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Bride of Frankenstein (1935) starring Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive

Bride of Frankenstein

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Bride of Frankenstein (1935) starring Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive
reviewed by: The masked reviewer

Bride of Frankenstein begins with Mary Shelley informing her friends that she has written a sequel to her masterpiece. She begins this story at the end of Frankenstein with Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) recovering from his injuries, and the mill fire still crackling. A curious villager and his worried wife are watching the fire when a familiar hand strangles the man and throws the wife down to her death.Minnie (Una O’Connor) starts screaming when she spots the monster walking away from the ruins. The monster runs away before the mobs can begin their monster hunt again. Henry refuses to accept the monster as his creation and decides to quiet the evil experiment business to follow in the family business.

Bride of Frankenstein
Movie poster for Cat People - "A kiss could change her into a monstrous fang-and-claw killer"" title="Movie poster for Cat People - "A kiss could change her into a monstrous fang-and-claw killer"

Cat People

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movie review of Cat People (1942)-  by The Masked Reviewer

In Cat People, a beautiful Serbian fashion designer Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) marries marine engineer Oliver Reed (Kent Smith). All is going well until the wedding night, Irena refuses to consummate her marriage to Oliver. The next day she admits a seemingly ridiculous fear of turning to a panther if she has intercourse with her husband. When Irena is sent to Dr. Louis Judd, her psychiatrist, a very interesting fact about her family is discovered. During this time Oliver has been spending more time with his secretly love struck co-worker Alice Moore (Jane Randolph).

Cat People
The Fly (1958) starring David Hedison, Patricia Owens, Vincent Price

The Fly

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The Fly (1958) starring  David Hedison, Patricia Owens, Vincent Price

David Hedison starring in The Fly

Many people think of  The Fly as a monster movie.  But that’s not correct.  The Fly is a psychological thriller, where a beautiful young wife (Patricia Owens) has murdered her rich, successful husband (David Hedison) – a brilliant inventor.  The inventor’s brother (Vincent Price) is shocked beyond words.  He knows that she loved her husband more than her own life, and can’t imagine why she would do such a thing.  Especially knowing how it would impact her young son (Charles Herbert). Only after Vincent Price tricks her does the bed-ridden woman tell the story …

The Fly
Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man

Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man

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Synopsis of Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Abbott an Costello Meet the Invisible Man

Fresh graduates from detective school, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, get their first case – recapturing the escaped killer, Tommy Nelson. Nelson, however, the typical “convicted of a crime that he didn’t commit” – and has a scientist friend give him a dose of the Invisible Man formula, giving him a race against time to find the real killer — before the formula drives him mad. But Abbott and Costello are there to help …

Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man

The Curse of Frankenstein

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Synopsis of  Curse of Frankenstein

THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, Peter Cushing, 1957

In The Curse of Frankenstein, Baron Victor von Frankenstein is facing execution for the murders that he has committed.   He tells the story of how he came to this point, telling his story in flashback. The story of how he learned to reanimate the dead. In an act of hubris, he decides to go beyond that He constructs a composite man from a variety of parts looted from corpses.   Along the way, his amoral decisions cause death and misery.  He has alienated his best friend and fiance … Who come by to say farewell.

The Curse of Frankenstein
Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee

Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors

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Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965) starring Peter Cushing, Neil McCallum,  Christopher Lee, Roy Castle, Max Adrian, Donald Sutherland

Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors was Amicus’ first attempt at an anthology of 5 horror stories, with a very good framing device. The entire film takes place on a train, where 5 gentlemen  — total strangers —  sit together and wait to reach their destination. To pass the time, these passengers each have their futures foretold by a 6th individual; a quiet, mild man named Doctor Sandor Shreck (Peter Cushing) — Shreck being the German word for “terror”. He relies on a deck of Tarot cards to tell the future. The Doctor instructs each reluctant participant to tap the deck three times; after, the first four images dealt tell the listener his fate. While an extra fifth card explains how it can be avoided.  The five stories foretold are:

Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors
The Monster and the Girl (1941) starring George Zucco, Ellen Drew, Phillip Terry, Robert Paige, Paul Lukas

The Monster and the Girl

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The Monster and the Girl (1941) starring George Zucco, Ellen Drew, Phillip Terry, Robert Paige, Paul Lukas

The Monster and the Girl is a very good “B” movie, well acted, with a cast that the audience cares about. It begins as a courtroom drama, only to pivot to a horror movie. It begins by telling the story of a small town girl named Susan Webster (Ellen Drew) who yearns for the sights and sounds of the big city.  Over the objections of her protective brother, Scot (Phillip Terry). What Susan finds in New York isn’t what she bargained for, as she is romanced by smooth talking Larry Reid (Robert Paige) who’s intentions are not as sincere as they first seem. Going through a sham marriage to Larry, she is forced into a prostitution ring run by gangster W. S. Bruhl (Paul Lukas).

The Monster and the Girl
Werewolf of London (1935), starring Henry Hull, Warner Oland, Valerie Hobson

Werewolf of London

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Werewolf of London (1935), starring Henry Hull, Warner Oland,  Valerie Hobson

In Universal Picture’s first werewolf film, the 1935 Werewolf of London, there are several themes woven together. One is simply that of a scientist seeking to expand knowledge — Dr. Wilfrid Glendon (Henry Hull), who’s traveling in Tibet, looking for a legendary flower. In his quest, he enters a “forbidden valley” where he’s attacked by a wolf-like creature; but he manages to return alive with the flower regardless.

Werewolf of London
The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) starring Vincent Price, Barbara Steele

The Pit and the Pendulum

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The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) starring Vincent Price, Barbara Steele

It has been said that Vincent Price often played the role of the tragic monster. And that’s never truer than in  The Pit and the Pendulum. Vincent Price plays Don Nicholas Medina, a man whose wife has unexpectedly passed away.  And whose brother-in-law has come seeking to find out the truth of his sister’s  death.

The Pit and the Pendulum
The doctor and the judge

The Raven (1935)

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The Raven (1935), starring Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff

Synopsis of The Raven

A wealthy judge coaxes the brilliant but eccentric neurological surgeon Dr. Vollin (Bela Lugosi), who also has an obsessive penchant for Edgar Allen Poe, out of retirement to save the life of his daughter. She’s a dancer , crippled and brain-damaged in an auto wreck. Vollin restores her completely. But he also envisions her as his “Lenore”. He then cooks up a scheme to kidnap the woman and torture and kill her fiancee and father in his Poe-inspired dungeon. To do his dirty work, Vollin recruits a wanted criminal (Boris Karloff). He turns him into a hideous monster to guarantee his subservience.

The Raven (1935)
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