Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus , and the famous character of Frankenstein's monster, have influenced popular culture for at least a century. The work has inspired numerous films, television programs, video games and derivative works. The character of the Monster remains one of the most recognized icons in horror fiction. [1]
The first film adaptation of the tale, Frankenstein , was made by Edison Studios in 1910, [2] written and directed by J. Searle Dawley, with Augustus Phillips as Frankenstein, Mary Fuerte as Elizabeth, and Charles Ogle as the Monster. The brief (16 min.) story has Frankenstein chemically create the Creature in a vat. The Creature has encounters with the scientist until Frankenstein's wedding night, when true love causes the Creature to vanish. For many years, this film was believed lost. A collector announced in 1980 that he had acquired a print in the 1950s and had been unaware of its rarity.
The Edison version was followed soon after by another adaptation entitled Life Without Soul (1915), directed by Joseph W. Smiley, starring William A. Cohill as Dr. William Frawley, a modern-day Frankenstein who creates a soulless man, played to much critical praise by Percy Standing, who wore little make-up in the role. The film was shot at various locations around the United States, and reputedly featured much spectacle. In the end, it turns out that a young man has dreamed the events of the film after falling asleep reading Mary Shelley's novel. This film is now considered a lost film.
There was also at least one European film version, the Italian The Monster of Frankenstein (Il Mostro di Frankenstein) in 1921. The film's producer, Luciano Albertini, essayed the role of Frankenstein, with the Creature being played by Umberto Guarracino, and Eugenio Testa directing from a screenplay by Giovanni Drivetti. This film is also now considered lost.
The first sound adaptation of the story, Frankenstein (1931), was produced by Universal Pictures, directed by James Whale, and starred Boris Karloff as the creature. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Its sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) was also directed by Whale with Karloff as the Creature. It was followed by Son of Frankenstein (1939), the last of the three films with Boris Karloff as the Creature. The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) marked the Universal series' descent into B movie territory; later efforts by the studio combined two or more monsters, culminating in the comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein . The later Universal films in which the Monster appears (and the actors who played him) are:
In Great Britain, a long-running series by Hammer Films focused on the character of Dr Frankenstein (usually played by Peter Cushing) rather than his monster. Peter Cushing played Dr Frankenstein in all of the films except for The Horror of Frankenstein, in which the character was played by Ralph Bates. Cushing also played a creation in The Revenge of Frankenstein. David Prowse played two different Creatures.
The Hammer films are a series in the loosest sense since there is only tenuous continuity between the films after the first two (which are, by contrast, carefully connected). Starting with The Evil of Frankenstein, the films are standalone stories with occasional vague references to previous films, much the way the James Bond films form a series. In some of the films, the Baron is a kindly, even heroic figure, while in others he is ruthless, cruel and clearly the villain of the piece.
The Hammer Films series (and the actor playing the Creature) consisted of:
In 1959, Hammer shot a half-hour pilot episode for a TV series to be called Tales of Frankenstein in association with Columbia Pictures. Anton Diffring played the Baron, and Don Megowan his creation. Curt Siodmak directed. The series was scrapped, largely because of the two companies' disagreement over what the basic thrust of the series would be: Hammer wanted to do a series about Baron Frankenstein involved in various misadventures, while Columbia wanted a series of science fiction stories loosely based around the idea of science gone wrong. Though unreleased at the time of its production, the episode is available on DVD from several public domain sources.
Depictions of the Monster have varied widely, from a savage, mindless brute to the depiction of the Monster as a kind of tragic hero (closest to the Shelley version in behavior) in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, The Bride, and Van Helsing. Throughout the Universal series, he evolved from the latter to the former.
Four films have depicted the genesis of the Frankenstein story in 1816: Gothic directed by Ken Russell (1986), Haunted Summer directed by Ivan Passer (1988), and Remando al viento (English title: Rowing with the Wind) directed by Gonzalo Suárez (1988) and Mary Shelley directed by Haifaa al-Mansour (2017). The opening scene of Bride of Frankenstein also dealt with this event.
The Frankenstein story and its elements have been adapted many times for television:
Parodies have been broadcast on radio:
The story of Frankenstein and "Frankenstein's monster", has formed the basis of many original novels over the years, some of which were considered sequels to Shelley's original work, and some of which were based more upon the character as portrayed in the Universal films. Yet others were completely new tales inspired by Frankenstein.
The Monster has also been the subject of many comic book adaptations, ranging from the ridiculous (a 1960s series portraying The Monster as a superhero; see below), to more straightforward interpretations of Shelley's work.
In 1940, cartoonist Dick Briefer wrote and drew a Frankenstein's-Monster comic book title for Crestwood Publications's Prize Comics, beginning with a standard horrific version, updated to contemporary America, but then in 1945 crafting an acclaimed and well-remembered comedic version that spun off into his own title, Frankenstein Comics. The series ended with issue #17 (Jan.-Feb. 1949, but was revived as a horror title from #18-33 (March 1952 - Oct.-Nov. 1954). The original Prize version served as catalyst for an intra-company crossover, where all characters starring in Prize Comics at the time teamed up to fight Frankenstein. [38] [39]
DC Comics' Movie Comics #1 (April 1939) featured an eight-page fumetti adaptation of the film Son of Frankenstein .
The Monster appeared in Superman No. 143 (February 1961), in a story entitled "Bizarro Meets Frankenstein!"
In 1973 the "Spawn of Frankenstein" appeared in the Phantom Stranger comic, written by Len Wein. The portrayal of the Monster was as a reclusive, sympathetic character who had been living alone in the Arctic since the death of his creator.
A 1995 Batman special called Batman: Castle of the Bat by Jack C. Harris and Bo Hampton amalgamates Batman and Frankenstein. Bruce Wayne fills the role of Victor Frankenstein, wishing to revive his deceased father. Having successfully done so, his creation becomes the monstrous "Bat-Man", a hulking figure in a rough analogue of the Batman costume who preys upon highwaymen, similar to the one who took the lives of the (this story's) parents of Bruce Wayne. Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth is changed to a hunchbacked dwarf named Alfredo, filling the "Igor" role.
In The Superman Monster (1999), Lex Luthor is Viktor Luther, the creator. He discovers the spacecraft that would have carried the infant Superman to Earth. Inside, however, is only the skeleton of a child. Using the Kryptonian technology, he is able to animate his (unintentionally) super-powered creature, which initially resembles Bizarro. The creature flees and is raised by the kindly couple Johann and Marta Kant. They name the creature Klaus, after their dead son. The story features the Lois Lane character becoming "the Bride" to Superman's Creature.
DC Comics and Roy Thomas revived the character "The Spawn of Frankenstein" in Young All-Stars ; he then appeared in Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory . Here, Frankenstein is a Milton-quoting, gun-toting warrior battling to prevent the end of the world. In addition, DC's team of movie monster-esque soldiers known as the Creature Commandos featured a character that resembled the Universal Pictures version of Frankenstein's Monster; Private Elliot "Lucky" Taylor was nearly killed after stepping on a land mine, but was grotesquely reconstructed into a "Patchwork Creature" (as designated by the Who's Who in the DC Universe entry on the Creature Commandos), and later rendered mute by a suicide attempt. Later, DC Comics debuted an unrelated superhero (and member of the Teen Titans) called "Young Frankenstein."
In Warren Ellis and John Cassaday's Planetary , the protagonist, Elijah Snow, discovers an abandoned laboratory, filled with patchwork undead monsters. It is heavily implied that the lab belonged to Victor Frankenstein, and that, alongside Count Dracula, the Invisible Man, and Sherlock Holmes, Frankenstein had been part of a covert 19th century conspiracy to shape the direction of the future.
In the comic book Major Bummer , Louie defends the common misnaming of the monster as "Frankenstein": Dr. Frankenstein is, so to speak, the monster's "father", and it is only right that a son should have his father's family name. This is also the argument taken by the Seven Soldiers incarnation.
In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, the Seven Soldiers' version of the character is re-established in the ongoing series Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. .
The monster appeared as a foe to Marvel Comics' X-Men in issue #40 of their eponymous series (January 1968). In the story, written by Roy Thomas, the monster had various powers, including incredible strength, optic beams, and magnetized feet. He was an ambassador sent to Earth by aliens in the 1850s, but upon arrival, he went berserk. His fellow aliens followed him to the North Pole, where he was frozen. In the present, he was discovered by scientists and thawed. According to Professor X, this android was the inspiration for Shelley's novel.
The Monster of Frankenstein, the first five issues of which (Jan.-September 1973) contained a faithful (in spirit at least) retelling of Shelley's tale before transferring the Monster into the present day and pitting him against James Bond-inspired evil organizations. The artist, Mike Ploog, recalled, "I really enjoyed doing Frankenstein because I related to that naive monster wandering around a world he had no knowledge of — an outsider seeing everything through the eyes of a child." [40]
In Invaders #31, the Invaders, searching for the Human Torch and Toro, disappear in Switzerland. The Invaders' investigation brings them face to fist with Frankenstein. A wheelchair-bound Nazi scientist and Japanese doctor plan to transplant said Nazi scientist's brain into Captain America's body. The Invaders have to fight Frankenstein in the issue (Frankenstein is dressed as a Nazi officer)
Classic Comics #27 (December 1945), reprinted in Classics Illustrated #26, had versions of the Shelley novel.
Dell Comics published a superhero version of the character in the comic book series Frankenstein #2-4 (September 1966 - March 1967; issue #1, published Oct. 1964, featured a very loose adaptation/update of the 1931 Universal Pictures movie).
In 1972, French comics publisher Aredit devoted seven issues of its digest-sized Hallucinations horror comic magazine to adapt Jean-Claude Carrière's Frankenstein novels.
In 1973, Dargaud published Dracurella, by Spanish born comic creator Julio Ribera (1927–2018), [41] in the French comic magazine Pilote, which featured both Victor Frankenstein and his monster.
In 1991, Dark Horse Comics issued an adaptation of the 1931 Universal film.
The Monster is Monster in My Pocket #13. He appears among the good monsters in the comic book (1991), the video game (1991), the animated special (1992), and the 2003 animated series. In the comics, he was relatively inarticulate, represented by hyphens between each syllable he spoke, but possessed of simple wisdom and strong morals. This characterization was essentially characterized in the video game, where he was a playable character, and his only line of dialogue in the cut scenes was "Yeah..." In the animated special, he was known as "Big Ed" and was essentially a comic simpleton.
Junji Ito serialized a manga adaptation of the novel, which was collected and published by Asahi Sonorama as the last tankōbon volume of The Junji Ito Horror Comic Collection in 1999.
In 2001, Curtis Jobling released a picture book titled Frankenstein's Cat , which focused on Frankenstein's first creation; a cat named Nine (due to being made up of nine different cats). A television adaption aired in 2008 on CBBC.
2004 saw the debut of Doc Frankenstein , written by the Wachowskis, the writer-director team of The Matrix ), and drawn by Steve Skroce. The book tells the continuing adventures of Frankenstein's monster, who has since adopted his creator's name and became a hero through the ages.
In 2004, manga artist Atsushi Ōkubo produced the manga Soul Eater; in the fifth chapter, a character known as Franken Stein made his debut; much of his design was referenced from the novel Frankenstein, including his body being covered in dozens of self-inflicted stitches. Like his namesake, Franken Stein is both a skilled doctor and scientist, actually accomplishing in resurrecting another character into a zombie. But otherwise, the rest of Victor Frankenstein's character was mostly tossed aside (the character was obsessed with taking things apart, usually with scalpels, and he was also a skilled fighter, especially in hand-to-hand combat); the major difference between Franken Stein and Mary Shelley's Victor Frankenstein is the fact that Franken Stein has the classic personality of a psychopath or serial killer.
In 2005, Dead Dog Comics produced a sequel to the Frankenstein mythos with Frankenstein: Monster Mayhem, written by R. D. Hall with art by Jerry Beck. In Dead Dog's version, the Monster sets out to create his own Necropolis.
Also in 2005, Speakeasy Comics put out their sequel, The Living and the Dead, written by Todd Livingston and Robert Tinnell, with art by Micah Farritor. In it, Victor, now calling himself Hans, must create a new body for his first cousin who wants her syphilitic son to remain alive after a vicious beating, and she coerces him to do so under fear of exposing him for who he really is. Half-crazed due to the disease, the newly-born monster proceeds to start a Grand Guignol theater in Ingolstadt until Victor puts him down with the help of the first Monster he ever created. As thanks, Victor begins work on the last attempt he will make at playing God, and begins to build the original Creature a mate.
In 2005, Puffin Books released a graphic novel adaptation adapted by Gary Reed with art from Frazer Irving.
The 2006 Beckett Entertainment/Image comics graphic novel The Cobbler's Monster: A Tale of Gepetto's Frankenstein features an amalgamation between Gepetto and Victor Frankenstein, who reanimates his dead son.
In 2006, Eros Comix published Adult Frankenstein, a comic book with Frankenstein X-rated stories (featuring also other classic monsters) all written by Enrico Teodorani (creator of Djustine), with cover by Joe Vigil and interior art by some of the best Italian authors in the erotic comics field.
Also in 2006, Big Bang Comics published an issue of Big Bang Presents featuring a superhero incarnation of the Monster called Super Frankenstein.
Manga artist Mitsukazu Mihara published a collection of six short stories entitled Beautiful People on October 20, 2001. The main story, also titled "Beautiful People", follows a woman who had plastic surgery done hoping to become beautiful and loved, but after she meets a young girl stitched together from corpses, she realizes that girl was the truly beautiful one because of the love that she gave.
The 2007 manga series Embalming-The Another Tale of Frankenstein- , published by Shueisha, is based on the idea that Victor Frankenstein actually existed and created an artificial human from body parts of dead people and that 150 years after this event, numerous doctors across Europe are using what is left of his notes to try and create their own monsters. The series also features characters reading Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
In 2009 Papercutz published a Classics Illustrated Deluxe Graphic Novel adaptation of Frankenstein by French cartoonist Marion Mousse. His adaptation was originally published in French in three volumes, and was all collected and translated into English for the Papercutz version. Of all the comic book adaptations, this one is probably the most faithful to the original book.
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Frankenstein's Monster appears in the Konami video game series Castlevania numerous times, with its name being "the Monster" or "the Creature", often as a major boss, but sometimes as a regular enemy. The Monster usually has the appearance of the Karloff/Universal version; however, the 2010 series reboot Castlevania: Lords of Shadow features a completely different-looking boss known as the "Mechanical Monstrosity", created some time prior to 1047 by "Friedrich von Frankenstein".
Several other video game version are also available, including Bride of Frankenstein (Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum), Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster - A Cinematic Adventure Starring Tim Curry (PC CD-ROM) and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein , (Super NES, Genesis, Sega CD) based on the 1994 film of the same name. Other games featuring the monster include Frankenstein: The Monster Returns for the original Nintendo Entertainment System and Frankenstein's Monster for the Atari 2600.
A Frankenstein-like monster called Victor von Gerdenheim is a playable character in the fighting game series Darkstalkers , along with many other monsters from popular culture.
Frankenstein's Monster also appears in the video game adaptation of the film Van Helsing. He only appears as a non-playable character.
The role-playing game Promethean: The Created by White Wolf Publishing, focuses on beings created from human remains and animated by "the Divine Fire" who seek to attain humanity. One of the "Lineages" (groupings) of said creatures is that of the Frankensteins, who, like their namesake, are crafted from the best parts of multiple corpses and brought to life by lightning. The Monster himself, going by the name John Verney, appears in some of the book's fiction and illustrations.
In 1989, the line of action figures for The Real Ghostbusters featured figures of several Universal Monsters, including Frankenstein's Monster.
In 2002, LEGO released a Dr. Frankenstein and Monster set as part of the LEGO Studios toy line. In 2011, a new green-skinned Minifigure called Monster resembles the creature.
The 2008 video game Fable II contains a quest in which a man named Victor is attempting to reanimate the body of a deceased woman, both homages to the book. Upon completion of the quest, if the player buys the house, it unlocks an area known as "the Shelley Tomb", a reference to the author of the novel.
In the 2009 Wii game MadWorld , Frankenstein's Monster appears as a boss battle at the base of a dungeon, and is simply called "Frank" with bolts in his back, rather than in his neck as common stereotypes depict. He is also shown as being regenerative when connected to an electric chair, and his size well exceeds the usually large 7'0" to go as much as 20'0".
In Atlus' popular Persona series, the residents of the "Velvet Room", a supernatural room that is "Between mind and matter", are named after characters from the Frankenstein series, namely Igor, Elizabeth, Margaret, Theodore, Marie, Lavenza, Caroline, and Justine.
In 2019, Plaid Hat Games released Abomination: The Heir of Frankenstein, a board game sequel to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus , taking place 20 years after the events of the novel. In Abomination, the Creature lives and recruits scientists in Paris (the role of the players) to carry on the work of Victor Frankenstein, while Captain Walton seeks to stop the competition and fulfill his vow. [42]
Also in 2019, Steel Wool Studios released Curse of Dreadbear , a Hallowe'en-themed downloadable content pack to their virtual reality game Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted . The eponymous Dreadbear is a Frankenstein version of series mascot Freddy Fazbear, and was initially named "Franken Freddy" during Curse of Dreadbear's development. Dreadbear is included in merchandise and cameos in Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach on cardboard cutouts.
Frankenstein's Monster appears in the horror fighting game Terrordrome 2: Reign of the Legends. This version of the Monster considers himself the legitimate son of Victor Frankenstein, explaining why the game calls him 'Frankenstein' instead of 'Frankenstein's Monster'.
The Creature of Dr. Frankenstein appears as the main character in the 2019 video game 'The Wanderer: Frankenstein's Creature' (Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS/Android). The game was co-produced by La Belle Games and Arte and is a point-and-click narrative adventure which features a story based more closely on Mary Shelley's novel than a number of modern popular culture references to Frankenstein. [43]
The popular Fashion-Doll line Monster High (the concept of the line being children of famous monsters attending a high school) has a character called "Frankie Stein", who is the daughter of Frankenstein's Monster and his Bride.
The Transformers: Collaborators toyline features a Decepticon called Frankentron in its crossover with the Universal Classic Monsters. While his robot form resembles Frankenstein's monster, he is a retooled version of Impactor from the War for Cybertron: Siege toyline.
In the 1920s, carbon monoxide was regarded as the Frankenstein of civilization in the context of humankind's industrial production of the gas and widespread problems with carbon monoxide poisoning leading to the notion of carbon monoxide as "the automaton that turns on its maker, pursues him to the ends of the earth and finally destroys him”. [44]
Science fiction author Isaac Asimov coined the term Frankenstein complex for the fear of robots.
Frankensteining is a term used by abusers of crystal methamphetamine to calm themselves by diassembling and reassembling objects. The term is used in that subculture and is recently gaining wider currency: it has been used in an episode of CSI: Miami and has four different definitions in Urban Dictionary , all with the same meaning of assembling parts from diverse sources.[ citation needed ]
Frankenstein or Franken- is sometimes used as a prefix to imply artificial monstrosity as in "Frankenfood", a politically charged name, coined by the American academic Paul Lewis, for genetically manipulated foodstuffs. The Franken- prefix can also mean anything assembled haphazardly from originally disparate elements, especially if those parts were previously discarded by others—for example, a car built from parts salvaged from many other cars. For many years Eddie Van Halen played a guitar built in such a manner which he called the "Frankenstrat".
In 1971, General Mills introduced "Franken Berry", a strawberry-flavored corn cereal whose mascot is a variation of the Monster from the 1931 movie.
"Frankenstein" is the name of a character in the 1975 movie Death Race 2000 and its 2008 remake Death Race . The first incarnation was portrayed by veteran actor David Carradine and the second by Jason Statham.
The 1984 novel Gothic Romance by Emmanuel Carrère is about the writing of Frankenstein, told from John William Polidori's perspective. [45]
George A. Romero's 1985 film Day of the Dead features a scientist conducting experiments on zombies nicknamed "Frankenstein".
The hit song China in Your Hand by the British rock band T'Pau employs the story of Frankenstein, and Mary Shelley's writing of it, in its role as a classic cautionary tale.
In David Brin's science fiction novel Kiln People , defective golems that become autonomous are called "frankies".
Mewtwo of the Pokémon franchise has been likened to Frankenstein's Monster in regards to being born through an artificial means and discontent with the fact. [46] [47]
Stitch, the main protagonist of Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise, was somewhat influenced by the Monster, as he was created by a scientist from miscellaneous alien DNA. Unlike Shelley's Monster, however, his intentions were initially evil until he discovered an inner loneliness, causing him, and eventually his creator, to turn from crime to justice. Throughout the franchise, Stitch also demonstrates the Monster's Herculean strength and childlike curiosity.
In season 3 of Beast Wars Megatron clones Dinobot, making a Frankenstein's Monster out of the clone by transmetallizing him with the Transmetal Driver and adding the half of Rampage's mutant spark he cut out earlier. The result was an extremely mutated Transmetal II minion under the influence of his "half-brother's" evil.
In 2006, the book The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived listed Dr. Frankenstein's Monster [ sic ] at #6. [48] [49]
The California Medical Association, in a rather humorous gesture, chose Halloween 2006 to announce that Dr. Richard Frankenstein had been elected president of the organization. [50] [51] He had previously been president of the Orange County Medical Association in 1995-1996. [52]
Frankenstein is a character in the Korean web-comic manhwa Noblesse . He, like that of the actual character Frankenstein, is a scientist, but the similarities end there. Through his research he has gained immortality and immense power. He now serves the most powerful of all vampires, the Noblesse.
Pop artist Eric Millikin created a large mosaic portrait of Frankenstein's Monster out of Halloween candy and spiders as part of his "Totally Sweet" series in 2013. [53]
The character Professor Franken Stein from Soul Eater is a composite of Victor Frankenstein and the Monster, covered in stitches with a screw through his head as the result of self-experimentation.
In Hellsing , Alexander Anderson is based on Frankenstein's Monster, given that his name came from a song that has a reference about Frankenstein's Monster, his abilities are similar and he is referred to as God's Monster after using the nail of Helena.
Frankenstein's Monster appears as the Berserker class Servant of the Black Faction in the Fate/stay night spin-off Fate/Apocrypha . This depiction of the Monster is a young female homunculus in a wedding gown.
The 2015 film Ex Machina shows some similarity to Frankenstein story with a 21st-century femme fatale android.
Frankenstein is a 1931 American gothic pre-Code science fiction horror film directed by James Whale, produced by Carl Laemmle Jr., and adapted from a 1927 play by Peggy Webling, which in turn was based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The Webling play was adapted by John L. Balderston and the screenplay written by Francis Edward Faragoh and Garrett Fort, with uncredited contributions from Robert Florey and John Russell.
Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classic horror characters such as Baron Victor Frankenstein, Count Dracula, and the Mummy, which Hammer reintroduced to audiences by filming them in vivid colour for the first time. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies, as well as, in later years, television series.
Frankenstein's monster, commonly referred to as Frankenstein, is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus as its main antagonist. Shelley's title compares the monster's creator, Victor Frankenstein, to the mythological character Prometheus, who fashioned humans out of clay and gave them fire.
Van Helsing is a 2004 action horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as monster hunter Van Helsing and Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious. Van Helsing is both an homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and 1940s, of which Sommers is a fan.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a 1994 science fiction horror film directed by Kenneth Branagh who also stars as Victor Frankenstein, with Robert De Niro portraying Frankenstein's monster, and co-stars Tom Hulce, Helena Bonham Carter, Ian Holm, John Cleese, Richard Briers and Aidan Quinn. Considered the most faithful film adaptation of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel in some respects, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, despite several differences and additions in plot from the novel, the film follows a medical student named Victor Frankenstein who creates new life in the form of a monster composed of various corpses' body parts.
Victor Frankenstein is a fictional character who first appeared as the titular main protagonist of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. He is a Swiss scientist who, after studying chemical processes and the decay of living things, gains an insight into the creation of life and gives life to his own creature. Victor later regrets meddling with nature through his creation, as he inadvertently endangers his own life and the lives of his family and friends when the creature seeks revenge against him. He is first introduced in the novel when he is seeking to catch the monster near the North Pole and is saved from near death by Robert Walton and his crew.
Igor, or sometimes Ygor, is a stock character, a sometimes hunch-backed laboratory assistant to many types of Gothic villains or as a fiendish character who assists only himself, the latter most prominently portrayed by Bela Lugosi in Son of Frankenstein (1939) and The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942). He is familiar from many horror films and horror film parodies. He is traditionally associated with mad scientists, particularly Victor Frankenstein, although Frankenstein has neither a lab assistant nor any association with a character named Igor in the original Mary Shelley novel. The Igor of popular parlance is a composite character, based on characters created for the Universal Studios film franchise. In the first Frankenstein film (1931), Fritz served the role; in the sequels, a different physically deformed character, Ygor, is featured, though Ygor is not an assistant in those films.
Doctor Septimus Pretorius is a fictional character who appears in the Universal film Bride of Frankenstein (1935) as the main antagonist. He is played by British stage and film actor Ernest Thesiger. Some sources claim he was originally to have been played by Bela Lugosi or Claude Rains. Others indicate that the part was conceived specifically for Thesiger.
Monster Force is a 13-episode animated television series created in April 9, 1994 by Universal Cartoon Studios and Canadian studio Lacewood Productions. The story is set in approximately 2020 and centers on a group of teenagers who, with help of high tech weaponry, fight off against classic Universal Monsters and spiritual beings threatening humanity. Some of the crew have personal vendettas, while others fight for mankind out of a sense of altruism. The series aired in syndication alongside another Universal animated series, Exosquad. Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the first seven episodes to DVD on September 15, 2009.
Frankenstein is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is based on the Frankenstein's monster character created by Mary Shelley.
The Universal Monsters media franchise includes characters based on a series of horror films produced by Universal Pictures and released between 1913–1956.
Frankenstein's Monster is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is based on the character in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The character has been adapted often in the comic book medium.
The character of Count Dracula from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, has remained popular over the years, and many forms of media have adopted the character in various forms. In their book Dracula in Visual Media, authors John Edgar Browning and Caroline Joan S. Picart declared that no other horror character or vampire has been emulated more times than Count Dracula. Most variations of Dracula across film, comics, television and documentaries predominantly explore the character of Dracula as he was first portrayed in film, with only a few adapting Stoker's original narrative more closely. These including borrowing the look of Count Dracula in both the Universal's series of Dracula and Hammer's series of Dracula, including the character's clothing, mannerisms, physical features, hair style and his motivations such as wanting to be in a home away from Europe.
The German name Frankenstein most commonly refers to various aspects of a 19th-century novel written by Mary Shelley, but was originally a place name.
There have been many comic book adaptations of the monster story created by Mary Shelley in her 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Writer-artist Dick Briefer presented two loose adaptations of the story in publisher Prize Comics' successive series Prize Comics and Frankenstein from 1940 to 1954. The first version represents what comics historians call American comic books' first ongoing horror feature.
Mary Shelley's Frankenhole is an American adult stop motion-animated television series created by Dino Stamatopoulos for Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. The series premiered on June 27, 2010 and ended on March 25, 2012, with a total of 20 episodes, over the course of 2 seasons.
Monster literature is a genre of literature that combines good and evil and intends to evoke a sensation of horror and terror in its readers by presenting the evil side in the form of a monster.
The Bride of Frankenstein is a fictional character first introduced in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus and later in the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein. In the film, the Bride is played by Elsa Lanchester. The character's design in the film features a conical hairdo with white lightning-trace streaks on each side, which has become an iconic symbol of both the character and the film.
Frankenstein is a film series of horror films from Universal Pictures based on the play version by Peggy Webling and the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. The series follow the story of a monster created by Henry Frankenstein who is made from body parts of corpses and brought back to life. The rest of the series generally follows the monster continuously being revived and eventually focuses on a series of cross overs with other Universal horror film characters such as The Wolf Man. The series consists of the following films: Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939), The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944), House of Dracula (1945) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).
Frankenstein is a British horror-adventure film series produced by Hammer Film Productions. The films, loosely based on the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, are centered on Baron Victor Frankenstein, who experiments in creating a creature beyond human. The series is part of the larger Hammer horror oeuvre.
I felt that, in two important respects, the novel had never been translated properly onto the screen. The first is that Mary Shelley did not write a novel about reanimating corpses... She says that he creates life, and then when the ship's captain asks him how he did it, he refuses to answer... I think there's a big difference between reanimating corpses and creating life...Also, I wanted to give the monster the voice he has in the novel. When he tells his story to Victor, he sounds like a romantic poet, like Byron, and no one has ever done that [on film].
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