Bride of Frankenstein
Made well before horror sequels were a regular part of the Hollywood routine, 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein re-teamed director James Whale and stars Boris Karloff and Colin Clive to explore what happened after 1931’s Frankenstein. The presumed-dead Monster (Karloff) returns, as presumed-dead movie monsters tend to do, and the tale brings in a new antagonist in the form of Ernest Thesiger’s unscrupulous mentor Dr. Pretorius, who convinces Frankenstein (Clive) to help him construct a “mate” for you-know-who. Elsa Lanchester—who does double duty as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in the movie’s frame story and the Bride of the Monster—isn’t actually onscreen very much, but the huge impression she leaves (both on the story and the horror genre itself) is undeniable.
