DRACULA WEEK
With “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” coming to theaters on Friday, we’re going to see a pretty interesting interpretation of Dracula. I am quite excited to see what it has to offer horror fans and have re-visited a lot of the classic movie monsters and the studios’ efforts to reboot and re-imagine a lot of their classic IP’s. While I’m hoping “The Last Voyage of Demeter” makes Dracula horrifying again, I ranked all of the attempts at Rebooting Classic Movie Monsters from Best to Worst.
The Invisible Man (2020)
By far 2020’s best movie, Leigh Whannell transforms The Invisible Man in to a maddening science fiction horror movie that’s an allegory for domestic abuse and gas lighting. Elizabeth Moss leads a bang up cast in a movie about an abused wife running from a husband who is stalking her in an advanced suit that allows him to remain invisible. Whannell packs the movie with twists, turns, and gut wrenching suspense, and it ends on a note that indicates there’s more to this universe we’re going to see.
The Wolfman (2010)
What was intended to be the first attempt at a Universal slate of reboots and interconnected monster movies, Joe Johnston’s “The Wolfman” is probably one of my favorite movies of 2010. A wonderful cast leads a bold re-imagining of the classic “The Wolfman” movie with Benicio Del Toro starring as an aristocrat cursed with the mark of the wolf. Johnston’s stunning film deals in trauma, and PTSD, while also bringing to life the werewolf with amazing effects by Rick Baker. As a Baker fan, “The Wolfman” is a win on all levels.
Dracula Untold (2014)
Intended as the second attempt to reboot the Universal monster movie verse, “Dracula Untold” lays the ground work for a lot of the potential canon for this concept. Making Dracula a potential hero, building on his origin, establishing this mythical universe, and leading in to another potential monster movie, it’s all here. Sadly, Universal dumped this by the wayside; if you can come to terms with a lot of unresolved questions left lingering, “Dracula Untold” is a fun vampire fantasy.
Van Helsing (2004)
Originally intended to be a spin off of “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” the concept was re-molded and re-imagined with a relative of Abraham Van Helsing who was also a monster hunter. Sommers’ movie is terrible, but it’s at least ambitious introducing radical versions of classic Universal monsters, and working hard to jump start a new franchise for Hugh Jackman. It’s poorly constructed and tough to finish, but it has charisma and bonafide campy charm, and you can’t fault it for that.
The Mummy (2017)
One of the most infamous attempts by Universal to jump start their own interconnected monster movie verse known as “The Dark Universe,” 2017’s “The Mummy” is a radical re-imagining that miscasts Tom Cruise as an explorer who deals with a female interpretation of the dread mummy. Although the movie does garner some fun concepts, including its interpretation of zombies, “The Mummy” is dull, convoluted, and wholly uninteresting, and lives in infamy as the only film in an intended massive universe.
I, Frankenstein (2014)
Although it’s from Lionsgate, and based on a graphic novel of the same name, “I, Frankenstein” was obviously propped up as an attempt at a horror action franchise from the get to. Aaron Eckhart is poorly cast in a murky, boring, and overlong fantasy horror movie about the re-incarnation of the Frankenstein monster forced to do battle with Gargoyles, and demons, and whatever. I frankly don’t remember a ton about “I, Frankenstein,” only that it felt like a movie made in 2002 dropped in to 2014.