Behind many classic monsters is a Hollywood studio.
If you had the chance to go to a Halloween party, what would you dress up as? Elf, ghost, werewolf, zombie or vampire? In this ancient western festival, will you feel very close to the supernatural power represented by these monsters, and the mysterious other world seems to be beckoning to us.
Yes, we love monsters, terrifying powerful and mysterious monsters, often related to death, making humans curious and fearful. So, since the birth of the movie, there have been all kinds of monsters running rampant and invincible on the big screen, and behind many classic monsters, it is a Hollywood studio that pushes them to the stage and to the screams of the audience. and applause.
It's Universal Pictures. In the golden age of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s, major film companies had one or two unique skills in housekeeping. For example, each faction in the martial arts hid a secret book of martial arts that cannot be passed on. Watching a hail of bullets and gangster films with pleasure and hatred, they wanted to find Warner Bros. Seeing superstar-studded, splendid musicals is all about finding MMEGO, while Universal has established its status with revamped literary masterpieces and monster horror films from folklore. The movies "Vampire", "Frankenstein", "Wolfman", "The Mummy", "The Invisible Man", "The Phantom of the Opera", "Monster of the Black Lake" produced by Universal Films are all classics among the classics, and many people are While trembling with fear by the monster on the screen, he was deeply attracted.
Universal launched the two films "Dracula (Dracula)" and "Frankenstein (Frankenstein)" have handed down significance.Dracula is also translated as "Dracula", "Dracula", "Dacula", "Zuo Jiule" is one of the origins of the legendary vampire, and can also be the most famous vampire, and The image of Dracula comes from a vampire novel written by Bram Stoker called Dracula the Vampire Count (English "Dracula").
According to Western legend, vampires are a special race that deviates from God. Some people even verified that Count Dracula was indeed a person. According to records, his prototype is the Duke of Wallachia: "The Impaler" "Son of the Dragon" Vlad, who lived in Central European Romania in the 15th century AD, was a valiant warrior, but ill-tempered and often used cruel Torture against captives. Universal's "Dracula" is based on Bram Stoker's novel. Originally, Laram, the founder of Universal Pictures, wanted to make it into a silent film with a large pattern and a large production, but in the end, it conformed to the trend of the times. , made into a sound film, but the use of lenses and the style of actors' performances still have the characteristics of silent films.
Playing Dracula at the time was Bella Lugosi, a Broadway-experienced performer who, at the age of twelve, became the star of the Hungarian theatre within a few years. In fact, Lugosi tried the devil role in his youth. This is the first time he played such a devil role on the big screen, but he did not expect this role to make him reach the peak of his acting career. But to put it another way, it is precisely because of Lugosi that horror movies got rid of the routine of cheap performances, making horror movies finally become a serious art recognized by the mainstream.
The movie "Dracula" has changed the characteristics of the horror films produced by Universal Pictures in the past. It is full of the temperament of an art film, opera-like interior scenes, and ritual-like interaction of characters. Lugosi is full of stage sense and stylized. The performance form, coupled with the contrast of the soundtrack of "Swan Lake", makes the picture permeate with a religious magic that makes people addicted. The vampire image created by Lugone has also become an eternal classic. He has made a good fusion of different temperaments such as nobility, melancholy and darkness.
Frankenstein is an adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel of the same name, known as the first science fiction novel in Western literature. In the film, scientist Frankenstein wants to use artificial methods to create new life. After countless explorations, he finally created a monster, and this monster quickly hurt and killed humans uncontrollably. The image of the monster in the film can be said to be a combination of natural creatures and craftsmen. The face is square and full of traces of needle and thread stitching, the eyes are hollow, and the voice is vague. This meant that Karloff, the actor who played the monster, had to undertake a lot of makeup makeovers, and of course the success of the movie was inseparable from the skill of makeup artist Jack Pierce.
According to reports, it often took up to 4 hours to apply makeup to Karloff's monster in the movie, and they put cotton rolls on Karloff's head to make him appear taller and have a square head. Meanwhile, Pierce placed electrodes on the sides of Karloff's neck and slathered his face with heavy powder to make him look cold and numb. Coupled with Karloff's own intentions in performance, this indifferent, stiff, and terrifying image is vividly displayed.
On December 6, 1931, on the day of its premiere, because some people were worried that the movie was so terrible that the audience might not be able to accept it, the relevant parties specially arranged for an actor to remind the audience of the horror of the movie at the premiere, but in the end the movie was still a big one. With success, people are often screaming but also fascinated. The film also brought in millions of dollars for Universal that year. "It was one of those iconic movies, it was huge," said Rick Jewell, a professor at the University of Southern California who studied American cinema in the 1930s and 1940s. "It really ensured that horror became one of the major Hollywood genres. One." So far, the number of British and American films adapted from "Frankenstein" has reached as many as 10.
is now dubbed the "monster factory" globe, which serves as the perfect explanation for inadvertently interfering. In 1923, Universal filmed "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1923), which was adapted from the famous novel of the great French writer Victor Hugo. Originally, Universal filmed it only as a historical drama, but did not expect In the end, when the film was released, the audience was frightened by the gloomy atmosphere and the terrifying hump-backed bell ringer Quasimodo, and word of mouth spread, attracting more audiences to watch, and the box office continued to increase. And this "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" also became Universal's first step in the field of horror movies.
According to foreign media reports, Universal Pictures is planning a series of monster movies, hoping to copy the successful model of "The Avengers", which will combine the vampire Dracula, Frankenstein, Frankenstein's bride, werewolf, invisible man, mummy, Famous monsters in film history such as the Black Lake Fish Monster gathered on the big screen to build a unique monster movie system.
Universal Pictures released "Dracula Untold" in 2014, the first of the "Universal Monster Universe", directed by Gary Shore, starring Luke Evans and Dominic Cooper, It premiered on October 10, 2014, and received a total of $23.46 million in three days, winning the runner-up on the weekend. Universal has decided to continue filming the fourth film in the "Mummy" series, and has invited and confirmed Joe Spaihts, one of the screenwriters of the "Alien" prequel "Prometheus", as the screenwriter of the next film in the series, while the first three Sean Daniel, the producer of "The Mummy," will continue in his production duties, which is expected to be released in 2017.
From sound to silent, Universal Pictures' horror movies have gone through a legendary road of ups and downs and wonderful stories. In the 21st century, the monsters created by Universal Pictures are about to be reborn, and the door to another world is reopened. You must have accumulated screams. (text / three tones Wang Danjun)
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