Universal Epic Universe

I have been to Epic Universe twice, and I'm utterly obsessed with Dark Universe, probably because I'm a big Universal Monsters fan. I talked with the team members and some monsters to find out more about the lore of the town is and made a video about it.

Epic Universe and Dark Universe are opening soon but there’s lots of pictures and videos online already. I know the land takes place in its own universe separate from the movies, but I thought it would be fun to speculate what from the movies might be canon to the land.

I believe some version of the events of Frankenstein happened in Dark Universe. You can see Maria’s grave as you walk into the land, you see Henry Frankenstein’s portrait in the queue for the ride (with Colin Clive’s likeness), and the dead body of the original Monster with Boris Karloff’s likeness can also be seen in the queue.

I do not believe the events of Bride are canon, as she is still alive in the land, but we do know that Dr. Pretorius existed as there is a shop with his portrait and coffin in it, so there is that nod at least. There is a character named Igor in the land who is Victoria Frankenstein’s assistant, but he’s not Ygor from Son of Frankenstein. He’s the typical Fritz-Ygor amalgamation you see all the time in popular culture. I think it’s pretty safe to say the Frankenstein sequels aren’t canon but we do have the Bride and Pretorius.

I think it’s very possible that the events of Dracula are also canon. Dracula’s immortal so it wouldn’t have any conflicts with the timeline. Sure, he dies at the end, but that was never a problem for him in the movies. He also doesn’t resemble Bela Lugosi, but he’s resembled Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine so that isn’t a dealbreaker either.

The events of The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man, and The Phantom of the Opera are also probably canon, but the dates have been floated to later in the timeline, when the land takes place. Though not Universal, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde also exist concurrently.

It is possible that some version of Creature from the Black Lagoon also happened, as the head of the classic Gillman can be seen hanging in the Burning Blade Tavern, confirming that there is more than one. The Mummy is immortal so some version of the events of the films could’ve also happened.

Some other Universal horror films are referenced in the land as well. The dead body of a Mole Person can be seen in a cage, and John Carpenter’s The Thing can be seen frozen in ice in the Burning Blade, half transformed into an alien from This Island Earth. It might be a stretch to say some kind of version of the events of those films actually happened, but it’s cool to know that the creatures are out there in the Dark Universe!

An American Werewolf in London 100% isn’t canon, but I can’t not mention David’s red jacket in the queue for the werewolf ride. Just a really nice touch bringing together two of Universal’s best werewolf movies.

And that’s all I got! This is the most exciting time for us monster fans in a long time. This land looks amazing and I can’t wait to go myself someday, and I hope it inspires some new movies!

I'm going orlando with my 2yo in September, keen to take him everywhere but wanted people's opinions on how scary the dark universe area can get?