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CBS has come out the winner in a bidding war to become the home to a new TV series based on Dracula’s legendary foe Dr. Abraham Van Helsing… and no, this project does not (despite the image above) have anything to do with the 2004 Hugh Jackman movie. Or the Van Helsing show that ran on Syfy for five seasons, wrapping up in 2021. Or any previous version of Van Helsing, a character who has been played by the likes of Edward Van Sloan, Peter Cushing, Anthony Hopkins, Mel Brooks, Rutger Hauer, and many others over the decades. This is a fresh take on the character that’s coming our way from Elementary creator Rob Doherty, Carl Beverly, Sarah Timberman and Lionsgate Television.

Deadline reports that this contemporary version of monster hunter Dr. Abraham Van Helsing uses his uniquely inquisitive mind working alongside his ex, relentless FBI special agent Mina Harker,...

By the middle of the 1950s, gothic horror was dead. Modern-set films dealing with nuclear war, radioactive fallout, and the Red Scare filled American theaters with giant bugs and body snatchers. England’s Hammer Studios was no different, releasing successful films like The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) and X the Unknown (1956), which were firmly rooted in these science fiction-based fears. In 1957, however, they took a gamble and single-handedly resurrected the gothic monster movie with The Curse of Frankenstein, which became an international hit. The following year they outdid themselves by resurrecting the King of Vampires. Horror of Dracula (simply titled Dracula in England) completely redefined the character, and indeed the entire vampire subgenre, for a generation, and its influence would echo through the decades to come.

By 1958, Tod Browning’s Dracula, with Bela Lugosi in the starring role, had become deeply ingrained in popular culture. The 1957 debut of Shock Theater, the package...

No film of the Hays Code era revels in its own perversity quite like Mad Love (1935). Mad science, body horror, insanity, obsession, executions, gaslighting, sadomasochism—it’s all here and presented with unparalleled excellence of craft. Though it may seem tame compared to pre-Code fare like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Freaks, and Island of Lost Souls (both 1932), it manages to just barely sneak its lurid subject matter by the censors under a layer of dark humor, exceptional cinematography, and a masterful performance by Peter Lorre in his first American film.

After Dracula proved to be a huge success for Universal, other Hollywood studios became eager to get in on the horror game, though many of these studios felt the genre was beneath them. Metro Goldwyn Mayer was considered the most prestigious of the golden-age studios, famous for its big budget musicals, epic spectaculars, and boasting “more stars than there are in the heavens.

Many people rightly feel that the origins of Count Dracula — that mythic, blood-sucking vampire — have their roots in the mountains of Transylvania. However, if humans of the future were to unearth the graves of those buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California, they might believe differently. Because actor Bela Lugosi was laid to rest there donning one of the iconic capes he wore in his portrayals of the famous vampire on screen. To unearth him would be like unearthing The Count himself.

And maybe, in a way, that would be true. Even though Lugosi's body of work includes much more than just his performance as Dracula in the original 1931 Universal film of the same name (as well as a role reprisal in "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein"), when you mention him today, the first thing that comes to mind is that infamous bloodsucker. Lugosi has become synonymous with the character,...

Plenty of actors have played Abraham Lincoln well, but the actor still most associated with the role is Raymond Massey, who starred in Robert E. Sherwood’s Pulitzer Prizewinning play. The film version was not a hit, as Sherwood’s aim is to capture the melancholy, even the foreboding, of a man who was a natural for politics. In this reading Lincoln tries to resist his ‘call to greatness’ knowing he’s letting himself in for an unhappy life. The Warner Archive’s restoration retrieves the film from old 16mm prints, restoring James Wong Howe’s handsome cinematography.

Abe Lincoln in Illinois

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1940 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 110 min. / Spirit of the People / Available at Amazon.com / General site Wac-Amazon / Street Date , 2022 / 21.99

Starring:

Raymond Massey, Gene Lockhart, Ruth Gordon, Mary Howard, Minor Watson, Alan Baxter, Harvey Stephens, Howard da Silva, Dorothy Tree, Louis Jean Heydt, Clem Bevans, Herbert Rudley,...

Edward Van Sloan. Peter Cushing. Anthony Hopkins. Hugh Jackman. Splinter. Yes, the latest actor to play the role of Abraham Van Helsing is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character Splinter, who has become the legendary vampire slayer for Neca’s ongoing toy line that mashes together the worlds of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Universal Monsters! […]

The post Splinter Becomes Van Helsing in Full Reveal of Neca’s Latest Tmnt x Universal Monsters Toy appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

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Celebrate Nine Decades Of Your Favorite Monsters On 4K For The Very First Time In Collectible Packaging

Available On 4K, Blu-ray™ And Digital On October 5, 2021

From Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

Synopsis: From the era of silent movies through present day, Universal Pictures has been regarded as the home of the monsters. Universal Classic Monsters Icons of Horror Collection showcases four of the most iconic monsters in motion picture history including Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Wolf Man. Starring Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and Claude Rains in the roles that they made famous, these original films set the standard for a new horror genre with revolutionary makeup, mood-altering cinematography and groundbreaking special effects.

Classic Monster Films Included:

Dracula (90th Anniversary) Frankenstein (90th Anniversary) The Invisible Man The Wolf Man (80th Anniversary)

Hours Of Bonus Content, Including:

The Road to...

“The spider spinning his web for the unwary fly… The blood is the life, Mr. Renfield.”

Celebrate Nine Decades Of Your Favorite Monsters On 4K For The Very First Time In Collectible Packaging. Available On 4K, Blu-ray And Digital On October 5th

From the era of silent movies through present day, Universal Pictures has been regarded as the home of the monsters. Universal Classic Monsters Icons of Horror Collection showcases four of the most iconic monsters in motion picture history including Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Wolf Man. Starring Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and Claude Rains in the roles that they made famous, these original films set the standard for a new horror genre with revolutionary makeup, mood-altering cinematography and groundbreaking special effects.

Classic Monster Films Included:

Dracula (90th Anniversary)Frankenstein (90th Anniversary)The Invisible ManThe Wolf Man (80th Anniversary)

Hours Of Bonus Content, Including:...

This January, NBCUniversal is offering fans the chance to dive into some of Universal Pictures’ most gruesome classic films ever made on one of the world’s biggest horror YouTube channels, ‘Fear: The Home of Horror.’

Starting January 15th 2021 horror fans will have the opportunity to scare away the January blues and take a step back in time to watch an incredible array of classic re-mastered cult films for Free including Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), The Invisible Man (1933), The Wolf Man (1941), Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).

Each film will premiere individually and be available to watch for seven days on the Fear: The Home of Horror YouTube channel. Additionally, during each film’s premiere week, fans will have the opportunity to add these films to their digital collection at a discounted price, allowing them to watch whenever they want, for as many times as they want!

Horror cinema, by nature, is most often concerned with the uncanny. The fantastic. The grotesque. Despite the genre’s largely fictional preoccupations, however, the macabre has always been a viable outlet for political and social commentary. In fact, the American horror film provides an often reliable indicator as to which forms of societal unrest plague the nation at any given time. Perhaps more than any other filmic genre, horror has provided an outlet for filmmakers to document government fallacy and real- life atrocity through the filter of fantastic, often supernatural, narratives. By hyperbolizing societal conflicts like war, civil unrest, poverty, and corruption, a good political horror film seeks not only to draw attention to such issues, but also to make them seem manageable by comparison. Take, for example, the premise of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978). While Americans needn’t worry themselves over hordes of zombies rising from...

“To die, to truly be dead,” Bela Lugosi said in Hollywood’s classic adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, “that must be glorious.” But beloved monsters never die, no matter how many stakes you drive through their hearts. They are rebooted. Following the box office and critical success of The Invisible Man, Jason Blum’s Blumhouse production banner is looking to resurrect Dracula, according to The Hollywood Reporter. While Universal hasn’t officially signed on, they do have a first-look deal with Blumhouse and a cloakroom of capes for the Transylvanian Count.

The new Dracula movie will be helmed by Karyn Kusama. Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay, who teamed with Kusama on those latter two films, will write the screenplay. Kusama also recently directed an episode of HBO’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Outsider.

Universal has learned some lessons since unwrapping The Mummy, starring Tom Cruise, in...

When I started the Crypt of Curiosities, I did it with the explicit intention to introduce people to the weird, wild corners of genre cinema. Shaw Brothers’ Black Magic, Hammer mummies, hyper-violent anime, sadistic Spaghetti Westerns—it’s an exercise in peering into the odd expanses that deserve more attention. It’s about championing the under-championed.

So, admittedly, writing about one of the most recognizable, celebrated horror films ever made might seem a bit off. But there’s a catch. Because, like many films of its time, there were actually two versions of Dracula in 1931: Tod Browning’s iconic English-language one, and the much less beloved Spanish-language Drácula. While the former has gone on to become a classic, the latter has languished in relative obscurity, beloved by a small cult but otherwise alien to most viewers. So, I figured this would be a good opportunity to look at the two side by side,...

The 2016 blu ray release of the Frankenstein and Wolf Man Legacy Collections was a moment of celebration for movie and monster lovers everywhere, bringing together all the golden age appearances of Frankenstein’s misbegotten creation and Larry Talbot’s hairy alter-ego. Universal Studios treated those dusty creature features to luminous restorations; from Bride of Frankenstein to She Wolf of London, these essential artifacts never looked less than impeccable and, at times, even ravishing. Colin Clive’s frenzied declaration, “It’s Alive!”, never felt more appropriate.

Now Universal has turned their attention to their other legendary franchise players, Dracula, the sharp-dressed but undead ladies’ man and Im-ho-tep, the cursed Egyptian priest who loved not wisely but too well.

Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection

Blu-ray

Universal Studios Home Entertainment

1931, ’36, ’43, ’44, ’45, ’48 / 449 min. / B&W / 1:33 / Street Date May 16, 2017

Starring: Actors: Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr. , Boris Karloff, Bud Abbott, Lou Costello

Cinematography: Karl Freund,...

Joseph Baxter Feb 23, 2017

Universal Monsters shared-universe movie Van Helsing will be written by Wrath Of The Titans scribe Dan Mazeau

Universal Studios’ ambitious shared-universe films featuring classic movie monsters manifests this summer with another reboot of The Mummy. That's set to star Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella and Russell Crowe. Now, though, we learn of the planned remake of Van Helsing, that has landed a new writer.

According to The Tracking Board, the script for Universal Monsters entry Van Helsing is now in the hands of writer Dan Mazeau. Mazeau, whose only major credited screenplay was the 2012 Greek myth series sequel Wrath Of The Titans, is in the process of rewriting the Van Helsing script after it was originally drafted by The Mummy writer Jon Spaihts (Passengers) and Eric Heisserer (Arrival).

Mazeau reportedly took on the Van Helsing script duty somewhere around last September after being part of the Universal writer’s room,...

Do rediscovered ‘lost’ movies always disappoint? This Depression-era pre-Code science fiction disaster thriller was unique in its day, and its outrageously ambitious special effects –New York City is tossed into a blender — were considered the state of the art. Sidney Blackmer and a fetching Peggy Shannon fight off rapacious gangs in what may be the first post-apocalyptic survival thriller.

Deluge

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1933 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 67 min. / Street Date February 21, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring Peggy Shannon, Lois Wilson, Sidney Blackmer, Lane Chandler, Samuel S. Hinds, Fred Kohler, Matt Moore, Edward Van Sloan .

Cinematography: Norbert Brodine

Film Editor: Martin G. Cohn, Rose Loewinger

Special Effects: Ned Mann, Williams Wiliams, Russell Lawson, Ernie Crockett, Victor Scheurich, Carl Wester

Original Music: Val Burton

Written by Warren Duff, John F. Goodrich from the novel by Sydney Fowler Wright

Produced by Samuel Bischoff, Burt Kelly, William Saal

Directed by Felix E. Feist...

Since the dawn of cinema, the dark has been as important to horror as monsters, blood, and jump-out-of-your-seat scares. Lights Out – out on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download now – takes it a step further by turning that inherent human fear of what lingers in the shadows (c’mon, admit it – we’re all a bit scared of it) into a reality with its dark-dwelling demon Diana.

To celebrate, we take a look back at the characters from movie history for whom the darkness is not just a side of their personality, but a part of their very being and power to terrify.

Count Dracula As Seen In: Dracula (1931) From: Transylvania. Though partial to the odd British holiday. Profile: Dracula (Bela Lugosi) is an ancient-but-charming aristocrat with a big castle and dodgy accent. Likes sucking blood and terrorizing English toffs. The Story: The Count comes to England for a spot of neck biting,...

The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman. A Facebook invite for the event can be found Here

Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.

King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known is his heyday as “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “More Famous Than the Man in the Moon”. Yet even in his hometown, Baggot had faded into obscurity.

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, Michael Haffner, Sam Moffitt, and Tom Stockman

Peter Cushing, born on this day in 1913, was one of the most respected and important actors in the horror and fantasy film genres. To his many fans, the British star, who died in 1994, was known as ‘The Gentle Man of Horror’ and is recognized for his work with Hammer Films which began in the late 1950’s, but he had numerous memorable roles outside of Hammer. A topnotch actor who was able to deliver superb performances on a consistent basis, Peter Cushing also had range. He could play both the hero and the villain with ease.

Here, according to We Are Movie Geeks, are Peter Cushing’s ten best roles:

Dr. Maitland

During the 1960s, Amicus Studios had a knack for borrowing from the pool of Hammer Studios actors and filmmakers to make their own Hammer-inspired films. While...

Our series on remakes continues and since Universal Studios has announced a new version of the Mummy, set for a 2017 release, it seemed like a good time to dissect the previous attempt to redo this story. This week, Cinelinx looks at The Mummy (1999).

It’s hard to really compare the original Universal Studios version of the Mummy (1932) to the more whimsical remake (1999) because the two are so immensely different. The new version takes the seed of the first film and transforms it into something almost unrecognizable. The 1999 version meets one of the two criteria of making a good remake…Keep the spirit of the original but make it into something new and special. Well, this remake does successfully make the concept of the Mummy into something quite different, but it totally loses the spirit of the 1932 original.

The original is one of the seminal horror classics, creating one of the...

Rko's morale-building wartime thriller adds an element of sexual perversion to its story of Nazi crimes against children, thus creating one of the studio's all-time biggest hits. Bonita Granville is the victim Tim Holt her Nazi-youth heartthrob, and Otto Kruger provides the perverted sneers. Hitler's Children DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1943 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 82 min. / Street Date December 1, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Tim Holt, Bonita Granville, Kent Smith, Otto Kruger, H.B. Warner, Lloyd Corrigan, Erford Gage, Hans Conried, Gavin Muir, Nancy Gates, Egon Brecher, Peter van Eyck, Edward Van Sloan. Cinematography Russell Metty Film Editor Joseph Noriega Original Music Roy Webb Written by Emmet Lavery from the book Education for Death by Gregor Ziemer Produced by Edward A. Golden Directed by Edward Dmytryk

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Perhaps the most popular anti-Nazi info-propaganda thriller of the war, Hitler's Children is a very well made shocker that...

There have been two great depictions of Van Helsing on the big screen. Edward Van Sloan played him as a strong-willed doctor in 1931’s Dracula. Then over 60 years later Sir Anthony Hopkins gave a completely different performance in Francis Ford Coppola’s (Apocalypse Now) adaptation, as a wild, funny, and arguably crazy Van Helsing. When Universal attempted to […]

The post Neil Labute Making ‘Van Helsing’ as a TV Show for SyFy appeared first on /Film.

David Letterman will bid farewell to his Late Show tonight with a surprise-filled (and Foo Fighters-featuring) finale, but before the late-night legend says goodbye to airwaves, take 45 minutes to remember Letterman at the onset of his 33-year career. Decider unearthed Letterman's incredible debut episode of his Late Night NBC program from February 1, 1982, which featured guests Bill Murray and Donald "Mr. Wizard" Herbert.

The episode opened up with actor Calvert DeForest, or Larry "Bud" Melman as he was known on the show, delivering a spooky prologue inspired by actor Edward Van Sloan...

The King Baggot Tribute will take place Friday, November 14th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium beginning at 7pm as part of this year’s St. Louis Intenational FIlm Festival. The program will consist a rare 35mm screening of the 1913 epic Ivanhoe starring King Baggot with live music accompaniment by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. Ivanhoe will be followed by an illustrated lecture on the life and films of King Baggot presented by Tom Stockman, editor here at We Are Movie Geeks. After that will screen the influential silent western Tumbleweeds (1925), considered to be one of King Baggot’s finest achievements as a director. Tumbleweeds will feature live piano accompaniment by Matt Pace.

Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.

King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot...

Old monsters or new? Dracula or Freddy Kruger? The Bride of Frankenstein or the Bride of Chucky? How do you like your monsters…Classic or neo-nasty contemporary?

Most people like a good horror film around Halloween. It’s the time of year for a good scare. But what kind of scare do you want…classic or modern? Do you prefer the gothic grand guignol of yesteryear or the deranged demons of today? Who’s cooler and creepier?

Just for clarity’s sake, we’ll draw the old vs. new line at 1978, with John Carpenter’s excellent Halloween being the start of the modern age of Horror. Everything before that (The B&W Universal monster films, the Hammer Studios films with Cushing and Lee, the Poe/Hawthorn adaptations with Vincent Price, etc.) are classic horror flicks.

Let’s start with the names of the monsters. In this category, you have to go with old Hollywood.

Kino Classics refurbishes public domain title The Death Kiss, a 1932 release made purely to capitalize off the success of Tod Browning’s 1931 Dracula by casting three of the main leads from that film. The title retains little interest except for Lugosi completists, who isn’t given much to do this time around as a rather miffed film studio manager. However, film historians may appreciate the film for its locale, set almost entirely within the back lot of what was termed a Poverty Row studio, shackled by the meager prospects of the Great Depression.

As director Tom Avery (Edward Van Sloan) films his final sequence on his new film The Death Kiss at the sound stage of Tonart Studios in Los Angeles, his lead actor Myles Brent (Edmund Burns) is shot with a real bullet. All the prop guns on set are checked. Investigating Detective Lt. Sheehan (John Wray) and Sergeant...

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, Michael Haffner, Sam Moffitt, and Tom Stockman

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Peter Cushing (1913-1994) was one of the most respected and important actors in the horror and fantasy film genres. To his many fans, the British star was known as ‘The Gentle Man of Horror’ and is recognized for his work with Hammer Films which began in the late 1950’s, but he had numerous memorable roles outside of Hammer. A topnotch actor who was able to deliver superb performances on a consistent basis, Peter Cushing also had range. He could play both the hero and the villain with ease.

Super-8 Peter Cushing Movie Madness takes place February 4th at The Way Out Club in St. Louis and will be a great way to celebrate the actor’s career. The event is on February 4th beginning at 8pm. Condensed versions (average length:...

Ever since Mary Shelley first cooked up the idea for the Frankenstein Monster we, as a horror-loving public, have been hooked. The apocryphal story of the moaning-one's creation may be as tall of a tale as 'Frankenstein' itself, but it lends to the drama of the story. A dark and stormy night, Mary Shelley hanging out with Percy Shelley and Lord Byron, sipping some drinks, challenging each other to create the perfect horror story. And then, late at night, Mary Shelley dreams of a groaning man made of dead flesh! A long chain from novel to play to films and other media have brought us, today, to the release of I, Frankenstein, a post-apocolyptic thriller starring the hulking monstrosity. No ensuing portrayal of the monster will match the terror of Shelley's first nightmare. But many have followed, and today we're taking a look at a few of our favorite depictions of Frankenstein's Monster.

“The brain you stole, Fritz. Think of it. The brain of a dead man waiting to live again in a body I made with my own hands!”

Celebrate two classics from Universal’s Golden Age of Horror this Saturday morning at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater as part of their Classic Film Series. It’s a double bill from director James Whale; the original Frankenstein (1931) and The Invisible Man (1933). It’s Saturday, October 12th at 10:30am at the Hi-Pointe located at 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, Mo 63117. Admission is only $5.

I just saw the original Frankenstein on the big screen last Halloween season when it played with Bride Of Frankenstein as part of a Fathom Event. The 82-year old film holds up as stark, solid, and impressive, overshadowed (a bit unfairly) by the later barrage of Whale’s wit in the more delirious and cinematic Bride. In Frankenstein, Karloff gives...

When Universal’s Dracula was released in 1931 vampires were a relatively underexplored creature of genre films. Sure you had Nosferatu, which was released a full nine years before, but Dracula was the first film to feature a blood sucking fiend that made a killing at the box office. Universal was quick to capitalize on the surprise success of Dracula and several sequels (some in name only) were made. There was Son of Dracula (‘Alucard’ is all I need to say about that one), Dracula’s Daughter, House of Dracula, House of Frankenstein (which featured all the Universal monsters) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. While most of those films are disposable fodder, Dracula’s Daughter stands out from the pack as not only being entertaining, but also being the one sequel that had as much influence as its predecessor.

Released in 1936 and written by Garrett Ford and directed by Lambert Hillyer,...

Paul Henreid in ‘Casablanca’: Freedom Fighter on screen, Blacklisted ‘Subversive’ off screen Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of July 2013, Paul Henreid, bids you farewell this evening. TCM left the most popular, if not exactly the best, for last: Casablanca, Michael Curtiz’s 1943 Best Picture Oscar-winning drama, is showing at 7 p.m. Pt tonight. (Photo: Paul Henreid sings "La Marseillaise" in Casablanca.) One of the best-remembered movies of the studio era, Casablanca — not set in a Spanish or Mexican White House — features Paul Henreid as Czechoslovakian underground leader Victor Laszlo, Ingrid Bergman’s husband but not her True Love. That’s Humphrey Bogart, owner of a cafe in the titular Moroccan city. Henreid’s anti-Nazi hero is generally considered one of least interesting elements in Casablanca, but Alt Film Guide contributor Dan Schneider thinks otherwise. In any case, Victor Laszlo feels like a character made to order for Paul Henreid,...

Frankenstein

Directed by James Whale

Written by Garret Fort and Edward Francis Faragoh

U.S.A., 1931

The more of these classic Universal Studios monster flicks one discovers for the first, the clearer the realization that, along the years, blatant misconceptions about them have materialized. Occasionally these inaccuracies are the result of parodies and misquotes, which is all fine and dandy provided people come to understand what the original material was trying to convey. One should not limit oneself to taking the parodies and misquotes for granted as precise representations of what the creators intended in the first place. Last week the topic was 1931 Dracula. This week has the column review yet another film from the same year, one deemed no less a classic, and of course burdened by another series of unwarranted misconceptions, all of which can be remedied by, oh, maybe just watching the movie.

Based on the famed...

Dracula

Directed by Tod Browning

Written by Garrett Fort

U.S.A., 1931

Sound on Sight’s 31 Days of Horror series makes a decisive switch of gears on Tuesdays with a look at some of the horror genre’s unmistakable gems: its classic monsters. These films will all be from the 1950s, 40s and even the 30s, the decades which saw some of the most well known, most beloved and, of course, most terrifying monsters arrive on the silver screen to freak out the others other in the films…and audiences.

Bram Stoker’s most recognized literary effort is undoubtedly the story of Count Dracula, a vampire who preys on his victims through unnatural powers of seduction. The number of films which take cues from the book, either as direct adaptations or indirect inspirations, are practically innumerable. Perhaps the most well known version of the past 20 years or so was from the early 1990s,...

Latest Additions Include Star-Studded Appearances, Noted Film Historians,

An Opening-Night Poolside Screening of High Society (1956)

And a Vanity Fair Showcase of Architecture in Film

Complete Schedule for 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival

Now Available at http://www.tcm.com/festival

With just over two weeks left before opening day, the 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival continues to expand its already-packed slate with new events and live appearances:

On opening night of the festival, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel will be the site of a poolside screening of the lavish Cole Porter musical High Society (1956), starring Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Actresses Maud Adams and Eunice Gayson will attend a 50th Anniversary screening of the James Bond classic Dr. No (1962) and participate in a conversation about being “Bond Girls.” Filmmaker Mel Brooks will be on hand to introduce his brilliant parody Young Frankenstein (1974). Filmmaker John Carpenter will introduce his favorite film, the...

The 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival has unveiled another spectacular lineup of special guests and events for this year’s four-day gathering in Hollywood. Among the newly announced participants for this year’s festival are five-time Emmy® winner Dick Van Dyke, Oscar® winner Shirley Jones, two-time Golden Globe® winner Angie Dickinson, six-time Golden Globe nominee Robert Wagner, seven-time Oscar nominee Norman Jewison, longtime producer A.C. Lyles and three-time Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker. In addition, the festival will feature a special three-film tribute to director/choreographer Stanley Donen, who will be on-hand for the celebration.

As part of its overall Style and the Movies theme, the festival has added several films featuring the work of pioneering costume designer Travis Banton. Oscar-nominated costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis will introduce the six-movie slate, with actress and former Essentials co-host Rose McGowan joining her for one of the screenings.

Other festival additions include a screening...

I love October, not only because my birthday is at the end of the month but because we get Halloween. Now living in Australia, it does not get celebrated much but things are changing.

I have made it a tradition to immerse myself in all things horror, my own way of celebrating. During my adventures this year and this month with horror, I have come across a nice selection of vampire films. So for this weeks Top 10 I thought I would give you a list of some vampire films that you really need to sink your teeth into.

You wont find mainstream here …

Honorable mentions: Shadow Of The Vampire (2000), Vamp (1986), The Hunger (1983), The Monster Squad (1987), Let The Right One In (2008) and Vampire’s Kiss (1989).

10.) Thirst (2009)

Chan-wook Park crafted his own vampire tale, a very strange voyage into finding love and losing identity. A Catholic Priest contracts vampirism after a failed medical experiment,...

There’s a lot of evil out there! Disposing of the nasty creatures, monsters, zombies, witches, vampires and the like is a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it. Remakes of Fright Night and Conan The Barbarian will splatter evil blood all over screens this week when they open in theaters on Friday, August 19th, so here’s a look at our favorite monster killers from the movies.

Now, before we get started… a list like this really needs to be defined, so here are those pesky rules that govern who makes the cut and who gets cut:

You must have multiple kills! One and done is not enough. You must be a full-time monster hunter. None of this part-time, moonlighting crap! You must actually “kill” the monsters. Sorry, but The Ghostbusters don’t make the cut.

Honorable Mention: Hans, trolljegeren – Trollhunter (2010)

Do trolls really exist? Hans says so,...

Peter Cushing, Anthony Hopkins, Edward Van Sloan, and even Mel Brooks! All of these men have dawned the stake that would pierce Dracula’s heart, as portraying the iconic character Van Helsing. When Dario Argento announced he would release his vision of Dracula in Dracula 3D, many questioned who would be cast as Helsing, and today all of that speculation has come to an end....

From Hitchhiker to Hobo, this actor is more than qualified to play the great one to take down ole Drac. That’s right! Rutger Hauer has been cast to play Van Helsing in the Italian horror maestro's re-telling of the Bram Stoker’s Classic.

Gianni Paolucci and Roberto Girolamo are producing the film, which is expected to begin shooting sometime within the next month.

Written by HorrorBid columnist: Patrick Farmer

Source: Styd

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

For those familiar with Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula, the character of Dr Van Helsing is a strange, almost unintelligible, elderly eccentric who practically speaks Double-Dutch! After reading the book one wonders how someone as formidable as Count Dracula could ever be defeated by this rather odd and seemingly ineffectual little Dutchman.

In cinematic terms, the character is unactable on screen. Peter Cushing remains the definitive Van Helsing because he’s (thankfully) furthest from the book. His Van Helsing was portrayed as an intelligent and resourceful action hero; the prototype for Hugh Jackman’s later interpretation.

With the exception of Cushing, Jackman and Edward Van Sloan (who played the part in the thirties), the other movie Van Helsings have been pretty dire, and the better the actor, the worse he is in the role. Let’s have a look at the ten really bad ones.

An established horror name with great screen presence,...

For the last week or so, FanGirlTastic has been going "Back to Basics," examining movies from horror's past to discern what relevance they have in the present. So far, we've looked at Dracula and Frankenstein, the first two major films from the golden age of Universal Studios.

These movies not only helped form the foundation of modern horror, they also feature two of the most enduring horror icons. Coincidentally, both of these flicks are also based on novels that are classics of the genre. That The Mummy managed to join Dracula and Frankenstein in that vaunted horror hierarchy is something of a mystery, because The Mummy is easily the weakest film of this diabolical trinity of terror.

When all the sand has cleared, I suppose the staying power of The Mummy is most likely explained by the haunting dual performance of Boris Karloff, who plays Imhotep, a lovelorn ancient Egyptian...

"Dracula's Daughter" is the 1936 Universal vampire sequel to Bela Lugosi's classic 1931 feature "Dracula".

Directed by Lambert Hillyer from a screenplay by Garrett Fort, "Daughter" stars Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden, Marguerite Churchill and Edward Van Sloan.

Based on author Bram Stoker's story "Dracula's Guest", the film begins where "Dracula" ends, with the 'Count' destroyed by 'Professor Von Helsing' (Van Sloan).

Von Helsing is immediately arrested by the police and escorted to Scotland Yard, where he confesses to destroying Count Dracula, but because the vampire had already been dead for over 500 years, it could not be considered murder.

Van Helsing enlists the aid of psychiatrist 'Dr. Jeffrey Garth' (Otto Kruger), once one of his star students, while Dracula's daughter, 'Countess Marya Zaleska' (Gloria Holden), with the aid of her manservant,' Sandor' (Irving Pichel), steals Dracula’s body from Scotland Yard and ritualistically burns the fiend's body, hoping to break...

Unkillable Classics

By Troy Brownfield

You may recall that I opened the new Unkillable Classics column with a discussion of Frankenstein. It’s almost a given now that installment two should cover the other big Universal release of 1931, that other standard-bearer of the horror genre that’s forever linked to that first film. The film for today is, of course, Dracula.

Like Frankenstein, I discovered this film for myself via the local broadcast outlet that carried the “thriller” package weeks. By that time, there were already plenty of other Dracula associations that I could make from pop culture. I fondly recall an issue of the Super Friends comic from DC (in fact, it was issue #10 from 1978, making me about five upon its release) where the heroes crossed paths with a group of characters that resembled the classic movie monsters. It turned out that these “monsters” were in fact the super...