Henry Frankenstein is a scientist obsessed with the notion of piecing together different body parts. He wants to assemble the corpse so he can bring it back to life via electricity. Utterly in thrall of his experiments, he spends all of his time sequestered in his laboratory to his fiancee's dismay. Elizabeth consults Dr Waldman, Henry's old teacher, and he tells her Henry is obsessed with creating life. Elizabeth rushes to the lab in time to see his creation awaken - "It's alive!", yells Frankenstein in delight. After killing Fritz, Frankenstein decides the creature isn't fit for this world and kills it with a lethal injection. Frankenstein is free to marry Elizabeth, but Waldman, who is doing an autopsy on the monster has the shock of his life as it wakes up and kills him. The monster escapes the castle and goes wandering around his environment, meeting various people - including a little girl called Maria who he turfs into a lake. The happy couple are waiting for Waldman to return before the nuptials begin. Instead, Maria's father comes to the castle with her body and a band of villagers gather at the castle. In a fit of rage the monster attacks Frankenstein, but he falls and dies. As if nothing had happened, the marriage goes ahead. Frankenstein is one of the most recycled characters in horror cinema. The original mad scientist, James Whales' does not portray him as an evil man, merely a man completely immersed in all he is doing to bring bodies back to life. Not a villain, subsequent adaptations of the Frankenstein story would inflate Frankenstein into a more villainous and crazed persona, with diabolical intentions.
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
