Frankenstein is alive and well on stage… and it’s “like a black-and-white movie melodrama from the Turner Classic Movies channel.” Read reveiw: “Ingalls [writer/director] has reluctantly pruned a great deal from his idealized conception of Shelley’s novel in an effort to make her story an audience-friendly three-hour length, yet even with its flaws and sometimes unwieldly narrative flow, it’s refreshing...

Here are my next five movies from my Top Ten Classic Horror series. Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) Charles Laughton stars in this version and gave a virtuoso performance. The hunchback is a tortured bell ringer in a church. He falls in love with a beautiful gypsy named Esmeralda (Maureen O’Hara). The movie based on Victor Hugo’s novel was nominated for an Oscar for Best Music and Best Sound. It’s a terrifying movie...

James Whale’s, Frankenstein (1931) loosely based on Mary Shelley’s book is my choice for day 5. Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) is obsessed with creating life. He and his hunchback assistant Fritz (Dwight Frye) go to the graveyard to steal bodies. Fritz is also sent to steal a brain from the medical university. The brain is for Frankenstein’s creature. Fritz is a little clumsy and accidentally drops the correct...

Day 3 Rupert Julian’s, The Phantom of the Opera (1925 Silent) is a classic adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s novel. It’s a romantic and chilling story of a beauty and a beast. It’s Paris 1880′s and in the Paris Opera House a phantom (Lon Chaney, Sr.) lurks. It’s a new season in the Opera House and tonight beautiful Christine (Mary Philbin) will sing. Christine has suddenly risen to the ranks of lead singer...

My pick for day 2 is Rouben Mamoulian’s, Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931). This movie was made prior to the full enforcement of the Hays Code and is remembered by many for its strong sexual content. When I first saw this movie I remember being stunned by Ivy (Miriam Hopkins) the prostitute. She was quite sexually overt for the day. In the 1941 version with Spencer Tracy as Dr. Jekyll it was toned down quite a bit. The story based...

I think you all will appreciate this clip of Nosferatu. You will see, as my last article stated how very scary this first Hollywood vampire is, even today. Can you imagine how the audience felt back in...