Review of Bride of Frankenstein (1935) by Jacob M — 26 Oct 2013

(Movie King Quick Review).

The Bride of Frankenstein, directed by James Whale, is the classic sequel to Whale's classic horror film Frankenstein, which helped define the horror genre in that decade. In the sequel, Frankenstein's monster (Boris Karloff) is "back" from the dead, and while he continues to scare people around and occasionally kill, he's also lonely and wants a friend. He comes across villainy Dr. Pretorious (Ernst Thesiger), where they both force Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive), by means of kidnapping fiancée Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson), to create a bride for the monster. Elsa Lanchester plays The Bride in possibly the most famous scene of the movie. She also plays Mary Shelley, the real author of the story, in the opening scene of the film.

Call me crazy, but in my mind, Bride of Frankenstein is the greatest horror film of all-time, and is better than it's predecessor, which is rare for a sequel from the 1930's. Why did I love this film? Well, it combines horror and creeps (Pretorious's miniature figures and the look of The Bride (I really want to know who designed her hair; it's amazing)), comedy (the entire role of Una O'Connor as the maid), emotional detail (the monster's longing for a friend and his small encounter with the blind priest), and unlike the first which lacked a score, Franz Waxman's eerie score provides the sounds that I wanted for the original. Boris Karloff is awesome as the monster, and is even moving in a couple of places, which makes me root for the monster even more. His makeup is phenomenal and creates his greatest role ever. He would play the monster one more time in 1939's Son of Frankenstein.

Bride of Frankenstein is an incredible sequel, outdoing everything impressive in the first one, and James Whale has created without a doubt, the most essential horror film of all-time.

"Alone, bad. Friend, good.".