7. Horror came to film in 1931, via Universal Pictures
Horror films existed prior to the 1930s, with the silent era including film versions of The Phantom of the Opera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and what remains to many the greatest vampire film of all, Nosferatu. But in 1931 Universal Pictures, then run by the Laemmle family and increasingly by Carl Laemmle Jr. created the gothic horror picture that led to an all-new genre that has never really run out of steam. Using lesser-known actors on contract to the studio including Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., and Claude Rains, Universal re-invented the so-called monster movie with titles such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Invisible Man, The Mummy, and a seemingly bottomless well of sequels featuring the evidently immortal main characters. All of them died in the films, usually at the hands of irate peasants, only to return within months in a new incarnation.
Laemmle’s monsters, which became known as the Universal monsters, created new industries in posters, Hallowe’en costumes, plastic model kits, magazines, parodies, and more. In the 1950s and continuing into the 21st century, the films were remade with new actors and new plots. As recently as 2017 a remake of The Mummy was released, and others of the famous characters are slated for cinematic rebirth, with the supporting marketing accessories such as graphic novels and video games. Carl Laemmle’s monsters became an industry in and of themselves, which continues to influence all forms of entertainment, as well as advertising, breakfast cereals, graphic novels and comic books, and even fashion. “Driving a stake through its heart” became a phrase meaning to permanently bring anything to an end, though it never succeeded in truly killing the vampire to which it originally referred.