Every major studio in Hollywood seems to have it’s origin story about how they came to conquer their chunk of the movie industry. For Disney, it was all started by a mouse. For Warner Brothers, they were a family business that knew what the audiences wanted. And Paramount became it’s own icon when founder Adolf Zukor looked out his office window to see a mountain peak in the distance. These are all the things that made these studios more than just a business, but also a brand; the thing that made their names known throughout the world. Universal Pictures had a story just like the rest, but their origin story was a fairly different kind of one. The oldest studio in Hollywood still running today, Universal Pictures is known for a lot of different kinds of movies, but only one genre can be credited for making them the powerhouse that they are today; horror movies. Universal was the industry leader when it came to delivering chilling thrillers for audiences, and to this day they are still leading the way in delivering crowd-pleasing horror movies thanks to their long term partnership with the Blumhouse production company. While Universal horror movies are noteworthy for their chilling atmosphere and iconic scares, more than anything else what has helped to make their movies iconic are the actual monsters themselves. Universal Monsters have become a brand all on their own, becoming not just a staple in their cinematic output over the years, but also within their theme parks as well. Some of these characters are sourced from literature, but a couple of others were invented by Universal themselves and have joined the pantheon of celebrated monsters within the whole of pop culture. While we view these movie monsters through the prism of how Universal markets them as a brand today, it’s also worth noting that their presence in Universal Pictures history is foundational to the studio as a whole, and it could be said that Universal wouldn’t be what it is today had it not been for these Monsters. It’s a tale that goes all the way back to Universal’s early years, and the fact that the Monsters continue to be a key presence in the studio’s identity today is a real testament to their legacy both on and off the screen.
Carl Laemmle founded Universal Studios in 1912, and in less than a year of starting their production company, Universal made their first ever monster movie. It was a simple two reel adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1913), but this would be the beginning of something much bigger down the road. In 1915, Laemmle’s company had done well enough for them to aggressively expand. Universal moved out of New York City and came to Los Angeles, where Laemmle bought a large parcel of land just off of the Cahuenga Pass in the San Fernando Valley. Over 100 years later, modern day Universal Studios Hollywood still occupies that same parcel of land, which is now called Universal City. In the early days of the lot, Universal had built a large variety of outdoor sets, and even charged admission for guests to come and watch the movies getting made, since everything was still shot with no recorded sound. In one corner of the studio you would have an old Western town set up and then on another corner there would be the walls of a medieval castle, all within a few feet of each other. One particular space on the studio lot would prove to be very important to the development of the studio, and that space has since become known as “Little Europe.” The Little Europe sets were made to look like a 19th century European village, with cobblestone streets and open public squares. The construction of this set helped to open up Universal’s abilities to film movies with European settings in the glow of the California sun. During this time, Universal had a movie star that was quickly rising in esteem as a man know for a thousand faces. Lon Chaney’s greatest talent as a movie actor was his ability to completely disappear into a role. He pioneered many techniques in make-up effects, transforming his face into many different kinds of characters, including monstrous ones. When he came to Universal in 1917, he had a desire to play one of the most notable literary characters of the 19th century; Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). Chaney’s performance as the Hunchback became such a hit with audiences that it prompted Universal to greenlight another ambitious adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera (1925), giving Chaney another chance to disappear into another screen monster. With these two movies, Universal began to establish itself as the home of cinema’s most iconic monsters, and it was only just the beginning.
Sadly, Lon Chaney’s career did not last long after the roaring successes of his early horror movies. He died suddenly in 1930 at the age of 47, leaving behind an amazing body of work of which he was also the driving creative force. He only ever made a single sound film, The Unholy Three (1930), and one would imagine that he would’ve adapted well to the sound era if he had survived. But, even though Universal lost a pioneer with Chaney, they had a few more daring filmmakers who were ready to pick up the mantle at the studio. Two filmmakers in particular would become instrumental in creating more than just horror movies for Universal; they would be the ones who gave Universal it’s identity as the home of the monsters. These filmmakers were Tod Browning and James Whale. Whale was an English born artist who had come to Hollywood as a producer of stage play adaptations being made for the silver screen. He came under contract with Universal with the adaptation of Waterloo Bridge (1931), a WWI set drama. Universal granted him permission to create any movie he wanted afterwards, and Whale landed on making an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s gothic horror classic Frankenstein (1931). At the same time Tod Browning, a one-time circus performer turned filmmaker, had been with Universal since 1919 and would go on to direct many films there, including several with Lon Chaney. After Chaney’s death, Browning wanted to keep horror alive at the studio, so he pitched them the idea of adapting Bram Stoker’s horror novel Dracula (1931) to the big screen. There was famously a failed attempt to secure the rights to the novel from Stoker’s stubbornly protective estate, which led to the legendary German filmmaker F. W. Murnau to create the legal distinct but still very similar Nosferatu in 1922. For Universal, their plan was to base their adaptation on a stage adaptation rather than the book itself, which they could secure the rights to. One other thing would also be noteworthy about Dracula at Universal, as it would be the first ever talkie horror film. This would be a breakthrough for the genre, and as it was following in the pipeline right behind it, James Whale’s Frankenstein would also go into production with sound as well. Together, these two productions would leave a lasting legacy on the studio that still can be felt nearly a century later.
What mattered more than anything else with these productions was who would be cast in these iconic roles of Count Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster. Tod Browning initially wanted his longtime collaborator and friend Lon Chaney to play the part, but Chaney’s death unfortunately brought that plan to end. After some time searching, Browning and his team came across a tall and imposing Hungarian actor named Bela Ferenc Deszo Blasco, who was going by the stage name Bela Lugosi. Lugosi had been playing the role on stage for years in America, so he already had a good handle on the character already. Today, it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role. Bela’s whole persona seems inexorably tied to the Transylvanian count, with every portrayal of the character thereafter taking some cue from Bela’s performance. What is remarkable is just how much Bela was able to instill fear without doing much on screen. There isn’t a lot of onscreen violence shown, just the suggestion of horror. But Bela strikes just a hypnotic presence on screen that you can’t help but be chilled to the bone when he delivers his unnerving stare. Not to be outdone, James Whale managed to find the right person to bring Frankenstein’s creature to life. An English actor named William Henry Pratt tried to create a more exotic identity for himself, so he adopted the stage name of Boris Karloff. He had been making the rounds of stage work in both Canada and America, before eventually coming to Hollywood in 1919. Karloff’s striking features helped him to land roles in many movies, notably playing villains for the most part. He already had 81 screen credits by the time James Whale selected him to play the monster in Frankenstein. The role would be physically demanding. Karloff was an average 5’11” in height, but to play the gigantic monster he had to wear four inch platform boots as well as a bulky costume to give his skinny frame more mass. And yet, it came together as Karloff’s creature was instantly iconic. While some of the features of the character were taken from Shelley’s original descriptions in her novel, James Whale and Karloff added their own unique touches, like the flattop shape to the creature’s head, and the bolts sticking out of his neck. Just like with Lugosi’s Dracula, Karloff’s portrayal of Frankenstein’s creature would have a lasting impact on all the versions of the character that followed thereafter.
Universal Monster movies as a brand really started due to the massive success of these two films, and thanks to the iconic portrayals from both Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. On the heels of the success of the Frankenstein, Universal wanted James Whale to create a follow-up sequel, and they granted him a massive amount of creative control. From this, The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) was made. Whale would expand on the story of the original novel, taking the concept of the creature coercing Dr. Frankenstein to make him a mate in his own likeness and expanded it into a feature length story. In this film, the Bride herself would actually be brought to life, and she herself would join the ranks of the iconic Universal Monsters. In the movie she would be played by English actress Elsa Lanchester, who did double duty by also playing Mary Shelley herself in an opening prologue. Lanchester’s appearance as the Bride is brief, coming in right at the end of the movie, but she was instantly iconic with her white flowing robes and the lightning strike strips of white in her beehive hairdo. Karloff also returned to reprise his role as the creature and even gave the character the power of speech in the film for the first time. After playing Frankenstein’s creature the first time, Karloff also would led his star power to bringing to life another horror movie icon, The Mummy. In The Mummy (1932), Karloff would portray Imhotep, the cursed Egyptian undead monster wrapped head to toe in his mummification wrappings. The character was inspired by the fairly recent unearthing of the tomb of King Tutankhamun, and he would also be the first original monster developed for the silver screen, as opposed to the previous ones that were adapted from literary sources. James Whale would also successfully bring another iconic literary monster to the big screen with 1933’s The Invisible Man, starring Claude Rains in his first major movie role. Unfortunately, due to the Hays Code, there were fewer horror films made in the later half of the 1930’s. James Whale chose not to work under the stricter code placed on Hollywood, and he faced higher social pressure due to his homosexuality being at odds with much of the rest of American society at the time, so he left Universal and Hollywood behind. Tod Browning also saw his career decline, especially after his controversial film Freaks (1932) flopped at the box office.
But, even as horror went into decline, Universal still found success with their collection of Monsters. In 1939, Boris Karloff would play the creature one more time in Son of Frankenstein. And this time, hew would be sharing the screen with Bela Lugosi, not as Dracula mind you, but as another original character who would go on to appear in many other horror movies thereafter; Ygor. Though Universal would go on to make more Frankenstein films thereafter, this one would mark the last time Karloff would play the role. It also marked the end of Bela’s time at Universal as well. But with the departure of these two icons, another actor with a legacy at Universal would step in and keep the monster movies coming. Lon Chaney, Jr. picked up his father’s mantle and would also become an actor of a thousand faces. Chaney did play Frankenstein’s monster in the movie The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), but Chaney left a bigger mark by bringing to life a whole other movie monster with his portrayal of The Wolf Man. Using the same make-up techniques that his father pioneered, Chaney Jr. completely transformed and gave Hollywood it’s first truly iconic portrayal of a werewolf. Lon Cheney Jr. would continue to make many more horror movies over the years until his death in 1973, but it’s his portrayal in The Wolf Man (1941) that has cemented him as an icon within the monster movie pantheon. In the post-war years, the horror movie genre would go through many changes. The major studios began to invest less in the horror genre, and smaller independent companies were filling that hole left behind, leading to the era of B-movie horror. But even still, Universal would still invest a bit in the legacy of their monsters. And with the invention of new gimmicks like 3D, they even managed to make another horror film that added even more to their roster of movie monsters. In 1954, Univeral shot a small little horror thriller on a pond located in the middle of their lot. This pond would serve as a setting for a place in the Amazon jungle called the Black Lagoon, and living inside it was a fish man creature that was preying on human beings. The Creature From the Black Lagoon suddenly became another horror movie icon that Universal could proudly tout as one of their own. With his movie shot in 3D, the film became a hit with younger audiences and he would be the last big addition to Universal’s movie monsters for a long while.
What is interesting is how Universal has managed to keep these characters in the public’s eyes for all these decades after. Even long after Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Sr. and Jr. have left these characters behind, their iconic status has endured. Universal Studios still is very much aware of how much these horror icons matter to their identity. That’s why their theme parks still carve out space for these monsters to be represented. There are references to these characters in almost every Universal park, and in the freshly opened Epic Universe park in Orlando, Florida, the Universal Monsters have a land devoted just to them. Traces of the history of these films can still be found at the original Universal Studios in Hollywood. The sets for “Little Europe” that were used extensively for these early monster movies sadly burned down in a fire on the studio lot in 1967. A replica of the original sets was constructed on the same spot, and that re-construction still survives to this day. The Court of Miracles section in particular can still be recognizable when compared to scenes that were shot there for The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and Frankenstein (1931). The pond that played the part of the Black Lagoon is also still present on the lot, though it’s been more recently crowded in by construction of new soundstages on the property. And today, these iconic locations mingle with some of the more recent movie monsters that have come from Universal Pictures, like the Bates Motel from Psycho (1960), the shark from Jaws (1975), and an encounter with Peter Jackson’s version of King Kong (2005). And the park’s yearly tradition of Halloween Horror Nights also heavily feauture appearances from all of the Universal Monsters. The characters also have their own merchandise wing in the stores at Universal. It’s a clear sign that Universal is still aware of the strong legacy these characters have, and they are determined to maintain ownership of that legacy. While some of their characters belong to the public domain like Dracula and Frankenstein, others are wholly original to their movies, and they very much want to spotlight that. While many other studios can try to make monster movies, Universal can firmly state that their foundation was built off of these characters.
It’s harder today to know exactly how to keep marketing oneself as the home of movie monsters. Universal famously failed hard trying to make their movie monsters exist with a shared cinematic universe similar to what Marvel had done with their super heroes. The ill-fated Dark Universe crashed and burned after just two movies; the box office bombs of Dracula Untold (2017) and The Mummy (2017). But, out of the ashes of this Dark Universe experiment came a different way of bringing these characters up to the modern day, with a partnership that Universal has with independent production company Blumhouse. Blumhouse managed to reinvent some of Universal’s iconic monsters with more modern takes. Filmmaker Leigh Whanell got to do his fresh new takes on The Invisible Man (2020) and Wolf Man (2025). There’s also visionary director Robert Eggers whose been working with Universal’s art house label Focus Features to create visually daring movies based on characters similar to the Universal movie monsters, such as Nosferatu (2024) and Werwulf (2026) coming out later this year. But even as Universal makes several attempts to keep monster movies going at their studio, the original classics still hold a lot of power. They undeniably wrote the rules of how to make horror work within the Hollywood machine. And that has inspired generations of horror filmmakers over the years. Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro was particularly influenced by Universal horror, and his home almost acts like a museum devoted to the legacy of those movies, especially Frankenstein, which Del Toro finally got to make his own version of last year to great acclaim. Hell, his Best Picture-winning The Shape of Water (2017) owes it’s very existence to the legacy of The Creature From the Black Lagoon. The fact that most depictions of Count Dracula today still speak with a vaguely Hungarian accent (yes even the one on Sesame Street) and most depictions of Frankenstein’s monster still have those bolt in the neck are undeniable signs that Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff’s performances are still the gold standard for these characters. That’s why Universal continues to value these characters; because they endure well beyond just their presence on the big screen. They are icons that continue to be a presence in the culture at large, and Universal is largely responsible for getting them to that place. Even with all of the great movies that Universal Pictures has released over the years outside of the horror genre, it’s these monster movies that clearly helped to give Universal it’s most important identity. After nearly a century in the game, the Universal Monsters are no where near forgotten, and hopefully they allow Universal to keep scaring audiences again and again for another century.
