Often hailed as the best sequel of all time and a movie that surpasses its predecessor, Bride of Frankenstein is undisputedly one of the top 5 horror movies of all time. I will start off by saying that this is indeed my favorite classic horror flick, but for this review I will remain neutral on the “Bride of Frankenstein versus the original Frankenstein” issue. I have my own opinions on which is the better film, but for this review I’m going to focus on this film, and this film alone. So, go ahead and burn my laboratory down and throw a dummy of me off the top of a windmill….you’ll never get it out of me!

Completely putting aside the existence of the original Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein stands alone as a fine classic horror experience. In this film, the Frankenstein monster is revived (the cardinal rule of the Frankenstein monster: if you happen to come across a dead Frankenstein monster, you absolutely must revive him even though you know there will be severe consequences) and the monster needs a mate. In this movie, you see the monster’s human side as he searches desperately for companionship. Of course, everyone finds him too frightening (I know this is shocking to all of you), except a blind man who befriends him.

I think this was a very wise move for the screenwriter. There are only two ways to make a monster effective: make him shadowlike with absolutely no personality or make the audience relate to him in some way. Since the former is impossible (I mean, part of the fun of the Frankenstein monster is actually seeing the Frankenstein monster trash things), the second path was the only way to go. It was this film more than the others that the audience related to the monster, which makes him more horrifying (as the lowest common denominator deduction would be “hey, if this monster is like me, then I must be like that monster…..and I might be capable of doing the things he does.”). This is an incredibly underutilized horror movie technique, and it tends to work best when the monster is unrealistic by nature. We fear what could potentially happen, so if a horror movie embraces an aspect that is impossible (such as making a live monster from dead human body parts), we have to have some “realistic” aspect to bind us to the monster in order to find him horrifying.

This seems like a good place to comment on the performances. Boris Karloff as the monster... do I really have to comment? Of course, he did an absolutely incredible job. Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein proved to be a perfect choice yet again. His “overacting” is actually very stylized and works incredibly well in a horror flick (especially as Colin‘s “overacting“ compliments his character‘s “unrealistic over-ambition“). Not to mention, Elsa Lanchester proves to be a very nice surprise as the Bride. All these actors are held together by the great James Whale’s directing style. Is it hard to see why this became such a hit?

While many people complain the story is a little slow moving, I disagree wholeheartedly. The story movies like a “horror drama”, which is exactly what this movie is. However, no drama would be complete without a little dash of comedy, which the script certainly delivers. I mean, the Frankenstein monster smokes a cigar for Crissakes! My only gripe is that the Bride has very, very limited screen time for someone who the movie was named after (she doesn’t even appear until the last ten minutes of the movie). However, the movie is so exquisite that this is just a disposable nuisance.

As a film student, I am very hesitant to call something a truly “good film”. I usually say something that it was a “good film for its time period” or a “good film considering the subject matter”. Bride of Frankenstein is truly a good film. It proved up to hold up the test of time. The cinematography is immaculate. The directing is superb. The acting is divine. And, the script? In my humble opinion, it couldn’t have been better whether it was a sequel or not. To say this movie is a “must see” would be redundant. If only horror movie directors today studied these old Universal classics much more closely, we wouldn’t have to weed through the FearDotCom flicks to get to the “future horror classics”. So, enjoy the magic of the Universal Monsters again. It’s “Goooood”.

Both Clive and Karloff had broken legs during production. Clive broke his in a riding accident shortly before filming started. Karloff's was broken after he slipped while filming the scene where he climbs out of the windmill ruins.