Movie Monster Sequels - Review of Horror Films 1940-1942
It could be that I've just seen so many at this point, but I don't mind the B&W films at this point. I was pretty bored by them, but now they're getting pretty interesting. Now sure if that's due to developments or just my getting used to it. But all the same! Sin and I just finished watching the major horror films of 1940-42. There were a lot of sequels in this time, which is crazy to me still. Today, we have such an instinct to sneer when we see a film remade or getting an unwanted sequel. We act like it's this new media craze that never happened before. But the reality is that it's been around since the origin of film.
So, without further ado, here's the films we watched for these three years and our general thoughts on them. Because of the sheer number of films, Sin watched the most interesting ones with me, but I watched some on my own~
1940
Son of Ingagi: This film has no connection to the really racist Ingagi film. This one is another all-black cast film that speaks a lot to colorism. It very much points to Harlem as being the epitome of "civilized" blackness and Africa as "barbaric." So, it definitely speaks to contemporary discourses of race even in black communities: Afrocentrism vs multicultural conservativism. Wasn't the most exciting film, but it's interesting to compare it to the Devil's Daughter from a few years prior.
The Ape: Pretty dull. Not really worth watching despite being a Karloff film.
The Ghost Breakers: I get that this film served as inspiration for the Ghostbusters later, but I just didn't enjoy it that much. Wasn't super funny, and the plot was very basic.
The Invisible Man Returns: Wow, this sequel was remarkably better than the first film. People seemed smart all of a sudden. Dealing with an invisible man? Use smoke in the room. Going hand-to-hand with him? Turn the lights out: "Now I'm as invisible as you are!" It was so smartly written.
The Mummy's Hand: This is the start of a four-film series about the Mummy. This one was much better than the film it remakes. The mummy was not just an undead Egyptian. This time, it's a gauze-covered monster. I definitely saw it inspiring the more recent Mummy series! Pretty fun.
Rebecca: I had seen this film before, but it was Sin's first time watching it. I loved the book, too. Always struck by how nature matters in the film, especially water and fog. Beautifully done. Also, Ms. Danvers is relationship goals. Lol.
The Invisible Woman: Wow, this got super slapstick super fast. It was really funny, and I laughed hard at a lot of moments, but it's hard to call it horror as much as horror-adjacent. It's because of this that we're not putting the fourth film, Invisible Agent, on the list. It just quit being a horror series after a while. But still, I highly recommend this film if only for the laughs. It's interesting seeing how bodies differ, man and woman, in this series. Male nudity was never questioned. When the invisible woman appears in the narrative, that's a whole other story.
1941
The Wolf Man: I love werewolves. For a number of reasons. But in this film, the wolf man is fairly laughable. I liked that he was digitigrade and made animal sounds. Very convincing there. But appearance just lost me. It felt not as good as Werewolf of London. That said, I love Chaney, Jr. He's totally fuckable. And he plays much cooler personalities than Sr. did. I loved the introduction of new lore: the full moon, for example.
The Black Cat: Yes...another Black Cat movie. This one was more similar to Cat and the Canary or Old, Dark House. A murder mystery with everyone trapped in the house together. It just happens the dead person is a crazy cat lady. Not very Poe-esque. But it was ok. If you liked the referenced films.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: So...this film wasn't another attempt at making a movie based on the book. Rather, it was a remake of the 30s film. So it doesn't do anything different except have better actors and better special effects. That's really it. Waste of money, if you ask me.
Horror Island: Despite being about a haunted attraction on an island, it's really just Cat and the Canary / Old, Dark House. Bleh.
King of the Zombies: Wow, race being tied to zombie film again. Wow, a white guy learning how to use voodoo to control indigenous people of color. Along with having the comic relief black character? Wow, they're pulling out all the racist stops, huh? Fascinating to study in race film history, but not good otherwise really.
Man Made Monster: Another great Lon Chaney, Jr. film about a man being addicted to electricity. Interesting horror film about forced addiction really. Great cast. Great special effects, too. Fun twist on the Frankenstein narrative.
1942
Cat People: LOVE this film. It was supposedly one of the inventors of the jump scare. Plus, it's furry. Plus, its creators researched not just horror literature, but all the past horror films, something that had not really been explicitly done yet. I cannot recommend this film enough.
Ghost of Frankenstein: This was a direct sequel to Son of Frankenstein. Surprisingly, this film was very unoriginal. The previous two sequels were great. This one really tried nothing new with the narrative. We see the monster blinded and getting a brain transplant with Ygor. But it seemed largely a narratological remake of Bride of Frankenstein.
The Undying Monster: Supposed to be a werewolf film, but it's essentially Old, Dark House / Cat and the Canary yet again. Guess who in this house is the bad guy. More or less.
The Mummy's Tomb: This was the direct sequel to The Mummy's Hand. I enjoyed this! It was fun seeing the Egyptian monster taken to the "civilized" world, and it was thrilling in a whole new way. You can't even hide in the safety of your own home, in this film. But the racism was frustrating of course. "I saw this guy who talked about Egypt. He must know why the mummy is here!" Just, could have done without all that. And could have done with smarter characters. Fire didn't kill the mummy the first time. Why would the main character think it would work this time?
Overall, the first third of the 1940s was pretty good. The sequels were pretty enjoyable, and it's crazy to see how sequels just...were made to be better. They weren't just fan service. Directors were like, 'Now, we need to make a new story with these great characters that people might like more than the original works the movies are based on.' That was nice. I wish that happened more often.
My favorites were Cat People, The Man Made Monster, and The Invisible Man Returns. Cat People was just so original and innovative. Man Made Monster was just so cool and fun to watch. And The Invisible Man Returns was so clever!
Sin's response: "The Invisible Man Returns is definitely one of the better ones. Rebecca was my number two. No! I have my top three: The Wolf Man is my number one, always. Then, it's The Invisible Man Returns. And then Rebecca."
So, here's my comment question of the day: What's your favorite movie sequel and why? :)
So, without further ado, here's the films we watched for these three years and our general thoughts on them. Because of the sheer number of films, Sin watched the most interesting ones with me, but I watched some on my own~
1940
Son of Ingagi: This film has no connection to the really racist Ingagi film. This one is another all-black cast film that speaks a lot to colorism. It very much points to Harlem as being the epitome of "civilized" blackness and Africa as "barbaric." So, it definitely speaks to contemporary discourses of race even in black communities: Afrocentrism vs multicultural conservativism. Wasn't the most exciting film, but it's interesting to compare it to the Devil's Daughter from a few years prior.
The Ape: Pretty dull. Not really worth watching despite being a Karloff film.
The Ghost Breakers: I get that this film served as inspiration for the Ghostbusters later, but I just didn't enjoy it that much. Wasn't super funny, and the plot was very basic.
The Invisible Man Returns: Wow, this sequel was remarkably better than the first film. People seemed smart all of a sudden. Dealing with an invisible man? Use smoke in the room. Going hand-to-hand with him? Turn the lights out: "Now I'm as invisible as you are!" It was so smartly written.
The Mummy's Hand: This is the start of a four-film series about the Mummy. This one was much better than the film it remakes. The mummy was not just an undead Egyptian. This time, it's a gauze-covered monster. I definitely saw it inspiring the more recent Mummy series! Pretty fun.
Rebecca: I had seen this film before, but it was Sin's first time watching it. I loved the book, too. Always struck by how nature matters in the film, especially water and fog. Beautifully done. Also, Ms. Danvers is relationship goals. Lol.
The Invisible Woman: Wow, this got super slapstick super fast. It was really funny, and I laughed hard at a lot of moments, but it's hard to call it horror as much as horror-adjacent. It's because of this that we're not putting the fourth film, Invisible Agent, on the list. It just quit being a horror series after a while. But still, I highly recommend this film if only for the laughs. It's interesting seeing how bodies differ, man and woman, in this series. Male nudity was never questioned. When the invisible woman appears in the narrative, that's a whole other story.
1941
The Wolf Man: I love werewolves. For a number of reasons. But in this film, the wolf man is fairly laughable. I liked that he was digitigrade and made animal sounds. Very convincing there. But appearance just lost me. It felt not as good as Werewolf of London. That said, I love Chaney, Jr. He's totally fuckable. And he plays much cooler personalities than Sr. did. I loved the introduction of new lore: the full moon, for example.
The Black Cat: Yes...another Black Cat movie. This one was more similar to Cat and the Canary or Old, Dark House. A murder mystery with everyone trapped in the house together. It just happens the dead person is a crazy cat lady. Not very Poe-esque. But it was ok. If you liked the referenced films.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: So...this film wasn't another attempt at making a movie based on the book. Rather, it was a remake of the 30s film. So it doesn't do anything different except have better actors and better special effects. That's really it. Waste of money, if you ask me.
Horror Island: Despite being about a haunted attraction on an island, it's really just Cat and the Canary / Old, Dark House. Bleh.
King of the Zombies: Wow, race being tied to zombie film again. Wow, a white guy learning how to use voodoo to control indigenous people of color. Along with having the comic relief black character? Wow, they're pulling out all the racist stops, huh? Fascinating to study in race film history, but not good otherwise really.
Man Made Monster: Another great Lon Chaney, Jr. film about a man being addicted to electricity. Interesting horror film about forced addiction really. Great cast. Great special effects, too. Fun twist on the Frankenstein narrative.
1942
Cat People: LOVE this film. It was supposedly one of the inventors of the jump scare. Plus, it's furry. Plus, its creators researched not just horror literature, but all the past horror films, something that had not really been explicitly done yet. I cannot recommend this film enough.
Ghost of Frankenstein: This was a direct sequel to Son of Frankenstein. Surprisingly, this film was very unoriginal. The previous two sequels were great. This one really tried nothing new with the narrative. We see the monster blinded and getting a brain transplant with Ygor. But it seemed largely a narratological remake of Bride of Frankenstein.
The Undying Monster: Supposed to be a werewolf film, but it's essentially Old, Dark House / Cat and the Canary yet again. Guess who in this house is the bad guy. More or less.
The Mummy's Tomb: This was the direct sequel to The Mummy's Hand. I enjoyed this! It was fun seeing the Egyptian monster taken to the "civilized" world, and it was thrilling in a whole new way. You can't even hide in the safety of your own home, in this film. But the racism was frustrating of course. "I saw this guy who talked about Egypt. He must know why the mummy is here!" Just, could have done without all that. And could have done with smarter characters. Fire didn't kill the mummy the first time. Why would the main character think it would work this time?
Overall, the first third of the 1940s was pretty good. The sequels were pretty enjoyable, and it's crazy to see how sequels just...were made to be better. They weren't just fan service. Directors were like, 'Now, we need to make a new story with these great characters that people might like more than the original works the movies are based on.' That was nice. I wish that happened more often.
My favorites were Cat People, The Man Made Monster, and The Invisible Man Returns. Cat People was just so original and innovative. Man Made Monster was just so cool and fun to watch. And The Invisible Man Returns was so clever!
Sin's response: "The Invisible Man Returns is definitely one of the better ones. Rebecca was my number two. No! I have my top three: The Wolf Man is my number one, always. Then, it's The Invisible Man Returns. And then Rebecca."
So, here's my comment question of the day: What's your favorite movie sequel and why? :)
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