20 Best Performances In Horror Movies

Dracula kicked off the Universal Monsters boom, but Frankenstein cemented it as a franchise for the ages. Directed by James Whale, the monster feature remains one of the horror genre's best movies, with its top rate scares, unsettling themes of creationism and lonliness, and, of course, Boris Karloff's pitch perfect turn as Frankenstein's Monster.

Playing the Monster is no easy task, because he's so much more complicated than the iconic characters (Dracula, The Wolfman) around him.

Boris Karloff played the Monster for a number of brilliant films, and perfectly portrayed every complex twist of his personality along the way. Tragic, innocent, horrifying and regrettably evil, Karloff understood right from the off what made this twisted and tortured soul such a monumental presence, and backed up his compelling performance with his intimidating physicality.

Much like Bela Lugosi's turn as Dracula, Karloff's time as Frankenstein's Monster will forever be a gold standard of horror movie performances, as well as one of the most influential roles ever put to film. Watching it again after all this time, it's easy to see why.