I haven't seen a lot of the old monster movies, so I don't have much of a point of comparison, but this one was great. I thought a lot about the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, particularly in the opening scenes - lots of canted angles, and a path that I expected Cesare to walk up at any moment. The photography is really beautiful, but I found myself wishing the camera would linger on a few particularly beautiful frames just a second or two longer - sneaking into the lecture hall, a moment in the monster's cell, the mob moving across a field with that diagonal band of light. The vertical structures, reaching toward the heavens, are really striking.

The two…

Part of **Halloween Season 2012**.

Back in 1995, a million and a half years ago, I took a college class called "Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature". After reading the novel Frankenstein, we watched this film. Throughout the viewing, we students couldn't resist laughing and quoting lines from Young Frankenstein. Mel Brooks's parody was so spot on, and even today I can't help but think of Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, and Marty Feldman when I watch this classic.

In the original, James Whale gave us a twisted and nervous world that birthed the doomed monster. The early scenes are expressionistic and otherworldly. We have lofty themes of death and creation, as well as science and God.

What may be most shocking…

Part of...
Horroctober 2012

Oh, in the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God!
-Henry Frankenstein

The more times I watch Frankenstein the more I realize how ahead of it's time the film was and what a masterpiece it truly is. While Dracula is heralded as a classic and credited with starting the era of Universal Monsters, the fact of the mater is Frankenstein came out the same year and puts Dracula to shame as a film. To take it even further a lot of the Universal Monster films that would come out for the next decade or so didn't come close to the quality of Frankenstein either.

The visual style of the film…

James Whale’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is far from faithful to its source but has arguably become the definitive Universal monster film. For a film made over 80-years ago it remains remarkably fresh with a brilliant and sensitive performance from Boris Karloff as the monster unable to adjust to a world frightened by his grotesque appearance. Whilst it may no longer be able to scare a modern audience it still has the rare power to excite and move.

As with Shelley’s original text, Frankenstein, captures the fear of the unknown and warns of reckless scientific endeavours. Whale creates an oppressive Gothic atmosphere and, in the process, creates genre tropes that will be repeatedly parodied - the hunchback assistant, mad…

Week 4 of Phips' Adapted April Challenge

While I appreciate it for its influence on film today, I'm just not buying into it. It's a story of a man that wants to bring the dead back to life. But why? Is he just crazy? Some may say that its to resurrect himself, but I'm not buying. Nothing led me to believe that Frankenstein wanted to change himself; he's a narcissist. He's just doing crazy science experiments for the sake of saying he can, and he did.

Once the monster is brought to life, he is surprisingly human; everyone's shocked. Frankenstein expected him to move like a human and listen to commands, but never thought of the monster made of human…

Third Film for the Adapted April Challenge

Frankenstein to paraphrase the famous line from the film was, is and will always be truly alive and well. The film to my surprise has aged well and is well crafted in every sense from the makeup, sets and the direction and acting. Though the film now does not hold up as much to the horror genre, as it must have upon its release, as viewers have become accustomed to better and more realistic scares/makeup.

I had read the book when I was younger and had always wanted to watch the original film, but had not managed to do so before this watch. Before watching it I read up more about the film…

Reviewed for the Adapted April Challenge.

I've not read the book, but I saw a satellite broadcast of Danny Boyle's
stage adaptation and this film for the first time last year. I found Boyle's version much more interesting and nuanced. The story is granted a longer time frame, the monster learns rudimentary speech, and Elizabeth and the monster have a much more complex relationship.

Which brings me to the 1931 film which I feel suffers from a lack of complexity. The ending in particular with its vague treatment of Dr. Frankenstein's fate and the man in general bothered me. The film still deserves watching for its iconic moments (and in those moments it is masterful) of the monster's birth, the…

At the beginning of the 30th century, Universal Studios was looking for foreign talent, and one of those that they attached to themselves was the British director James Whale. The first film he made was the not so known "Waterloo Bridge", but later that year he directed a film where the main character has become an icon of classic horror and monster movies. Equally known as Chaplin's the tramp, and Mickey Mouse. I'm talking Frankenstein's monster.

The film about the monster who is made out of various parts of human bodies stands to this day rock solid as an impressive piece of work, and the test of time have been far friendlier against it than in the case of Todd…

After watching the terrible "The Frankenstein Theory", I felt it was time to finally watch the classic Universal version of Frankenstein, as an atempt to restore my consideration for the monster. I knew it was the right choice at the very beggining of it, with the introduction of the story for the audience and the brief explanation of what Frankenstein's tale is about: Life and Death.

I've seen only few of the Classic Universal Monsters so far, but as the others, this one relies on a great atmosphere, something that seems to thrive beyond time, since it still is a reference more than 80 years past its release. The experience of watching Frankenstein for the first time is even more…