Ghost Upon the Floor

 Tonight, I kept going with the Universal Monsters. You can’t beat them. “The Bride of Frankenstein” truly is one of the greatest film sequels of all time. The continuation of the story is seamless (though there is some reworking of the original “Frankenstein’s” ending), and the horror, the humor, emotion, the creepy atmosphere, even the acting and characters— all feel elevated. Even the new characters like Dr. Pretorious and Minnie feel both elevated and like they have been there all along.

 Karloff’s performance is perhaps a huge reason for this. No doubt, more time to live within the character gave him more depth, but the addition of being able to talk some of his lines gave Boris the opportunity to add layers to the character that seem the most true connection to Shelley’s original novel, where our Monster (?) famously speaks eloquently and waxes philosophical. 

 Tonight there was some rain, to break the humidity, and the brightening leaves feel more like the season. 

 There are so, so very many bad horror film sequels out there. Some in franchises I love. But horror sequels were once done right, and perhaps none so right as arguably the first, most-high profile time: with “The Bride of Frankenstein,” James Whale’s sequel to “Frankenstein,” released in 1935. 

 I could not love “The Bride of Frankenstein” more. Normally, I save it for a bit of Universal Monster magic later in October; however, last night, I decided to indulge myself early on. What makes this film so special? Perhaps it is the inventiveness found all around. From the opening, when we are treated to a terrific scene showing Elsa Lancaster as Mary Shelly talking on a stormy night with her husband Percy and Lord Byron. Lancaster is fantastic as Shelley, as she spars with Byron and Percy, in a gorgeously decorated room. Working on her needlepoint, there’s something so impressively confident about her Shelley, and we fully believe that this is genius that wrote “Frankenstein.” 

 Other things that set this film apart. The actors. Karloff’s Monster is allowed to shine even more here, as he gets lengthy character driven scenes like the ones in the cottage with the blind man, and delicious straight up horror film scenes, like his emerging from the burned windmill in the beginning, where he sends the parents of the girl thrown in the water in “Frankenstein” to join her. Colin Clive is again perfect as Henry Frankenstein, aided with an assist by Ernest Thesiger’s Dr. Pretorious, a new, deeply comic, deeply creepy and deeply horrifying character. 

 The score is sweeping and even grander than the first film. The sets, too. The sets which excelled in “Frankenstein” are expanded, and absolutely lush, gothic and gorgeous. My favorite perhaps being the graveyard being literally expanded, from the iconic opening scene in the first film, and takes us down into the crypt where the Monster literally stumbles upon a dead woman and asks, “Friend?”

 And, of course, Elsa Lancaster is perfect to immortality as the Monster’s Bride in the film’s horrific, heartbreaking conclusion. What a gorgeous horror film, sequel, and artistic achievement in its own right.