Universal

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Rating: ★★★★½
Jul 1, 2001Disfigured Madman Beneath the Opera House
The first and still the best version of the story. Made when The Phantom was a horror story rather than a weepie romance, everything from Lon Chaney's performance to the amazing Gothic design and directorial set-pieces is classic
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The Cat and the Canary (1927)

The Cat and the Canary (1927)
Rating: ★★★★
Nov 9, 2002Old Dark House Thriller
The film that defined the Old Dark House genre with spooky thrills as people are stalked around a big mansion. Expatriate German director Paul Leni brings an extraordinarily sophisticated arsenal of visual tricks to bear
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The Man Who Laughs (1928)

The Man Who Laughs (1928)
Rating: ★★★★
Sep 11, 2009Historical Horror/Man With a Frozen Grin
Adaptation of a Victor Hugo historical novel about a man with his face surgically altered into a grin – an image that later inspired Batman’s The Joker. This has clearly been intended to imitate Lon Chaney’s grotesque performances of this era and is exquisitely made by the great Paul Leni
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Frankenstein (1931)

Frankenstein (1931)
Rating: ★★★★
Dec 1, 2003Universal Frankenstein Adaptation
The classic version of Mary Shelley's tale that left the indelible image of Boris Karloff as the dull monster with bolts in its neck. Director James Whale draws on German Expressionist designs to create one of the landmark classics of the genre
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Dracula (1931)

Dracula (1931)
Rating: ★★
Jun 28, 2002Universal Dracula Adaptation
The classic adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel that made Bela Lugosi into a horror icon and created the image of the vampire in dinner-suit and with East European accent. For all its stature, it is a dull and talky film and Lugosi is overwrought
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Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Rating: ★★★★
Mar 7, 2000Universal Frankenstein Sequel
The first sequel to the 1931 Boris Karloff Frankenstein, which many prefer to the original. Director James Whale comes into his element and provides a whole other level of droll humour that the first film did not have
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Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars (1938)

Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars (1938)
Rating: ★★★★
Feb 1, 2001Serial/Space Opera
The second of the Flash Gordon serials, which relocates action to Mars following the popularity of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast. The film has a wonderful imagination that far outshines the tattiness of usual serial production values
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Son of Frankenstein (1939)

Son of Frankenstein (1939)
Rating: ★★★½
Oct 19, 2003Universal Frankenstein Sequel
The third of Universal's Frankenstein films, the last to feature Boris Karloff as the monster and the last good entry before the sequels became formulaic. Shot with the clear influence of German Expressionism, this is filled with memorable characters and some great performances
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Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)
Rating: ★★★
Feb 12, 2005Serial/Space Opera
The third of the Flash Gordon serials, not quite at the heights of the previous two but with a colour and exoticism that was head and shoulders above the other serials of the era
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The Invisible Woman (1940)

The Invisible Woman (1940)
Rating: ★★
Jun 9, 2015Universal Invisible Man Sequel
Third entry in Universal's Invisible Man series. Though less recognised, The Invisible Man series had a level of creativity higher than Universal's other monster series. This one plays everything for broad comedy
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The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (1942)

The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (1942)
Rating: ★★
Jun 14, 2016Murder Mystery/Mad Scientist
One of the mad scientist films of the era – or perhaps more correctly a murder mystery/comedy with an identity disorder. This features an amazing cast, including bad guy Lionel Atwill as a sinister doctor and Shemp Howard, of Three Stooges fame, as a comic-relief detective
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The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
Rating: ★★
Jul 30, 2000Universal Frankenstein Sequel
The fourth of Universal's Frankenstein films where Lon Chaney Jr inherits the role of the monster and makes it into a stumbling brute that lacks the pathos of Boris Karloff. The plot recycles what has now become the cliches of the series
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Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
Rating: ★★
Feb 15, 2001Universal Monster Bash
The first film in which Universal teamed-up their in-house monsters, leading to several other monster bashes throughout the decade. For all that, this fails to make any interesting use of the title set-up
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Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Rating: ★★★½
Jan 18, 2001Psycho-Thriller/Friendly Uncle Might Be a Killer
Considered one of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest films, this centres around Joseph Cotten as the favourite uncle who comes to town as his niece increasingly suspects that he may be a serial killer
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Phantom of the Opera (1943)

Phantom of the Opera (1943)
Rating: ★
Sep 1, 2013Disfigured Madman Beneath the Opera House
The second film version of the story, lavishly remaking the classic 1925 Lon Chaney version in sound and colour. Alas, all this serves to do is stuff and mount the story. With the addition of a sympathetic backstory and cast with a wimpily diminutive Claude Rains, Chaney's magnificently mad Phantom comes across like an indignant fox terrier
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Son of Dracula (1943)

Son of Dracula (1943)
Rating: ★½
Jun 25, 2009Universal Dracula Sequel
The third of Universal's Dracula films in which Dracula travels to Louisiana in search of a wife. A flabby Lon Chaney Jr makes a poor replacement for Bela Lugosi, while the script seems improbably stitched together – despite the title, the film features Dracula, not his son
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The Mad Ghoul (1943)

The Mad Ghoul (1943)
Rating: ★★
Nov 18, 2013Mad Scientist Invents Zombie Gas
An entry from the great era of mad scientist films wherein George Zucco turns his assistant into a zombie so he can steal his fiancee. Despite a wonderfully mad performance from Zucco, the effort is prosaic and routine, while the zombie gets to do almost nothing throughout
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The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944)

The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944)
Rating: ★★★
Aug 26, 2000Universal Invisible Man Sequel
The fourth and last of Universal's Invisible Man sequels (aside from their outing with Abbott and Costello). Like the preceding ones, this is likeably good humoured and with decent effects for the era
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Weird Woman (1944)

Weird Woman (1944)
Rating: ★★½
Mar 12, 2020Witchcraft in Academia
The first of several adaptations of Fritz Leiber's novel Conjure Wife about witchcraft being conducted between rivalry faculty wives in academia. The best version of the story is still the second one Night of the Eagle but this has some eerie moments and great performances
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The Time of Their Lives (1946)

The Time of Their Lives (1946)
Rating: ★★
Mar 31, 2015Ghost Comedy
An Abbott and Costello comedy. Not one of their monster bashes but a variant on the light comedy that had been popular in the last decade with Lou as an 18th Century ghost haunting Bud Abbott in the present. Can't say I am a big fan of their humour, most of the slapstick that seems dated today
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Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Rating: ★★★
Apr 3, 2001Two Idiots Meet the Monsters
The most well remembered of Abbott and Costello's films. Universal had shuffled their Famous Monsters through several team-ups and here decided to play them for outright laughs. Undeniably likeable
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Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1953)

Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1953)
Rating: ★★
Dec 3, 1999Two Idiots Meet Dr Jekyll
The third of Abbott and Costello’s comedic meet ups with the Famous Monsters – in this case a series of lowjinks as they encounter Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (played by Boris Karloff)
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The Monolith Monsters (1957)

The Monolith Monsters (1957)
Rating: ★★★
Aug 12, 2015Monstrous Alien Rock Formations
A very underrated 1950s sf film … Neither quite alien invader film nor monster movie, it features some of the most original creatures of the era – rocks from a meteorite that grow into massive geodes that devour everything in their path – and eerily atmospheric direction
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The Birds (1963)

The Birds (1963)
Rating: ★★★★½
Mar 6, 2000Birds Attack Humanity
Alfred Hitchcock's classic film inspired a series of Nature's Revenge films throughout the 1970s. Expectedly, Hitchcock creates masterful set-pieces but the most effective thing the film does is to remove explanations creating a work of anxious uncertainty
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Colossus: The Forbin Project (1969)

Colossus: The Forbin Project (1969)
Rating: ★★★★
May 15, 2001Super-Computer Takes Over the World
Produced not long after 2001: A Space Odyssey, this is one of the smartest and best of the super-computer takes over the world films, directed with a tight economy and written with a snappy wit
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Duel (1971)

Duel (1971)
Rating: ★★★★★
Jun 28, 2002Murderous Truck
The first film from Steven Spielberg, a tv movie that was released to theatres. Spielberg demonstrates style to spare in the gripping tale of a lone man on the road who finds himself stalked and followed by a murderous truck
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The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972)

The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972)
Rating: ★★★
Dec 13, 2002Identity Bender
Originally a tv movie but released to theatres. Michael Sarrazin is man who survives an explosion at a laboratory with amnesia only to be accused of being a spy and end in a labyrinth of brainwashing and identity confusion
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Slaughterhouse Five (1972)

Slaughterhouse Five (1972)
Rating: ★★½
Apr 27, 2003Man Unstuck in Time/Kurt Vonnegut Adaptation
Not entirely uninteresting but also not entirely satisfactory adaptation of the Kurt Vonnegut novel about a man who becomes unstuck in time, flipping back and forward between the events of his own life
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