The Bride of Frankenstein

Director - James Whale (Frankenstein, The Invisible Man)

Starring - Boris Karloff (Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Isle of the Dead), Elsa Lanchester (Mary Poppins, Terror in the Wax Museum), and Colin Clive (Frankenstein, The Stronger Sex)

Release Date - 1935

Genre - Horror/Sci-Fi

Tagline - "...more fearful than the monster himself"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     When I was introduced to horror I was staying at my grandmother's house while my father was out of town.  We watched Savini's remake of Night of the Living Dead.  I fell in love with it so she introduced me to the original Romero's classic.  That was about the oldest film I had really seen at that time but over the years I was introduced to some older films.  When I was in high school a friend of mine was obsessed with the Universal monsters.  It was at his house that I was introduced to the real original horror films.  I fucking loved them and before long I was adding them to my collection.  Since then I've upgraded these films to several different formats.  Sometime back my friends over at Umbrella Entertainment announced their Retro Horror Triple Feature Volume 1.  They were kind enough to send a copy my way which gave me a fantastic excuse to revisit these amazing films.  the first film in the set was the timeless Bride of Frankenstein.

     The film takes place sometime after the events of the original film.  Dr. Frankenstein survived and wants to turn his back on his research but an obsessed scientist, Dr. Pretorius, forces him back into his line of work when he finds his creation alive.  Together the two scientists work to create the monster a bride.

     The Bride of Frankenstein is damn near as iconic as the original Frankenstein film and is one of the most recognizable genre films in history.  Images of the Bride has almost became horror's unofficial mascot along with Legosi's Dracula, and the classic slashers like Freddy and Jason.  Honestly, out of the classic Universal Monsters films I would have to say that The Bride of Frankenstein is easily my favorite for several different reasons.  It's a true horror classic and is required viewing for genre fans.  The acting in this one is legendary.  Colin Clive delivers my favorite performance of his.  He's just as intense in this film as he was in the first but this go around he has a wider emotional range that he absolutely nails.  Karloff once again knocks it out of the park as the monster and even takes his performance a little further by giving him a little more dialogue and personality.  With that being said, my favorite performance of the film is from Ernest Thesiger who portrays Dr. Pretorius.  He's the star of the show in my opinion and his performance is the gold standard if you want my honest opinion.  The story for this one is more or less the same as the first film with a scientist creating life out of parts from cadavers.  However, with the sequel everything is doubled.  We now have two scientists working on a second creation.  It works, oddly enough, and the new characters and Bride are just enough to make this one just as enjoyable, if not more enjoyable, than the first film.  The pacing is damn near perfect and the writing is extremely smooth.  Finally, the film has some gorgeous make-up and sets.  The locations are textbook examples of gothic scenery and the make-up on both creations are iconic.  Overall, The Bride of Frankenstein doesn't need a review.  It's a damn near perfect film and one of the best sequels in cinema history.  If you have yet to see this one then I highly recommend you correct this.