10 Horror Movie "Facts" That Aren't Actually True
Think you know Frankenstein, Dracula, and Godzilla inside-out? You'd be surprised.
The horror genre has created some of the most distinctive characters and striking imagery in the history of cinema. Frankenstein screaming "IT'S ALIVE!" as his Monster awakens. Dracula rising from his coffin. Leatherface brandishing his chainsaw. Even if you haven't seen these films, images like this have been drilled into the minds of every cinephile.
Despite these characters' legacy, there are a lot of misconceptions about their movies. Even though there have been ten Hellraiser films, everybody seems to get the main villain's name wrong. Dracula has appeared in over 150 films, making him the most recurring character in film and yet, moviegoers misremember the most basic things about the Count. We can all picture the scene of a bandaged mummy shuffling towards its victims, even though that never happened in the original Mummy movie.
It's hard to say why movie myths like this happen. Sometimes, it's because of the Mandela Effect, where we remember certain lines or moments incorrectly. Other times, we see a character or scene and associate it with the wrong movie.
Either way, we have to accept that there are some horror films we don't know well as we thought.
10. Frankenstein Had An Assistant Called Igor
The 1931 version of Frankenstein is so ingrained in our culture, nearly everyone knows the story. Doctor Frankenstein and his hunchbacked assistant, Igor, devise an experiment to resuscitate the dead. However, their reanimated creature grows violent, causing the townspeople to hunt him down and seemingly kill him.
There's just one minor problem with this plot summary: Frankenstein's malformed accomplice is called Fritz, not Igor. Even though he has been called Igor in other adaptations such as Van Helsing and Victor Frankenstein (and he literally got his own movie called 'Igor'), there is no such character in the classic film.
Ygor (spelt with a "y") is a completely different character who first appeared in the second sequel, Son of Frankenstein. Ygor, who is played by Dracula star, Bela Lugosi, is an insane blacksmith who manipulates the Monster to kill on his behalf.
If you are wondering how this misunderstanding came to be, you can blame Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. In the comedy classic, Frankenstein meets a hunchback with bulbous eyes called Igor. However, his name is pronounced "Eye-gor" as a play on his appearance. Because of this one little gag, everyone assumed Igor was in the original film.