It’s that time of year again! Time to celebrate the Resurrection with a weeklong plunge into all things zombie! Here’s the history: In 2008, Dr. Girlfriend and I decided to spend a week or so each year marathoning through zombie films that we’d never seen before, and I would blog short reviews. And simple as that, the Easter Zombie Movie Marathon was born.
For the curious, here are links to 2008, 2009 (a bad year), 2010, 2011, 2012 (when we left the blog behind), 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
This year’s Easter Zombie Movie Marathon is going to take a little different approach to the genre than in other years, mainly because we were having trouble finding worthwhile subject matter that wasn’t Korean or anime, and maybe an extra year would allow for more diversity of content. Anyway, after some discussion, Dr. Girlfriend and I decided that it might be fun to take a look at the most popular reanimated corpse in movie history, Frankenstein’s Monster.
So without further ado, let’s jump into the movie that started it all (no, not the 1910 Edison short film, as it was considered lost until the mid-1970s), Universal Pictures’ Frankenstein (1931). It might be hard to really find something new or interesting to say about what is generally considered one of the greatest horror films of all time, so let’s get the basics out of the way.
Released in pre-code 1931, Frankenstein was adapted from the 1927 play by Peggy Webling, which was, of course, inspired by Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. Following hot on the heels of Universal’s hit Dracula, Frankenstein was originally intended to star Bela Lugosi and be directed by Robert Florey, but there were conflicts with Lugosi about what role he was going to actually play. He wanted to play Henry Frankenstein, but the studio wanted him to be the Monster. Lugosi also wasn’t thrilled with the script, which focused mainly on the Monster as a rampaging killing machine with little to no sympathy or pathos. Or in other words, nothing like the original novel.
Luckily for everyone involved, director James Whale arrived at Universal and requested to take over the film and brought Boris Karloff on board to play the Monster. And the rest is history. Whale’s nuanced take on the story and Karloff’s soulful – but still horrifying – performance allowed audiences to sympathize with the Monster to an extent, while also leaning heavily into the grotesque and even blasphemous. Remember, this was pre-code, so Whale and company were able to get away with a lot more than later films in the franchise could.
Many of the transgressive scenes were edited according to local state censorship boards as the film played across the county, and many scenes have been lost to time. However, the most egregious scenes, the Monster drowning the little girl and Frankenstein exclaiming that he knows what if feels like to be God after successfully bringing the Monster to life, have been recovered, for the most part, and have been reinserted in contemporary releases of the film.
The set design and lighting were both amazing, taking advantage of both cavernous rooms in Frankenstein manor and very effective stage-like scenes in the graveyards and mountains with deep, dark shadows that at times loomed up across the screen as though alive. In particular, the electrical and make-up effects still hold up as incredible filmmaking. The electrical effects in Frankenstein’s laboratory were designed by Kenneth Strickfaden and ended up being used in every subsequent Universal Frankenstein film – even making appearances in 1974’s Young Frankenstein. The makeup design was worked out over weeks by Whale and makeup artist Jack Pierce and was designed to allow Karloff’s emotive performance to show through despite some truly gruesome scars and disturbing drooping eyelids. In a stroke of luck and genius, Karloff had a partial set of dentures, that when removed, naturally created the Monster’s sunken cheek.
I realized once the movie started that I can’t remember if I’d ever seen Frankenstein from start to finish, so this was like watching it with fresh eyes. After the opening prologue where the audience is warned about the horrific nature of the following film, we then begin the story proper with a funeral in the Bavarian mountains. Creeping on the crying crowd is Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his hunchbacked assistant Fritz (Dwight Frye). Once the body is buried and the grave digger has left, Frankenstein and Fritz get to work unearthing the coffin and stealing away. They also cross paths with a hanged man along the side of the road that they cut down but decided is of no use for Frankenstein’s experiments.
One can only imagine just how shocking this opening would have been in 1931, particularly after the relative tameness of Dracula. Clive is damn near perfect as Dr. Frankenstein and it’s no wonder his performance almost single-handedly created the mad scientist archetype for the following century. Dwight Frye is also a stand-out as the frenzied psychotic Fritz. The sheer level of violence he unleashes on Karloff’s Monster is wince-inducing and it was genuinely satisfying to see him get his just desserts.
Mae Clarke as Henry’s fiancée and John Boles as their friend Victor are serviceable but neither really stood out on this viewing. Edward Van Sloan was believable as Henry’s old mentor Dr. Waldman and Frederick Kerr chewed all the scenery as Henry’s father, Baron Frankenstein.
Of course, the highlight of the film is the iconic combination of make-up and performance that was Boris Karloff’s Monster. Lumbering through scenes, groaning and snarling, with his long, groping arms and hideous face, Karloff is the stuff of nightmares. Even watching it today, he looks like the corpse (or collection of corpses, technically) he’s playing. I was surprised by how straight up murderous the character actually is, since the pathos is what is usually mentioned with regard to Karloff’s performance. And while his violent reactions are understandable, given the almost child-like nature of his initial interactions, and the extreme torment Fritz puts him through, that abnormal, criminal brain of his is on display as well.
I was also startled by just how much emotion and pain was on display as Maria’s (Marilyn Harris) father (Michael Mark) carried her drowned body through the village, silencing the crowds of people celebrating Henry’s impending wedding. It was a powerful and unnerving scene, especially watching the reactions of the crowd – the children in particular.
The Monster’s eventual demise (I know, I know) in the burning windmill was also much more effective than I was anticipating, mainly due to Karloff just buying completely into the moment, screaming like a child as he staggered through the encroaching flames. I think I would have preferred the film to end there, but we had to find out that Henry would survive (thanks to the wooden blades of the windmill breaking his fall when the Monster tossed him from the top), which leaves us with the very unsatisfying final shot of the Baron telling us Henry’s alright and deciding to drink the good wine rather than give it to his recovering son. Everybody laughs and The End.
All in all, there’s very good reason that Frankenstein ended up named the 87th greatest movie of all time by the American Film Institute and the 14th scariest film ever made by the Chicago Film Critics Association. Frankenstein, along with Dracula, The Mummy, and eventually The Wolf Man would form the core of Universal Studios Monster franchises throughout the Thirties and Forties before the petering out in 1956 after a series of Abbott and Costello films and the Creature from the Black Lagoon trilogy.