Whatever comes of The Wolf Man next year, the film has spurred Universal to start showing some renewed love for their most valuable property: the classic Universal Monsters. When Van Helsing came out the Monsters seemed to be Universal's corny cousins who they were trying to get up to speed on big city life, but now the studio is treating them with the respect they deserve.

Part of that is the opening of a very cool web site called The Universal Monster Legacy; a look back at the golden age of the Universal Monster movies - from the 20s to the 50s - the site has music from the films, clips, posters, and image galleries. Hell, it's worth a visit just to listen to the beautiful soundtracks of the classic movies, which you can stream in the background while you work.

What's interesting is that the site streamlines the Universal Monsters down to a manageable group while also including films like The Black Cat and The Old Dark House. Gone is the Metaluna Mutant and the Mole People, characters I've seen Universal try to shoehorn into the classic clubhouse.

What would be incredibly cool would be streaming versions of the classic films. Maybe Universal has that up their sleeve as we get closer to The Wolf Man's February release date.

Click here to visit the site.

And click here to buy the excellent new book pictured above. A must have for any fan of the Universal Monsters.

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