Category Archives: frankenstein

The Bride

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Why does the Bride hiss and shriek? She just woke up and there’s a bunch of weird guys mooning at her. No wonder she’s in a bad mood. Maybe she would have come to love her intended Groom eventually but the dude was definitely rushing things.

I watched the first Universal Frankensteins for the first time early this year. I’ve been looking at images of the Monster and his Bride since I was a kid but except for Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein I hadn’t actually watched the movies. The common wisdom is that Bride of Frankenstein is a better film than Frankenstein and that’s probably true. It’s certainly a more interesting film. Frankenstein is a pretty straight forward story and has few surprises to it – man creates monster, monster escapes, people get killed and a torch bearing mob hunts the monster down. Bride of Frankenstein adds another mad doctor, has the monster begin to speak and gives us a second monster in the Bride.

And, honestly, still pictures of the Bride, don’t do her justice. Elsa Lancaster gives a wonderfully twitchy performance. I think the most unfortunate things about the Universal series is that the Bride only appears this once and, after this film, the Monster returns to being a mute, mostly zombie-ish creature. Ah well, her single appearance means we’re left wanting more rather than wanting her to go away.

A Patchwork of Flesh

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By now you may have noticed that I have a fondness for monsters. I’ll usually take a badly acted, low budget monster movie over a star filled, Oscar nominated drama. I’ve read far more pulp horror than “fine” literature. And, I must admit, I have a greater fondness for some monsters than others. I have greater love for fishmen than vampires, more enthusiasm for apemen than zombies and giant monsters will grab my attention over more average sized specimens.

In the last few years I’ve developed a minor obsession for Frankenstein’s monster. So when I found A Patchwork of Flesh, an open blog gallery of Frankenstein Monster artist trading cards, I just had to contribute. I did four portraits and sent them in four separate envelopes. Coop, the blog organizer, is in England so I expected some of the portraits to arrive on different days. But no. They all arrived on the same day and he posted them all in one gallery.

Coop is asking people to vote for their five favorite images so, if you’ve got a few minutes, take a look and speak up for five good ones.

I like to draw things out so I’ll be posting the portraits over the next four days rather than all at once. Today’s image isn’t based on any particular version of the creature. Most modern depictions present him as composed of badly sewn together body parts so I went with that idea here. I’ll use the other portraits to provide links to other Frankenstein related spots of interest on the net.

Spiderface and Frankenstein’s Wretch

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At the top: the head of some human/spider hybrid. With an elaborate hair do.

At the bottom: a early take on the Frankenstein Monster based on the version in the novel. I don’t remember whether I’d read an excerpt of the novel or just a description of the character. I hadn’t read the novel itself yet. That wouldn’t happen for another six years.

Sketches, Sketches

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A few old friends on today’s page –
Top left, unfinished, a sasquatch
Middle top, profile of a character that looks like a vulcan or a romulan but isn’t (and the explanation is more than I want to go into this morning).
Top right, some sort of psychotic medieval dwarf
Lower left, the Frankenstein monster I can Henry
Lower right, middlish, an avatar of Y’golonac
and then some sketchy things on the bottom of the page.

Closet Monster

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This is my version of the closet monster from The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, a movie that I’ve yet to see. I don’t watch television and my movie watching is limited to a rented DVD once, maybe twice a week. I get to the theatre once a month, maybe. When choosing a DVD for rental I try to choose a film that can be enjoyed by the rest of the audience at home. Cheesy b-movies from the fifties and sixties aren’t very high on the list of potential choices. It’s a tragedy.

The creature here, if what I’ve read in plot descriptions is correct, is the amalgamation of the leftover body parts from the mad doctor’s previous experiments.

Edison Frankenstein

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On this I’ve got three attempts at designing a Frankenstein monster based on the Edison Frankenstein. At the time I did these sketches wasn’t able to find much photo reference to the creature. The best I could find is the one that’s the first image on the other side of that link. Unfortunately the versions I had were pretty small and blurry. I’ve since seen the film on youtube and found out that my local video store has a copy. If I were to draw the creature again I’d rent the DVD and stop the film on a regular basis for quick sketches.

The other creatures on this page are:

In the upper right, the closet monster from The Brain That Wouldn’t Die.

Under the closet monster is a version of the Peter Cushing Frankenstein with a version of the Christopher Lee creature under the Edison creature’s arm.

At the left, midpage, is a version of the David Prowse creature from Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell.

And under that is an exaggerated version of the Universal Frankenstein.

Teenage Frankenstein

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This Frankenstein is more “inspired” by the creature in I Was A Teenage Frankenstein than “based on” said creature. I haven’t seen the film yet but I’ve been looking at photos and paintings of the makeup since I was a kid. I’m pretty sure that the monster in the film isn’t a motorcycle riding thug but that’s what my imagination called up when “Teenage Frankenstein in the 1950s” got tossed into the machinery.

Karloff Frankenstein

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Technically I suppose I should call this guy the Pierce Frankenstein since it’s Jack Pierce that designed and applied the make-up the makeup for this version of the creature. The same creature design was worn by Bela Lugosi, Glenn Strange, Lon Chaney Jr. and Fred Gwynne. A more appropriate moniker would be the Universal Frankenstein since it’s Universal Studios that holds the copyright (or, more likely, the trademark) on the makeup. Still, it’s Boris Karloff who wore the make-up first so it’s Karloff that I think of when I see this version of the creature no matter who is actually under the latex and greasepaint.

I’ve given the poor guy leather shoes. Those big platform boots that the creature wore in the movies helped to make him taller and more intimidating than the rest of the cast but seem like an odd choice of footwear in “real” life. Who has a pair of those things lying around the castle? Maybe if Frankenstein had made (and dressed) his creature in the 1970s …