Ghost Upon the Floor

 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. 

  Maybe Tod Browning’s “Dracula,” from 1931, is my favorite of the Universal Monster films. Picking between them is a bit like picking a favorite child, I’d imagine— but, just maybe, “Dracula” is my favorite. I have long loved the myth of vampires, especially Bram Stoker’s masterpiece “Dracula” which popularized so much of the vampire mythology we have in current pop culture. And Browning’s film is a large part of that. 

 Last night was “Dracula’s” turn on the stage of 31 Days of Scary movies. This film is another I watch many times a year, and always, without fail, in early October. There is just simple perfection in the black and white crackling world of Renfield’s travel to Transylvania, where he meets the locals who fear Count Dracula— and then the count himself.

 And what a Count he is. Bela Lugosi’s performance will live as long as film is remembered, and rightly so. The performance he mastered for years on the stage is at full, captivating, haunting and frightening power here on film. 

 Things of note that stayed with me after last night’s viewing. The power of the direction. The scene where Dracula is first seen, rising with his brides from their coffins; in silence, among the rats in the cavernous crypt. The camera pans so expertly, and creates such a sense of unnatural and macabre dread that works as well today as it first did decades and decades ago when it was shot. 

 Also, while no adaption of Stoker’s novel has ever been quite faithful on film— and most vary wildly— for all the liberties Browning’s film takes, it works so well as a film, while keeping the main story beats. Yes, Renfield takes Jonathan Harker’s story in the beginning and is the one to travel to Transylvania, but the journey to Transylvania happens; they travel to England aboard the Demeter in a storm; arriving at Whitby. Lucy dies, and Mina is threatened; and Dracula, and his evil, eventually is defeated at the end. The changes the film makes just work, and are a large part of the reason this classic endures.

 Happy Halloween, “Dracula.” Maybe my favorite child of the night. 

  You didn’t think I wouldn’t go back to the Universal Monster movies this October, did you? I began the month with earlier Universal monster classics like Dracula, Frankenstein and his Bride; and now I watch my last official one of the project, with the star studded “The Wolf Man.” The film has a cast that reads like a who’s who of Universal Monster Movie stars. It of course has Lon Chaney Jr as the title role, but rounding out the cast in supporting roles are Bela Lugosi himself as the first Romani werewolf who passes down the curse, and also the Invisible Man himself Claude Rains as Chaney’s protective father. 

While all of the Universal movies have a special place in my haunted heart, this film is one of my favorites. That is true for many fans, and it is clear to see why. This is a tightly paced, involving and very watchable film with the terse runtime that most of the Universal films have. Coming in at under an hour and a half, it is easy to get drawn into Larry Talbot’s return to this small home town, and fall under the curse he falls into when he takes Gwen and her friend to have their fortunes told by Bela in the woods. Watching this again this year, the main thing that struck me was the romantic subplot with Gwen. Larry’s overtures to the engaged Gwen seem brazen and inappropriate by what is acceptable today, but while it would be easy to dismiss these as a product of their times, when judging the whole film, one can see that the discomfort was intended--- as everything that seems dangerous about Larry turns out to be true. Gwen’s attraction to him reads more like the complicated notes that horror characters like the Phantom of the Opera and Christine have, and their courtship is so complicated and so interesting.

 Chaney’s presence in and out of the wolfman makeup—which he wears only briefly in the film—help carry the film into horror history, and it is always a delight to watch. The supporting performances are great, as well—and how could they not be? An actor of Claude Rains talents brings so much depth to the family dynamics with Larry and his father, and while only in the film for a few scenes, Bela Lugosi as the Romani fortune teller Bela has his signature intoxicating presence as his Count Dracula—but with a fully formed and fleshed out character all his own. There is also so much atmosphere in here, with the Talbot manor, woods and Romani camps. “The Wolf Man” is, as every year, absolutely essential October viewing.