The "Universal" Monsters

[Santos_L_Halper]

*Originally posted by MrAtoz: *

I have been wanting to see that Jack Palance version of Dracula for quite some time. Is it available on cassette, and is it worth my time?

Don’t recall seeing it, so I can’t say if it’s any good or not, but it’s available on video and dvd: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0070003

Originally posted by El Elvis Rojo

Real quick, was the Fly universal? I’m just curious.

20th Century Fox.

Eric

[ThunderBunny]

Unfortunately, I don’t have a cite, but I recall hearing that silver was effective on warewolves because of the metaphysical connection between silver and the moon. You know, the sun is gold, and silver is the moon? So in any case, since the moon “creates” the warewolf, silver is used to destroy it.

Further, I was under the impression that vampires in general were modeled after the plague. People wasting away and eventually dying, followed by their loved ones. The thing about vampires not crossing running water is because of plagues happening on one side of the river but not the other (because people didn’t cross as easily as we do today).

[El_Elvis_Rojo]

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by ThunderBunny *

Further, I was under the impression that vampires in general were modeled after the plague.

I don’t think they were modeled after any event in particular, because there are various vampire stories from practically all over the world from different times, and they’re all pretty different. Some drain life, some drain beauty, some drink blood, some are demons in and of themselves, some are possessed corpses, some are people who made a deal with demons, some rot, some stay vibrant, some change into animals, some don’t…there’s soooo many different beliefs that I don’t believe they all come from one singular event.

[ScriptAnalyst]

*Originally posted by CalMeacham *
**Richard Matheson wrote a script for TV version of Dracula that starred Jack Palance, in which the whole schtick about Dracula reclaiming his reincarnated wife was first introduced into the Dacula story. I think Coppola was ripping off Matheson. Whether or not Mathesomn as ripping off Balderston et al, I don’t know. **

You’re right about Matheson’s script for the Dan Curtis TV version of DRACULA; I just chose to ignore this particular twist in the river that leads from THE MUMMY to BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA.

Before directing DRACULA, Dan Curtis was of course responsible for the Gothic daytime soap opera DARK SHADOWS, in which vampire Barnabas Collins was yearning for his lost love Josette, who was reincarnated as Maggie Evans. Therefore, one suspects it was Curtis’s idea for Matheson to include the reincarnation element in the DRACULA teleplay. Since most of DARK SHADOWS was a rehash of classic Universal movie monsters, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine that Curtis got the idea from THE MUMMY.

Steve Biodrowski
http://www.thescriptanalyst.com