31 Days of Halloween #19

There are a lot of great actors in the classic horror genre.  Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney (both Jr. and Sr.), John Carradine, Claude Rains, Lionel Atwill, George Zucco....and perhaps my favorite: Dwight Frye.

Day 19: Dwight Frye

Without a doubt, Dwight Frye is one of my all-time favorite actors.  You might know him best as Renfield from the original Bela Lugosi Dracula, or perhaps even as Fritz, the hunchback from the original Boris Karloff Frankenstein.  There is something about Dwight that always sends shivers down my spine.  And yet, at the same time, he creates a very sympathetic character (especially in Renfield; not so much in Fritz).  He's truly a wonderful actor.  If you want to read a bit about his life, I highly recommend this wonderful book.

And now for some free stuff!  I'm going to start things off with perhaps the most famous Dwight Frye song out there: "The Ballad of Dwight Fry" by Alice Cooper.  Yes, I know I left the "e" off in "Frye", but that's how its spelled in the song.

While you're listening to that, why not check out a few of these interesting biographies of Dwight?  They can be found here and here.

Also, here is a wonderful remix song about Renfield from Dracula, called "Now, Now, Renfield".  The link will take you to a page where you can download the song.  And if you wanted a video of the song instead, I'm including that below.

Want more?  Check out some of Dwight's films.  In addition to Frankenstein and Dracula, you can find him in The Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein, The Vampire Bat, and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man--just to name a few!

 

31 Days of Halloween #4

Ack!  I'm so sorry I missed October 4th!!  I was at work all day, and when I got home to start posting things, was horrified to find that my Internet had been knocked out and I couldn't get on Blogger!  Noooo!  So, that being said, I'm going to (hopefully) post Days 4 and 5 today (October 5th) and I'll try to be more on top of things for the rest of the month...

My birthday is this month.  I don't like a lot of attention on my birthday, so I generally don't tell people about it.  I'm bringing this up, though, because I wanted to show off an early birthday present I got, that also fits into my 31 Days of Halloween theme.

Oh, Frankie!  It's wonderful :O

 Day 4: Universal Monsters Purse

Again, this is one for the ladies, but guys, you might still find it kinda cool.  Or maybe, you'd like to get it for that special lady in your life...because what kind of girl doesn't want a stylish black purse with Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, and Dracula on it?  (My guess is probably MOST girls, but we're just going to pretend I didn't say that).

I've been a fan of the classic movie monsters since I was in high school and I had to do a project about the musical The Phantom of the Opera.  My search for Phantom movies led me to the original 1925 film.  From there, I started researching, found a documentary on Lon's son Creighton (Lon Chaney Jr.), and from there had my first experience with the unholy trio of classic movie monsters: The Wolf Man (the others of course being Dracula and Frankenstein).  By this point, I've seen most, if not all of the classic Universal films from their respective franchises.

Of course, I'll be posting more about these wonderful movies.  But, for now, I really just want to show off my new bag.  And encourage you to either purchase this for, or show it to any lady you know who has an interest in these bad boys.  The bag is really nice, big and has plenty of room for my stuff, with little pockets inside.  I'm very pleased with it.  :)

31 Days of Halloween #1

Ever since I started this blog, I thought it would be fun to do a 31 days of Halloween tribute all through October, with posts about everything from ghost stories to vampires to costume ideas to candy.  And I'm going to finally attempt that this year.  I hope I don't utterly botch this, and I hope you enjoy it!  If you're looking for more of a specific topic (movies, costumes, stories, etc.), please let me know in the comments, and I'll try to provide more of what you're asking for :)

Just sit back & enjoy the show!

Day 1: 10 Frightening Pre-code Horror Movies You Need to Watch

I love classic horror movies.  There's something so fun about sitting down with a big bowl of popcorn to enjoy a film that is really not so much scary, as atmospheric and creepy.  Classics like Frankenstein and Dracula readily jump to mind.  And, as you might notice, they're both included on this list.  However, there are a few other...gems on here as well.

These films precede the rating system.  And as such, they can get pretty...creepy, messed up, you get the idea.  I've seen three of them, and have not been emotionally scarred, so I'm sure you'll be fine (although, Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Invisible Man are some of the mainstream ones, so who knows?)  Watch a few, let me know what you think.  These might be a fun alternative for Halloween movie parties; instead of conjuring up scares with Nightmare on Elm Street or The Exorcist, perhaps you can regale your guests with The Mask of Fu Manchu and Doctor X!

Halloween 3 (2011)

Yes, yes, I am well aware that this is my third post this morning!  Don't worry; it will be the last!  For today's Halloween post, I wanted to give a list of the classic Universal Horror films.  I love these films very much, but since there are so many of them, it can be hard to keep track of them all.  So, I'll be listing them below :)  I'm only focusing on the werewolf (Laurence Talbot), Frankenstein, and Dracula sagas, so please don't be offended if I fail to mention, say, The Mummy's Hand, and that happens to be your favorite monster movie ever.  Also, I know there are other werewolf movies produced by Universal studios, but they are both stand-alone films, and I'm only focusing on the Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) films, so I won't be mentioning the other ones.  Maybe I'll do a post about those later?

I'll group each series in chronological order.  Anything that is marked with an asterisk (*) spans into at least one of the other sagas.  If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments!

Frankenstein

-Frankenstein (1931)

-Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

-Son of Frankenstein (1939)

-Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

-Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)*

-House of Frankenstein (1944)*

-House of Dracula (1945)*

-Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)*

Dracula

-Dracula (1931)
      -"Spanish" Dracula (1931)

-Dracula's Daughter (1936)

-Son of Dracula (1943)

-House of Frankenstein (1944)*

-House of Dracula (1945)*

-Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)*

The Wolf Man

-The Wolf Man (1941)

-Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)*

-House of Frankenstein (1944)*

-House of Dracula (1945)*

-Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)*

Personally, I'm a huge fan of the Wolf Man movies :)  These are some of my favorite films ever!  But, I hope you totally enjoy all of these movies!  The only thing I'd like to comment on is Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein, because while it comes out AFTER House of Dracula, the plot seems to come from earlier in the Wolf Man saga, like possibly between House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula.

One final note: "Spanish" Dracula is basically the same film as the 1931 Dracula, filmed on the same sets by the same studio.  However, there is a completely different cast, and--you guessed it--all the dialogue is in Spanish!  As much as I love the classic, English version, the Spanish production is a must-see, and considered by some to be the better of the two!