The 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein

So this year marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein which was first printed on the 1st of January 1818. This book is obviously one very close to my heart for a great many reasons, one the fact that its a horror book which inspired one of my favourite films and also because I have a lot of sympathy for the monster of the piece.

One of the things that is fantastic about the book is that Shelley came up with the idea at the age of 18 after being challenged by the poet Lord Byron who happens to be buried not to far away from where I sit typing this right now. It sounds quiet amazing that at such a young age she could come up with such a deep and riveting piece of fiction but then when you remember that back then the world in which she did it was very different its writing becomes an even more impressive feat. I read very few books more than once, some of the exceptions being The Lord of the Rings, Water Ship down and Frankenstein they all hold one thing in common and that is that there is a lot more to them than what is on the surface and with every time I pick them up I peel an extra layer back and see something that I didnt see before. As far as I am concerned this book is one of the true classics not just a classic of a particular age or genre but a bonifide classic overall.

The novel was originally published without Shelley's name and suprisingly it received what could best be described as mixed reviews. What would start out with humble beginnings though would go on to be loved by a great many. First it was picked up by theatre companies and then it really took of when it started to be adapted into film. I wonder what Mary Shelley would make of it now, what she would think about the way in which her story has been remade and adapted the ways in which it has touched so many different peoples lives? Nothing can ever take away from the brilliance of her novel but it is debatable if it would have touched half as many people if not for a certain actor.

The first film adaptation was made in 1910 but since then there have been not only more films than you can count but also TV series's cartoons comics and well pretty much anything you can think of featuring the monster from Frankenstein.

The Frankenstein film made in 1910 was a 16-minute short film produced for the Thomas Edison Film Company made in the very early days of cinema, this was almost 20 years before the advent of sound in film and although I would strongly recommend people to give it a watch for me the first real proper Frankenstein film worthy of the book wouldn't come for another 21 years.

If you think of Universal studios Frankenstein which was released in 1931 one of the first things you might think of is the cry of "It's alive, it's alive!" Not only this but this film gave us the image of Frankenstein's monster which has stayed with the character ever since, any time someone tries to draw a picture of the monster or describe the monster this is the one they will describe if asked what noises the monster makes or how the monster walks most people will instantly think of the way the monster was portrayed here by  the actor Boris Karloff. The way the monster looks here would go on to be replicated in shows such as The Munsters, The Addams Family and in cartoons like Scooby-Doo. Some people forget though that Karloff brought more to the monster than just groaning he brought a certain innocence and wonder to the monster, the monster wasn't really a monster he was just a creature that had been brought to life who didn't know who or what he was, why he was there or what to do, to be honest in a lot of ways he was more frightened than anyone else in the film, he wasn't really the Villain of the piece he was a Victim of his creators thirst for knowledge and power and in the hands of a lesser actor I doubt I would feel the sympathy for the character that I do. I think Karloff was very aware of the real guts of the part, no sound or movement from him was a wasted one, every single thing he did had purpose and brought life to the part he was playing and this is one of the reasons I hold the deepest of respect for him.

I could write all day about Frankenstein, I could go on to write about one of my other heroes who filled the role the wonderful Christopher Lee, but I think that is a post for another day. Right now I just want to say a huge thank you to Mary Shelley for giving the world such a fantastic book and thank you to everyone else who has kept the monster alive.

DPP72: Flesh For Frankenstein

So lattly I have been talking a lot about horror films, I went through the First 3 Hammer Horror Dracula films and then I was going to move on to some more Hammer, one of the first things that came to my mind were the Hammer Frankenstein films, mostly because Peter Cushing who played Van Helsing in those Dracula films played Doctor Frankenstein in them but then I rememberd it had been quiet awile since I had touched on the DPP72/Video Nasties list. So this led me to the 1973 film Flesh For Frankenstein which is one of the films on the DPP72 which also happens to sometimes go by the title Andy Warhol's Frankenstein and was advertised as being the goriest take on Frankenstien there had ever been.

The film had some very big shoes to fill being a Frankenstein film after all fans of Frankenstein had been spoiled with the 1930's Universal picture featuring Boris Karloff as the monster and then the Bride of Frankenstein and the awesome Hammer Frankenstein films, so does it fill them, well I could drag this out but no it doesnt, but that is not to say that it is bad or without merit, infact compared to some of the films it sits on the DPP72 with well its a work of art. 

Ok so in this film Dr. Von Frankenstein (played by B-movie actor Udo Kier) is obsessed with trying to make  a master race of Serbians who he will control. His plan to do this is basically to , manufacture his own pair of  Monsters a male and a female who he then believes will give birth to the first of his new super race. He actually refers to them at one point as Zombies, its clearly a bit weird as the average person is going to go ''zombies cant have babies'' or ''but how does the body parts put togther have anything to do with babies thats down to DNA not the random arms and legs stitched on to a monster'' Still thats the plot and if you want to get on with this film then just say to yourself when this was set no body knew what DNA was and the guys a mad scientist trying to test a crazy theory.

Now I am not going to do a play by play of everything that happens in this film as I like to try and keep things relativly spoiler free so that if someone was so inclined they could then go and enjoy the film after reading this, so instead I just want to talk about a few aspects of it and then give it a general sort of rating. For a start the film pretty much sticks to the promise of it being gory, it is a very gory film but there is a also a lot of sexual refrences and shots of flesh but its not just a gory smutty film its also quiet impressive artistically. Frankiensteisns laboratory is of partoiciular note, it is quiet simply a magnificent set, I also have to appluad the films music, taken away from the film some of it is actually quiet beautiful and kind of classical in nature, certain scenes are framed in a magnificent way and it certainly does tell a story even if it is kind of weird compared to your average Frankenstein piece.

I think there is an attempt at putting some sort of deeper meaning in to this film, if it has a message I would argue the message is that our wants and desires can lead us to very dark places and that if we repress them or channel them wrongly or let them consume us then we are likly to put ourselves and/or others in danger. I would give the film a 6 out of 10 and recomend that providing you havent been put of by the things I have told you about it that you give it a shot, its not something I could see anyone watching again or again like the hammer and Universal Frankenstein films but it is an intresting little chunk of cinematic history.