10 Tips for Surviving a Universal Monster Movie

With Halloween coming up next month, I decided to finish watching Universal Studios’ best-known monster movies (Frankenstein, Dracula, The Invisible Man, The Mummy, The Creature from the Black Lagoon).

I’ve already mentioned one of these movies in a recent article, and plan to analyze another in an article I’ll release at the end of October.

For now, I’ve compiled a list of cliches from these seminal films, some of which have become central parts of horror cinema.

Here’s my list of 10 things you should know if you want to survive a Universal Monster movie:

1. Some local and apparently uneducated man will stop you on the first day of your trip and say, “leave now or you’re doomed.” Take his advice and turn back now.

2. Spell books, amulets, caskets or any sacred objects from religions other than Christianity are bad news.

3. Invest in rosaries, crucifixes, and other Catholic paraphernalia.

4. When a strange, stoic man opens a door and stares at you, kill him immediately. He’s either a mummy, an evil scientist or something worse.

5. Old, friendly European men who know all about the occult are your friends.

6. Only hire assistants who will follow orders exactly. Men with messy hair and huge eyes are never good options.

7. Institute an honesty-first policy. When your coworkers open something they shouldn’t or drop something important and replace it with something inferior, have them tell you immediately.

8. If Catholic objects won’t work, get something big and powerful to kill monsters with. Something in the flame thrower or grenade launcher range should do the trick.

9. Your mentor is correct. There ARE some things humanity should never tamper with.

10. Move to the suburbs and stay there. Small villages, gravesites, old buildings and urban alleys always have something evil in them.

 

List Copyright 2017 by Gabriel Connor Salter. Feel free to share this and reference this, as long as you cite the original author.