When I think of horror, the first thing that pops up for me is the Universal Monsters. They were my introduction to horror, and they continue to be reborn and rebranded over time.
When you’re afraid of everything, you begin to embrace certain fears. Monsters were one of those early fears, and learning to conquer them ultimately led me to embracing them.
Over the years, I’ve written several list posts about many of the main players in the monster genre. Below, I revisit those as well as my own personal history with monsters and how they cemented their place in my horror obsession.
My first exposure to monsters
When I think of my introduction to Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster (I just call him Frankenstein. It feels more PC than the creature or the monster.), the Wolfman, the Mummy, and the Gill-man, I think of The Monster Squad. Released in 1987, a year after I was born, this movie played constantly on the early version of HBO.
If there ever was a quintessential introduction to monsters, this movie would be it. How they looked, acted, and how they were defeated by our kid heroes taught me everything I needed to know about these characters.
It also presented Frankenstein, who would come to be my favorite of the monsters, as a misunderstood anti-hero. If there’s one thing I love, it’s a character you can feel sorry for, and, spoiler alert, seeing him getting sucked into the vortex at the end of the movie was devastating.
I also still consider that film’s version of Dracula to be the scariest of all iterations. Any vampire who actively tries to murder children and who exhibits unchecked rage is a lot scarier than the ones who will put you in a trance or just bite you while you’re asleep. This Dracula doesn’t even try to hide behind a cloak of dignity or charm. He’s just plain mean.
Another scene that really resonated with me was the mummy in Eugene’s closet. It was so satisfying to see another kid struggle with being afraid of the dark and what lurked in the shadows or behind closed doors, yet the parents didn’t believe him, even when the monster was standing right in front of them.
Even back then, I knew that it was both a funny and scary scene, but it made me feel like it was okay to be afraid in my room at night. I also think it helped me get over my fear of the dark at a young age while others still struggled well after I had gotten over this.
Monster marketing
A lot of millennials have come to the realization that our childhoods were saturated with monster-themed stuff. There were shows, toys, movies, books, and food that were all horror themed in some way.
I feel the reason we are so consumer-driven today is because of how top notch the marketing of children was in the 80s and 90s. They hooked us young, and now, they don’t even have to try to get our attention when it comes to getting us to buy something.
Each year, Pepsi and Doritos would slap the faces of the Universal Monsters on their packaging, put out eye-catching cardboard cutouts of the monsters in stores, and run giveaways to win trips to Universal Studios where you could meet the monsters themselves. My favorite is the “No Dip?” commercial which takes place during a Halloween party at the Psycho house.
Then, of course, there were the McDonald’s promotions every year, particularly the Halloween buckets and McNugget toys that came out. These commercials would have kids dressed as witches and vampires while they scarfed down Happy Meals in haunted houses. It made you wish you were there as well.
For everyday use, there were toys like Big Frank, Creepy Crawlers, and Dr. Dreadful Food Lab. These turned kids into mad scientists, but I will say, the edible candy and drinks that some of these toys created were as awful as they sounded.
And to this day, I still have to buy at least one box each of the Monster cereals that come out in the fall, and if they’re not out by the end of summer, I start to get worried. I also don’t think it’s any coincidence that 2025’s version of the Monster cereals were Jim Henson themed. It shows that millennial marketing is still lucrative as we try to revisit our childhoods through these classic rituals.
Monster media
Millennial kids also loved watching monster-themed TV shows like Ahh! Real Monsters, Are You Afraid of the Dark, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, who wasn’t a monster or even a scary witch but who twisted the genre into a lighthearted comedy and made it feel fresh and modern. We devoured Goosebumps and In A Dark, Dark Room, even those of us who weren’t big readers.
The Disney Channel created a new made-for-TV movie that was monster or ghost themed every year. And of course, there were blockbusters like Casper or sleeper hits like Hocus Pocus which millennials are passing down to younger generations to make and keep them classics.
This unlimited access to kid-friendly horror content made kids hungry for more, and when it seemed to dry up or pander to a younger audience, we held on tight to them and still revisit them often. Even though I find Goosebumps books to be kind of cheesy and predictable now, I still devote valuable shelf space to my favorite installments. And my favorite childhood monster movies still entertain me all of these years later and make me want to rewatch them again and again.
Classic monster movies and stories
It wasn’t until I was in high school and college that I began to seek out the original versions of these monster tales in film and literature and really immerse myself in their introductory forms. I wrote my high school senior paper on Frankenstein and found myself checking to make sure I had the right book when I began to read about a ship being stuck in the arctic and wondering how that was going to tie into a green guy with a flat head. It was a real eye opener to see that, despite being labeled a sci-fi horror tale, it was actually more of a philosophical character study that explored morality, good vs. evil, and reaping what you sow.
Then, when I managed to find an airing of James Whale’s 1931 Frankenstein film on TCM one night, I was again floored by how different it was not only from the book but from those 80s and 90s iterations that were brightened up for the kids. It was only as I made my way through the sequels that I began to tie in different characters or moments that I’d seen parodied in Young Frankenstein or Scooby-Doo.
Likewise, the differences between the Dracula novel, the 1931 film and all of those that came after are just as distinct and jarring. The slow burn of the novel and original Universal film, not counting the silent film, Nosferatu, contrasts deeply with the vampires that we’re introduced to in Blade, An Interview with a Vampire, or even Francis Ford Coppola’s interpretation of the novel.
I think this was a great stepping stone into my adulthood monster obsession because of the depths that you could take these characters to outside of the colorful, marketable versions I was introduced to as a kid. There’s a lot that can be said from these stories and a lot of bending and twisting you can do to make it different and unique while still being recognizable as that iteration of the character or story.
People still praise the 1999 version of The Mummy for admittedly not only improving on the 1932 film but turning it into a rollercoaster of an action film starring beautiful movie stars who made it fun, fast-paced, and funny. The fact that the 2017 iteration not only missed its mark but undershot it by an embarrassing amount shouldn’t mean that they should never make another mummy movie. It just means we now know how not to make a Mummy movie.
Another realization I had while reading the classics was putting myself in the mindset of a classic reader or viewer who had never seen or read such shocking stories before. For example, it never registered with me that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was supposed to have a twist ending.
When I first saw the character turn up in The Pagemaster, the transformation occurred right in front of the audience. But when I read the book in school, not only did I find it difficult to follow, but it wasn’t until the end that it was revealed that the two men are the same person. So, the story was spoiled for me long before I read a word of it.
Ultimately, it can be tough to get through stories that were written for a much different audience with a much different language whether in print or on film, but a true monster fan should familiarize themselves with these early versions of the characters in order to truly appreciate them, even if that means appreciating the more modern versions more than they already do.
Sharing the fandom
Growing up, we all consumed content the same way. These days, we branch out to our own little corners and pick and choose what we pile into our brains.
These days, I go to horror conventions to reconnect with those who love the same things that I do. When I stepped into my first convention in April 2022, the first thing I saw at a booth were monster posters which were painstakingly hand drawn by the artist. I immediately gravitated to them, and the friendly vendor saw me admiring them and encouraged me to ask any questions or request that he take down a piece of art for me to look at more closely. He also asked if I liked monsters, and I told him, “I love the monsters.” That’s when I knew I fit right into these events.
Horror conventions give horror fans the chance to be kids again for a single weekend. The stars who show up are much older but have classic stories to tell, and they can say deep cut lines or talk about old memories that just resonate with our own personal histories.
The classic monster actors are gone, but they still show up on tons of merchandise and are still talked about as early influences and the characters who first made them want to sleep with a nightlight. Yet, we grew to love them, and they’ve stuck with us to the point where we will hand over our hard-earned cash to spend a weekend reminiscing about them with other fans. It builds a sense of community in a world where community is hidden in the comments section of the internet with trolls and bots trying to ruin our good time.
One of my favorite quotes was spoken by Boris Karloff during an interview when he said, “The monster was the best friend I ever had.” I have to agree.
Who are your favorite monsters? What are your favorite monster memories? Leave your answers in the comments below!
Check out my list posts about monsters and other supernatural characters here! Links will open in a new tab.
8 Great Things About Mad Scientists
8 Great Things About Werewolves
7 Great Things About the Gill-man
10 Ways We Celebrated Halloween in the 90s
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