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| Bela Lugosi pounces in Dracula (1931) |
The 1930s were a watershed era for cinema, defined by seismic change on screen and beyond; from the dawn of the ‘talkies’ to the Great Depression and rise of Totalitarian regimes in Europe, which fuelled an influx of fresh talent to Hollywood. One of the greatest beneficiaries of the new ‘talkies’ was the horror picture. Synchronised sound provided a multitude of opportunities to shock, excite and terrify so it is unsurprising that this period gave birth to some of the most enduring villains and monsters in cinematic history, in horror classics like Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933) and The Mummy (1933). Many of these works came from Universal Pictures a second-tier studio that came to shape the horror genre, casting glamorous damsels in distress and suave, charming villains while pushing creative and technological boundaries.
