Universal Monsters or
Universal Horror is a phrase used to describe the series of
horror,
suspense and
science fiction films made by
Universal Studios during the decades of the 1920s through the 1950s. The series began with
The Hunchback of Notre Dame and
The Phantom of the Opera, both
silent films starring
Lon Chaney. Universal continued with
talkies including monster franchises
Dracula,
Frankenstein,
The Mummy,
The Invisible Man,
The Wolf Man, and
Creature from the Black Lagoon. The films often featured
Bela Lugosi,
Boris Karloff, and
Lon Chaney, Jr.