“He Did The Monster Mash!”: The Universal Monsters And The Rise of The Modern Halloween
One really can’t go a minute without seeing the Universal Monsters in Halloween decorations and as costumes. The Universal Monsters are a group of characters from old Universal Pictures horror films including Frankenstein, Dracula and The Wolf Man.
I’m always fascinated by the evolution of iconic properties and characters evolve over time and how they become ingrained in pop culture. The pop culture evolution of icons like the Universal Monsters says a lot about societal changes and in a holiday’s case, how we perceive the holiday. By the present day, the Universal Monsters and Halloween have become intrinsically linked. The propagation of the Universal Monsters across Halloween festivities originates from a primary source: movies.
The Original Halloween Aesthetic
Halloween has also always been associated with witches, ghosts, and pumpkins. These three images are based more in Halloween’s Pagan origins when it was known in Gaelic territories as Samhain (pronounced as sow-wen). Samhain’s emphasis on witchcraft and methods to avoid evil evolved into what we are familiar with today, like making Jack-O’ Lanterns. Samhain was when the original kinds of Halloween-centered imagery were born and now continue to exist across centuries.
Halloween had two major historical periods: when it was celebrated under different names in Europe and it’s Americanization by the 20th century as the Universal Monsters became a part of the holiday’s mascots. It wasn’t until the ‘30s when the familiar monsters really started mashing. Don Post, creator of what would become the modern Halloween masks, released his first rubber-based masks in 1938. This was just seven years after Universal released Dracula and Frankenstein in 1931. Therefore, the ‘30s was when today’s understanding of Halloween was truly beginning to form.
Halloween Becomes Universal
As mentioned earlier, Universal created many horror films starring the classic characters between the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. These films included Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Mummy and the Invisible Man. Not to mention, the legion of sequels made featuring the monsters in the respective decades. Actors like Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and stuntmen like Ricou Browning (the only one I’ve met!) would define the iconic images of these characters. While the Universal Monsters’ films are very tame by today’s standards, all of them excel in building an eerie atmosphere through creative set design and cinematography.
As The Creature From The Black Lagoon trilogy concluded in 1956 with the release of The Creature Walks Among Us, the Universal Monsters series concluded. The ending of the Universal Monsters cycle set the stage for a certain international studio to revamp the images of these characters. Halloween was also widening its scale among communities, with celebrations increasing across all age groups. Halloween’s expansion across age demographics actually explains what happened next to the characters in America.
Hammering The Universal Monsters Down
In the late ‘50s like the lightning bolt to Frankenstein, the Universal Monsters were given new life by British horror studio Hammer for a visually-striking new beginning. Hammer began their reimagining of the Universal Monsters with Curse of Frankenstein, following it up with new takes on Dracula in Horror of Dracula and The Mummy in The Mummy. These films benefit from using color film and increased violence, with bright red fake blood frequently used. Notable British actors like Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing would often appear in Hammer’s films.
The ’70s encouraged Hammer to further amplify the violence and sex of their films, best displayed in films such as Dracula 1972 A.D. The combination of gothic horror and graphic content solidified an updated understanding of the characters as brutal, ruthless figures. This wasn’t enough to continue generating interest in the general public though, and led to the fall of Hammer.
Global societal issues shifted the filmmaking industry towards more realistic plots and characters, making it much harder to take the old monsters seriously.
Decline and the Monster of the Psyche
The ’60s and ’70s were incredibly turbulent decades of American history. These two decades experienced such events as the Vietnam War, gruesome murders by the Manson family and violence against civil rights movements. The original Universal Monsters weren’t resonating as much towards a jaded audience. Instead, audiences began enjoying films that spoke more to the tensions and issues Americans were facing. The monsters in these films were monstrous on a more internal, psychological level.
Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock really started ushering in this transition on the big screen, as it focused on a seemingly normal man with an incredibly dangerous split personality. The transition was further accelerated by ‘70s films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Black Christmas and Halloween, all centered on relatively human serial killers.
What makes Psycho being the film that marked this transition kind of ironic is how Psycho would eventually be owned by Universal. This action by Universal brought the gothic horror to psychological horror transition full circle. Shunned by theatrical audiences, the Universal Monsters moved past the silver screen and into other mediums to great success.
Baby Boomer Appraisal and ‘60s Sendups
As the Universal Monsters were being reborn over in the UK, mid-20th century America portrayed the characters in a more satirical light. This shift for the characters was likely inspired by Halloween’s reputation as a family-friendly holiday in this period.
The most famous usage of the characters like this in the ’60s and forever tied to Halloween is in the song, Monster Mash, by Bobby ‘Boris’ Pinkett. Pinkett’s spot-on Karloff and Lugosi impressions with lyrical references to the Universal Monsters made it an instant Halloween staple. Television’s The Munsters was a comedic look at an unusual family living in ’60s America. The only issue to the neighborhood is that the family is basically the Universal Monsters as a familial unit. The Munsters ran for a short period, but reruns secured its place in pop culture.
These interpretations of the Universal Monsters allowed for younger Baby Boomer audiences to really gravitate towards these characters. Multiple gateways to the Universal Monsters’ films would birth the “monster kid” phenomenon. As described in Universal Horrors by Tom Weaver, Universal lent out their Universal Monsters library to Screen Gems, who sent the films to television stations under different packages. The television packages were known as Shock and Son of Shock respectively, hosted by several popular horror hosts of the time. Film magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland were also published by the late ’50s, each issue discussed the Universal Monsters at great length.
The ’50s and ’60s in America proved just because the Universal Monsters were waning in popularity on film, this didn’t mean they weren’t still popular in the general public’s eyes.
A Monstrous Legacy
To this day, the original Universal Monsters are still extremely associated with Halloween. Universal Studios Resort during Halloween holds the annual Halloween Horror Nights events. These events frequently include attractions like scare zones and houses based on the Universal Monsters. In recent years, Halloween Horror Nights has had houses like Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives and Universal Monsters: Legends Collide. Universal Studios has also done projects like the now-closed Monsters Café and a land based on the Universal Monsters is in development at Universal Studios’ upcoming Epic Universe theme park.
I was surprised to find that Marvel Studios’ Halloween special this year on Disney +, Werewolf By Night, explicitly pays homage to the Universal Monsters. The monochrome presentation, spooky set design and lighting-focused cinematography all masterfully replicated the Universal Monsters’ vibe. The special even honors the characters’ makeup designs by having Werewolf By Night be almost entirely a feat of practical effects in the vein of Lon Chaney Jr. as The Wolf Man.
Based on Werewolf By Night’s extremely positive critical response, playing to the strengths of the Universal Monsters’ films was an act of creative genius. Werewolf By Night’s success is a testament to the Universal Monsters’ impact, even several decades later.
It’s difficult to think how different Halloween’s atmosphere in current times would be without the Universal Monsters. Ultimately, the Universal Monsters will continue to put the spook in spooky season for years to come.
