Tag: Universal Horror Collection

A minor blip in Universal's catalog, Horror Island makes for fast, light viewing that's ultimately too inoffensive to write off.

Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi headline, but 1941's The Black Cat is more a murder comedy routine starring Universal regular Hugh Herbert.

Lon Chaney Jr.'s stint as an electrically-imbued mutation in Man Made Monster follows the Universal formula, but with updates for a contemporary time.

Released on the eve of the US involvement in World War II, Tower of London warns of those seeking power, and those who willingly assist.

Snake Bites Zoo budget cuts. Lay-offs. People taking jobs they hate. Murders in the Zoo doesn’t hide from the depression era, rather embracing the story possibilities. After a snake …

Failed Doctor of Unknown Island Universal’s pervasive anti-science stories reached a new crescendo in The Mad Doctor of Market Street. Lionel Atwill sits at his makeshift lab tinkering with …

Needs More Strange The best bits of Doctor Rx involve Shemp Howard and Mantan Moreland. Although Moreland is stuck in the degrading role of a forgetful, uneducated butler, paired …

Nazi Science Invades America Part of Universal’s World War II output, The Mad Ghoul deals in creaky – if relevant – science. George Zucco stars as the mad scientist …

Death in the Air The Black Cat came after the establishment of the Haye’s Code. It never feels as such. Murder is one thing, but Black Cat deals in …

Gentle Rapping Bela Lugosi stars as a doctor driven mad, his lust for violence sustained by grisly worship of Edgar Allen Poe. Released not long after the production code’s …

Spoiler: It’s Quite Visible Invisible Ray’s flimsy science isn’t worth the excitement or fear mongering. An opening text suggests super radium X-rays were inevitable soon (this back in 1936). …

Karloff’s Transplant Universal cobbles together a number of genres in their production of Black Friday. The mad doctor movie, brain transplant story, the gangster parable, Jekyll/Hyde motions, and some …