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Universal Monsters by Mark Maddox |
Universal Studios is going forward with their plan to
reboot a shared universe for the most iconic horror movie characters of all
time – their Universal Monsters.
Yes – reboot.
If you don’t know, Count Dracula, Frankenstein’s monsters, the Wolf Man, and
others shared a universe with interconnected films in the forties. While that
was not the intention when Dracula
was released in 1931, 1943’s Frankenstein
Meets the Wolf Man started bringing the Monsters together.
Today I am not writing about how acceptable this
undertaking is. It’s been done before to great result. I’m more trying to
decide if it can be done successfully in today’s film market. I don’t know that
I’ll come to any real conclusions, but it’s early Saturday morning and this is
what I feel like thinking about, so bear with me and see if this sparks any
thoughts for you.
I was a younger, more innocent geek then and didn’t look
at everything as cynically as I do now.
I suppose that Van
Helsing might have had something to do with that cynicism. Obviously there
had to be movies prior to 2004 that disappointed me, but the Hugh Jackman
vehicle stands out in my mind as one of the biggest letdowns I can remember. I
don’t even think of it as a bad movie like I do so, so many others. Don’t get
me wrong – it is a bad movie. But it’s more than just that. It bums me out. I
was so damned excited for it and so invested in the subject matter it was
delving into. There was no doubt in my mind that it would be anything other
than awesome.
While others may not take the following as indicators of
assured quality, to me at the time these things meant a surefire amazing
experience:
*Stephen Sommers directing
*Hugh Jackman
*Kate Beckinsale
*Mr. Hyde, werewolves, Draculas, and Frankensteins!
In my mind, this was for
sure going to be the start of an amazing new film franchise with nearly
limitless possibilities. I was looking forward to many installments of Hugh
Jackman as a swashbuckling, adventure-loving, Steampunk (though I had no idea
what that was at the time) monster hunter.
As we know now, that is not at all what we got. I’m not
here today to review Van Helsing, so
I’ll just say that it sucked. It was dour and dark and completely lacked the
fun of Sommers’ Mummy movies. CGI
technology was not ready to support what the movie called for – though there
were some gorgeous moments – and the digital effects were a constant
distraction. I also hated that – SPOILER ALERT –
Van Helsing had to become a monster to win the day. I could go on, but like I
said, that’s not the point of today’s post.
In 2004, the cinematic world was ready for the launch of
a franchise series that would revitalize the Universal Monsters for a modern
audience. Heck, even though Van Helsing
sucked, it still made over $300 million worldwide and was one of the biggest
blockbusters of the year. It’s a fucking miracle that there wasn’t a sequel. Nowadays there would
assuredly be one, regardless of how much the critics shit on it.
In 2016, I think we’re all much more cynical about
Hollywood’s intentions. We know that everything
is being groomed as a trilogy, franchise, or series of movies. And when a
studio comes right out and announces it that’s something of a warning sign.
I’m not saying that wanting to connect franchises is bad,
but it means that we know to expect certain things from any film that is meant
to be incorporated into one of these shared cinematic universes – open-ended
stories, cameos, post-credit scenes, and a certain lack of finality. In short –
many of the elements that made franchises so much fun in the first place
because they weren’t necessarily expected have now become rote and stale. And
beyond a shadow of a doubt a detriment to organic storytelling.
There are mixed reports as to whether or not 2014’s
relatively crappy Dracula Untold was
ever supposed to be a part of the new shared universe, it looks like as of now
it officially is not. Recent reports say that a new Mummy movie starring Tom
Cruise and the razor-footed lady from Kingsman:
The Secret Service will kick things off. A report of Matthew Vaughn’s
involvement would have done a lot more to excite me, but at least Sofia
Boutella as the titular character is interesting casting. While I tend to be
somewhat cynical about the reasons behind gender-swapped casting, this seems
like a genuine effort to do something different rather than a PR stunt.
Tone is going to be very important in these movies.
Universal wants the audiences to buy what they’re selling, so starting with
this Mummy movie they need to establish a world where it feels like anything
can happen. This is a bit hard for me to define, but the rules have to be
loose. I know I pick on Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies a lot, but they make
for a great example here. Because of Nolan’s more “realistic” take on Batman,
those films could never have been the foundation for the shared DC universe
that Warner Bros. is attempting. Fantastical elements like Superman, Green
Lantern, Wonder Woman, and basically every other DC superhero simply wouldn’t
have worked in Nolan’s world (which is a big reason I consider those failures
as Batman movies).
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The Mummy by Mark Maddox |
While a movie about a dead Egyptian reincarnated
centuries later may seem inherently outlandish and would seemingly set the
stage for a huge suspension of disbelief, Universal and the creators of these
movies need to be very conscious of allowing for the many disparate elements
involved in the functionality of the Monsters. In order to have a shared
universe, this mythology has to allow for a combination of the supernatural,
biological, and scientific that’s above and beyond anything we’ve seen in
modern films. Think about it, this world will have to incorporate the biology of
lycanthropy and vampirism, the mystical elements of Dracula’s specific
vampirism and the Mummy’s reanimation, the science involved in the Invisible
Man and Frankenstein, and probably numerous other elements that aren’t even
occurring to me right now.
This is an awful lot of shared fantasy and mythology. And
a ton of exposition.
Side Note: I do not endorse any sort of
shared cause for the Monsters – Dracula’s blood being used to create the Wolf
Man and as an ingredient in Frankenstein’s Monster and the Invisible Man’s
serum or whatever. I don’t care how much sense it seems to make, stuff like that robs the mythology of its richness.
The point I’m making is that it’s a lot easier to swallow
these things in two specific contexts – straight horror or adventure. Grim
drama is not going to get the job done because it is simply too restrictive.
Horror is its own genre that can encompass many different
tones and styles. The problem with making these modern versions horror movies
is that Universal would be limiting their audience for this potentially massive
franchise and there’s no way they’re going to do that. If any of these movies
is released with an “R” rating, I’ll eat a bug. They’re going to want the
widest audience possible and they’re going to want to sell them toys and
t-shirts and hats and frigging toasters with Dracula on them. And the thing is,
if this is done right, they will.
In the right hands, the Universal Monsters shared
universe could be Star Wars. Don’t think of the Monsters as the Avengers –
think of them as Darth Vader and Jabba the Hutt and the Emperor. They’re not
going to team up and fight Ultron. Granted, there are some characters that go
far beyond being simple villains. Many iterations of Frankenstein’s monster
have evolved into heroic figures. If done right, he could be the centerpiece of
this pursuit, but I’m fairly sure I,
Frankenstein ruined the chances of that happening. There are also
opportunities for heroism with the Wolf Man and other Universal Monsters. Plus,
it looks like Van Helsing is on the slate, so hopefully they can get that right.
I don’t agree with casting megasuperstars like Tom Cruise
and Angeline Jolie in these movies. I also don’t want a bunch of teenagers
running around. I think a batch of experienced but lesser-known character
actors would be the way to go. It’s amazing to watch something like Alien and realize that most of the cast
at the time were so old that they would never have been cast in a modern horror
movie today. But Universal seems to have made up their minds and the
megasuperstar bell can’t be unrung, so we’re just going to have to hope for the
best.
As distrustful as you and I may be of Hollywood at this
point, we can’t deny that the studios want to make money. And the Universal
Monsters are a proven commodity with almost limitless potential for expansion
and storytelling. If Universal takes their time and places their trust in the
right people I think they could do something genuinely exciting and different
with their Monsters and the world they inhabit. I’m not going to go off on a
fantasy booking tangent here, but just think about the rich, fascinating world
that could be created by bringing the best bits and pieces of the science and
magic of the Monsters together in a modern way.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about the Universal
Monsters Cinematic Universe – head on over to the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and
get in on the conversation!
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