Monster

:This article is about monsters as a kind of legendary creature. For other uses, see Monster (disambiguation).

Monsters in cinema

Pre-World War II

During the age of silent movies, representations of monsters were the size of a person played by an actor in a costume: Frankenstein's monster, the Golem, and vampires are the most well-known ones. The film Siegfried featured a dragon that was a giant puppet on tracks. A few dinosaurs were presented by stop-motion animated models,

Related Topics:
Frankenstein - Golem - Vampire - Siegfried - Dragon - Dinosaur

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something that was carried over into RKO's King Kong, the first giant monster of the sound era.

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During the sound era, the film studio Universal specialized in monsters, offering Bela Lugosi's portrayal onscreen of his role in the stage play, Dracula, and Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster. They also made many lesser films, such as Lon Chaney, Jr.'s portrayal of an electrified zombie in Man-Made Monster.

Related Topics:
Universal - Bela Lugosi - Dracula - Boris Karloff - Frankenstein - Lon Chaney, Jr. - Man-Made Monster

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The entire notion of the werewolf was introduced by the movies in this era, and a similar type of person afflicted with traits said to come from an animal was presented in Cat People. Mummies also became a fearsome type of monster, and a variant of Dr. Frankenstein was played by Peter Lorre. His mad surgeon, Dr. Gogol, transplanted hands that embodied a malevolent temperament, which would then re-animate in Mad Love, which became another genre. As for giant monsters, the serial Flash Gordon had a man in a monster suit, who played a huge dragon by attacking a doll dressed like the title character. The "monster" cycle eventually played itself out becoming comedic in Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein of 1948.

Related Topics:
Werewolf - Cat People - Mummies - Peter Lorre - Mad Love - Serial - Flash Gordon - Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein

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Post World War II

After World War II, however, giant monsters returned to the screen in a pattern that has been causally linked to the invention of nuclear weapons. The first was American: The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms was a dinosaur that attacked a seaport. But later there were Japanese, British, and even a Scandinavian giant monster attacking cities. The tantalizing proximity of other planets brought the notion of alien monsters from outer space to the screen; some were huge, but cheaper movies had those of a more human scale. In this age as well, the monster type of the fish-man was developed in the series Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Related Topics:
Beast from 20,000 Fathoms - Creature from the Black Lagoon

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The British studio of Hammer brought color to the human-sized monster in the late 1950s. At this time, the earlier Universal films were shown on US television by independent stations (rather than being scheduled by a network) by mocking announcers, and these together gained a large number of young fans. Since that era, although the type of monster has changed, it has not disappeared as it did in the late 1940s.

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Occasionally, monsters are depicted as friendly or misunderstood creatures. The monsters of Monsters Inc. scare to create the energy to run their secret world, and the furry monsters of Sesame Street live as complete equals to their fellow humans and animals.

Related Topics:
Monsters Inc. - Sesame Street

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