Universal had big plans for the Dark Universe when it kicked off in the 2010s, but there was a movie released 81 years ago that should have been a warning sign. The Dark Universe was supposed to connect all the Universal Horror monsters for an eventual film where they would all come together. However, the individual movies failed, and all that resulted was a tease that never paid off. After a false start with The Wolfman in 2010, Dracula Untold restarted things off in 2014, followed by The Mummy in 2017. Tom Cruise starred in The Mummy, and Russell Crowe showed up at the end as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde to tease the upcoming crossovers. Bad reviews and poor box office doomed the franchise.
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However, anyone who knows movie history knows that Universal tried this 81 years ago, and it didn’t work out very well then either. That movie was House of Frankenstein, and it came out on December 1, 1944. It was then released in a wide release later in December of that year
Universal Studios Built Up Its Monster Slate Before House Of Frankenstein
One big difference between Universal Studios in the 1930s and in the 2010s is that the monster movies of the 30s wanted to succeed on their own. It all started in 1931 when the studio released Dracula and Frankenstein, and both films took the world by storm. There had been a Frankenstein movie before, with the silent-era short film release from 1910, and a film based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula in Nosferatu. However, these were the first in the sound era, and they were huge success stories for Universal. Quickly, Universal brought in The Mummy and The Invisible Man, and a decade later, it introduced The Wolf Man.
The studio also had several sequels. Some were great, such as Bride of Frankenstein, and others were lackluster, such as Son of Frankenstein. However, after the success of The Wolf Man in 1941, Universal went for its first crossover attempt and released Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man in 1943. This movie had Lon Chaney Jr. return as The Wolf Man, and he met Frankenstein’s Monster, played here by Bela Lugosi, in the Dracula actor’s only time to play the Monster. This was exciting and led the studio to want to go even bigger the following year.
Universal Studios released House of Frankenstein in 1944. What resulted was a disappointment for the studio. It made more than some other universal horror movies, like The Invisible Man’s Revenge, but didn’t quite make a mark against other films in 1944. Even worse, it received poor reviews, although all horror movies were often met with disdain from critics of that era. This film saw a complete change in casting, as only Lon Chaney Jr. was back as The Wolf Man. While the original Frankenstein, Boris Karloff, was in the cast, he didn’t play the Monster. Instead, this was Glenn Strange’s first go at the Monster, and he would play the character until the end of the franchise. John Carradine starred as Dracula, replacing Bela Lugosi in the role.
The movie is not well-regarded today. Despite bringing Frankenstein’s Monster, The Wolf-Man, and Dracula all together in one movie being a monumental event, it only holds a 47% approval rating from fans on Rotten Tomatoes, even lower than the critics’ 55% score. Despite that, Universal wanted more and had them all together again in House of Dracula, with the same cast, and then in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein in 1948. Shockingly, it was that last movie that was the superior effort. Bela Lugosi was back as Dracula, and the movie smartly had the monsters playing it seriously while Abbott and Costello played it for laughs. In the end, the last monster mashup was a delight.
The Dark Universe Should Have Paid Attention
The Dark Universe wanted to do something that didn’t even work for the classic Universal Monsters era of movies. While having the main monsters together in a film is fun, as it was in the 1980s Monster Squad, it is not easy. Classic Universal set up its monsters as successful stand-alone franchises before mashing them up together into a movie. Even with their success on their own, it didn’t work as well when they had them all fighting each other. Universal wanted its Dark Universe to be its Avengers-styled franchise, and rushed it into oblivion.
By planning the giant team-up movie before even seeing what the solo movies could do first, Universal put its cart ahead of its horses and failed miserably. If anything, Universal should have learned from itself on what didn’t work last time to fix it this time around. Instead, it tried to force a franchise, and that was never going to work. It took the classic monster movies three tries to finally get it right with all three main monsters in a film, and it still needed Abbott and Costello added to the mix to work out. If anything, House of Frankenstein should have been a major warning sign on why mashup movies are not always the best idea.
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