A History of Horror
1940 - 1950.

Chills and Chuckles.

Horror during the 1940's seemed to consist of yet more sequels, spin-offs and remakes, and the matching of various horror monsters against each other, with most of these films being presented in a very humorous, light hearted manner, before the genre finally turned into a farce as several horror characters went on to star in various Abbot and Costello movies.

The first sequel/spin-off of the decade being "The Mummy's Hand" in 1940, a sort-of follow up to "The Mummy", featuring a new mummy character named Kharis, played by Tom Tyler. The first remake of the decade was another adaptation of "Dr Jeckll and Mr Hyde", this time starring Spencer Tracey.

1941 also saw the son of Lon Chaney, Lon Chaney Jr, becoming a star in his own right playing "The Wolf Man". He later went on to play the part of Frankenstein's monster in "The Ghost of Frankenstein" in 1942, the fourth movie of the series.

"The Mummy's Tomb" in 1942 was a direct follow up to "The Mummy's Hand", which continued the exploits of Kharis the Mummy, now being played by Lon Chaney Jr.

The first crossover movie, pairing up horror characters from different movies, appeared in 1943 with the film "Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man" which starred Lon Chaney Jr, reprising his earlier Wolf Man character, and Bela Lugosi starring as Frankenstein's monster. A part that he had originally turned down for Universal's first Frankenstein film.

"The Mummy's Ghost" and "The Mummy's Curse", which were both released in 1944 continued the storyline of Kharis the mummy, with Lon Chaney Jr reprising the role in both movies.

Another crossover movie appeared this year, entitled "House of Frankenstein". A light hearted film which featured Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange), Dracula (John Carradine) and the Wolf Man (Chaney Jr) meeting up with a mad scientist (Boris Karloff). The 3 monsters, played by these same actors, met up again in 1945 with another mad scientist (Onslow Stevens) for more nonsense in "House of Dracula".

Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange), the Wolf Man (Chaney Jr) and Dracula (played this time by the "original" Drac-actor Bela Lugosi) met up for a third time for even more nonsense in 1948, only this time with comedians Bud Abbot and Lou Costello for the horror/comedy "Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein", which also featured the voice of Vincent Price as the invisible man.

Ironically, and inspite of their other horror roles, this is probably the film that Chaney Jr and Glenn Strange are best remembered for their roles as the Wolf-Man and Frankenstein. It's also the only other time that Lugosi played Dracula in an official capacity.

Another horror character, Boris Karloff, also met up with Abbott and Costello in 1949, for more humorous horror mayhem in "Abbot and Costello Meet the Killer Boris Karloff". Although this was more of a satirical whodunit, as opposed to a horror film.

A HISTORY OF HORROR

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