This spooky season, we are seeing several trailers and announcements for the latest films based on the classic Universal Monsters, as well as a silent film masterpiece that preceded even those.
Frankenstein, Nosferatu and the Wolf Man are all hitting the big screens or streaming services again soon. I will not speculate as to whether these will be fantastic — or fantastic failures —but I will say there are some very respected names in the horror genre behind them all.
First off, let’s look at the leader of the monsters:
Frankenstein
Frankenstein is actually getting two movies coming up.
Sometime in 2025 in director Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein for Netflix starring Oscar Isaac as Dr. Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as the Monster. This follows Dr. Pretorious (Christoph Waltz) tracking down long-sought-dead creature so he can continue Frankenstein’s work. There are no trailers up for this yet, but one thing it has going for it is del Toro is a huge Frankenstein fan. His own Bleak House is filled with horror icons, but The Creature’s head is front in center in his entry way. He has been wanting to make a Frankenstein film for several years.
Coming up in the fall of 2025 is The Bride, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, starring Jake Gyllenhaal with Jessie Buckley in the title role. This will be a science fiction romantic musical. I know what everyone is thinking, but try to think less Joker 2 and more Phantom of the Opera. Frankenstein’s monster asks a doctor to make him a companion…and they a murder victim to fit the bill. The most intriguing thing on this one is the casting of Christian Bale as the Creature (Frankenstein). At least in the early released photo, he looks horribly cool.
Nosferatu
It’s weird that a game-changing silent film classic, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror has only one significant remake that I can think of, a 1979 Werner Herzog movie. There was also an Amazon Prime feature last year. This new big screen movie is directed by Robert Eggers. Eggers has done such a masterful job with world-building and storytelling with movies like The Northman and The Lighthouse, I hope this one follows suit. Bill Skårsgard is the infamous Count Orlock, and he can be thoroughly creepy.
Nosferatu is set for a Christmas theatrical release this year.
Wolf Man
Finally, we come to one of my favorites of the original Universal Monsters, Wolf Man. The story is certainly different from the original. A father wanting to protect his own family while battling the monster inside after he is attacked by a werewolf. Universal has been pretty keyed on promoting this one. It’s a Blumhouse production, and Universal is heavily invested in those. There was even a brief appearance of the monster in photo shoots at this year’s Halloween Horror Nights events at the parks. It does look intense, at least so far.
Wolf Man comes to theatres on Jan. 17, 2025.
Whether or not these latest adaptations live up to their classic source material is still to be determined. Personally, I feel the classics can never be topped, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have a scary fun time with these.
One thing is for sure…we will continue to see remakes of the original Universal Monsters. You just can’t stop chasing the allure of the classics, and when you are a filmmaker, the monsters are always calling.