For almost 85 years now, the original Universal Studios Monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf-Man have become tied to the symbolism and imagery of Halloween. There’s no doubt that for several younger generations, they only know these icons as Halloween costumes or decorations, and not as movie icons at all.

But long before Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, and Pinhead, it was the Universal Monsters who scared audiences in theaters, and left an indelible impression on popular culture. And because of the talents of people like Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., and directors like James Whale and Tod Browning, we’re still talking about these movies today.

Now, thanks to the folks at Bloody Disgusting, we’ve learned of an artist and classic monster fan named Lee “Goatboy” Hartnup, who recently decided to carefully digitally colorize several images from the most classic black and white Universal Monster movies. As you can see, the results are absolutely stunning. These images bring characters that we are only ever used to seeing in stark black and white images into bright color, and in a beautiful and realistic manner.

The artist maintains that these pictures are not part of any effort to get colorized version of the classic films out there or anything of the sort. He says, “For the record, I wouldn’t watch a recolored horror movie. I love them the way they are. The pics are meant more as a ‘what if I were there on set…’ kind of thing.” You can see an assortment of the recolored photos in our gallery down below, and for more, check out Goatboys Recoloured Classic Monsters Facebook page.

What do you think of these amazing images? Let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.

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Images: Lee Hartnup / Universal Pictures