From Bloody Disgusting By Luiz H. C.
Few franchises can boast the same level of impact on popular culture as the Universal Monsters. From popularizing the idea of a shared cinematic universe to introducing several generations to classic horror literature, we’re still feeling the effects of these early horror blockbusters nearly a century later. That’s why it makes sense that so many filmmakers have attempted to leave their own mark on these iconic stories about monster-hunting heroes and misunderstood creatures.
One of the most interesting trends among these frequent narrative re-imaginings has to be the one where filmmakers attempt to update vintage frights to the modern day. And in honor of storytellers proving that a good monster can still be scary in any time period, we’ve decided to come up with a list highlighting six modernized versions of the Universal Monsters!
#3 BLACKOUT
Larry Fessenden has been hard at work creating his own shared cinematic universe inspired by the Universal Monsters, so it was hard to narrow down a single one of his films to include on this list. However, while both Habit and Deranged are excellent deconstructions of their monstrous inspirations, I feel like Blackout – Fessenden’s take on a modern-day Wolf Man – hasn’t received the same amount of love due to its unconventional presentation.
A surprisingly mellow story about a struggling artist harboring a dark secret, Blackout focuses more on the human cost of living with a terrible curse (or at least being convinced that this is the case) than actually doubling down on familiar creature feature tropes. It may not be for everyone, but this is definitely one of the most original werewolf movies that I’ve seen in a long time.
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