Mary Shelley's Birthday

“As a child I scribbled; and my favourite pastime, during the hours given me for recreation, was to "write stories." Still I had a dearer pleasure than this, which was the formation of castles in the air -- the indulging in waking dreams -- the following up trains of thought, which had for their subject the formation of a succession of imaginary incidents. My dreams were at once more fantastic and agreeable than my writings.”

— Mary Shelley

In honor of her birthday, August 30^th, 1797, this haunting portrait of Mary Shelley, as envisioned by New Zealand painter Sarah Dolby.

Sarah Dolby’s website, and a gallery of her works.

The Posters of Frankenstein : Flesh for Frankenstein

There were several, vastly different posters created to promote Flesh for Frankenstein (aka Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein, 1973). One had the title cantilevered off the screen and over the audience to promote the 3-D novelty of the film, others featured large portraits of the stars, sexy Joe Dallesandro or the bloodied, lance-pierced Udo Kier. One version prominently displayed a topless female Monster on an upright slab.

The poster shown here, a field of skin with the title captured under stitches, is by far the simplest in the collection, a pure a graphic interpretation of the theme. Similar designs have been used in various configurations on book covers, and the poster for Roger Corman’s Frankenstein Unbound (1990) featured a stitched-up eyeball, but the Warhol film is likely the earliest use of the concept.

Teenage Frankenstein Print Ad

I always loved the old newspaper ads for movies done in stark, black and white, comic book-style spot art.

This admat for I was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957) breaks down and simplifies the movie’s poster featuring the bug-eye, distressed face of the Teen Frankenstein, with an insert of The Monster in silhouette carrying off the girl and a heavy dot pattern for background shading.

With improved printing methods and better paper, today’s print ads reproduce the delicate tones of the photographs that dominate current movie poster art, but they come off as downright bland when compared to the unsophisticated but jazzier old-style ads.

Image source: Held Over

Related:
I Was a Pre-Teen Frankenstein

Gris Grimly's Frankenstein

Gris Grimly’s art is cartoon gothic, a precarious balance of light macabre and dark whimsy. His elegant illustrations are peopled with disarticulated characters that evoke broken dolls and muppets gone terribly wrong.

Grimly’s books, ostensibly for children, have won him fans of all ages. Notable titles include Wicked Nursery Rhymes, Santa Claws, and Boris and Bella. He has illustrated Neil Gaiman’s The Dangerous Alphabet and Kelly DiPucchio’s book of “Campfire songs for monsters” with the delightfully creepy title of Sipping Spiders Through a Straw.

Having done his own very personal versions of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Pinocchio — currently under development as an animated feature produced by Guillermo del Toro — and the stories of Edgar Allen Poe, Grimly has now undertaken an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

The project is just underway. The drawing seen here is a very early test and the first one in color, but already you can see how Grimly has already made The Monster very much his own.

Grimly’s basic material is the original 1818 text of the novel, which he says, “feels like that raw punk version, untainted and untouched. It’s like discovering a lost manuscript.”

The author is generously sharing his experiences in deconstructing, adapting and illustrating the new book through a dedicated blog, a rare and revealing look into the creative process. Follow the artist’s journey from concept to publication, looking over his shoulder, as he stitches together Gris Grimly’s Illustrated Frankenstein.

Gris Grimly’s Frankenstein blog.

Gris Grimly’s website.

Book: Where Madness Reigns, The Art of Gris Grimly.

Describing The Spectre

I chose a picture of the best-known actor in the most iconic representation of The Monster to illustrate this post. Boris Karloff was my introduction to Frankenstein. Chances are he was yours, too.

Frankensteinia: The Frankenstein Blog is two years old today. I launched in the high summer of 2007 with a quote from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley:

“I busied myself to think of a story.... One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature, and awaken thrilling horror — one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart…

What terrified me will terrify others; and I need only describe the spectre which had haunted my midnight pillow…

I bid my hideous progeny go forth and prosper."

I thought, then, that the quote did a good job of introducing the subject. Today, I find that it reads more like a mandate.

To paraphrase the author, I busied myself to think of stories that speak to our mysterious fears and our enduring fascination with the vast cultural universe created by Mary Shelley. I believed what had so engaged me would engage others and I have endeavored to describe the spectre, as it were, in all its manifestations.

Over the last two years, this site has logged over 240,000 visitors and some 375,000 page loads. I have met, exchanged and often made friends with fellow bloggers, scholars and historians, writers, critics and filmmakers, artists and creators, Monster Kids and Frankenstein fans. I am most grateful to those of you who have stepped up and subscribed to the blog through RSS, Google Friend Connect, MySpace, Networked Blogs, Facebook and Twitter. The combined number of registered “followers” currently stands at 1,987 and counting. Thank you all so very much for your continued interest and your precious support.

I have been honored me with blog awards like the Premio Dardos and, recently, the Honest Scrap Award. Please forgive me for rarely passing them on to other bloggers, as is usually prescribed by the award rules. I am simply too busy, most of the time, to participate, as I try to focus all my online energies to Frankensteinia itself. Check my blogroll, on the right hand column, for a permanent list of the blogs I most enjoy.

That being said, allow me to acknowledge Jeanette Laredo of the elegant and excellent Monster Land who kindly bestowed a Necronomicon Outstanding Blogs of Horror Award upon me, adding that my blog inspired her to launch her own. Thank you, Jeanette! Thanks also to Brian Solomon of the formidable The Vault of Horror who said mine was one of the first blogs he fell in love with, and thanks to my friend Gor Mandra of Draculand and Vade Retro Me Satana who also found inspiration in Frankensteinia (and Monster Crazy). I am utterly thrilled that my efforts have made ripples. Truly, this makes all the time and care spent on this project feel absolutely worthwhile. May I say, unpretentiously…. I bid my hideous progeny go forth and prosper.

Last year, I celebrated my first blog anniversary with the launch of a picture blog, Monster Crazy. Thanks, by the way, to all of you who visit there. This year, I celebrate the start of Year Three with a renewed commitment to you, dear readers, to put forward the best blog I can muster.

Frankenstein is in The House

In his first film role, Craig Dobbs plays a nasty looking, bad tempered Frankenstein Monster in House of the Wolf Man, a feature-length retro-horror film written and directed by Eben McGarr.

In a loving, meticulously done homage to the House of monster rallies of the Forties — it’s even in black and white —the film reunites all the usual suspects. Dobbs’ Monster is joined by Michael R. Thomas’s Dracula (a dead ringer for Lugosi) and Ron Chaney (Lon Jr’s grandson) in a double role as a mad scientist and the Wolf Man — featuring a startling, original makeup by Michelle Chung. Additional critters include John McGarr as a ghoulish butler named Barlow, and a creepy arm- and leg-less gypsy.

The film premieres on October 1st at the Vista Theatre in Los Angeles, to be followed by a limited theatrical release before it goes to DVD.

The House of the Wolf Man website has a really neat, old fashioned trailer up (it plays as soon as you click over) and stills of the cast.

Warning!

A stern warning from Universal’s Exhibitors Campaign Book promoting The Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

And a friendly warning, too, dear readers, to stand by for some seriously cool posts coming up. No kidding.

I am back online after an unplanned but exhilarating hiatus attending all five days of Anticipation, the Science Fiction Worldcon, held here in Montreal. Didn’t think I’d be away from the blog for a whole week, but then again, I used the time off to recharge my electrodes, as it were. Regular programming resumes shortly!

I’ve got some great material lined up in the coming days and weeks, and it’ll be a very busy fall season around here. I’ll be participating in the annual 31 Days of Halloween countdown organized by John Rozum.

Do NOT “stay away”, unless of course you are scarey, nervous or afraid of tantrums!

Bride Ballyhoo

Universal’s Exhibitor’s Campaign Book for Bride of Frankenstein (1935) suggests a number of “stunts” to pull in the crowds. Here, a giveaway set of teeth, either a rubber novelty item or flavored wax candy, to replace any you’d “swallow in excitement seeing the super-shocker”. Another envelope contained candles to light your way home with, in case the movie made you afraid of the dark.

For the enterprising exhibitor, the gag handouts could be rolled into an elaborate lobby display, the “First Aid Lobby Booth Stunt”, providing “everything necessary for the audience who suffer ‘thrill-shock” when seeing THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN”. The booth should be “painted white, with the cross in red to make it as realistic as possible”. Items, “all easily obtainable”, included hair straightener and hair dye, spirits of ammonia, gum and cigarettes. Universal would recycle this stunt as the “First-Aid For Shock Booth” in the mid-40s for its House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula monster rallies, calling it “a time-honored stunt… should be taken from your files and dusted off.”

The Bride Campaign Book also suggested having a trained nurse in attendance, although I suspect a costumed usherette would do just fine. She should walk up and down the aisle while the movie played, “to enhance the shock-angle”.

Parking an ambulance out front was recommended as a natural “follow through” on the Booth and Nurse gags. “Banner this with catch lines and drive it around town for a ballyhoo. This is the money angle, experience has proven!"

The nurse and ambulance gags were longtime stunt staples for fright and suspense films. An ambulance out front was suggested for Frankenstein in 1931, and the gag was still being used in 1973 when The Exorcist was released.

Classic movie ballyhoo was corny and a lot of fun. It survives today in the form of mass-produced die-cut lobby displays, high-priced Super Bowl ads and corporate tie-in Happy Meals. A lot slicker, much more sophisticated, but not as charming as the Old School stuff.

With thanks to Max of The Drunken Severed Head for the images.

Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of The Monster, By Elise Bottle

A friend of Frankensteinia, Elise Bottle of Sydney, Australia, found a copy of the 1995 PC game Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster. She gave it a spin for us and reports on her experience.

Being in the public domain, the Frankenstein story is good fodder for any creative team in the cutthroat world of the entertainment industry. It’s no different in video games — a quick search on any major gaming website reveals over a dozen titles using the name. While Castlevania and Darkstalkers, which only feature The Monster and his creator as incidental characters, have enjoyed success, most of the games that actually cast the gruesome twosome in the limelight seem to fall into obscurity. But do they really deserve to be ignored? Surely a quick rummage through the bargain bin can occasionally turn up a rare gem or two?

When I saw Interplay’s Frankenstein: through the Eyes of a Monster on sale for a mere ten bucks, I quickly snapped it up. Firstly, I’m a Frankenstein nut, which should be fairly obvious since I’m writing for a Frankie-themed blog. Second, I prefer the slow, steady pace of adventure games as opposed to trying to frantically blow the guts out of some giant enemy crab and end up falling of a cliff in the process. Third, this game has Tim Curry, aka Dr Frank N. Furter of Rocky Horror fame, as the eponymous mad scientist – need I say more?

One of the nifty things I noticed when I opened the box was the game’s manual. Of course, a manual is always essential, but what made me smile was the short, if watered-down history of Frankenstein and its adaptations, although some fans may disagree with the praise given to Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein of 1994. Either way, I thought it was a nice little addition to the package and I’m sure that somebody who worked on the game was a Frankie fan to have put the time into researching the info for the manual.

But what of the game itself? Well… that’s were things start to go downhill.

The game’s blurb claims that you play as The Monster, but actually, you’re a scientist, Philip, falsely accused for the murder of his daughter Gabrielle. Found guilty and executed, then brought back to life by mad Dr Frankenstein (Tim Curry), you are basically held prisoner by him in his castle and you have to somehow escape. Personally I feel a bit cheated by this storyline, since it’s not like Phil is even suffering amnesia, having to remember what happened or anything. The original story, and even the Universal and Hammer movie adaptations to an extent, were about The Monster not really understanding the finer details of the world around him and having to learn it all the hard way. Really, it’s a minor gripe, but it just bugs me.

It wouldn’t bug me so much if Phil weren’t so obnoxious. Seriously, the guy never stops whining, and will do so at the drop of a hat. Oh, and did I mention that his voice actor sucks? In fact, apart from Tim, it seems that Interplay recruited its cast at the local amateur theatre club. “Hey folks, wanna be in a video game and get famous?”

The characters, excluding Phil (you’ll only ever hear his voice), are played by live actors — a huge fad for video games of the era — with mixed results, and they are made to look small compared to the environments, not ridiculously so, mind you, but you can just tell that the scaling is off. What’s more, on the rare occasion characters ‘interact’ with each other, you can tell they were filmed separately. Bleh.

Then, the graphics. To be fair, this game is fairly old, being made back in 1995, so the graphics are dated, though they fare OK when compared to other games of the era — pretty, but stiff — but the design is drab and dull. Of course, this is a horror game so it isn’t meant to be cheery, but this castle hardly evokes a feeling of creeping dread or anything like that. Apart from the odd gruesome discovery in Vicky’s lab, Frankenstein Castle could be your run-of-mill tourist trap. And you’re going to need maps for this game — the lazy designers use the same set of images for the many winding corridors and secret passageways, making this game one big maze. Look, I don’t mind the one odd maze in my adventure games, but when you have to navigate them for the whole freaking game, it gets tedious very quick.

The game-play can be best described as MYST clone, at that time a popular and very influential game, in that you wander around a mostly unpopulated environment trying to solve puzzles. It worked great for MYST, not so much for Frankenstein, especially since the puzzles themselves are bland and lack the ingenuity of MYST or Shivers. I think for an adventure game to be based on something like Frankenstein, game-play should be based more on character interaction, much like the old Lucas Arts game (you can tell I’m a big nerd, can’t you?). Of course, for that to work, the game is actually going to need REAL ACTORS!

As to the story and script, while Mr Curry has a few chuckle-worthy lines, it’s hardly going to ‘leave you in stitches’ as the packaging so temptingly promises. There are too many loose ends. The worst that Dr Frankenstein ever does is throw the occasional hissy-fit, but what are his motives for resurrecting you? He, along with all the other characters, is nothing more than two-dimensional plot device. Is the odd flashback of your mysterious past too much too ask for? To top it all off, the ending is a just a set of boring captions – not at all worth the boring game-play and bad acting.

Way to waste my ten bucks. If I ever get the chance to meet Tim Curry in person, I’ll take the carton of this stupid game, wack it over his head and scream, “What the bloody hell were you thinking?!?!”

Mr. Curry. You’ve been warned! Thank you, Elise, for a fine review and all the neat screen caps.

Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster was originally developed by Amazing Media and published for Mac, Windows and Sega Saturn by Interplay Productions on December 31, 1995. It was re-released in 2001, this time for Windows only, in a twin-pack with Mummy: Tomb of the Pharaoh.

Here’s an elaborate Walkthrough, with maps of the rooms and labyrinths. Here’s another one, text only, on GameBoomers.

Here are game cheats, on Game Revolution.