The Bride of Frankenstein is Still a Classic

I discuss that below: 

Horror movie sequels have probably always been that way since the beginning. I say that as I talk about the third movie in the 5 movie Universal Horror marathon I experienced at the Silver Moon Drive-In on Friday night. I had seen Bride before, but not immediately after its antecedent; thus, I did not recall that the beginning ignores the final scene of Frankenstein and starts right after the climax, where we see that the Monster survives, we discover in a bit that the character of Elizabeth was recast (another trait of horror sequels) and right away we realize that the OOT character of Minnie as played by Una O’Connor was hilarious. The undercurrent of humor does contrast the film w/ the original.

The Monster roams the countryside encountering several people-most notably an old blind man-where he learns to speak & is happy he tried wine… a Dr. Pretorious enters the picture & is even more batty than Hank Frankenstein, and everything is even better than in the original, including the creation of a new Monster. The titular Bride is also an iconic character; first-time-viewers will be surprised at how much screentime the character has. For me that is irrelevant when the journey there was so epic, the film had its wild moments, & the sets/atmosphere improves upon very good elements. The end result is a product that should be paired w/ 1931’s Frankenstein for an epic 2 ½ hours for any horror fan.

Bride even opens in a unique fashion which undoubtedly has rarely been replicated since: Mary Shelley (who at least was properly credited this time), her husband Percy, Lord Byron, and gang appear for a few minutes. She discusses the Frankenstein novel, why she wrote it, its themes, and how there was more story to tell. Wiki tells me that the creation of a love for the Monster is a subplot of the novel. It did make for a great horror film-not to mention of history’s best sequels-which has some tremendous scenes, including the conclusion. Sometime tonight, the fourth movie I saw on Friday night will be reviewed.