Leofwine_draca This is a great documentary chronicling all of the major Universal Horror releases from the 1930s, plus all of the major actors and directors of the period. It's obviously made by people with a great love of the genre, and the affection shines through at every moment. The documentary consists of a number of people sharing anecdotes (it's surprising how many of the actresses - Gloria Stuart, Fay Wray, etc. are still alive) interspersed with loads of clips from the best bits of the films. About half of the stories I had heard already through general reading, but there are a wealth of lesser known snippets among them too.While the film clips highlight all the expected best bits from things like Dracula, FRANKENSTEIN, THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and THE WOLF MAN, there are also a number of lesser-seen moments too. For example we get to see test footage of a green Frankenstein monster, plus many clips from a lot of rare silent films starring Lon Chaney from the 1920s which are great to watch. Other, less talked-about films are discussed like THE BLACK CAT and THE RAVEN. Author David J. Skal pops up to talk about his love of the films, along with actor James Karen, author Ray Bradbury, Sara Karloff, Forrest J. Ackerman, and scriptwriter Curt Siodmak. UNIVERSAL HORROR is a reverential documentary which has been put together nicely, never outstays its welcome, and really makes you appreciate all those old horror films.

Hot 888 Mama . . . jotted down 22 pages of notes about it (in the ball park of how many GONE WITH THE WIND would merit). The primary commentators for this 1998 feature-length documentary running 95 minutes, 22.13 seconds are sci-fi author Ray Bradbury, POLTERGEIST actor James Karon, film historian David Skal, TITANIC actress Gloria Stuart, KING KONG actress Fay Wray, and film historian George Turner. 1931 Dracula cast member Carla Laemmle, niece of Universal Studio's founder Carl Laemmle, makes an appearance, along with Karloff's daughter, Sara, and "Eva" from the 1931 Spanish version of Dracula, Lupita Tovar. Three dozen classic horror films are referred to, with clips included from most. Some of these still available flicks are not even from Universal, such as THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932). This is a good resource for young people whose horror knowledge may begin with Freddy, Jason, and Michael--or, heaven forbid, with Jigsaw! It can teach them the A, B, C's of early horror, such as the original Fab Four: Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, The Mummy, and The Wolf Man. Every film buff needs to see this feature at least once.

Schlockmeister This is really one of the better horror movie compilation/documentaries out there. A big reason for that is because of it's subject: Universal Pictures. This is the studio that produced the definitive versions of such films as Dracula, The Invisible Man, Frankenstein, The Wolfman and on and on. This documentary is interesting as it traces influences on these movies. It brings out that facial disfigurement in the movies was perhaps a reflection of veterans of World War I coming home with injuries from war, the idea of evil in ordinary looking people who were truly monsters was a reflection of the normal looking men who were otherwise nazi monsters. Traces origins in movies of the most famous Universal characters, showing clips from silent movies and also tracing the careers of various directors and the Laemmles who were in charge of Universal. People who were in these movies are interviewed and also, as a treat for the horror fan, well known personages in the Horror fan community such as Forrest Ackerman and others are interviewed and they share their earliest memories of seeing Universal films. Recommended to the horror fan. If you are new to classic horror films of the 1920s through the 40s, this would be a great education and shows you the most important and influential films to track down.

marlowe_is_dead this is an extremely interesting documentary detailing the early years of the Universal horror films. as well as featuring the most well-known films (dracula, frankenstein, wolf man &tc), it also details a plethora of other, less known films.it would be great if this were the 1st part of a series documenting the horror film, continuing on until the present day. especially if the other films were both as entertaining and intelligent as this.