Horror History: Wednesday, March 1, 1944: Weird Woman was released in theaters

Weird Woman is probably the best of the bunch, an adaptation of Fritz Leiber’s novel Conjure Wife (later filmed as Burn, Witch, Burn!). Chaney is an expert on superstition who marries a voodoo-obsessed woman, whose spells might be responsible for his rapid professional rise. The influence of Cat People is as strong as the source novel. Calling Dr. Death, the first in the series, is duller, with a hypnotism-minded Chaney bedeviled by a wanton wife who conveniently dies under mysterious circumstances. Dead Man’s Eyes and the amazingly-titled Pillow of Death are more fun, the former a variation on the old eye-transplant story and the latter a whodunit with lawyer Chaney accused of his wife’s murder.

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Horror History: Thursday, November 11, 1943: The Return of the Vampire was released in theaters

Matt Willis stalks the streets of World War II London when German bombing releases vampire Armand Tesla (Lugosi) from his grave Aided by a werewolf named Andreas (Matt Willis) and opposed by Lady Jane (Frieda Inescort), who operates an asylum, Tesla goes in search of young ladies to supply him with blood. Also starring Miles Mander, Roland Varno and Academy Award-nominee, Nina Foch.

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Horror History: Friday, March 5, 1943: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man was released in theaters

Hollywood’s best-known monsters–the resurrected Wolf Man (Lon Chaney, Jr.) and Frankenstein’s inhuman creation (Bela Lugosi)–collide in a fight for the ages in this chilling horror film.

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Horror History: Friday, March 13, 1942: The Ghost of Frankenstein was released in theaters

Dr. Frankenstein’s (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) plans to replace the brain of his monster (Lon Chaney Jr.) are hijacked by his scheming and malevolent assistant Ygor (Bela Lugosi).

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Horror History: Friday, December 12, 1941: The Wolf Man was released in theaters

Lon Chaney Jr. stars in this horror masterpiece– featuring elaborate settings and a chilling score– about a man who is attacked by a werewolf and then becomes one himself at each full moon.

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Horror History: Tuesday, August 12, 1941: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was released in theaters

Spencer Tracy stars in this Robert Louis Stevenson classic about 19th century medical doctor whose experiments into the nature of good and evil transform him into the violent Mr. Hyde.

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Horror History: Friday, May 2, 1941: The Black Cat was released in theaters

Set in the old dark Winslow house, The Black Cat is a frightening mystery thriller starring Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi and Alan Ladd. A wealthy but embittered matriarch makes a deathbed recovery only to be murdered by someone in the greedy clan gathered for the reading of her will. The family is frustrated to learn that nobody receives a penny until the very last of the old lady’s multitude of beloved cats perish. Along with the family and servants, an eager real estate agent and a single-minded antique dealer have arrived to pounce on what seemed to be a sure-fire, moneymaking opportunity. Trapped in the mansion by a raging storm, one by one, people and cats turn up dead. The only thing that remains more mysterious than the revolving doors and passageways scattered throughout the grand estate, is the identity of the murderer.

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Horror History: Tuesday, August 14, 1934: Vampyr was released in US theaters

With Vampyr, Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer channeled his genius for creating mesmerizing atmosphere and austere, unsettling imagery into the horror genre. The result-a chilling film about a student of the occult who encounters supernatural haunts and local evildoers in a village outside of Paris-is nearly unclassifiable.

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Horror History: Monday, November 13, 1933: The Invisible Man was released in theaters

Claude Rains stars in this thriller, based on H.G. Wells’ novel, about a mysterious doctor who discovers a serum that makes him invisible and then slowly drives him to commit acts of terror.

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