It’s about time I finally tell you the truth.

Well, here it goes: I’m a cat person. Not your average, run-of-the-mill cat owner, though. I’m the kind of cat person who treats their feline companion like their child. It’s insane, like a sickness.

But I’m not alone in my affliction. Today’s film features a crazy cat lady whose zealous love for her cats puts mine to shame. I’m talking, of course, about The Black Cat (1941) – not to be confused with The Black Cat (1934) and just barely associated with the short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe.

We’re switching gears this week and ditching gothic castles for the hallowed halls of Dunsfield University. We’re of course talking about Monster on the Campus (1958), another offering from Universal. This movie belongs to a very different horror cycle from the one started by Dracula in the 1930s – one defined by a post-World War II scientific and technological boom, as well as Cold War concerns of nuclear conflict, communism, and space exploration. It’s often seen as the last hurrah for Universal monster movies of the classic era, and it certainly reeks of a sputtering subgenre.

I can’t think of a better place to start this blog than on Valentine’s Day, 1931.

Movie-goers across the country flooded theater lobbies awash in flickering candlelight. Paper bats hung from the ceiling and patrons shuffled past Bela Lugosi’s penetrating gaze on movie posters which advertised “The Story of the Strangest Passion the World Has Ever Known.”