The horror genre has been in existence since the 18th century; born from the words of Gothic literature. Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764) is considered to be one of the earliest examples, laying the groundwork for such 19th century novels Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). German Expressionist films, such as Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922), projected the nightmarish ghouls onto the screen as images that dwelled outside of our own imagination. However, Universal Studios pioneered the Hollywood fascination with the monstrous beings and sparked a franchise from 1923 to 1960; only to be revived in 1999.
Lon Chaney set the menacing ball in motion for Universal’s Golden Age of cinema as Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). Soon followed The Phantom of the Opera (1925) which ultimately branded the star as the face of silent horror. However, after his death in 1930, actors such as Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff took over as Universal’s leading men. From 1928 to 1936, business tycoon and head of production Carl Laemmle, Jr. secured success for Universal Studios by producing the two greatest star vehicle sensations: Lugosi as Count Dracula in Dracula (1931) and Karloff as the monster in Frankenstein (1931). The revolutionary advances in technology also saw the prolific rise of the ‘Talkies’ with sound-on-disc capabilities, courtesy of the Vitaphone from 1927. This was implemented in Dracula and Frankenstein in order to heighten the degree of horror and ensure box office profitability.
Lugosi also delved into cinematic versions of Edgar Allan Poe’s Dracula (1931)Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) whilst later joining Karloff in The Black Cat (1934) and The Raven (1935). Regardless of the Great Depression and the regulations of the Hays Code, the B-movie vampire and zombie incarnations generated mass appeal to audiences. This resulted in sequels and spin-offs: Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Dracula’s Daughter (1936) and Son of Frankenstein (1939). This franchise blossomed even further into the 1940′s with The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) and Son of Dracula (1943). House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945) brought together the catalogue of creatures.