Universal Orlando Resort’s newest theme park, Epic Universe, is on track to open on May 22, 2025. Like many others, we eagerly anticipate the debut of one of Epic Universe’s five areas: Dark Universe. This shadowy realm draws inspiration from Universal’s Classic Monsters movie franchise. Dark Universe centers around the village of Darkmoor—a place where monsters, monster-makers, and their hunters reside among innocent residents just trying to survive.
With Darkmoor’s distinct narrative, innovative attractions, and shops on the horizon, you’re likely wondering how to prepare for all the excitement. Of course, the movies from Universal Pictures’ Classic Monsters collection are a great starting point. Navigating this extensive lineup, however, can be tricky. To help, we have a definitive guide of what to know and the movies to watch in preparation for your travels.
Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment is practically a who’s who of Classic Monsters characters. Guests will come face-to-face with Victoria Frankenstein, the great-great-granddaughter of Dr. Henry Frankenstein, as well as Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, the Wolf Man, and the Gill-man from The Creature From the Black Lagoon.
Frankenstein’s Monster has seven movies in its canon, but we’d suggest 1931’s Frankenstein and 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein. These will help to understand the monster and its original creator, Henry. As for our famous vampire, 1931’s Dracula would be the one to see since almost every version of him has been inspired by that film. Turning to the Gill-man, you’ll want to watch The Creature From the Black Lagoon and The Creature Walks Among Us from his canon trilogy.
The Wolf Man has a total of five movies in his Universal Classic Monsters canon. Curse of the Werewolf also features Maleva, the omniscient leader of The Guild of Mystics, as our guide. To prepare, we recommend watching 1941’s The Wolf Man and its 2010 remake. Both Maleva and the Wolf Man appear in these iterations and will give you a base idea of what to expect.
1935’s Bride of Frankenstein will clue you into who Dr. Septimus Pretorius is. As the other resident mad scientist of Dark Universe, his most famous work is The Bride. Dr. Pretorius is thought to have met his doom by the film’s conclusion, but his devotees have placed his experiments on full display at Darkmoor’s flagship store, Pretorius’ Scientific Oddities. Who knows? You might just leave inspired to continue his experiments… or at least with a few eerie souvenirs for your own collection.
Guests exploring Darkmoor Village will have plenty of meet-and-greet opportunities. Outside of the village inhabitants and monster hunters, they’ll encounter Frankenstein’s Monster, The Bride (both previously mentioned), The Invisible Man, and Dr. Frankenstein’s assistant, Ygor. While there are six movies in the classic Invisible Man canon and a remake, you’ll be fine to just watch 1933’s The Invisible Man.
It should be mentioned that, while he’s still essentially the same character, the assistant to the Frankenstein family was originally named Fritz. Ygor wouldn’t appear until 1938’s Son of Frankenstein and its follow-up, Ghost of Frankenstein. So we’d suggest adding those two to the watchlist as well.
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