Universal Monsters - Viewing Order

 
When I attended Monster Bash in 2017, I was fortunate enough to catch a presentation by Frank J. Dello Stritto on Columbia Pictures' 1943 black-and-white horror film, The Return of the Vampre, starring Bela Lugosi. In the film, Lugosi played Dracula once again, but for legalities' sake his character is named, "Dr. Armand Tesla." Also, he commands a cuddly werewolf henchman named Andreas.

Mr. Dello Stritto did enough research into the movie's background to paint Return of the Vampire as a truer sequel to Tod Browning's Dracula (1931) than any of Universal's Dracula sequels. He even concluded by reasonably suggesting that it serves as the perfect middle to a trilogy comprised of Browining's film and Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). From reading his book, A Werewolf Remembers: The Testament of Lawerence Stewart Talbot, I got an idea of how this trilogy would work. It's always bugged me how werewolf movies invest a lot of attention to the monster side of the character at the expense of knowing more about the human. Mr. Dello Stritto's book fully fleshes out Lawrence Talbot's character beyond his werewolf persona.
CANON. Armand Tesla is Dracula. CANON.
 
When I started the book, I was worried it would take more than a few chapters to get to the more interesting parts of Talbot's "autobiography." The ones where he meets his Universal monster co-stars. He does meet them when the time comes, but in between he meets a variety of other characters. Larry goes on a hunting trip attended by a young Carl Denham (from King Kong), has a brief tryst with Irena Dubrovna (Jacques Tourneur's Cat People), and has meaningful dialogues with Father Lankester Merrin (The Exorcist) and Dr. Vijay Alzais (Wolf). These moments prove to be just as exciting as his run ins with Dracula and Frankenstein.
 
So... Father Merrin Meets the Wolf Man wasn't on my bingo card. Guess The Exorcist is counted.

King Kong could either be the 2005 Universal film or the original 1933 version. I think the 1933 version is more likely the intention, but there's no problems either way.
 
So... Father Merrin Meets the Wolf Man wasn't on my bingo card. Guess The Exorcist is counted.

King Kong could either be the 2005 Universal film or the original 1933 version. I think the 1933 version is more likely the intention, but there's no problems either way.
I would go 2005 because it's Universal and makes to me the most sense
 

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