Classic Monsters

     Warning: the following content can be considered controversial.  There are some who will not appreciate my opinion but I’ve never been one to shy away from speaking my mind.  I have always found the classic Universal monster movies to be archaic and excessively chauvinistic.  There, I said it.  Even as a child, I found it wildly ridiculous that females had only two roles in those films, other than looking beautiful.  They either stood completely still, screaming their heads off, while the monster came at them or they fainted.  It’s pretty bad when a five-year-old is screaming, “Run, you dummy” at the television screen.  My dad had an affinity for the old black and white monster movies and I spent many a Sunday afternoon watching them with him. 

     With that being said, there is an element of those movies that I truly miss.  I long for the days when monsters were just monsters.  Vampires and Werewolves were vicious killers.  They did not want to befriend humans.  They didn’t have remorse or try to change their wicked ways.  Their sole purpose was to kill.  I am not slamming paranormal romance writers or their fans in any way.  There is nothing wrong with the genre.  Personally, I’d rather have my pants scared off but that’s just me. 

     Another positive of those classic films was the actors.  You could count on them to do their very best to strike fear into the hearts of their audience.  Even to this day, after seeing almost every vampire movie ever produced, when someone says Dracula, I immediately picture Bela Lugosi.  I miss actors like Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and Lugosi embodying our worst nightmares.