Frankenstein and his Bride

This week, leading up to Halloween, I'll be focusing on some of my favorite horror films.

When it came to horror films as a child, I was pretty much a coward. I remember going to the video store and seeing mostly slasher films like "Friday the 13th" and "Nightmare on Elm Street", there was no way I was going to see those movies. "The Exorcist" was one film in particular I wouldn't see mostly because it was the one film my dad said actually scared him in the theatre.

I suppose my first entry into the horror genre was with the classic universal monster movies. My mom let me see "Frankenstein" because it looked harmless enough, and I was fascinated with classic films so it just seemed like the logical fit.

I remember vaguely my first encounter with "Frankenstein", I don't remember being scared necessarily but it did have an impression on me. I remember mostly the performance of Boris Karloff as the monster, with his famous make up. The scene that I remember most vividly was the monster reaching out to the sky as he sees the sunlight for the first time, then seeing his body react as the sun turns to darkness. It's a poignant and sad scene, that sets up right away the monster's tragedy.

"Frankenstein" became one of my favorite movies as a kid, I preferred it over the other monsters like "Dracula" and "The Wolf Man". I think my love for it mostly came from Karloff's performance. Unlike the other monsters, Karloff turns his into someone who is sympathetic, he's misunderstood, and the real monsters in the film are the towns people who turn into a lynch mob at a moment's notice. As a kid I was also in awe of Frankenstein's laboratory, not knowing much about film history at the time, I had a sixth sense that the famous sets held a certain importance.

Today I'm still fascinated with "Frankenstein", although I am now fully aware of its shortcomings. It suffers from being an early sound film with no musical score which would've helped immensely. The sets can be seen clearly as Hollywood backdrops, which probably accounts for the film not being that scary. However "Frankenstein" does have things that I think are taken for granted by today's horror movies, and that is real Gothic atmosphere and true artistic originality. The Frankenstein make-up which is arguably the most recognizable face in horror movie history is something to admire and has influence many make up artists even today. The film is highly stylized, which may be another reason people today don't find it scary. Today's horror films seem to come from real life, which can sometimes take away from its sense of wonder. "Frankenstein" may be a bit rusty on the outside, but it still has the power to inspire.



A few years after I saw "Frankenstein" for the first time, I was finally able to get my hands on its even more famous follow up. "Bride of Frankenstein" is truly a great film, and perhaps my favorite horror film of all time. It is one of the very few exceptions to the rule that the sequel is never as good as the original. Much of this has to do with director James Whale. It was said that Whale did not want to make a sequel perhaps because he felt he had nothing left to say about the monster. However he relented after he was given a bigger budget and more control over the script. As a result the film is a 100% lavish production with a nice blend of horror and humour.

"Bride of Frankenstein" is more of the work of an auteur. In a recent documentary about the film, one historian says it's almost like spending an evening with James Whale himself. Whale was a bit of an outsider himself but also a creative genius. In the golden age of his time with Universal he was given a lot of freedom by producer Carl Leammle Jr. Whale was known as a very witty, with a very wicked sense of humour, which comes out often in the film.

With "Bride" Whale is able to add upon things about the monster that perhaps weren't as well thought out in the original. The Monster is again the sympathetic figure, but perhaps even more so this time. In a poignant scene involving a blind old hermit, the monster finally finds a friend who can accept him. It's somewhat a variation of Chaplin's "City Lights" where the monster can only gain acceptance by someone who can't see the real person. It's a touching scene and one of the best depictions of loneliness in cinema.

The hallmark of this film is of course the creation of the Bride, which is given even more extravagance and style than the original creation scene in the first film. Whale pulls out all the stops using highly stylized lighting and sets to fulfill his climax. It wonderfully demonstrates what a great asset black and white film was in those days, the movie wouldn't be quite the same without it.

"Bride of Frankenstein" was the pinnacle of the Universal horror movie and horror movies in general. Looking at it you can see the influence it had on directors such as Joe Dante, Sam Raimi, and John Landis. It's visually stunning and downright hilarious. It's a treat to see each time I view it.

After "Frankenstein" and "Bride of Frankenstein", Whale would not go on to direct the third film, and Karloff only appeared one more time as the monster. Most of the magic was gone, however Universal pretty much soaked the franchise dry in the 30s and 40s. There would be nothing to come close the brilliance of Whale's early work, and the others can pretty much just be appreciated on a campy level. No matter how bad the later movies got, I always go back to the first two for pure enjoyment.