Haunted Newsreel

It's difficult to believe that we've been running this poll for three years now, but it's true. Every year in that time, dedicated readers have cast their votes for their favorite horror films of all time, and every year we rank 'em as they're called. Voting in this year's Caligari's Cabinet Awards occured between November 1st and December 31st, 2001 and was open to all readers of Classic-Horror.com.

The list never gets any less surprising, either. Sure, there are some titles that have made it every year, but the ones that come and go are what's truly fascinating. For instance, this year, Horror of Dracula, a mainstay of the first and second lists, dropped off into Honorable Mention, while The Beyond, which wasn't even ranked last year, made it into the main list.(read more...)

In 1938, in an attempt to gain profits, Universal re-released Dracula and Frankenstein. The gamble paid off; the re-releases were extremely popular. Universal then decided to make a third Frankenstein film. In 1939, Son of Frankenstein was made. Henry Frankenstein's son Wolf von Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone) returns to his ancestral village to claim his inheritance. Wolf, his wife Elsa (Josephine Hutchinson), and his son Peter (Donnie Dugan) are not welcomed by the villagers. The villagers remember his father's monster and the damage it did.(read more...)

Universal studio's next horror film after Bride of Frankenstein was Werewolf of London, directed by Stuart Walker. The film was the first film dealing with Lycanthropy made by a major studio. The film follows Dr. Glendon (Henry Hull), who is bitten by a strange animal while in Tibet. In Tibet, he obtains the mariphasa lupina, a flower which only blooms under the moon. When Dr. Glendon returns to England the mysterious Dr. Yogami (Warner Oland) warns him that there are two werewolves in London right now. Yogami tells Glendon that the mariphasa is the only known cure for werewolfism. Dr, Yogami also warns him that a werewolf, instinctively kills what he loves the most.(read more...)

In 1933, Universal produced only one horror film. It was The Invisible Man. It was the third horror film directed by James Whale.

The film opens on the snow covered village of Iping. A mysterious stranger (Claude Rains), totally covered with bandages and wearing dark goggles, checks into the Lion's Head Tavern and Inn. Meanwhile in his lab, Dr. Cranley (Henry Travers) is trying to comfort his daughter Flora (Gloria Stuart) about the disappearance of her boyfriend Jack Griffin. Cranley's other assistant Kemp (William Harrigan) tells her of his feelings for her, but he is rejected.(read more...)