If it wasn’t obvious from all the rumblings, Marvel comparisons, and huge CGI battles that have populated the Universal Monsters reboot, there isn’t much horror to be found. That’s because they now exist solely in the world of action/adventure. A realm where Brenden Fraser and Nic Cage thrive, where classic stories become explosion fodder, and where box office receipts matter more than actual quality. From The Hollywood Reporter:
We don’t have any capes [in our film library]. But what we do have is an incredible legacy and history with the monster characters. We’ve tried over the years to make monster movies — unsuccessfully, actually. And we had an epihany, which is that the horror genre has a ceiling; it’s not global. There’s a reason why monster characters are enduring, generation upon generation. So we took a good, hard look at it, and we settled upon an idea, which is to take it out of the horror genre, put it more in the action-adventure genre and make it present day, bringing these incredibly rich and complex characters into present day and reimagine them and reintroduce them to a contemporary audience.
When we’re talking about being in “the franchise business,” I kind of die a bit inside. Studio speak is some of the most dense and senseless talk you can find, taking a basic idea that worked elsewhere and trying to fit your own properties into the mold. Seems fine on paper, but the sh*t needs to be good in the first place.
Say what you will about the Marvel movies, they’re at least fairly entertaining. I wouldn’t be shocked to hear Dracula Untold literally killed some people when it hit theaters, out of boredom or spite. The only way I’m good with this move to action/adventure is if this means we’re going to see Horace brought back like Nick Fury. If this all leads to an eventual Monster Squad team-up movie, I will shut up and stop complaining.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter / Slash Film / Comic Book)
