The Wolf’s Trail – House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula

We’ve come to the part of the 1940s where the old monsters were beginning to run out of steam. With the real horrors of a world war to contend with, genteel gothic horror was looking like kid stuff, and the period settings and invocations of old superstition were out of place in a world driven by science and engineering. The atom age was coming, and soon horror would be dominated by mad science and extraterrestrial menace. At this point, Universal was trying to wring money out of its monsters without spending much. The success of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man showed the way forward: cram a bunch of monsters into a single movie. A “monster rally,” if you will. And so we come to this week’s double-feature, where Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolfman, mad scientists, and hunchbacked assistants are all thrown in together, with diminishing returns. Two houses, both alike in dignity, House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula!

 

The October Country Report #13: Lew Anders’ The Raven

In the October Country, a pallid bust of Pallas perpetually perches above every chamber door, and the incessant cawing and tapping at your window lattice is something you just learn to ignore. Tonight we see Lugosi and Karloff team up for another spectacularly loose Poe adaptation: The Raven!

The October Country Report #12: Edgar Ulmer’s The Black Cat

The October Country is full of grief, fear, and tragedy, but also of peace, revenge, and justice. What is lost may be found, even if it’s love beyond the grave. Tonight we have a special one: The Black Cat!

The October Country Report #10: Son of Frankenstein (Part One)

The sleep of reason produces monsters. In the October Country, science inevitably descends into madness, and that madness can stain a bloodline like an eternal curse. Tonight we turn our gaze towards a triumphant rebirth: Son of Frankenstein!

The October Country Report #7: The Bride of Frankenstein

In the October Country, nothing dies forever. Men, women, beasts, franchises, all must eventually rise from the grave. Tonight we hit an exciting milestone, as we sit down with our first true Universal sequel: James Whale’s masterpiece, The Bride of Frankenstein!

The October Country Report #5: Karl Freund’s The Mummy

Just thinking out loud here, but maybe if you didn’t bury your beloved sister alive, and ignore the fact that she was alive for days, she wouldn’t rise up from her crypt to murder you and forever extinguish your decayed bloodline. Here in the October Country this sort of thing comes up more often than you might think. Join us tonight as we crack the seal of another burial vault, to unearth The Mummy!

The October Country Report #4: James Whale’s Frankenstein

Over the fog-shrouded moors comes the somber muffled tone of a distant church bell, ringing out the witching hour. Closer at hand, we can hear the creaking of the gallows as something swings at the end of a rope. Someone’s coming to harvest what’s there, and use it to do the bad kind of science. We’re still deep in the October country, and today we’re sitting down to watch the other foundational Universal film, the birthplace of multiple legends: Frankenstein!