By Ian Curtis
Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Hotel Transylvania: Transformia
The Hotel Transylvania series makes use of a slew of creatures from Universal’s Classic Monsters movies. The animated franchise draws substantial inspiration from the legendary horror series, transforming the iconic creatures into kid-friendly characters. But despite Hotel Transylvania’s alterations, the series still manages to regularly pay homage to the original stories.
Universal’s Classic Monsters is a multiverse of often related horror stories that feature terrifying supernatural entities. The franchise began in 1931 and ran through the 1950s, producing more than 30 official installments. Although colored films were rather commonplace by the end of its run, most of the films in the series are shot in black and white.
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Hotel Transylvania has itself been rather successful as a franchise, spawning four films and a Netflix series to date. The films have used dozens of monsters in various different ways, pulling inspiration from decades worth of horror films. But of its recurring characters, the following 12 are adapted from or inspired by creatures from Universal’s Classic Monsters movies.
Count “Drac” Dracula
Adam Sandler stars as infamous villain Count Dracula, the protagonist of the Hotel Transylvania franchise as well as the proprietor of the hotel itself. He is evidently based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, displaying many of the same abilities as the original Count. However, Hotel Transylvania 2 introduces his father, Vlad, making Drac the son of Dracula rather than Dracula himself. Though he has been known by several names, he is often referred to as Count Alucard, which was first used in 1943’s Son of Dracula.
Mavis Dracula
Mavis Dracula is the daughter of Drac and the driving force behind the first Hotel Transylvania movie. She was said to be 118 years old in the first movie, meaning she was born in 1894, which is approximately the same year that Bram Stoker’s Dracula takes place. In the 1936 film Dracula’s Daughter her name is Countess Marya Zaleska, and while she doesn’t share Mavis’ affection for humans, she resents the abilities and bloodlust she acquired from her father, spending the movie trying to rid herself of her curse before inevitably succumbing to her fate.
Vlad Dracula
Vlad Dracula is the father of Drac and grandfather of Mavis introduced in Hotel Transylvania 2. Although he is named after the real Dracula, 15th-century warlord Vlad “the Impaler” Tepes, Vlad is said to be approximately 2,000 years old, making him more than three times the age Dracula would have been. Vlad’s sidekick, the bat Bela, differs from the humans Dracula has historically hypnotized and enslaved as his servants, but his name is a nod to Bela Lugosi, the actor who famously played Dracula in the 1931 Dracula film.
“Frank” Frankenstein
Frankenstein (often shortened in the series to simply Frank) is Drac’s best friend in the Hotel Transylvania movies. He is, of course, actually Frankenstein’s Monster given that he was created by the scientist Dr. Frankenstein in the Mary Shelley book as well as the original 1931 film Frankenstein. Frank shares perhaps the most similarities with his source material of anyone in the Hotel Transylvania series. He begins the story with a distrust of humans due to his treatment in his original story, and he has even expressed a significant fear of fire. He looks rather similar to the depiction of The Monster in nearly every Frankenstein movie barring a bit of additional weight around the waist
Eunice Frankenstein
Eunice Frankenstein (sometimes shortened to Eunice Stein) is the wife of “Frank” Frankenstein in all four Hotel Transylvania movies. In 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein creates a reanimated companion for his Monster, dubbed simply The Bride, but the two creatures would never marry. Shortly after she is brought to life, The Bride rejects The Monster and is killed when he tears down the castle with them still inside. The Monster learns to speak a few words of English during the film, but The Bride is killed before she gets the opportunity. Eunice is also visually different from her inspiration, having apparently been modified to more closely resemble her Hotel Transylvania voice actor Fran Drescher.
Henry “Hank” N. Stein
Henry (or Hank) N. Stein is the son of Frank and Eunice Frankenstein that exists only in the Hotel Transylvania universe. Although there was a Universal Classic Monsters movie called Son of Frankenstein made in 1939, the title refers to the son of Dr. Frankenstein, Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, rather than a child of The Monster itself. However, Henry’s name is a reference to the original Frankenstein film. In Mary Shelley’s novel, Dr. Frankenstein’s name is Victor, but it was changed to Henry in the film series.
Wayne Werewolf
Wayne is a version of a werewolf that differs greatly from most other incarnations of the species. The identifying feature of typical werewolves (such as the creatures in 1935’s Werewolf of London and the 1941 movie The Wolf Man) is their ability to turn from human to wolf and back in the light of the full moon, but there is no indication in the Hotel Transylvania series that Wayne has at any point been human (apart from when they are all turned human in Hotel Transylvania: Transformania). He also seems to be a similar age as Drac, meaning he is 500-600 years old, which is also somewhat uncommon (although certainly not unheard of) in werewolf mythology.
Murray
Murray is a mummy based on the iconic design from 1932’s The Mummy. Much like with Wayne, Murray seems to have been born as a mummy rather than having died as a human and been reborn. In the 1932 movie The Mummy, ancient Egyptian ruler Imhotep is resurrected through the power of the Scroll of Thoth and is reborn with supernatural abilities. Imhotep also spent much of his time in human form, whereas Murray is always seen in his wrappings (apart from when he is made human in Transformania).
Griffin the Invisible Man
Griffin is the Invisible Man, usually being seen as just a pair of floating glasses. His name is a reference to Dr. Jack Griffin, the eponymous character from the 1933 film The Invisible Man. Dr. Griffin is made invisible as the result of an experiment gone wrong and is driven to madness as a result. Griffin, however, is at least several hundred years old, and there is no indication that he was ever human at all.
Crystal the Invisible Woman
Crystal is one of the few Universal Classic Monsters characters not featured in every Hotel Transylvania movie, only first appearing in Hotel Transylvania 2 as Griffin’s presumed to be imaginary girlfriend. She also appears to be permanently invisible, which differs from the abilities of the character in which she was based, Kitty Carroll from the 1940 film The Invisible Woman. Kitty was tricked into becoming invisible by a rogue scientist, but the initial effects wore off quickly, and she was afterward only able to turn invisible by using alcohol.
Erik
Erik is a minor character appearing as a musician in a few scenes in Hotel Transylvania 2. He wears the version of the mask from 1943’s Phantom of the Opera as opposed to the half-mask that would be popularized by later adaptations. His name is a reference to the original Phantom’s name, Erique Claudin.
Gillmen
The Gillmen are various pink or green creatures that are scattered throughout the backgrounds of Hotel Transylvania, although they look rather different from their Universal Classic Monsters counterpart. They are based on the 1954 horror classic Creature From the Black Lagoon and appear in several shapes and sizes. Though there are many Gillmen, the only prominent members of the species are Marty (who appears in the first two films) and Dr. Gillman (who appears in Hotel Transylvania: The Series).
Source: https://screenrant.com/hotel-transylvania-universal-monsters-characters-appearance-comparison/