9 Things Universal's Classic Monsters Reboot Needs To Do
9. Assume That We Know The Origin Stories
Nobody wants to see Jonathan Harker travel to Castle Dracula or Baron Frankenstein create another monster, so instead of re-telling the same old story, credit your audience with some intelligence and pick up where the old movies left off. The Monster Squad, one of the few modern monster films worth watching, is an affectionate homage to the Universal pictures that brings together Dracula, Frankensteins monster, The Wolf Man, The Mummy and The Gill Man. Shorn of the need to explain each monsters origins, it gets everything said and done in 81 minutes. Compare that with Paul McGuigans more recent Victor Frankenstein, which takes 110 minutes to re-tell Mary Shelleys story in the driest, most protracted way possible. True, its the first time the tale has been told from the perspective of Igor (Daniel Radcliffe), but so what?
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
