I suppose it depends on your age and/or your desire to see the origins of modern horror films.

I am 56 and I have watched them all as well as the Abbott & Costello Meet the Monsters films. These are movies I grew up watching (on KCOP 13 and KTLA 5 out of Los Angeles) and knew them by heart by the time I was 7 or 8.

Even though many folks born in the 80s may not know the originals, lots of films show snippets of these famous monsters so they are exposed on a superficial level.

Hell, even my my nieces and nephews (in their mid 20s) know them because I would force them to watch them with me during holidays. Nothing better than a Universal Monster Marathon on Halloween.