Famous Monsters of Filmland 40th Anniversary Filmbook Remembered

Happy Halloween!

So much I could say, but time is short.

Classic horror movies receive a lot of airtime on cable in October, which is a good thing. Several rare classics do not always get the same appreciation of more well-known features. Some movies may only end up airing during Halloween. Setting October aside to appreciate those classic creepy films is definitely a worthwhile endeavor.

Yesterday, I was in the bookstore and came across the new issue of the third version of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. Fittingly, it was a tribute to the late, great Forrest J. Ackermann.

In the late 1990s, the second version of the magazine -- published by Ray Ferry -- was released. A 40th-anniversary film book was published. Here are my thoughts on it - in video form.

AND PLEASE CHECK OUT MY KINDLE BOOK ON THE UNIVERSAL CLASSICS:

Dracula (1931) Opening Theme - “Swan Lake” by Tchaikovsky Horrifies

Scores of memorable horror movies have presented equally outstanding scores. John Carpenter's Halloween and John Williams' work on Jaws are considered the two best examples of thrilling thriller scores. The classic Universal horror films did not produce many memorable original scores. The Creature from the Black Lagoon featured a memorably eerie score that expertly mixed the adventurous with the terrifying.

The original Bela Lugosi classic, Dracula (1931), chose to "borrow" stock music and insert the material into the film's opening credits. Opting for "Swan Lake" by Tchaikovsky as the opening theme to Dracula seems like a strange mismatch - until the music commences. 

The first chords heard on the soundtrack reveal a blaring noise that immediately draws the viewer's attention towards the screen and does so with an impending sense of doom. The brash few seconds of the opening quickly leads into a much softer tempo that maintains a vague sense of eeriness. To an audience in 1931, an audience that had no idea what to expect from Universal's Dracula, the first 30 seconds of the title theme present a combination of creepiness and dark - albeit upbeat - romance.

Yes, there is a cloud of dark, gothic in the air of this segment from "Swan Lake," which is why the music fits the film's opening so expertly.

The tempo then picks up to a much faster and more frantic pace. The music betrays a sense of the ominous danger upon moving in this auditory direction. Dracula is the supernatural embodiment of danger creeping into a romantic tale. The rapid change of pace, mood, and theme in "Swan Lake" is perfectly appropriate. The opening credits of Bela Lugosi's Dracula (1931) film does not require a gaudy, brooding, or shocking theme. The subtle nature and the ironic tempo change in "Swan Lake" fit the feature perfectly.

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Dracula and classic horror fans can check out my new book Universal Monsters and Neurotics: Children of the Night and Their Hang-Ups on Amazone Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.