Some Films That Will Provide a Haunting Halloween

What better time to let all the monsters out of the box than Halloween? There are enough horror films among recent laser releases to fill every hour of all hallow’s eve with creatures and creepiness that should keep your finger on the fast forward key, or the freeze-frame button.

The offerings--minus contemporary graphic blood and gore and sadism--serve up a crash course in Hollywood horror-picture making from Carl Laemmle’s productions with Bella Lugosi and Boris Karloff in the ‘30s to the Hammer Film Productions’ ‘50s interpretations with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.

There is no better place to begin than with the restored version of “Frankenstein” (MCA Home Video, five chapter stops on extended-play (CLV) Side One; three chapter stops, seven scenes on Side Two, standard play (CAV), 1931, $35). The film’s quaint beginning, not always seen on television outings, comes with a moral intonation on behalf of producer Laemmle warning that what we are about to see offers a lesson into what happens when man tries to play God. Of course, by now we all know. Karloff’s first appearance as the monster is tenderly evoked, especially in footage censored till 1987.

Other films inspired by the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley story include the wry sequel, “The Bride of Frankenstein” (MCA, Side One, CLV; Side Two, CAV, no chapter stops, 1935, $35), which opens with Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester) recounting the rest of her monstrous tale to Lord Byron and Percy Shelley. There’s far more to this film than Lanchester’s incredible hairdo as the bride, including a Franz Waxman score that adds immeasurably to it.

Lugosi and Karloff are joined by Basil Rathbone for “Son of Frankenstein” (MCA, CLV, no chapter stops, 1939, $35) in the third and last in the Karloff series. It’s a worthy closing to this trio, as eerie and compelling as the earlier two.

Frankenstein was too good a thing for Hollywood to let die, however, and some of his more interesting incarnations have made their way onto laser, among them “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man” (MCA, Side One, CLV, no chapter stops; Side Two, CAV, two chapters, 1943, $35). Even better viewing a frame at a time is the transformation of Lon Chaney Jr. into the Wolf Man. This was Lugosi’s only outing as this monster, and though a decent performance, it wasn’t close to his classic Dracula interpretation.

Peter Cushing in “The Evil of Frankenstein” (MCA, Side One, nine chapter stops, CLV; Side Two, seven chapter stops, CAV, 1964, $35) as the monster’s creator provides a glimpse of the Hammer style of monster-making, in color, with less of the nuance, and more of the menace.

Among the earlier Hollywood monsters was “Werewolf of London” (MCA, Side One, CLV, 14 chapter stops; Side Two, CAV, seven chapter stops, 1935, $35). Warner Oland stumbles upon the full-moon madness in this curiosity, first in a long line of werewolf explorations.

Very little evil compares with the original black-and-white blood sucker, whose long trail across the silver screen becomes more macabre and bloodier with each quickening. The restored “Dracula” (MCA, Side One, CLV, no chapter stops; Side Two, CAV, two chapter stops, 1931, $35) bears the imprint of director Tod Browning. All the material for all the takeoffs and sequels and remakes begins with Lugosi as the insatiable Count. While the blood may not drip as relentlessly as in later versions, six decades later we still see why our grandparents’ blood chilled.

Surprisingly enough, “Son of Dracula” (MCA, Side One, no chapter stops, CLV; Side Two, CAV, two chapter stops; 1943, $35) with Lon Chaney Jr. as Count Alucard (a little dyslexia would help here), is an eerie essay into the horror genre. The stark, opening black-and-white shot of a bat sucking the protagonist’s blood is enough to stop yours cold.

“Horror of Dracula” (Warner Home Video, Side One, 14 chapter stops, CLV; Side Two, nine chapter stops, CAV, 1958, $35), Christopher Lee’s initial foray as Bram Stoker’s formidable Transylvanian count, in full color, takes sinister one step further. Also starring Peter Cushing and directed by Terence Fisher, it spawned a series of sequels from Hammer Films.

Hammer Films also produced “The Mummy” (Warner, Side One, 13 chapter stops, CLV; Side Two, 13 chapter stops, CLV, 1959, $35), which seems far tamer and not less frightening than the 1932 black-and-white Karloff version (MCA, Side One, no chapter stops, CLV; Side Two, two chapter stops, CAV, $35).

Not to be left out of the monster gallery is the “Creature From the Black Lagoon” (MCA, no chapter stops, Side One, CLV; Side Two, CAV, 1954, $35), which helped set the standard for latter-day other-worldly visitors. The beast always trots off with a lovely damsel, in this case Julia Adams, whose distress is alleviated by Richard Carlson and Richard Denning.