It’s classic movie monster time! I was going to wait until Christmas to talk about this, but now seemed like a more appropriate time. We are going to compare the original black and white movie monsters (and the actors who brought them to life), against more modern versions and actors to see who comes out on top.

I know there are dozens of classic monsters, including the Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Fly, giant robots, aliens, and over-sized insects/animals, but I’m going to focus on the more famous literary monsters : Frankenstein’s monster, The Wolf Man, Dracula and The Mummy.

Let’s start with my favorite character, Frankenstein’s monster. Most people incorrectly refer to the monster AS Frankenstein – but actually, author Mary Shelley never gave the creature a name. In the 1818 novel, Shelley writes about mad scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein and how he learns to create life. Even two hundred years ago, people were apparently concerned about man trying to play God, because her novel has some uncanny similarities to modern ethical questions about cloning. Difference is, the town’s folk aren’t storming the castle with pitch forks and torches nowadays, but rather storming the politician offices with blogs and protests (Zing!).

Frankenstein 1931 (Boris Karloff) vs. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein 1994 (Robert De Niro)

The Frankenstein monster has been in dozens of films, even getting a bride, a son and a ghost – but none were as good as director James Whale’s original 1931 Frankenstein. The classic image of Frankenstein’s monster that we are all most familiar with comes directly from the make-up genius of Jack Pierce, while the monster himself was brilliantly portrayed by Boris Karloff.  Close your eyes and think of the Frankenstein monster – see what I mean? The film focused its story more on the creature and the town’s reaction to it and left behind the gothic romance of the novel.

In 1994, director Kenneth Branagh (Thor) changed that cinematic trend by focusing on the complicated relationship of what amounts to a father (Dr. Frankenstein) a son (The Monster) and a step-mom (Elizabeth), in his adaptation Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Branagh chose to remain faithful to the novel in his adaptation and after Dr. Frankenstein rejects his creation for the woman he loves, the monster focuses his rage and revenge in hurting Dr. Frankenstein by killing that woman. This version is by far the deepest and most emotional of all Frankenstein movies and Robert De Niro gives an incredible performance as the monster.

As time progressed, so too did the visual interpretation of Frankenstein’s monster (I particularly enjoyed Stephen Sommers’ version in Van Helsing), but they all got their inspiration from the godfather of monster movies – Boris Karloff.  For that reason alone, 1931 Frankenstein wins hands down.

The Wolf Man 1941 (Lon Chaney Jr.) vs. Wolf 1994 (Jack Nicholson)

Just like Frankenstein, the Wolf Man has been in dozens of films, either as the titular icon or its many, many, cinematic progeny like An American Werewolf in London. However, make-up designer Jack Pierce proved once again that he is king of the monsters by giving us the classic image of the Lon Chaney Jr. as The Wolf Man.  In fact, because the original 1941 Wolf Man is based solely on old European folklore, rumor has it that many of the things we have come to know as true – changing during a full moon, vulnerable to silver and carrying the mark of the pentagram – were actually made up for the movie.

In original werewolf folklore, once an unfortunate soul was bitten, scratched or cursed, they would turn into a full-fledged wolf and not the two-legged human hybrid creature we call “Wolf Man.” It’s true that some films – such as The Howling, American Werewolf in London and Underworld – can “better” depict the full transformation from man to wolf because of modern-day advancements in SFX; however, all new wolf men take their cue from Lon Chaney Jr. and director George Waggner’s 1941 film.

Currently, there is a Wolf Man remake about to release in February 2010, The Wolfman (why they wouldn’t wait until Halloween is beyond me) and because I haven’t seen it yet, I can’t use it for a comparison. Instead, I’ll use Jack Nicholson’s 1994 interpretation, Wolf. The story is completely different: Nicholson is a writer who is bitten by a wolf and slowly turns into one himself. Chaney was a man attacked by a werewolf (Bela Lugosi) and turns into one as well. Although Nicholson was in better shape back then and looked great during the transformation scenes (at one point I thought he would make a great Wolverine based solely on his look in Wolf), the movie had too many flaws to ignore.

This is not really a great contest, because although I liked Wolf, it just doesn’t hold a candle to The Wolf Man in terms of its leading monster. This may change if next year’s Wolfman is as good as the SFX look (see above on the right), but for now, Lon Chaney Jr. and The Wolf Man are the clear winners.

Continue reading for our comparisons of Dracula and The Mummy…

• Doug Jones Talks Frankenstein, The Hobbit, & Hellboy 3
• ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ Remake Reawakened
• Alex Proyas Next Film Probably ‘Dracula Year Zero’
• Creature from the Black Lagoon Remake Needs A Director
• The Weinsteins Remaking ‘An American Werewolf In London?’
• ‘The Little Shop Of Horrors’ Remake On The Way

Judging from their work together on Hellboy, Hellboy 2, and Pan’s Labyrinth, when director Guillermo del Toro gets together with actor Doug Jones, good things usually happen. So, naturally, in casting his many upcoming projects, Del Toro has turned to the highly talented Jones again. In an interview with SCI FI Wire, Jones spoke about his involvement in Del Toro’s upcoming films, Frankenstein, The Hobbit, and possibly Hellboy 3.

I’ve excerpted some of the best parts of the interview below, but make sure to check out the full interview, which is linked at the bottom of the page.

On Frankenstein:

“Guillermo did say to the press that he’s already cast me as his monster, but we’ve yet to talk about it. But in his mind, if that’s what he’s decided, then it’s done…It would be a dream come true.”

On The Hobbit:

“We have not had any conversations about what he wants…I don’t know what I’m doing or how many characters it will be, because he tends to like to use me the whole time depending.”

Doug Jones as Abe Sapien in Hellboy

On Hellboy 3:

“It’s just a matter of time, and…if Ron Perlman wants to don the makeup again…If there is a Hellboy 3, Doug Jones will be in it.”

It will be great to see Jones and del Toro team up again. I loved his work as The Pale Man in Pan’s Labyrinth and can’t wait to see what role he’ll end up playing in The Hobbit. Although he is known for taking on roles as non-human characters, it is unfair to pigeonhole him as a “monster movie actor.” Jones brings such depth to each of his characters that you don’t even think about the heavy makeup. In this regard, Jones reminds me of the great Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, two actors whom he greatly admires.

Are you looking forward to seeing Doug Jones take over the reins of Frankenstein’s monster? Who do you think he’ll end up playing in The Hobbit? What’s your favorite Doug Jones role?

The first chapter of The Hobbit is due out in December, 2011 and the second chapter in December, 2012. Frankenstein will enter pre-production this summer, but, according to Guillermo del Toro, won’t begin filming for about five years(!). There are no production dates set for Hellboy 3, but del Toro and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola have worked out a potential story.

Source: SCI FI Wire

• Guillermo del Toro: The Hobbit Casting Confirmations & More!
• The Hobbit Updates: Bridge Film & Bilbo Baggins
• Del Toro & Jackson Confirm Structure Of ‘The Hobbit’ Films
• Classic Movie Monsters vs. Modern Movie Monsters
• Hobbit Rumors Debunked: No Trilogy or Radcliffe
• Ian McKellen Talks The Hobbit & Magneto

In unsurprising but awesome news, busy man Guillermo del Toro confirmed today some of what most fans have been expecting for a long time in regards to some role reprisals in The Hobbit by a few of our favorite actors and characters from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

According to del Toro in a BBC Radio interview with regards to The Hobbit, Hugo Weaving will again be playing Lord Elrond, Sir Ian McKellen will be back as our favorite bearded wizard, Gandalf the Grey, and last but not least, the talented Andy Serkis will be back as Gollum.

Last week, del Toro revealed that they’ve narrowed down the candidates of who will play Bilbo Baggins to just one and that we’d likely be hearing about that soon. With these casting confirmations today, and updates of the movie popping up seemingly on a weekly basis, I expect we’ll find out who our little Hobbit will be fairly soon, or at the very latest, at San Diego Comic Con next month.

The BBC Radio interview didn’t just focus on who’s playing who though, del Toro also again talked about how the films will be split up with no ‘bridge’ film, and what they’ll focus on (which we reported on last week):

“There is a whole other chapter, so to speak, which is the comings and going of Gandalf which are dealt with, people that know the lore know that Gandalf was delayed with a crisis… with a character that is very shady called the Necromancer that proves to be Sauron.”

Another tidbit of info del Toro revealed is that after eight months of working on the design for Smaug the dragon, they’ve just hit on the basics of his engineering and it’ll be probably another half a year at least, before they’re able to show him off in detail.

Guillermo’s conversation with host Simon Mayo also touched on a few of his many projects listed in development. Here are some of the key points:

• Hellboy 3 is unlikely due to Ron Perlman being averse to wearing the prosthetics again.
• He’ll be producing, not directing, Jekyll and Hyde
• He’ll be directing Frankenstein and his one of his go-to guys, Doug Jones, will play the monster.
• Blade 4 with Wesley Snipes won’t happen because of legal issues between Snipes and New Line, so del Toro won’t be directing it.

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for more updates on The Hobbit and Guillermo del Toro’s many other projects.

What do you think of these updates and are you excited to see some familiar faces returning to The Hobbit?

The first of The Hobbit films is due out in December, 2011 and the second in December, 2012.

Sources: /Film, MTV

• Doug Jones Talks Frankenstein, The Hobbit, & Hellboy 3
• The Hobbit Updates: Bridge Film & Bilbo Baggins
• Ian McKellen Talks Gandalf the Grey
• Del Toro & Jackson Confirm Structure Of ‘The Hobbit’ Films
• Who’s Playing Bilbo Baggins? Ian McKellen Knows
• Ian McKellen Has Read The Hobbit Script

While at the red carpet premiere of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Guillermo Del Toro told Shock Till You Drop that his project after The Hobbit films will be an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. What stood out for me was when he said Bernie Wrightson’s Frankenstein was “the only vision… of the monster I’ve ever latched onto…”

That’s awesome!

The thought of Del Toro, an amazing filmmaker using Bernie Wrightson’s faithful adaptation to create the look of the monster has me really excited. But why stop there? How about basing a lot of the production design of the movie on Wrightson’s material? Maybe hiring Bernie would be a fantastic idea! (Hint hint).

When I was much younger, I fell in love with Frankenstein; I loved the Karloff version best, and have been collecting little Frankenstein tchockies since then. My love of of the story and character rivals my passion for Iron Man, fyi. When I was probably 9 or 10, I read parts of Wrightson’s Frankenstein and was both mesmerized and horrified. Here was a monster that looked terrifying, and also like nothing I’d ever seen before. The book was created over a seven year period and was originally published in 1983.

Before Del Toro can tackle this project for Universal Studios (after The Mummy and Wolfman updates), he’s going to be pretty busy for the next 4+ years working on The Hobbit films, to be released 2011 and 2012. He told Shock Till You Drop, “I think it’s going to have to be developed very carefully over the next four years.” He also said he won’t be remaking the 1931 Karloff classic, directed by the great James Whale, nor its sequel, Bride of Frankenstein.

Del Toro also said he wants Doug Jones to play the monster, which surprised me. I would’ve thought Ron Perlman, like everyone else. Jones (Abe Sapien and other creatures in many of Del Toro’s films) expressed his enthusiam, “You’ve just made my day! I never knew that!”

I suspect Del Toro will want a little vacation and then get to work for a 2013 or 2014 release for Frankenstein.

Wrightson and Dark Horse Comics are publishing a new version for the book’s 25th anniversary. It’ll be out by Halloween 2008 and you can pre-order it here. And check out Bernie Wrightson’s website; his artwork on many horror and non-horror comics, like Swamp Thing (which he co-created), is amazing. I truly fell in love with his and Jim Starlin’s work with the terrifying Batman: The Cult!

Source: Shock Till You Drop, Wrightson’s Frankenstein (not recently updated)

• Doug Jones Talks Frankenstein, The Hobbit, & Hellboy 3
• Guillermo del Toro: The Hobbit Casting Confirmations & More!
• Classic Movie Monsters vs. Modern Movie Monsters
• Disney & Guillermo del Toro Double Dare You
• ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ Remake Reawakened
• ‘The Dark Tower’ Wont’ be Scaled by Abrams