Absolutely gorgeous coffee table book about the heyday of Universal Monsters movies—and their often slapdash, inconsistent, yet somehow still loveable sequels.

Mallory does a great job of walking you through the initial movie and all its follow-ups, the key players, and the things and actors that changed along the way.

I'm going to have to go back and revisit my collection of Universal Monsters movies. It's been too long since I was sitting in my parents' rec room, staring wide-eyed in horror, awe, or humour at the events unfolding on our old television screen. ( )

Desde la década de 1920 hasta la década de 1950, Universal Studios fue el estudio número uno de Hollywood para las imágenes de terror, con salas de cine en todo el mundo con Dracula, Frankenstein y la criatura de la Laguna Negra, entre otros. Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror explora todos estos personajes perdurables, haciendo una crónica de la mitología detrás de las películas y ofreciendo información detrás de escena sobre cómo se crearon las películas. Universal Studios Monsters es el registro más completo de las películas de terror de este legendario estudio, con biografías de grandes personalidades que fueron responsables de los melodramas de monstruos más notables en la historia del cine. Las historias de estas películas y sus creadores se cuentan a través de entrevistas con actores sobrevivientes y empleados del estudio. Un registro fotográfico suntuoso, que incluye muchas tomas detrás de escena, completa la historia de cómo se hicieron estos clásicos. Este es un volumen del que ningún fanático del cine imaginativo querrá prescindir. ( )

Good overview of Universal's history and its most famous film series. Nice coffee table book with many photographs and a great reminder (if not a great intro) to why many of us love these 70 year old movies. ( )

A must for any fan of the Universal Monster movies. Beautifully illustrated with film stills, promotional photos, posters, lobby cards and behind-the-scenes photos (my favourite being Boris Karloff in full Frankenstein's Monster make-up genteely sipping his four o'clock tea from a china cup and saucer).

There's a short history of the studio and an overview of the macabre silent movies that were the precursors of the later Monster horrors. Each of the classic films Monster are described in brief, with some production details and information about the actors, directors, writers and some of the crew. Then there are spotlight sections on individuals who were important to the series.

This isn't an encyclopedic, in-depth history of the studio and films: it's not for scholars. It is a fun overview or introduction; delightful and entertaining and has sent me back, with a renewed interest and appreciation, for the films I used to stay up late as a kid to watch on the TV, lights out, tucked under a blanket om the coach and worrying about whether I, though pure of heart, might turn into a wolf when the wolfbane bloomed when the autumn moon was bright! ( )