small man--small physically, small intellectually, and small morally. He feasts on spiders and flies and dreams of helping his master as well as being helped by his master to be more than he is. Dracula goes on his reign of terror in London, though he operates mostly in the background and has almost no dialogue here. As a man of science, Dr. Seward has a hard time dealing with things that are outside his understanding, even when Lucy is killed by Dracula. Van Helsing shows up later in the story and they work together to thwart the vampire, though it is Renfield's small redemption at the end that is the final touch.

The art is very sinister and unpleasant. It's a bit of watercolor style with a lot of black and red. The look is not my favorite but I understand how it is used to amp up the horror in the story. The focus on Renfield is interesting, though not the comedy that the Renfield movie was. The resolution felt more honest and natural. I liked this book but wasn't wowed.

Mildly recommended.

Book Review: Universal Monsters: The Mummy by F. E. Hicks et al.

Universal Monsters: The Mummy written and drawn by Faith Erin Hicks, colors by Lee Loughridge

This very faithful adaptation manages not to be a "movie-in-comic-book-form" by switching the focus to Helen Grosvenor, the woman who has an eerie resemblance to the Mummy's ancient paramour. Back in the day Imhotep was in love with a priestess of Isis named Ankh-es-en-Amon. She died from a plague and Imhotep tried to resurrect her using the Scroll of Thoth. He failed when authorities showed up. They buried him alive and cursed him with immortal life (while in a nameless grave!). This story starts with Helen as a young girl dealing with her parents--a British father and an Egyptian mother. They are rich and lean toward a British lifestyle. Helen only hangs out with the children of their servants who are all full-blooded Egyptians. The kids at the British school hold no interest for Helen. But the Egyptian kids think of her as the boss's daughter, and a half-breed at that. If that was not enough problems, Helen also discovers another soul trapped inside her who becomes her closest friend, though an invisible one, so others (British and Egyptian) think she's strange. Her life gets stranger as her father is involved in an archeological dig that discovers Imhotep's mummy, who comes to life when one of the assistants reads aloud the Scroll of Thoth buried also in the tomb. Plenty of troubles follow from this.

The shift in focus is interesting and provides a way to explore the story without changing the basic beats of the plot. Helen is an interesting person and her interactions with the other soul living inside her provide a lot of drama. The art is nice but less like a horror story than I was expecting. Hicks has a distinctive style (see her Nameless City series) that is a little more cartoonish than the story is. My quibble about the art is small because her writing is so fine, the whole is very satisfying.

Recommended.

Book Review: Universal Monsters: The Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives! by D. Watters et al.

Universal Monsters: The Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives! written by Dan Watters and Ram V, art by Matthew Roberts, and colors by Dave Stewart and Trish Mulvihill

Reporter Kate travels to South America in pursuit of a serial killer who tried to killer by drowning months earlier. She has a hard time keeping up with him because she has some serious post-traumatic stress and some brain damage from nearly drowning. Her desperate investigation leads her into the depths of the jungle where she gets more than she bargained for, i.e. more than one encounter with the Creature.

The art in this story is quite good, fitting the horror theme and Kate's mentally unstable state. The book describes it as anoxic brain damage which is a real affliction where the brain is damaged by extended oxygen deprivation. She is not depicted as a damsel-in-distress. She's a hero with a debilitating condition that heightens the drama. The story is well-paced and satisfying without being earthshaking or over-the-top. I liked it and might try other Universal Monster graphic novels.

Recommended for Creature fans.

Movie Review: Dracula Untold (2014)

Dracula Untold (2014) directed by Gary Shore

In an unexpected blend of historical fiction and action horror, this picture reformulates the origin story of Dracula. The movie begins with the misery of the Walachia, Vlad the Impaler's country, which stands between the forces of the Ottoman Empire and the heart of Europe. The Ottomans have demanded tribute from Walachia, including children to serve as hostages and in their army. Vlad was one such child many years ago. He returned home as an adult after gaining a reputation as a ruthless killer. He has settled into a domestic life with a wife (Sarah Gadon) and child (Art Parkinson). Ottoman ruler Mehmed (Dominic Cooper) sends a delegation on Easter to collect the financial tribute and also a thousand boys to come and serve in the Ottoman army. Vlad balks at this. So does his wife since their child has also been demanded. Vlad defies the order but realizes his country does not have the power to turn away the Ottomans. He knows of a strange creature hiding in a cave on Broken Tooth Mountain. That creature has the great strength and lethal abilities that Vlad needs to defend his country. He goes to make a deal with this monster but can Vlad worm his way out of his fate?

While this film did not do well with critics or at the box office, thus putting another nail in the coffin of Universal's attempt to create a Dark Universe like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it has a lot of merit. It successfully recasts Dracula as a tragic hero who wants to save his family and his country. He is willing to do almost anything and gets caught up in circumstances. He isn't a sexual predator or rat-faced monster, so he's much more easy to sympathize with. The horror elements in the film are not the main focus, even though they are plentiful. The movie is more of an origin story with a new take on the character, though the very ending (centuries later) suggests he's slipped into the sexual predator role. Unfortunately, the reimagining didn't take with audiences and further stories did not happen. 

Recommended if you are ready for a different type of Dracula.

Movie Review: Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) directed by Charles Lamont

As a follow-up to the successful Mummy franchise and the monster cross-over movies with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, the boys have an adventure in Egypt with Klaris (Eddie Parker), a mummy from ancient times with an ancient curse who is also the guardian of another secret tomb full of fabulous wealth. Bud and Lou are looking for a way to get back to America. Bud overhears one professor saying he needs some men to escort a mummy's remains to the USA. The duo head over to the professor's house where they get stuck inbetween various other groups who want the mummy for their own purposes. The professor is killed and suspicion lands on Bud, so they are highly motivated to sort things out. The plot is definitely copied from the other Mummy movies even if Kharis's name has been changed to Klaris. Bud and Lou go through typical shenanigans and routines as the story moves along.

This is definitely more of a comedy than a horror. The mummy is not much of a character, the rest of the cast is the focus. A group of Klaris devotees led by Semu (Richard Deacon) try to keep Klaris's secret situation from getting out, so they are after Bud and Lou. Some grave robber/gold diggers led by Madame Rontru (Marie Windsor) are after the treasure and thereby after Bud and Lou, who have a key piece of information for both pursuers. The comic antics are fun but not up to the duo's best standards. The movie is fun to watch but not endlessly rewatchable like their ...Meet Frankenstein. 

Mildly recommended, more so if you are a Mummy or an Abbott and Costello fan. I'm both, so I had a good time.

Movies Reviews: The Mummy Franchise, 1940s-Era

For Halloween, I revisited Universal's Mummy series on DVD from the library. My review of first film, 1932's The Mummy, is here. The movie spawned four sequels in the 1940s and then Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy in 1955 (not included on the DVD set), along with a lot of imitators. Here are the Universal sequels in order of release...

The Mummy's Hand (1940) directed by Chris Cabanne

In a reboot of the franchise, Boris Karloff's character, Imhotep, is taken out and replaced with Kharis (Tom Tyler), also an ambitious high priest in love with an Egyptian princess named Ananka whom he tries to resurrect using tana leaves (in stead of the Scroll of Thoth from the original story). The Pharaoh has Kharis buried alive (like Imhotep) but a cult of priests keeps him clinging to life over the millennia with small doses of tana leaf tea (unlike Imhotep). Being kept barely alive for thousands of years is perhaps a more horrible fate than being buried alive. 

In the modern day, two adventurous con artists (Dick Foran and Wallace Ford) stumble upon a vase describing the location of Ananka's tomb. The historical expert they consult is friends with Egyptian expert Andoheb (George Zucco) who secretly is the latest of Kharis's keepers. Andoheb tries to convince the Americans that the vase is a fake but they still mount an expedition, getting some money out of a stage magician (Cecil Kellaway) who is supposed to spend his money on tickets back to America with his daughter and assistant Peggy (Marta Solvani). She's a no-nonsense girl who tries to get the money back after Andoheb warns her that shysters have stolen her dad's money. The con men are sincerely mounting the expedition to find the tomb (expecting to become famous and wealthy from the contents, so still a bit shytery), so everyone goes out to the desert. The mummy is revived with a stronger does of tana tea by Andoheb to deal with the Americans when they stumble upon Kharis's tomb. A lot of action and some horror follows.

The movie is an interesting change from the original. The mummy stays in bandages the whole time, unlike Karloff's character who moves through Cairo as an old man. The bandaged mummy from this film has become the standard depiction of horror-film mummies, though this particular incarnation has blackened eyes, giving him some of the sinsterness that Karloff had just by acting. This movie has a lot more comedy and focuses on action rather than horror. It's entertaining in a Saturday matinee way.

Recommended.

The Mummy's Tomb (1942) directed by Harold Young

The action jumps thirty years and over to America as an elderly Dick Foran relates his experiences in Egypt to his son John (John Hubbard) and his financee Isobel (Elyse Knox) who are skeptical. Meanwhile in Egypt, Andoheb (George Zucco) passes on the care of Kharis (now played by Lon Chaney, Jr.) to Mehemet (Turhan Bey). Mehemet takes Kharis to America so he can strike down the family that violated his tomb. Once Mehemet gets a sight of Isobel, he also adds a plan to kidnap her and make her his bride, just so the line of high priests who care for Kharis continues, of course. 

The mummy is less of a character and more of a Macguffin and a tool for Mehemet, the real villain of the story. For a brief moment Kharis resists his handler, but that ends quickly and he gets back to murdering by moonlight. The mummy has almost no character. Mehemet is the one pushing the revenge angle, though the actor is not as sinister as previous villains in the series. The mummy is taken down in the end by a torch-baring mob just like Frankenstein's monster, which felt a little lazy. Chaney does not get enough to do to make the character distinctly his own.

The main couple are nice together. They have genuine affection for each other. Beyond being the love interest for the hero and the villain, Isobel has little else to do, unfortunately. The son's skepticism is slow to change, even when his father's partner (Wallace Ford in old age makeup) shows up after the dad's funeral and tells the same story about Egypt. The son is not quite satisfactory as the leading man even when he gets the girl and the happy ending. He's not even depicted on the poster!

Mildly recommended--the franchise is definitely entering B-movie writing and production values.

The Mummy's Ghost (1944) directed by Reginald le Borg

There's another time jump forward (putting the narrative in the 1970s or 80s if you do the math, but that's not what this series is interested in). The events of the last film are a fading memory, refreshed by a college lecture on Egyptian history that references Ananka and Kharis's history. The prof remembers the mummy running around killing people but the students are more skeptical. Tom (Robert Lowery) is among the scoffers except his girlfriend Amina (Ramsay Ames) is of Egyptian descent. She gets a little spaced out when people discuss Egypt's ancient history. Her problems only get worse when Yousef Bey (John Carradine) comes to town. Bey is from Egypt and he's been sent by Andoheb (George Zucco yet again, even though he died in both of the previous movies!) to America to bring back both Kharis and Ananka so they can rest in peace in their own tombs. Bey uses tana leaves to attract and control Kharis. The prof stumbles upon the secret of the leaves (of which he has some) and accidentally draws the mummy to his home, starting the cycle of killings.

The narrative feels very similar, like the filmmakers are afraid to stray from the formula. Carradine makes a better villain and is even given a lot of sincere-sounding prayers to Egyptian gods for the success of his mission. He starts falling for Amina, struggling to resist the opportunity to make her and himself immortal rather than take everyone back to Egypt. Amina has a bit more character than the previous damsel, with her hair slowly turning white has Ananka's spirit dominates her. Chaney also gets to do more physical acting with some meaningful hand gestures and one very menacing scene where he approaches the camera to kill someone. The end in a swamp seems like the end for the characters. But you can't keep a profitable franchise down, even in New England swamp waters.

Mildly recommended--still a B-movie, Saturday matinee film.

The Mummy's Curse (1944) directed by Leslie Goodwins

The action jumps another twenty or thirty years ahead (so, the year 2000?). An archeological expedition has been sent to the swamp to recover the Mummy (Lon Chaney Jr.) and Princess Ananka (Virginia Christine). In an interesting twist, the swamp is now in Louisiana. A local company is draining the swamp as part of civic improvements. The company head, Pat Walsh (Addison Richards), is having trouble with his workers because they think the swamp is haunted by the Mummy. Cajun Joe (Kurt Katch), local roustabout, is too hard-headed to believe in mummies and rallies the locals to continue working. Head archeologist James Halsey (Dennis Moore) doesn't want to make trouble for the company but does want to recover the remains. He does get infatuated with Walsh's secretary (who is also his niece) Betty (Kay Harding). Halsey's assistant is Doctor Ilzor Zardad (Peter Coe) who is instantly identifiable as Egyptian because he wears a fez. Zardad is secretly a priest from the cult that's been keeping Kharis alive. Zardad wants to take the Mummy and Ananka back to Egypt where they can rest for eternity. In an interesting twist, he is not amorously infatuated with Ananka or Betty. He is dedicated to his mission, dedicated enough to send Kharis to kill anyone in their way.

Despite some logical and continuity problems, this is a solid B-movie thriller. Chaney doesn't do quite as much acting as the last film and is a little comical for the number of times the girl just gets away from him grabbing her. Christine is good as both the reincarnation of Ananka and a modern woman (presumably Amina?). She has some good schizophrenic moments and is probably the most three-dimensional character in the story. Coe is okay as the villain but never gets beyond a stock character performance. Some moments are a bit chilling, especially Ananka's drawn out resurrection from the swamps, which involves a lot of silent acting from Christine. There are no great surprising twists but still an enjoyable watch once.

Mildly recommended, a bit more than the previous film.

Book Review: The Monster Movies of Universal Studios by James L. Neibaur

The Monster Movies of Universal Studios by James L. Neibaur

This review of monster movies from the classic period (from the 1930s Dracula featuring Bela Lugosi and Frankenstein featuring Boris Karloff) hits all the monster films, finishing with the Creature from the Black Lagoon series and the Abbott and Costello Meets... movies. Each film gets a bit of background, a plot synopsis, some artistic discussion, and the reaction of critics and audiences. It's straightforward and easy to read, providing inspiration to visit or revisit (or avoid) some classics in the horror genre.

Mildly recommended--if you are a fan of this era and genre of film making, you will enjoy the book.

Movie Review: The Cat and the Canary (1927)

The Cat and the Canary (1927) directed by Paul Leni

Cyrus West owned a great mansion on the Hudson River and had a substantial estate to bequeath on his relatives. Unfortunately, most of them swarmed on him like cats on a canary so he left his will to be opened twenty years after his death. Five cousins and an aunt come on a dark night when the family lawyer will finally read the will. The mansion has the standard-issue spooky housekeeper (Martha Mattox) who lets people in and seems to know more than she's letting on. If things weren't stressful enough, someone has tampered with the documents and a lunatic has escaped from a nearby asylum and may be on the grounds or even in the house. The mansion has a lot of cobwebs and creepy hands reaching out from secret panels and doors.

As an "old dark house" thriller (quite possibly the first film version--this is from the silent era), the movie works well. The cast has plenty of people to suspect, a fine heroine (Laura La Plante), and a bumbling comic relief guy (Creighton Hale). The balance of scares and laughs is just right and the actors give good performances. The filmmakers managed to put a lot of cat and canary references in throughout.

Recommended.

Movie Review: The Old Dark House (1932)

The Old Dark House (1932) directed by James Whale

A couple (Raymond Massey and Gloria Stuart) and their layabout friend (Melvin Douglas) are driving through a dark and stormy night when the road washes out and they are forced to take shelter at the only house around. The house is a creepy, blocky mansion that looks like it is about to get washed out too. The door is answered by the mute butler Morgan (Boris Karloff) who eventually lets them in. The house is owned by Rebecca (Eva Moore), though they first meet her brother Horace (Ernest Thesiger) who strikes them as eccentric and unwelcoming. Rebecca is also off-putting and inhospitable. The homeowners eventually allow the visitors to stay, offering them a meal as the siblings try to warn them about how unsafe they are, especially if Morgan starts drinking again. Another knock on the door brings Sir William Porterhouse (Charles Laughton) and his lady friend Gladys (Lilian Bond). They join in the festivities and the shenanigans. The mute butler does get drunk and troublesome downstairs. The lights go out and other house members locked away upstairs add to the mayhem. It's a long, dark night in the old, dark house.

Whale directed the film just after Frankenstein and gets another fine performance from Karloff. The rest of the cast is superb, especially Laughton as a blowhard nouveau riche playboy with a less happy side to him. Most of the character have more depth than you'd expect in a quick-running (72 minutes) horror film. The creepiness and a bit of comedy are on full display as the characters find out more about the house and themselves. The ending is a little abrupt and does not quite tie up the loose ends. Even so, the film is a delightful little spooker.

Recommended.

I watched this streaming on Kanopy and the print is great.

Movie Review: The Wolf Man (1941)

The Wolf Man (1941) directed by George Waggner

Estranged younger son Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) returns to his ancestral estate when his older brother dies. His father (Claude Rains) welcomes him back with open arms, hoping to reunite with his eighteen-year absent son. Larry even takes a shine to one of the local girls, Gwen (Evelyn Ankers), though she is engaged to someone else. The whole village by Talbot Castle is steeped in werewolf lore. Everybody knows the old rhyme: "Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright." His dad chalks it up to superstition, though he admits there's probably some basis in reality, like the dual personality in people. Larry gets an actually dual personality after he's bitten by a wolf that turns out to be a werewolf, the son of a gypsy woman who is traveling through the village. The woman warns Larry that he will turn into the wolf and gives him an amulet for protection. Larry gives Gwen the amulet since he's more worried about her. He does turn into a wolf and starts murdering people (mostly randomly) at night.

The story moves along at a good pace and is the origin for a lot of the mythology that's generally accepted about werewolves: they need to be killed by a silver weapon; they change in moonlight; the curse is passed through biting. The characters in the movie assume this lore is ancient and accepted, making it seem like it originated somewhere else. Chaney does a great job playing the conflicted, good man who slowly comes to accept that he's been cursed. Everyone around him thinks there's some scientific explanation for what's wrong with him (though most boil down to him being insane) and that there's an actual wolf wandering around in the woods causing the troubles. Their enlightened view leads to a wolf hunt which is the ultimate downfall of Larry. 

The special effects were state-of-the-art for the time and still look decent. Part of the success is that the effects are used sparingly and a lot of the action takes place in a foggy forrest. The actors do a great job taking the story seriously and giving their characters more depth than in the average horror film.

Recommended.

Movie Review: The Phantom of the Opera (1943)

The Phantom of the Opera (1943) directed by Arthur Lubin

In this lavish technicolor remake of their silent classic, Universal Studios went fully operatic in The Phantom of the Opera. The story opens with Erique Claudin (Claude Rains) playing his heart out on the violin in the orchestra pit of the Paris Opera House. He's smitten with Christine Dubois (Susanna Foster), an up and coming soprano whom he barely has the nerve to talk to. He's happy to pay for her voice lessons as an anonymous benefactor. Things come crashing down around him as his left hand starts to stiffen up. The conductor fires him from the opera; the music teacher says he will stop working with Christine; even Erique's landlady will kick him out because of unpaid back rent. Desperate to make some money, Erique takes a concerto he's been working on to a music publisher. The publisher is uninterested, though Franz Liszt (Fritz Leiber) is fascinated with the work and is playing it in another room. Erique hears his own music and goes into a rageful attack on the publisher, assuming he plans to steal the work. The publisher's assistant throws acid on Erique in an attempt to stop the attack. She is too late. Erique has killed the publisher and flees to the sewers in agony.

Christine is blithely unaware of all of this because she is being romantically pursued by the opera's baritone (Nelson Eddy) and a police inspector (Edgar Barrier). She enjoys the attention, not realizing her love triangle is actually a square. Erique takes advantage of the rumored haunting of the opera house and becomes the Phantom everyone whispers about. He sends notes to the opera managers to get Christine the lead role. He even poisons the ingenue for whom Christine is the understudy. Christine does a great job filling in but is kept in her place by the ingenue, who does not want a replacement. Tensions grow as the Phantom makes more plans while the two love interests lay their own traps for the opera ghost.

The movie has a lot of opera performances, taking advantage of the sound and color format that was absent for the Lon Chaney classic. The staging and songs look and sound great though they have little to do with the plot other than that's where the story is set. Rains gives a good performance, displaying the mousiness that turns into predation as his love becomes more bold. He's very sympathetic and comes off more tragic than evil. The dramatic unmasking scene toward the end has a hard time topping (or even getting close to) the iconic moment in the silent version. There's a lot more romantic rivalry between the baritone and the cop which is played effectively for laughs and lightens the mood considerably.

Recommended, though the movie is played more as a melodrama than a horror film.

 

Movie Review: Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Phantom of the Opera (1925) directed by Rupert Julian

The opera "Faust" is playing at the Paris Opera House as the owners sell it to two new guys. The owners casually mention there might be a ghost in the opera house. Don't believe it but also don't try to dissuade the guy in Box Five. In fact, don't mess with him at all. The new owners head over to Box Five and are creeped out by the back silhouette. After a moment, they work their nerve up and go back in, only to discover him gone. Soon enough they are getting letters from the Phantom demanding that Christine Daae (Mary Philbin) be given the main role instead of Carlotta. Carlotta's mom refuses to budge but Carlotta does call in sick. A second letter comes, again requesting the substitution. The mother is adamant that Carlotta will sing. During the next performance, the chandelier comes down on the crowd during one of Carlotta's solos. The Phantom has struck! 

Back in Christine's dressing room, the ghostly voice that has been training her tells her to walk through the mirror, which she does, leaving behind her boyfriend Raoul (Norman Kerry). The masked Phantom leads her down to the depths of the sub-basements of the opera (a lot of old sets, props, and costumes are stored underneath--the old rooms used to be prisons and torture chambers!). He professes his love for Christine and wants her to stay. She's uneasy about the situation and plays along. As he works on a new opera, "Don Juan Triumphant," she sneaks up behind and unmasks him. He's shocked that she would do it. She's shocked by his appearance, which is indeed horrific. He eventually agrees to let her return to the opera one last time before she is his forever. He forbids her from seeing Raoul and expects her to return shortly. She agrees.

Once back up, she sends a letter to Raoul asking him to meet her at the Bal Masque at the opera house. All of Paris turns out for the festivities. She and Raoul head to the roof to plot her escape from the Phantom. The Phantom is up there too and overhears their plans. He starts making his own plans to keep her. The story continues to its tragic ending.

The movie was a landmark when it was released in the 1920s. Chaney's makeup was not photographed by any press or media, so no one saw the Phantom's face before seeing the actual movie. The unmasking scene is so well edited and acted that it has become iconic. The other parts of the production are also lavish. The Bal Masque scene was colorized to show off the Phantom's Red Death costume. Much of the rest of the film is tinted to give an atmospheric feel. The sets are huge and elaborate. The grand staircase of the opera is at least three stories tall and many of the sub-basements are cavernous. The Phantom's lair at the bottom is reached by a subterranean lake! The production is quite lavish.

The acting matches the production values. Chaney does a great job making the Phantom both frightening and empathetic. Philbin is strong and vulnerable as Christine. Even smaller roles shine, like the opera owners who are skeptical but wary about the ghost. They mostly deliver comic relief (and are out of the story halfway through). The finale gives the Phantom one last chance to show off.

The version I watched has an orchestral score by Carl Davis from the 1990s which worked very well with the movie. I think the Kino version (which is linked below) has the same score. Kino has put out lots of high-quality DVDs and Blu-rays of silent films, so they are worthy of trust.

Highly recommended--this is one of the greats of silent cinema.

Movie Review: The Black Cat (1934)

The Black Cat (1934) directed by Edgar G. Ulmer

Very loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Black Cat, this movie features the first team-up of Bela Lugosi (Dracula) and Boris Karloff (Frankenstein). "Team-up" is the wrong word, because their characters are enemies. Lugosi plays Dr. Werdegast, a recent escapee from prison who is coming to an obscure Austrian town seeking revenge on Poelzig (Karloff). They were in the war together (presumably World War I). Poelzig commanded a fort where thousands of men died. Werdegast was stationed there but wound up in the prison. The real problem is that Poelzig stole Werdegast's wife and daughter, claiming Werdegast died in prison just after the war. Now, Poelzig has built an ultra-modern home on the ruins of the fortification (so he has an appropriately creepy basement). Werdegast travels by train and runs into some American newlyweds who ride the same bus through the obscure Austrian town. The bus crashes in the rain, killing the driver. The passengers seek shelter in Poelzig's home. The tension quickly skyrockets as Werdegast plans his revenge, only to find his wife dead and eerily preserved in the basement. Poelzig has even more sinister plans, especially for the young bride.

The movie has almost nothing to do with the Poe story. Karloff's character does have a black cat; Lugosi is pathologically afraid of cats (leading to a bit of overacting). The conflict between the two is fun as they simmer in rage. The newlyweds are more like unfortunate victims caught in the crossfire. Visually, the movie is impressive. The sets are expressive and do a good job mirroring the duplicitous nature of Karloff's Poelzig. The editing also has some nice visual flourishes and hints at the really shocking moments without being graphic.

Recommended--not as great as Dracula or Frankenstein, but a worthy horror outing. I was inspired to watch this by a history of Universal Horror films on the Hypnogoria podcast.

Movie Review: The Invisible Man (2020)

 The Invisible Man (2020) written and directed by Leigh Whannell

Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) is literally trapped in a horrible marriage. Her husband Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is manipulative, possessive, and a brilliant scientist. Their California seaside estate has a tall wall around it. As the movie starts, Cecilia sneaks away in the middle of the night, shutting down the security cameras and heading over the fence to a rendezvous with her younger sister Emily (Harriet Dyer). As Cecilia leaves the garage, their dog bangs into the car, setting off the car alarm. Her race to the road is just barely successful. The movie jumps two weeks later. Cecilia is hiding out with a friend of her sister. Emily comes by and tells her that Adrian committed suicide. The sisters visit the executor of Adrian's estate, his brother Tom (Michael Dorman), who explains that Cecilia will inherit five million dollars in monthly installment of one hundred thousand dollars as long as she is not charged with any crimes and is mentally competent. She's happy about that, though still paranoid about Adrian's influence over her life. Odd things start happening to her, making her think that Adrian is still alive and invisibly torturing her. Everyone else thinks she is going crazy.

The movie does a good job for the first third leaving viewers in suspense about whether Adrian is really alive and messing around with her. Tom does have a box with Adrian's alleged ashes. So maybe Tom is trying to keep the money by torturing her? Whoever is causing her problems doesn't need to put a lot of effort in since she is already skittish about almost everything. Also, her judgment is naive, like when she promises to set aside money for the friend's daughter as a college fund just to be nice. Cecilia grows less and less passive throughout the film, a nice build up of her character. The story has some good twists and tense scenes. The special effects are top-notch and the ending is typical and satisfying.

Recommended--I went into this with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised more than once during the movie.

Movie Reviews: Invisible Man-ia

I finally watched all of the Invisible Man movies on the DVD collection I've owned for years and years. Here's the good, the bad, and the crazy...

The Invisible Man (1933) directed by James Whale

A heavily bandaged and goggled man shows up at the Lion's Head Inn, a countryside pub where the local populace is hanging out during a snowy winter night. The stranger is Griffin (Claude Rains). He demands lodging with a sitting room and a fire. He sets up a lab where he works to reverse his great scientific success--he's made himself invisible! The bar patrons are curious as are the bar owners. Griffin does not welcome their curiosity and hides his problem from them. Once Griffin can't pay the rent, they are ready to kick him out. By this time, the frustration of not finding a solution gets to Griffin, who is ready to kill and cause havoc to get his way. His scientist mentor (Henry Travers), the other mentee (William Harrigan), and the mentor's daughter (Gloria Stuart--the character is going to marry Griffin) come to help but Griffin has become too crazy and ambitious to listen even to his fiancee.  

The story is full of speculation on how to catch an invisible man, along with various attempts at the more practical ideas. The movie has a good sense of humor and the effects are amazing consider the movie was made over ninety years ago. A few of the floating items are clearly on strings, which often gets the focus of reviewers, but a lot of other effects are impressive for the time. Rains gives a great performance, especially considering he is almost entirely just a voice. He sells the pathos and madness of his character. Una O'Connor reprises her role as the shrieking female comic relief from Bride of Frankenstein, overdoing it even more this time as wife of the innkeeper.

Recommended--This is an entertaining story with some impressive visual effects. It doesn't have the thematic depths of other Universal horror classics.

The Invisible Man Returns (1940) co-written and directed by Joe May

Geoffrey Radcliffe (Vincent Price) has been convicted of killing his brother and waits for execution. His best friend is Frank Griffin (John Sutton), brother of the guy in the first movie. Frank is also a scientist and works at the Radcliffe coal mine as a doctor. Frank visits Geoffrey on the eve of his execution. Geoffrey then makes a fantastic escape because he is now...the Invisible Man! Geoffrey was falsely accused and wants to find the true killers. He hides at a lodge with his girlfriend Helen (Nan Grey) and plans his next move. Meanwhile, the police are out in force at the Radcliffe estate. Geoffrey goes back to the coal mine where Frank works on a cure. Frank is not as brilliant as his brother and the madness slowly takes over Geoffrey, but not before he discovers the true culprit.

The movie plays itself as both an "innocent man" drama and as an "invisible man" thriller. Geoffrey is depicted as a good fellow driven to desperation by his predicament. As he goes about in his invisible state, he realizes all that he can do. Price has a great madman speech in the middle of the film where he tells how he can take over the country and have followers rather than friends. The speech seems like it's taken from the Gyges' Ring section of Plato's Republic, which is much less about desperation than about opportunism. The speech doesn't really fit Geoffrey's character though, even if it is well-delivered by Price. The filmmakers quickly get back to the "innocent man" plot and bring things to a satisfactory conclusion.

This movie is much more upbeat, with a likable hero in an unlikely predicament. Price is as solid a voice actor as Rains and carries the film through some rough plot patches. The special effects are the equal of the first film.

Recommended--There's a little more thematic depth and personality to this movie, making it an interesting companion to the original.

The Invisible Woman (1940) directed by A. Edward Sullivan

The invisibility gag gets played for laughs in this feature. Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore) has developed a machine to make people invisible but needs a human test subject. He puts an ad in the paper; unfortunately his financial backer, Richard (John Howard), has lost too much money as a playboy and can't finance him anymore. Instead of offering $3000 in a newspaper ad, Gibbs offers the treatment for free. A lot of crackpots send joking replies (like "make my husband vanish, please!"). Kitty Carroll (Virginia Bruce) is a dress model who's harried by her boss and seriously wants to be invisible to give him what for. She replies as K. Carroll and the befuddled scientist assumes she's a man. When she shows up, he has to sort out a way to take away her visibility without seeing her "in the all together," as he puts it. The experiment is a success. Just as the professor calls Richard over to see, Kitty sneaks off to pester her boss. When she gets back, she discovers some mafia thugs ready to get the invisibility machine so their boss, who is stuck in Mexico, can sneak back into the country unseen. She foils their first plan but all the pieces are in place to have lots of comedic incidents.

Virginia Bruce is fun and adventurous, providing her character with a lot of charm. There's no angst or world-domination plans; the story is played for laughs and, of course, a romance develops between Kitty and Richard. The rest of the cast is good (Shemp Howard from The Three Stooges is one of the thugs!) but the script is very corny and occasionally too silly for its own good. The special effects are a bit sloppy at times and were a bit distracting. This movie watches like a B-movie sci-fi comedy.

Slightly recommended.

Invisible Agent (1942) directed by Edwin L. Marin

Frank Griffin (Jon Hall), grandson of the original Invisible Man, is recruited to infiltrate Nazi Germany and get valuable information back to the Allies. But not before Japanese and German agents (Peter Lorre and Sir Cedric Hardwicke) try to steal the invisibility serum from him. Frank agrees to go to Berlin. They fly him in, he takes the serum, and he parachutes into the outskirts of town. Evading the local Nazis is fairly easy. Frank meets up with his contact who sends him to Maria Sorenson (Ilona Massey) a fabulous blonde who happens to be the paramour of Hardwicke. Hardwicke's flunkie Heiser (J. Edward Bromberg) is trying to get both the girl and his boss's job. Frank breaks up Heiser's clumsy attempt at a romantic dinner with Maria. Maria and Frank work together to get the info he needs before escaping back to England.

The movie was made in the middle of World War II and it looks like second-rate propaganda to stir up anti-Axis sentiments. The Germans have properly despicable attitudes and are just as likely to turn on each other as to fight against Griffin. Any chance to make them look bad is taken, regardless of how much sense it does or does not make for the plot. They are depicted as buffoons and sadists, a sharp contrast to the heroic Frank. This film is one of those propaganda pieces that you'll agree with but also find tedious. The visual effects are not too convincing, plenty of wires are visible. 

Not recommended unless you are into propaganda films. Or want to be an Invisible Man completist. 

The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944) directed by Ford Beebe

Jon Hall is back, but as Robert Griffin--no relation to the other Griffins in the series. Robert sneaks back into England from South Africa. He was part of an expedition five years ago to a diamond mine. He lost his memory when he was hit on the head by a branch and did not recover his memory until two months before returning. He looks up his old partners, Irene and Jasper, who are now well-to-do aristocrats. Robert wants his share of the money but the couple claims they lost most of the money through bad investments. They offer half of what's left of their wealth. Robert wants more. Irene drugs Robert's whiskey and they try to get rid of him. Robert winds up at the home of Doctor Drury (John Carradine) who has been experimenting in, you guessed it, invisibility formulas. He's made his pets disappear but nothing larger than a dog. Robert is on the outs with the gentry and thus with the law, so he's willing to be the first human test. After he turns invisible, he leaves the doctor and goes for revenge against his old partners.

The premise starts off ambiguous. Robert is fairly unstable and broke out of a mental hospital in Africa, killing some people along the way, so he seems a bit unsympathetic. His partners are upright until they drug him and try to dump him literally on the side of the road. Robert then goes down the madman's path, losing some of the sympathy he gained when the partners turned on him. The movie winds up as a standard b-movie sci-fi thriller with not a lot new to offer.

Mildly recommended.

Movie Review: The Mummy (1932)

The Mummy (1932) directed by Karl Freund

A 1921 British Museum archeological dig uncovers the mummy of Imhotep and another mysterious box buried with him. This particular mummy wasn't in a pyramid or a special tomb, it was off by itself. An Egyptian occult expert (Edward Van Sloan) deciphers the writing on the box which says that anyone who opens it will be cursed. He and the head of the dig, Sir Joseph Whimple (Arthur Byron), go off to discuss what to do while they leave the novice archeologist to catalog stuff. The novice can't resist opening the box. Inside he discovers an ancient papyrus (The Scroll of Thoth) which he starts reading. It's an incantation to raise the dead which has the predictable effect on the mummy behind him. Off screen, the mummy stalks forward. He takes the papyrus from the novice who bursts into hysterics. The mummy leaves.

The story jumps forward ten years when Whimple's son Frank (David Manners) is conducting a fruitless dig in Egypt. As they are wrapping up, a slightly wrinkled Egyptian man who calls himself Ardath Bey (Boris Karloff) shows them a new spot to dig. They find the sealed tomb of a princess. Sir Joseph comes back to Egypt to help open the tomb and identify the items inside. They have to give everything to the Cairo Museum. Ardath Bey shows up at the museum interested in the find, especially the female mummy. He is, of course, Imhotep raised from the dead. He was a temple priest 3700 years earlier who fell in love with the Pharaoh's daughter. She died young and he tried using the Scroll to bring her back. The Pharaoh was naturally upset and had Imhotep buried alive with the Scroll so no one else could use it. As the modern-day mummy tries to revive his girlfriend, the ceremony casts a sort of spell over a young woman (Zita Johann) who becomes possessed by the princess's spirit. He obsessively stalks her as the archeologists try to unravel the mystery of what is going on and stop Imhotep's plan.

The movie has a good amount of complications as Karloff's character comes into conflict with the modern people. I was surprised to see him in modern dress and not all wrapped up in bandages as is the standard for mummies in movies. Karloff has an ominous presence that he uses quite well. The flashback is harrowing, especially the part where Karloff is wrapped up in bandages against his will. Being buried alive is a horrible fate regardless of what he did to deserve it. The enthralled maiden gives a good performance switching back and forth between the princess and the modern woman.

This is a good horror movie, but not as good as the other classic Universal monster movies. It doesn't have the visual style of Frankenstein or Dracula or the amazing special effects in The Invisible Man. The plot feels slow, even though the film is a trim 75 minutes long. The other films packed a lot more into their running times.

Recommended.

Game Review: Horrified by Prospero Hall

Horrified designed by Prospero Hall and published by Ravensburger

Horrified pits one to five players against the movie monsters from Universal's classic horror films--Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Bride, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The monsters all have different ways to be defeated and luckily for the players, only two to four of the monsters will be in play in any given game (though possibly the number of monsters can go to five since Frankenstein's Monster and the Bride always go together).

The game is played on a board representing the village beset by the monsters. Various locations are connected by lighted paths along which the players and the monsters can move. Some of the paths are water paths and can only be used by the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Players need to move around the board, collect resources from various locations, and use those resources to defeat the monsters before they terrorize the locals too much--there's a terror track than can max out, giving the victory to the monsters, not the players.

The board without any pieces on it

Each round has a player phase and a monster phase. One player performs actions including moving, gathering resources, fighting the monsters, and helping the villagers. The players each have individual characters who have special abilities, like moving other characters or adding value to the items collected. Planning ahead is very important because the game is cooperative and players need to coordinate their actions.

The Professor and the Mayor (who gets an extra action since she has no special action)

When an individual player finishes their actions, then the monster phase starts. A monster card is drawn. The card has three parts.

Monster cards

At the top is a number, which is how many items are drawn randomly from the resource bag. The items are placed in specific locations on the board (the locations are written on the items). The items also have a color (yellow for spiritual, blue for intellectual, and red for physical) and a number indicating their strength (a set value from one to six). Each item has a strength number at the top. Adding more resources to the board is essential for players to win the game, so it's always a bummer when a card with a zero is drawn.

Typical items

In the middle of the monster card is a special text. That text either adds a new villager to the board (who needs to move from their start location to a predetermined end location in order to be safe) or one of the monsters takes an action. For the monster actions, if the particular monster is not in this game, then the action doesn't happen. If the monster is in the game, then something pretty bad happens.

On the bottom of the card is the Monster Strike section. The monsters whose icons are listed move and/or attack a villager or a player character. Often the monsters on the Monster Strike are different from the special activation, but not always. Also, one monster is the "frenzy" monster and its movement is indicated by a flame appearing on the card. If the frenzy monster also has its icon earlier on the card, then that monster may activate twice during the monster phase.

No frenzy monster here, just the Creature, the Wolfman, and the Invisible Man

The monster only attacks if it is on the same space as a villager or player. The active player roles dice (the number is determined by the card). Any stars on the dice mean a successful attack. An attacked villager is killed and the terror track advances; an attacked player can discard items, one per star, to avoid being injured. If the player decides not to discard (or has nothing to discard), the player token is moved to their player card and the terror track advances. On that player's next turn, their character is placed at the hospital and their turn starts from there.

Three die faces

After the Monster Strike part of the card is resolved, play moves to the next player clockwise. Play continues until all the monsters are defeated (which is victory for the players) or the terror track goes to seven (players lose because wide-spread panic envelops the village) or the monster deck runs out (the players took too long to get rid of the monsters and wide-spread panic envelops the village).

Defeating monsters requires two steps, though those two steps are different for each monster. For Dracula, the players must first destroy four coffins hidden throughout the village by using red items (physical damage) that added up to six (thus the item's number is important in addition to its color). Once all coffins are destroyed, the players can defeat Dracula by using yellow items (spiritual weapons). For the Invisible Man, players must gather items from different locations as evidence that he exists, then use red items to trap him. The variety of monsters and of ways to defeat them make each game different, especially with different hero powers.

Dracula's card

On my first solo play, I was the explorer. She has the handicap of only three actions but her special action allows her to move to any non-water space on the board. That's a huge advantage as she's able to move quickly around the board, picking up items or delivering villagers to their safe locations. Even so, my terror track was on the brink of failure when I succeeded. The experience was fun but it felt a little too easy. Other solo games with different characters were more challenging/nail-biting.

With multiple players, planning moves is very important. Gathering resources and using them wisely is important because the monsters always go after the nearest hero or villager. If a player's turn does not come around for a while, a monster may have multiple opportunities to hurt an individual player. Players can share resources if they are on the same place but that uses up actions. Communicating with each other is important and rewarding.

The components in the game are very good. The monsters are little plastic pieces shaped like the classic monsters. The players are standees with colored bases that match the character card. The villagers have clear bases. A lot of the details in the game relate to the movies--one of the villagers is called Maria and she looks just like the child that Frankenstein's Monster tossed into the lake. Even Abbott and Costello's characters from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein are part of the game! The items are all familiar and thematic (garlic and torches and scientific equipment and on and on) as are the locations (a dungeon, a tower, an abbey, a graveyard, a barn, a crypt, etc.).

Bride and camera-shy Frankenstein's monster

Dracula guards his coffin!

The villagers

The game is not very complicated but is a lot of fun, especially for those familiar with the Universal horror movies.

Recommended, highly for fans of the films.