Complete List of Universal Monsters Movies (1923-1960)
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The classic Universal Monsters film series has continued to resonate with classic horror movie fans for nearly a hundred years. Anchored by some of the most iconic movie monsters, the Universal Monsters stable includes Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Bride of Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Wolf Man, the Phantom of the Opera, the Invisible Man, and the Creature From the Black Lagoon.
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The horror icons Universal Monsters—AKA Universal Studios Monsters or Universal Classic Monsters—is a media franchise based on a series of monster movies produced between the 1930s and the 1950s. Merchandizing has included toys, scale models, clothing, and games.
Founded by Carl Laemmle in 1912, Universal was not a big player during Hollywood’s early years. But when Universal discovered audiences wanted thrills, the studio turned its energies to the horror genre.
What connected most of Universal’s classic monsters was their roles as outsiders, earning sympathy and terrors. Universal’s first step in defining horror was collaborating with Lon Chaney, “The Man of a Thousand Faces.” A string of grotesque characters elevated Chaney into a Hollywood star.
Here are all the Universal Monster movies from the classic era:
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) with Lon Chaney, Patsy Ruth Miller, Norman Kerry, Kate Lester
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) with Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin
The Cat and the Canary (1927) with Laura LaPlante
The Man Who Laughs (1928) with Mary Philbin, Conrad Veidt
The Last Warning (1929) with Laura LaPlante
The Last Performance (1929) with Conrad Veidt, Mary Philbin
Dracula (1931) with Béla Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Dwight Frye
Dracula (Spanish version) (1931) with Carlos Villarías, Lupita Tovar, Barry Norton, Pablo Álvarez Rubio
ABOUT DRACULA
Count Dracula was introduced in Bram Stoker’s 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula. Considered the archetype vampire, in the novel he is also the origin of werewolf legends. Some aspects of the character are believed to have been inspired by the 15th-century Wallachian Prince Vlad the Impaler, who was also known as Dracula, and by Sir Henry Irving, an actor for whom Stoker was a personal assistant.
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Frankenstein (1931) with Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles
The Mummy (1932) with Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Arthur Byron
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) with Béla Lugosi
The Old Dark House (1932) with Boris Karloff
The Invisible Man (1933) with Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, William Harrigan, Henry Travers
The Black Cat (1934) with Boris Karloff, Béla Lugosi
The Raven (1935) with Boris Karloff, Béla Lugosi
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935) with Claude Rains
Werewolf of London (1935) with Henry Hull, Warner Oland, Valerie Hobson
Bride of Frankenstein (1935) with Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson
ABOUT FRANKENSTEIN
Frankenstein’s monster debuted in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Shelley's title draws a comparison between the monster's creator, Victor Frankenstein, and the mythological figure Prometheus, who fashioned humans out of clay and gave them fire.
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Dracula’s Daughter (1936) with Gloria Holden
The Invisible Ray (1936) with Boris Karloff, Béla Lugosi
Night Key (1937) with Boris Karloff
The Phantom Creeps (1939) with Béla Lugosi
Son of Frankenstein (1939) with Boris Karloff, Béla Lugosi, Basil Rathbone Lionel Atwill
Tower of London (1939) with Boris Karloff
Black Friday (1940) with Boris Karloff, Béla Lugosi
The Invisible Man Returns (1940) with Vincent Price, Cedric Hardwicke, Nan Grey, John Sutton
The Invisible Woman (1940) with Virginia Bruce, John Barrymore, John Howard
The Mummy’s Hand (1940) with Tom Tyler, Dick Foran, Wallace Ford, Cecil Kellaway, Peggy Moran
Man Made Monster (1941) with Lon Chaney, Jr.
The Wolf Man (1941) with Lon Chaney, Jr., Evelyn Ankers, Maria Ouspenskaya, Béla Lugosi, Claude Rains, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles
The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1941) with Lionel Atwill
The Black Cat (1941) with Basil Rathbone, Béla Lugosi
Horror Island (1941) with Dick Foran, Peggy Moran
The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) with Lon Chaney, Jr., Béla Lugosi, Evelyn Ankers, Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Bellamy, Lionel Atwill
Night Monster (1942) with Béla Lugosi
Invisible Agent (1942) with Peter Lorre
The Mummy’s Tomb (1942) with Lon Chaney, Jr.
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) with Lon Chaney, Jr., Béla Lugosi
Phantom of the Opera (1943) with Claude Rains, Susanna Foster, Nelson Eddy
Son of Dracula (1943) with Lon Chaney, Jr, Evelyn Ankers
Captive Wild Woman (1943) with Evelyn Ankers
The Mad Ghoul (1943) with Evelyn Ankers
Calling Dr. Death (1943) with Lon Chaney, Jr.
Weird Woman (1944) with Lon Chaney, Jr., Evelyn Ankers
Dead Man’s Eyes (1944) with Lon Chaney, Jr.
The Climax (1944) with Boris Karloff
House of Frankenstein (1944) with Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., J. Carrol Naish, John Carradine, Anne Gwynne, Lionel Atwill, George Zucco, Elena Verdugo
The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944) with Evelyn Ankers
Jungle Woman (1944) with Evelyn Ankers
The Mummy’s Ghost (1944) with Lon Chaney, Jr., John Carradine, Ramsay Ames, George Zucco
The Mummy’s Curse (1944) with Lon Chaney, Jr., Virginia Christine
The Jungle Captive (1945) with Rondo Hatton
House of Dracula (1945) with Lon Chaney, Jr., Martha O'Driscoll, John Carradine
The Frozen Ghost (1945) with Lon Chaney, Jr. and Evelyn Ankers
Strange Confession (1945) with Lon Chaney, Jr.
Pillow of Death (1945) with Lon Chaney, Jr.
House of Horrors (1946) with Rondo Hatton
The Brute Man (1946) with Rondo Hatton
She-Wolf of London (1946) with June Lockhart
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) with Lon Chaney, Jr., Béla Lugosi, Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lenore Aubert, Jane Randolph
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) with Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Boris Karloff
Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)
The Strange Door (1951) with Charles Laughton and Boris Karloff
The Black Castle (1952) with Boris Karloff
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953) with Boris Karloff
It Came From Outer Space (1953)
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) with Julie Adams, Richard Carlson, Richard Denning
Revenge of the Creature (1955) with Lori Nelson, John Agar, John Bromfield
Cult of the Cobra (1955) with Faith Domergue
This Island Earth (1955) with Faith Domergue
Tarantula (1955)
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)
The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) with Jeff Morrow, Rex Reason, Leigh Snowden, Gregg Palmer
The Mole People (1956)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) with Craig Stevens
The Deadly Mantis (1957)
The Land Unknown (1957) with Jock Mahoney and Shirley Patterson
The Monolith Monsters (1957)
The Thing That Couldn’t Die (1958)
Monster on the Campus (1958)
Curse of the Undead (1959) with Eric Fleming
The Leech Woman (1960) with Coleen Gray
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