Most horror franchises would form a consistent, negative slope if their potency and value where to be charted on a graph. However, with the Frankenstein series, depending upon whom you are speaking, the first two installments remain constant or might even rise when plotting the second set of integers. However, few would argue that with the second half of the quadrilogy proper, it is as if a plateau suddenly broke, creating a completely vertical aesthetic cliff which all viewers are destined to plunge to their deaths as a result. With this in mind, Erle Kenton’s The Ghost of Frankenstein follows its predecessor, never attempting to push out on the x-axis in order to allow its viewer any hope of having something to slow their fall.
Ygor (Bela Lugosi), having miraculously survived the barrage of bullets from the gun of Wolf von Frankenstein, the son of the creator of the servant’s friend (Lon Chney Jr.), unearths the Monster from his molten sulphur sarcophagus and delivers him to the second son of Henry Frankenstein, Ludwig (Cedric Hardwicke), in the nearby town of Vasaria. After a paranormal visit from his father, Ludwig consents to changing the “bad brain” of the monster to that of a good one. However, his partner, Doctor Theodor Bohmer (Lionel Atwill), under the influence of Ygor at the promise of forming a tyrannical pact, switches the intended brain with that of the maniacal Ygor. Yet, before Ygor-cum-Monster can begin his killing rampage, a biological mishap occurs, thwarting his dictatorial intentions.
What is resounding by the end of The Ghost of Frankenstein is the irony that the eternal nature of the Monster is seconded by the staying power of the supposedly mortal figure of Ygor. The Monster manages to stumble forward after being baked, buried, and boiled. Yet, after Son of Frankenstein, we come to expect this after being informed that the creature is everlasting. However, the ramshackle image of the Rasputin-esque Ygor alarms one in his undying persistence after being hung, shot, and buried in rubble.
What also keeps us on our toes is the casting thread of retained roles by one character per installment. After Colin Clive appeared in James Whale’s Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, Boris Karloff carried us, not only from parts one and two, but from two to three, and Frankenstein’s assistant continued to change faces (as well as names), we momentarily paused at Son of Frankenstein with Lugosi playing Ygor before the figure appears in The Ghost of Frankenstein as our casting marker once more. Perhaps this is why latter day horror franchises are capable of sustaining twice as many sequels than their Golden Era predecessors: consistent visual character recognition. Robert Englund is always Freddy Kruger and Doug Bradley persists as Pinhead while the faces of Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers remain the same due to their masks. However, Kenton does manage to present, via tradition, the torch-carrying townspeople in prefab, posse formation as did his forerunners.
Regarding facial appearances, the only thing that Chaney–who is well cast if Kenton was looking to make the figure of the Monster a carpenter’s wet dream–brings to the roll of the Monster is the continuation that the Monster’s eyelids droop a bit more with each installment which, at this venture into the series, makes one wonder what Ygor was giving his friend to smoke in Frankenstein’s lab.
Of course, this says nothing of the fact that after Ygor’s brain has been transferred to the Monster’s, apparently Ludwig did some quick snipping and suturing as well: After the operation, the Monster speaks with Ygor’s voice!
In short, Erle Kenton’s The Ghost of Frankenstein (which, to be exacting, should have been “The Brother of Frankenstein”) accomplished was posit a sad historical note: His film broke box-office records for a horror film during the time of the film’s release, thus proving that, for decades, the masses will flock and freely toss their money at poor, inferior productions without a moment’s hesitation.
Thus ends one of the greatest, if not the greatest, horror franchises of all time. (The Monster would not appear solo ever again in lieu of several Universal pictures which followed that capitalized upon the character’s title as it appeared alongside other classic monsters, henceforth further admitting to the character’s inability to invoke audience interest any longer.) Due to the placid nature of the second half of the Frankenstein films weighing down their predecessors–two of the greatest films ever made–the series ends at a holistic B overall as the face of Henry Frankenstein’s creation is indelibly fashioned into our collective consciousnesses forever as the iconic face of terror.
-Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
