This is a coffee table book, oversized and mostly photography stills from the original movies. The text is simple and basically about how the movie came to be made and the politics and maneuvering that went on behinds the scenes. There's a forward by Forry Ackerman. But the best part of the book for me were the short essays by the people who knew the people behind the make-up. There's essays by Ron Chaney (great-grandson of Lon Chaney), Bela G. Lugosi (son of Bela Lugosi), and Sara Karloff (daughter of Boris Karloff). There's tribute essays by people who later played a related part or took part in related activities: Jennifer Beals, Stephen Sommers, Gloria Stuart, John Landi, Richard Valley and Ben Chapman. Also, included is information on the movie makeup, the Abbott and Costello send ups of the monster movies, a movie chronology, contributor biographies, and a list of bibliography and Sources.

In other words, if you love the original Universal Studio monsters, you'll probably want this book for your collection. It's definitely interesting, informative and beautifully illustrated with photos.