Midnight Marquee isn’t just one of the best and longest running magazines covering horror films, they are also a fantastic publishing house who puts out some of the very best books on the horror film genre. Growing up, no monster scared me more that the Frankenstein monster. I remember every Saturday afternoon in the 70’s we had a local horror host here in the Detroit area named Sir Graves Ghastly who used to show all the old Universal classics as well as a lot of the campier B movies of the 50’s and 60’s. “We Belong Dead” by editors Gary and Susan Svehla (and the driving forces behind Midnight Marquee) is simply the best book about Frankenstein on film ever published. The book looks at just about every film featuring the monster (certainly all of the major ones) from the silent era right up through “Van Helsing” through essays provided by the Svehla’s and a bevy of knowledgeable and talented writers.
Now I knew about the 1910 short film version, the very first, produced by Thomas Edison’s company, but I have never seen it covered in such detail and with so many very rare pictures from this film that was a lost classic until a copy was found in the 1980’s. Charles Ogle was the first actor tapped to play the monster with makeup very different than what most are used to seeing. Ogle’s monster was bestial with wild hair and long, rotting, bony hands. I’d guess it had to be quite terrifying to the audiences of the day.
The next section of the book deals with the Universal films, particular the first three films in which Boris Karloff played the monster. Gary Svehla pens a brilliant essay on the father/son relationships in the films and the various themes of isolation. Equally engrossing is John E. Parnum’s piece “Frankenstein’s Children” which deal with the relationship of children and the monster. Parnum rightly points out that the censors excising the scene in which the creature throws the little girl into the lake actually makes it look that much more violent. For years, audiences didn’t see the anguish the monster felt when he realized his error until the scene was restored in recent years.
Next we have a very detailed look at the six Frankenstein films produced by Hammer Studios in the 1950’s through the 70’s, all starring Peter Cushing as Dr. Frankenstein. A detailed synopsis of each film is included, but the focus is on Cushing’s evolution of the character from Aristocratic egomaniac to rogue hero, to downright evil. Because Cushing starred in each film the Hammer series was truly about the man, and not the monster.
Not to be forgotten were the cheaply made “B” movies of the 50’s and 60’s. By this time, the book points out, Frankenstein had become a commodity to make money off of with little regard for the source material, or the traditions created at Universal and Hammer. Still, movies such as “I was a Teenage Frankenstein”, “Frankenstein’s Daughter” and “Frankenstein 1970” are still kind of hokey fun and it’s unfortunate that they rarely turn up on TV anymore.
The 70’s began to usher in an era of Frankenstein films that tried to remain faithful to Mary Shelley’s original story. Among these were the 1970’s TV version “Frankenstein: The True Story”, a very underrated version with Michael Sarrazin as the monster; the 1992 TNT version with Patrick Bergin and Randy Quaid; and the disappointing 1994 “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” with Robert DeNiro horribly miscast as the monster.
No mention of Frankenstein would be complete without Mel Brooks’ classic “Young Frankenstein” and this book doesn’t disappoint with a wonderful essay by Robert Alan Crick. And don’t worry…there are many other Frankenstein films covered in the book including the under appreciated “Monster Squad”.
If you’re a Frankenstein fan then this is simply a book you must have. Thoroughly informative and entertaining.
– Tim Janson
- 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
