Ranking the Classic Universal Monsters

To officially end Halloween time, I will share a list of some monster movies. But not just any monster movies, I’m going way back to the beginning of when horror movies started—the real classics. I know there are lots of them to choose from, but I went with these eight that are considered the original Universal Monster movies. So, come with me on a journey back to the start of it all…

8. Bride of Frankenstein (1935) – I like that even back in the 1930s, they were able to get some of the same actors back to reprise their roles. Having anyone but Boris Karloff play the part of Frankenstein’s monster wouldn’t have been as good. Colin Clive was also back as Henry Frankenstein which was nice. So, basically, this is a sequel as if the events of the original 1931 movie had ended differently. This time a different “mad” scientist works with Henry to create another creature, but this one would be a mate to Karloff’s monster. Overall, this isn’t that bad, but the fact that the titular character doesn’t even make her first onscreen appearance until about 10 minutes or so left in the movie gives this one the bottom spot.

7. Phantom of the Opera (1943) – Not one of my top choices for a monster movie for sure, as Nelson Eddy’s main character was more sad than scary. His face was barely bad enough to be covered by a mask in the first place. Especially not compared to Lon Chaney’s original Phantom back in the 20s. This was mostly just a movie about opera with a side story about some ghost causing havoc in the big old building. But at least the main character was in much of the film.

6. The Mummy (1932) – Once again, Karloff outshines everyone as he takes on the role of Imhotep. He literally towers over everyone else when he walks into a room…or a tomb. But besides Karloff, this overall story was a little odd how he was able to do those things he did without anyone knowing it was him, but it is just a movie after all right? I also just found this one to drag a little, which says a lot about a movie that’s only slightly more than an hour long.

5. Wolfman (1941) – This is where my rankings start to get hard. I thoroughly enjoyed all of these next five films. Both Lon Chaney Jr. and Claude Rains put in great performances as the younger and elder Talbots, plus a surprise appearance by Bela Lugosi playing as someone also named Bela! The story was fun, the actors all did a great job and it’s fun to see how they did the werewolf transition back then. The main character made me want to root for them even though they were doing some evil things.

4. Frankenstein (1931) – Frankenstein gets the edge over Wolfman based solely on Boris Karloff’s portrayal of the titular monster. Colin Clive as Dr. Henry Frankenstein is almost equally as good, as is Dwight Frye making another appearance in a classic monster movie. The makeup and costumes could rival any modern movie for what they were able to achieve with the budget they had. Overall, this is great and is filled with lots of iconic moments that have been repeated and copied for generations. Seriously, how many times have you heard “It’s Alive, It’s Alive” in the 90 years since this was made?

3. The Invisible Man (1933) – I must be honest; this is way higher on my list than what I thought it was going to be. I hadn’t seen this one until recently and I really enjoyed it. Not only did Claude Rains do a phenomenal job in the role (even though you don’t see his face until the very end), but he was surrounded by a great supporting cast. This is also the first of these movies to introduce so much humor. Rains had his share of funny moments, but the funny spotlight was squarely on Una O’Connor as Jenny Hall (the bar owner’s wife). If you’ve seen the movie, you know what I mean. In the end, it’s still another tragic story of something that has gone wrong and this guy pays the ultimate price, but it sure makes for a good classic film for us.

2. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) – This is another one of those movies that I didn’t get a chance to watch all the way through until recently and I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw. I know this is 23 years after the genre started, but you can tell the advancement they had made in makeup and technology. You especially learn a lot if you can watch some of the videos of how this movie was made. Another great cast, but this time I think they excelled as an ensemble instead of having one stand-out performance. Not quite much humor here, but this one was a little heartbreaking. Even in the 50s, Universal could make you feel sorry for a monster.

1. Dracula (1931) – Was there any doubt about what would be sitting here at the top spot? Bela Lugosi played the first on-screen (and one of the best versions of) Dracula ever. This is another absolute classic that is filled with iconic moments and even more iconic lines. This film has probably been copied more than any movie in history. This is just a guess, I actually have no idea other than there are countless Dracula movies you can go and watch. Dwight Frye makes his first appearance here as Renfield and also does an amazing job. Overall, this was an easy choice for number one and I think most people would agree.

So, there you have it for this list. I hope it wasn’t too scary and that it’s “universal”-ly liked by all who read it. Personally, I enjoyed re-watching all the old classics with my family to show them what monsters on the silver screen used to look like.

How would you rank these monster movies? Are there any more I should add in here?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.