Originally published at: This video explains how Universal's Dark Universe could have been great | Boing Boing
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I think the series Penny Dreadful was a decent example of how to do it.
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How about an interconnected narrative universe where all the classic Universal monsters team up to form a rock band?
Call me, Universal (Or maybe Hanna-Barbera).
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Now we’re talking! What is that one from? I seem to remember a similar concept from some cheesy 1960s cartoon but I can’t place it.
In my headcanon Frankenstein‘s monster should be on electric guitar for obvious reasons, the Wolfman would be pounding the drums like Animal from the Muppets, and Count Dracula would be lead vocalist. I haven’t made up my mind on the Mummy or the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
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Groovie Goolies
The Phantom of the Opera should be on organ, obviously.
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The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (the film) was a decent example of how NOT to do it.
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You called Lou Scheimer
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OK, revised lineup:
- Count Dracula: Lead Vocals
- Frankenstein’s Monster: Electric Guitar
- Creature From the Black Lagoon: (Deep) Bass Guitar
- Wolfman: Percussion
- Phantom of the Opera: Keyboards
- Mummy: Saxophone (see: Steve Martin’s SNL sketch)
- Brides of Dracula: Backup Dancers
- Doctor Frankenstein: Manager
- Igor: Roadie
- Van Helsing: Merciless music critic
Band names?
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Not certain but Dread in a Pantheon should be an album title.
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Frankie and the Nightmares!
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It could have been great - but, considering the movies they did, in reality, make, e.g. the Tom Cruise mummy movie, it wasn’t.
Yep. And I’ve always argued that Penny Dreadful was the “Universal Monsters” project that Universal itself couldn’t (and didn’t set out to) make. Universal wanted a franchise of franchises, so it committed itself to making big-budget action/superhero movies for their “Dark Universe,” thus ensuring they’d not be able to take any risks and also not actually make, you know, horror movies. It was a pretty dumb approach by Universal, because they were trying to “leverage their IP,” while not actually taking advantage of any of it, so we ended up with other people making shows like Penny Dreadful and movies like The Shape of Water that were pretty faithful sequels to the Universal monster movies, with references to those movies, and Universal making some stuff that… wasn’t.
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I remember seeing “The Wolfman” with Benicio del Toro (the part he was born to play IMO) and Anthony Hopkins, and thinking it was pretty good, and that it would be pretty great it these old monster movies started to make a comeback.
Sadly, most have fallen flat, and I just keep rewatching the originals. I sometimes think that if they just remade the originals, scene for scene, just with current, practical effects, they’d be better off then trying to “reimagine” a tried and true story. It can’t be any worse than the crap that they’ve been putting out.
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I kinda think it might have been good to go with an actor who didn’t already resemble a wolf. He is supposed to transform not already be…
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See, Frankenstein is the talent. Dracula is the singer the girls swoon over, but it’s Frankie’s songs and lyrics. And Vlad in an insufferable pretentious diva.
With DJ Invisible on decks and Theremin.
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One of my favorite book series has a combined horror universe spanning from the Victorian age to the end of the 20th Century.
Basically author Kim Newman throws in references from everything from Polidori’s The Vampyre to The Addams Family to Kamen Rider and all points in-between.
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It’s a shame that even after all these years there are still a bunch of toxic fans blaming his romantic partner for the band’s breakup. I mean, those two were clearly made for each other.
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Has potential:
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