Bride of Frankenstein (DVD)

note: also appears in part on Flixster and The Student Room The classic 1931 Frankenstein is no doubt an impressive and enduring film, but what always bothered me was how it crudely cut the emotional and cerebral elements of the plot, as though they felt that in 1931 the audiences couldn't handle it. Bride of Frankenstein is less bothersome as a sequel because, of course, there is no such novel, and Bride simply takes one of the subplots from Shelley's original story and then gives it its own spin. The film is in a way reflexive, because the opening scene has Percy Bysshe Shelley (Douglas Walton) and Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon) discussing Frankenstein ...  Read the complete review

This horror sequel is as good as the original Frankenstein (also directed by James Whale, in 1931). Boris Karloff and Colin Clive return as monster and creator respectively and are here joined by Elsa Lanchester as the title character. Everything about the movie is great, but the best aspect has to be the 'look' of the Bride. With huge hair, pale skin, streaks of white throughout her bonnet, this monster looks great! And believe it or not, I truly have seen children dressed like this on Halloween when out trick or treating! ...  Read the complete review

This is one of the true classics of the horror genre. Unfortunately, because it was made in 1935, it isn't even remotely horrifying or scary by today's standards. Lots of modern films have shown us just how inventively unpleasant the living dead can be (Day of the Dead, for instance), so Karloff's rather sedate antics as the Creature in this film don't quite pack the punch they might have done to a thirties audience. However, it seems highly unlikely that the film was supposed to be taken seriously at the time. James Whale, the director, had already started to make horror films with a high level of humour (The Old Dark House and The Invisible ...  Read the complete review

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury I present to you a fine example that not only puts forward the argument that sequels can be great, but also that there were good sequels before Godfather Part II. The Bride of Frankenstein actually surpasses the original film and is perhaps one of the greatest horror movies made. I say all this in spite of its glaring flaws as a sequel. It commits all the cardinal sins that a sequel should never do. It changes the tone of the original by introducing comedy, it retcons the ending of the original (if you have read or seen "Misery" this is an absolute no-no with die-hard fans) and unforgivably it brings in a new ...  Read the complete review

After four years of trying, Universal finally relented and let James Whale finally write a sequel to his black and white Classic "Frankenstein", what a good job they did too. It was filmed under the titles of "Frankenstein Lives Again!" and "The Return Of Frankenstein". It has a bigger budget, a superb script and some brilliant photography. Once again Boris Karloff reprises his role as the monster, who is discovered to be living in the ruins of the mill. Now he has learned to talk and has also learnt what it's like to be lonely. He demands that Henry Frankenstein creates him a mate, which unfortunately, does not have ...  Read the complete review