Since the announcement of Universal’s shared Monsters Universe – which is set to kick off with The Mummy in 2017 – things have been a bit quiet. We’ve heard that new two writers have been hired to re-draft the script for Creature from the Black Lagoon, which could also have Scarlet Johannson attached to it, but there appears to be problems behind the scenes.
Universal have said themselves that these monster movies will not be horror films and will instead be action movies, but Alex Kurtzman – who is overseeing the venture in the same way Joss Whedon oversaw Marvel – has clarified that they will contain horror elements.
“I think there was some lost in translation quality to the way it was received, because I promise you there will be horror in these movies,” he told TCA March of Death. “It is our life goal to make a horror movie. The tricky part is actually how you combine horror with either adventure or suspense or action and be true to all the genres together. In some way, Mummy, dating all the way back to the Karloff movie, was the first to do that. It was the first to combine horror with — I wouldn’t say action, but certainly a lot of suspense. So it’s more about how you blend the different elements and stay true to each one, but there will definitely be horror in the monster movies…We will hopefully serve it up good and plenty.”
However, David Faraci of Birth.Movies.Death. has read a copy of John Spaiht’s reboot of The Mummy, and does not have good things to say about it.
“I have been privy to a draft of The Mummy and I can tell you that while it is a horror to read, the horror elements were tangential at best and could have been replaced with aliens or a virus or any other bullshit that allowed soldier men to shoot at pixels,” he writes. “The real horror, I have heard, is the behind-the-scenes development process, which has included the torture of screenwriter John Spaihts. I’m not sure if he’s even still on the project – I don’t actually know what is going on at the Monster Division, and I haven’t heard a peep from any of my sources in months and months, so maybe they’ve been consumed by the horrors.”
With Universal making a truckload of cash this year with the Furious 7, Jurassic World and Minions, perhaps they can afford to take a few risks now?
Originally published August 11, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
