"By the mid-'40s, however, as World War II gripped the world, the Universal Classic Monsters began to wear out their welcome. In a bid to spruce up the franchise, Universal turned it into a shared universe, starting with 1943's Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, a seminal pairing of two of its most recognizable creatures. That was followed in short order by House of Frankenstein (1944)"
"By this time, neither Bela Lugosi nor Boris Karloff were involved in the series, despite rumors that this film would mark Lugosi's return as the Count. Out of the original monsters, only Lon Chaney Jr. returns as Lawrence Talbot, aka the Wolf Man, while second-stringers John Carradine and Glenn Strange encore from House of Frankenstein as Dracula and Frankenstein's monster, respectively. The latter's director, Erle C. Kenton, is back behind the camera as well."
From 1923 through the mid-1940s Universal Pictures produced a durable horror franchise anchored by monster films. The cycle began with The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera and matured in 1931 with Dracula and Frankenstein, which spawned sequels and similar titles such as The Mummy and The Wolf Man. Wartime audience fatigue led Universal to merge characters into a shared universe beginning with Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) and continuing with House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945). House of Dracula reunited Dracula, the Wolf Man, and Frankenstein's monster but lacked Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, retaining Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine, and Glenn Strange.
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