Universal Studios

"The children of the night, what music they make!" Dracula could be talking there about bats, or owls, or evil sneaky vampires coming up behind you…

…but he could also be talking about Universal Studios, the production company staffed by children of the night, which churned out horror picture after horror picture in the 1920's through the 1950's. Universal monsters were known for stylish direction, and great creature makeup by make up artist Jack Pierce.

And Universal monsters were also often sympathetic, and the films sometimes included semi-buried sexual themes—including lesbian overtones in Dracula's Daughter (1936) and the beauty and the beast tragic romance of Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954).

Universal's children of the night began with the 1923 hit The Hunchback of Notre Dame, starring the great Lon Chaney. The movie was their most successful silent film ever, pulling in $3 million—or a whopping $43 million in 2015 dollars. That pushed Universal head of production Carl Laemmle, Jr., to keep the monsters coming…and in 1931 they had an even bigger hit, with Dracula, directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Legosi.

Later that year, James Whale's Frankenstein came out to even bigger, bigger success…and the Universal monster dynasty was off crawling, skittering, and slithering.

Mwa, ha ha.

Each monster is twisted and nasty and terrifying in its own special way. But nonetheless, Universal found ways to standardize its monster production, stitching together new films from bits and pieces of the old ones, and bringing them to life with the same formula.

In the first place, the studio used the same actors over and over to play its monsters. Lon Chaney of The Hunchback of Notre Dame also did his sinister thing in The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and The Wolf Man (1940). Bela Legosi was originally slated to appear in Frankenstein as the monster; that didn't work but he was still slotted into other horror films like Murder in the Rue Morgue (1932) and The Raven (1935). That last also starred Karloff…as did The Mummy. Actor Claude Rains was The Invisible Man (1933) and also showed up in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935) and a 1935 Phantom of the Opera remake.

And it wasn't just actors who got recycled. Each big hit for Universal spawned a series of unholy sequel children, all gibbering and chittering and generating more income. Dracula was followed by Dracula's Daughter (1936) and Son of Dracula (1943).

Frankenstein was followed by Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939) and (because death doesn't stop him) The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942). There were sequels to The Mummy, sequels to the Invisible Man, sequels to The Wolf Man…and then there were crossovers. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1942) had (like the title says) both Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man. House of Frankenstein (1944), with Frankenstein's monster, the Wolf Man, Dracula, and the Hunchback. There was even Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), a crossover featuring the comedy duo Abbott and Costello.

Universal Horror shambled into the 50's with films like Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954), but the oozy, monstrous charm was diminishing. In the late 1950s, Universal went more upscale, abandoning its low-budget horror for more prestigious movies.

Monsters are hard to kill, though, and the Universal children of the night have survived in popular culture —see the "Fandoms" section for more.