Can You Defeat Our Fiendishly Hard Universal Monster Movie Quiz?

Monsters are everywhere! Godzilla and Kong are going at it once again (this time as a double act) and now Abigail has hit screens, a movie about a heist gone wrong where the loot is an adorable 12-year-old ballerina. Starring Dan Stevens, Melissa Barrera and Kathryn Newton and directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett aka Radio Silence, who made the raucous Ready Or Not (as well as the most recent Scream movies), it’s a gore-soaked genre love letter that at one point had ties to the Universal Monsters canon.

Without Abigail spoilers, that’s not entirely evident in the finished product, which is nonetheless an absolute blast but it feels like a good time to celebrate the rich history of these creature features. After all, they aren’t going away anytime soon. From Leigh Whannell’s excellent take on The Invisible Man in 2020 to Zelda Williams and Diablo Cody’s Liza Frankenstein, to the upcoming Wolf Man (also Leigh Whannell) Universal Monsters live on.

But how well do you know your Dracula from your Frankenstein? How would you fare in a Black Lagoon? What even is a Lagoon? Stop saying Lagoon, it’s now become meaningless…

Take our fiendish Universal Monsters quiz to find out.

Universal Monster Movie Quiz

1. Who was the first Universal Movie Monster?

1. Frankenstein
2. The Mummy
3. Dracula
4. Nosferatu

2. Which is the only Universal monster to be played by only one actor during Hollywood’s golden age?

1. The Wolf Man
2. Dracula
3. The Creature from the Black Lagoon
4. The Mummy

3. What is the name of the actor who played Dr. Henry Frankenstein in the original 1931 film?

1. Basil Rathbone
2. Claude Rains
3. Boris Karloff
4. Colin Clive

4. Before making The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro attempted to remake this Universal Monster movie.

1. The Phantom of the Opera
2. The Mummy
3. Dracula
4. The Creature from the Black Lagoon

5. Complete this line: “Oh, in in the name of God, _____”

6. Place These Frankenstein sequels in the Correct Order of Release

The Ghost of Frankenstein
Son of Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein
House of Frankenstein

7. What other role besides the Bride in Bride of Frankenstein did Elsa Lanchester play?

A.      Mary Shelley
B.      The Monster
C.      Lord Byron
D.      Elizabeth Frankenstein

8. How many times did Bela Lugosi play Dracula for Universal?

1. 1 time.
2. 2 times.
3. 3 times.
4. 4 times.

9. What is the one classic element of werewolf lore that you never see in the 1941 version of The Wolf Man?

1. A werewolf transformation.
2. A full moon.
3. A deadly silver weapon.
4. Fangs.

10. In the deleted scenes of The Mummy (1932), which of these scenarios was NOT revealed to be a reincarnated fate for Zita Johann’s Princess Anckesenamon over the centuries?

1. Eaten by lions during the Roman persecutions.
2. Dying by suicide as a Saxon princess during the Dark Ages.
3. A French courtier in late 18th century Versailles.
4. A World War I nurse killed on the battlefield.

11. Place these Mummy sequels in the correct order.

1. The Mummy’s Tomb
2. The Mummy’s Curse
3. The Mummy’s Hand
4. The Mummy’s Ghost

12. What was the name of Dr. Frankenstein’s hunchbacked assistant?

1. Igor
2. Ygor
3. Renfield
4. Fritz

Answers!

Who was the first Universal Movie Monster?
Answer: Dracula. While Universal Pictures dabbled in horror during the silent era, the Universal Monsters aesthetic—European Gothic, supernatural, strange—began with Tod Browning’s Dracula in 1931.

Which is the only Universal monster to be played by only one actor during Hollywood’s golden age?
Answer: The Wolf Man, who was played only by Lon Chaney Jr. across five films.

What is the name of the actor who played Dr. Henry Frankenstein in the original 1931 film?
Answer: Colin Clive played the original Dr. Henry Frankenstein in 1931, however Basil Rathbone would play his son in the aptly titled Son of Frankenstein (1939).

Before making The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro attempted to remake this Universal Monster movie.
Answer: The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Among the many unmade dream projects in Guillermo del Toro’s career is a pitch he had to remake The Creature from the Black Lagoon in the 1990s. Then again, maybe he still did make it…

Complete this line: “Oh, in in the name of God, _____”
Answer: “Now I know what it feels like to be God!”

Place These Frankenstein sequels in the Correct Order of Release
Answer: Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939), The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), and House of Frankenstein (1944).

What other role besides the Bride in Bride of Frankenstein did Elsa Lanchester play?
Answer: Mary Shelley, who appears at the beginning of the movie. Director James Whale apparently liked the idea of showing even “pretty things” can have “wicked thoughts.”

How many times did Bela Lugosi play Dracula for Universal?
Answer: Two times. Once in Dracula (1931) and once again in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).

What is the one classic element of werewolf lore that you never see in the 1941 version of The Wolf Man?
Answer: A full moon. In the original film, it is said a werewolf turns “when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.” The line was amended in the sequels, which did include shots of full moons.

In the deleted scenes of The Mummy (1932), which of these scenarios was NOT revealed to be a reincarnated fate for Zita Johann’s Princess Anckesenamon over the centuries?
Answer: A World War I nurse killed on the battlefield. No sequence like that was filmed. WWI ended less than 15 years before The Mummy was released. The scenes were meant for montage that would show a tragic eternity of reincarnation and waiting for Imhotep.

Place these Mummy sequels in the correct order.
Answer: The Mummy’s Hand (1940), The Mummy’s Tomb (1942), The Mummy’s Ghost (1944), The Mummy’s Curse (1944).

What was the name of Dr. Frankenstein’s hunchbacked assistant?
Answer: Fritz. While a character named Ygor does appear in the Universal Monsters cycle, it is not until Son of Frankenstein where Bela Lugosi plays Ygor as a murderous madman who somehow survived being hanged, but now walks with a broken neck. The only hunchbacked assistant that a Dr. Frankenstein had in one of these movies was Fritz (played by Renfield actor Dwight Frye) in the original 1931 Frankenstein.

0-4 To the dungeons with you! Have you even broken the cellophane on your Universal Monsters boxset?

5-8 No flies on you! Though there are some on Renfield’s dinner plate.

9-12 It’s Aliiiiiiive! You’re monstrously knowledgeable about these movies.