Hooptober 4.0 - 2017 - Film #27

If you haven't heard of Frankenstein then you have obviously been living under a sulfurous rock on a malformed planet orbiting an arsinic farting sun in a galaxy hiding in the blind spot on the other side of Alpha Centauri. Or somewhere like that. You get the idea.

James Whale's 1931 version of Frankenstein is so embedded in our culture that even if you haven't actually sat down and watched the film in its entirety, there is a good chance you will have seen iconic images, heard famous quotes and quite often seen entire scenes, perhaps without even realising it

So, it is without a doubt that everyone is familiar with Boris Karloff's…

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Immortal. James Whale's 1931 masterpiece, predicated on the turmoils and agony of Difference, is still haunting. Much of it is based on its design, with the high Gothic metaphysical ideas clashing with the ignorant medievalist mindset. Knowledge vs. safety. Boris Karloff's performance, iconic from the first smash-cut to his undead scowl after turning towards the camera (and the audience), is so harrowing. Crying out on the windmill as his creator abandons him, as he is consumed by the fire that he fears, is one of many moments of legend in popular culture, horror, and tragedy. While a flawed adaptation of Mary Shelley's magnificent novel, it distills key ideas and transplants them into a stumbling corpse of artifice. The Universal…

Can you imagine the pure unadulterated horror James Whale's Frankenstein incited in 1931! It is the stuff of nightmares, a monstrous creature created.. piecemealed if you will together like a patchwork quilt of flesh from dead corpses! My god what a horrifying and truly inspired addition to the horror genre! The 30s and 40s were great times for the horror enthusiast they knew no bounds or limits the possibilities were endless! Sadly creating new and terrifying monsters went out of fashion nowadays filmmakers primary focus seems to be limited to creating monstrous men wielding machetes or chainsaws!

When I was a youngin I literally got goosebumps on my arms watching the lab scene, levers pulled, lights flickering with a mad…

This is the first of a review series that will cover the original Universal horror films. I am partnering a list with each that highlights the respective character. Frank's list is HERE

When I was not quite five, I woke up one night after my parents were asleep, crept into the den, and quietly put on the TV. Something was just ending (that I don’t recall), but what came on next changed my life forever. It scared the shit out of me, mainlined a horror addiction right into my little veins and pulled me into the world of cinema.

Universal Pictures’ Frankenstein, like it’s Dracula before, has more to do with the play Frankenstein than the Novel by Mary Shelley.…

Film #3 of Project 30

”Now I know what it feels like to be God!”

James Whale’s Frankenstein is an iconic and historically significant piece of cinema, nothing can change that. It has inspired numerous artists and it has astounded generations of movie lovers. For people who were watching this back in 1931 Boris Karloff’s “Monster” was so terrifying that whenever he was appearing on screen they were screaming and running away from theaters! So from a historic point of view Frankenstein is a very important movie, it is not just a milestone in the horror genre, its groundbreaking technical achievements and the role it has played in defining the relationship between movies and viewers turn it into a milestone…

Geoff T's Hoop-Tober 3.0 Challenge
Dracula and Frankenstein Double Bill #2
Frankenstein (1931)

I didn't set my expectations high for this after how underwhelming I found Dracula, but this was FAR better in every possible way, in that it was better directed, acted, and actually had stuff going on, which is surprising considering Universal produced both films back-to-back.

Henry Frankenstein toys with science a little too much and puts together a monster made from body parts he and his hunchback accomplice shamelessly robbed from a nearby graveyard. The creation seems innocent enough, but kills and escapes after being bullied for too long. The story is the typical "mad scientist" tale that's been copied countless times since. I understand it's not…

If it contains Frankenstein, or is somehow related to Frankenstein, I’ll probably love it. Herein lies my top fifteen pieces of Frankenstein related arts and culture...

15. Andy Warhol's Frankenstein – Feature film, directed by Paul Morrissey, released in 1973

14. Frankenhooker – Feature film, directed by Frank Henenlotter, released in 1990

13. Frankenstein – Song recording by The Edgar Winter Group, released in 1973

12. Young Frankenstein – Feature film, directed by Mel Brooks, released in 1974

11. The Curse of Frankenstein – Feature film, directed by Terence Fisher, released in 1957

10. Frankenstein – Feature film, directed by James Whale, released in 1931

9. Doing It All for My Baby – Music video from Huey Lewis and the…

A pioneering horror classic that has retained its icy effectiveness in the nearly nine decades since its release, James Whale's "Frankenstein" is every bit the genre landmark that its reputation suggests. Haunting and heavy, the film is a slow-burning great whose ability to reach into the imaginations of its audience set the standard for chilling cinema to follow.

Based on Mary Shelley's literary icon, Whale's "Frankenstein" tells the story of a God-playing scientist bent on creating life out of dead flesh. His creation, as twisted and frightened as it is frightening, wreaks impossible havoc on the scientist, bringing near-holy punishment for the act of hubris.

The film follows the novel's core beats, and Whale orchestrates those beats with gothic grace…

Going into this a day after watching Dracula, I was aware that it's generally considered the better of the two movies, and also the best horror movie of the era. And I see why now: from a purely film-making standpoint, it's undoubtedly superior. Dracula still shows a lot of its stage play roots, and Frankenstein's cinematography and command of visual storytelling far outstrips it. It's also probably slightly better-paced, and if there aren't any performances to match Bela Lugosi's, Boris Karloff's monster, both moving and terrifying, comes pretty fucking close (at least some of the credit here goes to Jack Pierce's iconic makeup, of course), and the rest of the cast put in solid efforts as well. Many scenes are…

Frankenstein. The third film in my "Summer of Sci-Fi 2020" series I have been working through. After the... um, tedious, Woman in the Moon, this relatively brief film shows the power of brevity. To the point, laser focused, and 100% memorable.

This version of Frankenstein is a far cry from Marry Shelly's Frankenstein, and I think it's better for it. It is closer to the stage plays that were produced after the book sky rocketed to popularity.

Frankenstein 1931, is a great example of how to do an adaptation that is unique enough from its source material to stand on its own. At lot of that work is done by the environmental storytelling. The mad scientist's lab and the sparking…