What Went Wrong With The Dark Universe?

I can write those words now and it doesn’t sting. Now, that the Dark Universe has been resurrected—whether it is or is not still called the Dark Universe is irrelevant—has been saved by the fine folks at Blumhouse. Blumhouse architect Leigh Whannell will be directing the next installment of movies to feature one of the classic Universal Monsters, the Invisible Man. Nothing has officially been announced involving Blumhouse and the other Monsters, but if THE INVISIBLE MAN is a hit, and it should be, then the matter is, I expect, academic. This reboot/retooling of the idea is a good thing for the fans. It means we won’t be seeing “action-adventure” flicks with gelded versions of the Monsters. It means we won’t have to see Duane “The Rock” Johnson cast as the Wolfman.

Looking back at THE MUMMY, the only one of the DARK UNIVERSE movies to actually get made, what went wrong? Says director Alex Kurtzman, who was in charge of the proposed shared cinematic universe, “THE MUMMY wasn’t what I wanted it to be. I’m no longer involved in [the Dark Universe] and [I] have no idea what’s going on with it. I look back on it now [and] what felt painful at the time ended up being an incredible blessing for me. I learned that I need to follow my own instincts, and when I can’t fully do that, I don’t think I can succeed.” Hmmm. This sounds like he was the victim of meddling from studio bigwigs. He also says: “[The classic Universal Monsters movies] are beautiful because the monsters are broken characters, and we see ourselves in them. I hope those are the movies that they make; I want to see them.” We hope those are the movies they make, too, Alex. Too bad they wouldn’t let you make one for us.

By The Evil Cheezman

WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of EVIL CHEEZ PRODUCTIONS (www.evilcheezproductions.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/evilcheezproductions), specializing in theatrical performances and haunted attractions. He has written, produced and directed (and occasionally acted in) over a dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and Crime genres. His first novel, THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF, is available for purchase at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734763 MORTUI VELOCES SUNT!

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