9 Things Universal's Classic Monsters Reboot Needs To Do
6. Be Certain Of Your Genre
When The Mummy (1999) opened, most critics pointed out that it owed more to Indiana Jones than to Boris Karloff, and they were right: it was an action fantasy with special effects galore, more interested in chase sequences than awe and wonder. Director Stephen Sommers, who comes from the same more is more school of filmmaking as Michael Bay, pulled off the same thing again (only worse) in The Mummy Returns (2001) and Van Helsing (2004), whose attitude towards the monsters bordered on contempt. Then theres Dracula Untold, the supposed first chapter in the Universal Cinematic Universe, which owed more to George R. R. Martin than Bram Stoker. Though its main character was referred to on several occasions as The Impaler, this was not the Vlad Dracula of historical legend but an impostor whod wandered in from an episode of Game Of Thrones. Were the filmmakers making a sword and sorcery picture, a horror film or a fantasy drama? They seemed to be trying to touch all the bases, to appeal to all of those audiences, and ended up pleasing none of them.
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.'
