Media Essays: The Dark Universe Rewrite

Written by The Wandering Fox

Well hello everybody, it’s me again, the Wandering Fox and you may be surprised by the title of the essay but yes, I’m here to chat of the Dark Universe. Or more specifically what it could have been if they hadn’t buggered it up.

The Dark Universe was Universal’s attempt at trying to catch up with the MCU like DC tried doing, and while the DCEU lasted for about nine/ten years, the Dark Universe finished as soon as it started. The Dark Universe tried to start itself off with The Mummy reboot, but lots of things in that movie ruined any chances of a cinematic universe being made, including:

Tom Cruise being a control freak on set and diminishing Ahmanet’s presence.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde appearing in the movie and leading this universe’s SHIELD and ushering in the joint universe aspect way too much that it takes away anything interesting from Ahmanet.

Ahmanet’s motives throughout the movie is both stupid and hypocritical in trying to portray her as a sympathetic villain in spite of the fact she killed a baby, and needed Set’s help to kill the baby’s by knifing it which is just dumb as s***.

Nick being an asshole.

Jenny was a plank of wood.

Those are just the many examples I’m giving you. Because of this Universal cut the Dark Universe out and began focussing on non connected movies with The Invisible Man remake and the upcoming Frankenstein film.

The Monsters oddly enough were the earliest example of a shared universe on the big screen like Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man and as we saw with Van Helsing they even managed to get to do a Avengers based story with Van Helsing teaming with Frankenstein’s monster to defeat Dracula. To me in all honesty, the whole idea of the Dark Universe could have worked if they simply did one thing:

Adapt the books.

That’s all they had to do, adapt the books, just hint there is a joint universe and if you wanted to do your team up movie make sure you have established the characters. And that’s why I’m here. To tell you how it could have easily worked:

Frankenstein

You easily adapt the book, you have the Monster trying to learn how to live by observing a family in how they talk and write, he wants to find his “father” and reunite with him. But with humanity rejecting him and his “father” rejecting him it has the Monster angrily come to hate humanity but desires to have a family of his own to live in peace, hence he requests Frankenstein makes him a bride. Hoping to be free of him, Frankenstein starts making the Bride but fears of what a race of these things would be like and kills the Bride. Livid, the Monster kills Frankenstein’s father and is chased to the Arctic by Frankenstein, who dies from starvation. The Monster sneaks on the ship and mourns Frankenstein and tells Captain Walton all he wanted was to be loved and with his “father” gone he has nothing else to live for, throwing himself in the icy waters to be frozen. The movie ends with Captain Walton recalling the whole thing with Dr Kemp and Dr Griffin. It’s then hinted the Monster has been found in the current day.

The film features Igor and he becomes a recurring character in all the movies. He is Frankenstein’s assistant and doesn’t appear in the rest of the film after the Monster is left by Frankenstein.

The Invisible Man

Dr Griffin tries to find a way to cure himself of his albino appearance and he begins concocting serums and potions to do this but after his neighbour’s cat escapes his clutches of being experimented on, Dr Griffin tests it on himself and turns invisible. The neighbours and landlord are incredibly suspicious of Dr Griffin and his hostile attitude and throw all his things out of the flat. Griffin goes to Drury Lane and snatches some clothes to make him look visible and goes to Iping where he stays at Mr and Mrs Hall’s Inn. There Griffin tries to reverse the effects but to no avail and his angry attitude disturbs Mr and Mrs Hall. Though as the story goes on we have Griffin begin to enjoy being invisible as he gets away with robbing others and isn’t judged by his skin. He starts to fantasise making an invisible army after killing a few drunks and the police struggling to find the killer. Dr Kemp is trying to find Griffin as he’s been worried about him and ends up finding out from a policeman that Griffin had gone to Iping. Dr Kemp goes to the Inn and is surprised by what Griffin has done to himself. Dr Kemp offers to help him but Griffin refuses as he can be free and then suggests that he and Kemp can make an “Invisible army” of corpses. Seeing Griffin has gone crazy, Dr Kemp leaves and acts like he’s helping him but tells the police that Griffin has to be arrested. The police try to arrest Griffin but he surprises them by throwing off his clothes and flees in the village to find Dr Kemp. He tries killing Kemp, who struggles but knocks Griffin out a window after seeing his footprints. The police can see Griffin thanks to the rocks on his invisible body and they kill him. His body turns visible again and he begs Kemp for forgiveness just before he dies. Griffin is buried and Kemp takes his notes though he briefly encounters Igor who tried to take the notes from the police. It ends with Gabriel Utterson requesting Dr Kemp’s help in a letter, among which he has a letter from Van Helsing requesting he see Frankenstein’s notes of how he made the Monster.

Jekyll and Hyde

The film follows the book slightly in how Jekyll is becoming angry with himself for indulging in things he knows he shouldn’t be doing, like gambling, going to prostitutes which Enfield had to help him out of. Jekyll tries controlling his darker side by making a serum that quells his thirst for it, but the serum weakens and his darker side only grows stronger and more violent, resulting in him killing a guy. Jekyll invents an identity for this darker side calling it Mr Hyde. Enfield and Utterson think that Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll after finding Jekyll had paid for a cheque in forcing Hyde to pay a £100 after he beaten up a woman. They try to talk to him Jekyll becomes increasingly paranoid and turns into Mr Hyde, fighting with both men until they shoot him and he reverts back to Jekyll who is dying of blood loss. The film ends with Jekyll being saved by Dr Kemp who explains to him he and a colleague has perfected a serum that can suppress Mr Hyde for longer periods but he can only have it if he agrees to help him curb the other dark forces out there. Jekyll agrees and asks to meet the colleague of Dr Kemp’s, who is revealed to be Van Helsing.

Dracula

The film reveals Igor has been working for Dracula in observing scientists who are trying to enhance humans or create unique beings. Finding that most of the work that Frankenstein and Griffin had done is being kept in London, Dracula forms a plan to go there. The film follows the basic plot of Jonathan Harker going to Transylvania to help him buy a place in London but flees after finding out Dracula is a vampire. Dracula sneaks aboard the Demeter with Igor helping poison the crew so Dracula can have a few vampires after he bites them, having servants help him spread Transylvanian soil about in certain places he can feast upon. Harker is at first thought to be insane and is arrested but he’s then interviewed by Van Helsing who argues for Harker’s freedom. Van Helsing works through Harker’s works for Dracula and finds out where he is. Helsing leads Harker and the police against Dracula who traps Van Helsing in a room and reveals he wants the works of Frankenstein and Griffin and of Helsing gives it to him he will let him be immortal. Helsing though blindsides Dracula by opening a curtain to reveal the sunlight, forcing Dracula back into the darker parts of the house. Dracula battles Helsing and ends up biting him, citing he will make sure Van Helsing lives long enough to see him return before Harker throws him out of the window and Dracula dies. Helsing finds he is immune to the sunlight and cuts himself to find he can recover fairly well, finding he is immortal. He chooses to form a secret organisation that he will be in charge of to stop any other monsters from causing havoc. The film ends with it revealed Igor took skin and blood samples of Dracula and has hidden them, travelling the planet to find other monsters that can help return his master to normal.

The Mummy

The film is set in the 1930s and we see Helen Grosvenor with a team of archaeologists trying to find the Tomb of Imhotep, the archaeologists funded by an aristocrat. They end up being tricked in finding Imhotep’s tomb and Helen accidentally resurrects Imhotep by reciting a passage from the Scroll of Thoth, and it’s revealed the aristocrat is a Nazi supporter and are forced to open it. Imhotep is at first being talked to by the Nazis who want him to support them and grant them immortality. Imhotep however isn’t interested as he looks at Helen and kills the Nazis with the exception of their captain and the aristocrat. Imhotep brings about a huge force of sand that sweeps through the camp and forces the survivors underground where Helen and her friends are bossed around in trying to find a way to stop Imhotep. Helen finds out the truth of Imhotep who had taken the Scroll of Thoth to resurrect his dead lover, seeing it all come to life and finds that Imhotep’s lover greatly resembles Helen, who guesses Imhotep believes she’s his lover reincarnated. Realising the Scroll of Thoth is what gifts immortality, the Nazis abandon Helen and her friends to find the scroll but Helen just stops Imhotep from killing her and her friends and tells him of the Nazis and that they will kill him. Imhotep confronts the Nazis and kills them, giving Helen the chance to set the Scroll on fire which causes Imhotep to dissolve. Helen and her friends bury the tomb and swear to never mention it to anybody. The film ends with Van Helsing and Dr Jekyll finding the tomb. Igor is in the movie and had tried to steal the Scroll but could only be able to copy it before fleeing.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon

The film is mostly the same with the exception that the government have taken an interest in the Lagoon and its creature and want to find a specimen to experiment on to create an “invisible army”. The film is set in the 1950s and the discovery of a fossilised aquatic humanoid sparks interest in oceanic and equator researcher Dr David Reed who goes with Carl and takes an expedition of scientists including his girlfriend Kay. The plot follows as it did and the Gill Man is more sympathetic as he is curious of the outsiders and is attracted to Kay but after it kills a few crew members it captures Kay and shows her it’s home, that it is among the last of its race. Kay tries to explain this to the others but the Gill Man is shot. The Gill Man is brought back to an oceanic study and they try to experiment on it but Kay helps it escape with the help of Igor, who acts like he’s sympathetic. It’s then Kay and the Gill Man are saved by Van Helsing, with the film ending with David working for Van Helsing. There’s no romantic feelings for the Gill Man, Kay wants it to be free. The film ends with Igor having lived to the current day and is forming a militia.

The Monsters

The team up is here as we go to the modern day with Frankenstein’s monster finally found in the Arctic and is being brought back to the org’s hidden base. There he is thawed out of the ice and is stunned by what’s going on and that nobody is afraid of him, with the Gill Man and Dr Jekyll greeting him. While this is going on though, Van Helsing is ambushed in Egypt by Igor and his militia who take the tomb of Imhotep. The Gill Man has become more civil and can speak English, assuring the Monster he himself went through something similar and that he isn’t alone. The Monster however is weary of the org as he thinks he’s merely going to be another lab rat but is convinced the org is in fact working to rid the planet only of evil monsters and he isn’t evil. Igor meanwhile has the tomb opened and resurrects Imhotep with his copy of the Scroll. Imhotep wants nothing to do with Igor as he wants to find his lover’s reincarnated body but Igor convinces him that Van Helsing has the answer of resurrecting his lover. Imhotep then leads a group of undead and the militia to find Van Helsing. Imhotep turns into a big gust of sand and finds the org where he battles them, forcing Dr Jekyll to turn into Mister Hyde and battles the Monster while the Gill Man tries fighting Imhotep but is defeated thanks to Imhotep drying up his body. Van Helsing is captured while the Monster beats Mister Hyde. Imhotep and Igor want Van Helsing to resurrect Ack-nes-Amon but Van Helsing tries to tell Imhotep that Igor isn’t interested in her, he wants him to resurrect Dracula. Becoming annoyed, Imhotep forces Igor to leave and makes Van Helsing begin the resurrection but the Monster, the Gill Man and Dr Jekyll come with the Monster beating Igor up and throws him to his death while Van Helsing ends up stopping the ritual which has Imhotep angry and battles them all until Van Helsing summons the goddess Isis to finally kill Imhotep, having read through Helen’s journal. With this done, the Monster feels glad to have stopped an evil and finds he truly has found a place to belong and they search for more monsters to stop or help. It ends with it revealed Igor survived and finds Dracula’s starting to be reborn, hinted that despite Van Helsing stopping the ritual he had mixed up the words that has allowed Dracula to start coming back, and so does Griffin and Erik/the Phantom of the Opera.

That is the end of Phase 1, the second phase would introduce the Bride of Frankenstein, the Phantom, the Wolf Man, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Dracula would be brought back as the big baddie, revealing he created werewolves which in turn creates the Wolf Man, the Phantom of the Opera recalls his life after being resurrected. The team up would end with the death of Van Helsing and Dracula with Helsing passing his legacy on to his relatives while the Gill Man finds others of his species have survived and the Monster is offering up himself to be studied for medicine. Griffin is struggling between his darker urges which sets him up as the opposite of Dr Jekyll who tries helping him and they have to stop Igor from selling the invisible formulae to others, with Griffin dying as well in stopping Dracula. That’s as far as I can get.

I hope that you guys liked this try at a Dark Universe. Did you like it? Do tell me what you think below.