Culture recs: Frankenstein (and Mary Shelley) Through the Ages
Guillermo del Toro's is the latest filmmaker to put his spin on the Gothic classic
It’s Halloween, the time of year we can briefly escape the horror of the real world by gorging on fun-size Twix bars and watching scary movies about fictional monstrosities, like homicidal sentient dolls and reanimated pets.
Personally, I’ve always preferred horror of the Gothic variety: if no one’s wearing bonnets or riding a carriage through a fog-laden Transylvanian forest, I’m not interested. Which is why I was always going to be excited about Frankenstein, Guillermo del Toro’s take on Mary Shelley’s classic monster story.
Now in select theaters and streaming on Netflix Nov. 7, the film stars Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein, an egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a radical experiment with tragically unforeseen consequences for both the monster, played by Jacob Elordi, and his creator.
There may be no one better equipped to reinterpret Frankenstein than Del Toro, who has spent much of his career creating utterly gorgeous beasts in films like Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water. As a child, he fell in love with James Whale’s classic film versions, as well as Shelley’s novel, which he has referred to as his “bible.”
That doesn’t mean his take on Frankenstein is overly reverent toward the source material. In the film’s press notes, del Toro says that adapting a book to the screen is “like marrying a widow…. You have to respect the memory of the late husband, but on Saturdays, you’ve got to get some action.” In that regard, he’s spiced up Frankenstein in many ways, including dressing Isaac’s scientist like ‘70s Mick Jagger and portraying the Creature as a sensitive, misunderstood hottie. (Elordi, who will soon appear as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, is already considered a leading Oscar contender.)
Del Toro’s lush adaptation is the latest take on a tale that has fascinated the world since Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus was published anonymously in 1818. Shelley famously began writing the novel two years earlier, at the ripe old age of eighteen, when she and her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley were visiting Switzerland and their friend Lord Byron proposed a contest to see who could write the best ghost story.
“I busied myself to think of a story,” she wrote in the preface to Frankenstein. “One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature, and awaken thrilling horror — one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart.”
Ultimately, she did all that and much more. Frankenstein became one of the most influential novels in the English language, inspiring countless film and TV interpretations, from The Rocky Horror Picture Show to, um, Frankenhooker. The novel’s intriguing backstory and the tumultuous life of its author have also captured the imagination of numerous storytellers.
Here’s a look at a few of these interpretations.
Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein
Directed by James Whale and released in 1931, Frankenstein established the iconic look of the Monster as a towering figure with a heavy brow, flat head, and bolts in his neck. Boris Karloff — who was only cast as the Monster after Bela Lugosi dropped out of the project — is both terrifying and tender. The 1935 sequel introduced the Monster’s Mate (played by Elsa Lanchester), a character whose look has become equally iconic.
Watch here and here, or rent digitally.
Gothic and Mary Shelley
Made three decades apart, these films both focus on the backstory behind Frankenstein. Directed by Ken Russell and released in 1986, Gothic is a fictionalized retelling of the eventful Swiss getaway during which Shelley (Natasha Richardson) began to write the novel. Julian Sands co-stars as her husband, Percy B. Shelley, while a young Gabriel Byrne plays Lord Byron. (Oddly, another film called Haunted Summer dramatizing the same events was released just two years later. Even more oddly, it starred a bunch of Americans, including Eric Stoltz as Percy B. Shelley). Mary Shelley, with Elle Fanning in the title role, looks at the Shelleys’ tumultuous marriage.
Young Frankenstein
No list of Frankenstein-related films would be complete without Mel Brooks’ 1974 comedy classic, starring Gene Wilder as Frederick Frankenstein, Victor’s grandson, who is desperately trying to distance himself from his crackpot grandfather’s legacy, but inherits the family’s castle in Transylvania. With a cast that includes Teri Garr, Peter Boyle, and Cloris Leachman, it’s not to be missed. The only problem? It’s currently impossible to find on streaming or even for digital rental. If only there was a mad scientist somewhere who could fix this! (If you sleuths find it, please let me know.)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
In case you somehow never made it to a midnight screening at your local independent cinema, this campy cult favorite, which turned 50 this year, stars the great Tim Curry as an irresistible scientist from Transylvania, named Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
Watch here, put your corset on backward, and shout back at the screen all you want.
Blackenstein
Yet another subversive take on Frankenstein from the 1970s, Blackenstein is a blaxploitation horror flick about Eddie Turner (Joe De Sue), a Black Vietnam veteran who lost his limbs in a landmine explosion and seeks help from a crazed white physician. It was written and produced by Frank Saletri, whose 1982 murder remains unsolved, should you care to dive down that rabbit hole this Halloween.
Watch here.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also plays the doctor, this adaptation stars Robert De Niro as the Creature. It was released in 1994, not long after Francis Ford Coppola reignited Hollywood interest in classic tales of horror with Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It is widely considered to be the most faithful adaptation of Shelley’s novel, but has also received mixed reviews.
Watch here.
Stay spooky, Contrarians. And never underestimate the cruelty that can be waged by neglected, vengeful monsters.
Meredith Blake is the culture columnist for The Contrarian.
For a scary romp with Percy Shelly, Lord Byron and vampires read “The Stress of Her Regard” by Tim Powers. What a tale.
"Young Frankenstein" is being streamed on something called Frndly TV. However, you can borrow the DVD from your local library.