The Cinematheque

“It’s satirical, exciting, funny, and an influential masterpiece of art direction.”

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

While its title promises a marriage, Bride of Frankenstein opens with a rather serious problem: both Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and the Monster he created (Boris Karloff) are by all accounts dead. Not for long! Director James Whale, given complete freedom after the success of the first Frankenstein (and from the fact that Mary Shelley never wrote a sequel) focuses on the core questions posed by Frankenstein’s creation, rather than plot. Does the Monster, who begins the film without any knowledge of spoken language, most resemble an animal, a violent criminal, or a child in need of attention and care? And do the scientists who want to look at him so closely (or kill him) have any real motivating purpose beyond amusement at a plaything? Lord Byron, ​“England’s greatest sinner,” prompts the premise in an opening cameo; Karloff’s performance, an influence on everything from the Iron Giant to Dougie in Twin Peaks, can be appreciated as both comical camp and pure pathos.

“Weird and funny … [And] a good deal more surreal than the original Frankenstein.”

Don Druker, Chicago Reader