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Movies / On DVD / The Bride of Frankenstein
The Bride of Frankenstein

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The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

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Reviews Counted:39

Fresh:39

Rotten:0

Average Rating:8.9/10

Consensus: An eccentric, campy, technically impressive, and frightening picture, James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein has aged remarkably well.

Runtime: 75 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Synopsis: THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, a masterly mix of horror and black comedy, is the first in a series of sequels to FRANKENSTEIN (SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN). In the wry prologue, Mary... THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, a masterly mix of horror and black comedy, is the first in a series of sequels to FRANKENSTEIN (SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN). In the wry prologue, Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester) resumes her gothic tale after the face-off in a burning windmill between Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his horrific creation, the Monster (Boris Karloff). Presumed dead, the fiend rises again, immediately dispatching two villagers and wandering into the forest. Meanwhile, at chez Frankenstein, the archly villainous Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) arrives, demanding to see Henry "on a secret grave matter." In a touching scene, the Monster, chased by countless angry mobs, finds brief respite with a blind hermit (O.P. Heggie) who befriends him and teaches him to speak. Mad-as-a-hatter Pretorius blackmails unwilling Henry into creating a female monster, culminating in another gorgeously filmed laboratory scene of lightning, flying kites, and whirring gizmos. Once the lightning-streaked, big-haired, white-robed Bride (Elsa Lanchester again) walks, how will the Monster react; who will live and who will die? Horror fans will delight in Whale's superb camera work of sweeping crane shots and canted angles, the cavernous, shadowy sets, and the atmospheric Franz Waxman score. [More]

Starring: Elsa Lanchester, Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson

Starring: Elsa Lanchester, Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Ernest Thesiger, Gavin Gordon, Douglas Walton, Una O'Connor, E. E. Clive, Lucien Prival, O.P. Heggie, Dwight Frye

Director: James Whale

Director: James Whale
Producer: Carl Laemmle Jr.
Composer: Franz Waxman

[See More Credits]

Reviews for The Bride of Frankenstein

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
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Whale's most perfectly realised movie, a delight from start to finish.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Whale's erudite genius brings it all together. He sculpts every nuance of self-parody, social satire, horror, humour, wit and whimsy into a dazzling whole, keeping every one of his fantastical plates spinning until the tragic, inevitable finale.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
09/24/07
Simon Braund
Simon Braund
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A must for anyone with even a passing interest in horror, this not only confirms Karloff as a master of the genre, but also shows, more than any of Whale's subsequent films, the influence of his vision.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
09/24/07
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A classic, much better than the relatively straightforward original.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

One of those extraordinary films that transcends genre and period to provide fresh, untold pleasures year after year.

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
10/17/04
Matt Bailey
Matt Bailey
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

[A] great horror classic.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
03/10/03
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

This was to be [director James Whale's] last horror film. Small wonder; what could he possibly have left to prove?

Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | comment Comment
10/15/09
Tim Brayton
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy

[The film impresses] with its painterly and dramatic lighting, beautiful dissolves and tracking shots, sophisticated effects, and unexpected eccentricities.

Full Review Source: Filmjourney | comment Comment
12/01/04
Doug Cummings
Doug Cummings
Filmjourney

Bride of Frankenstein (1935), a classic masterpiece of 1930s horror films, appeared as a superior sequel to the original Frankenstein (1931).

Full Review Source: Tim Dirks' The Greatest Films | comment Comment
01/01/00
Tim Dirks
Tim Dirks
Tim Dirks' The Greatest Films

Whale added an element of playful sexuality to this version, casting the proceedings in a bizarre visual framework that makes this film a good deal more surreal than the original.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
06/04/07
Don Druker
Don Druker
Chicago Reader

Seen today, Whale's masterpiece is more surprising than when it was made because today's audiences are more alert to its buried hints of homosexuality, necrophilia and sacrilege. But you don't have to deconstruct it to enjoy it.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The results are both marvelously campy and wholly devastating.

Full Review Source: Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus

The Bride of Frankenstein has an in-your- face audacity that hasn't dimmed all that much after 63 years.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bob Graham
Bob Graham
San Francisco Chronicle

Another astonishing chapter in the career of the Monster.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
08/08/06
Frank S. Nugent
Frank S. Nugent
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A horror mega-classic.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
11/21/03
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

A perfect mix of comedy and tragedy.

Full Review Source: Goatdog's Movies | comment Comment
03/16/03
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Goatdog's Movies

THE monster movie.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
04/22/02
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

The greatest of all the Frankenstein films.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
10/24/06
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

one of the greatest movies i've ever seen

Full Review Source: sbs.is | comment 1 Comment
05/27/07
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
sbs.is

Screenwriters Hurlbut & Balderston and Director James Whale have given it the macabre intensity proper to all good horror pieces, but have substituted a queer kind of mechanistic pathos for the sheer evil that was Frankenstein.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
10/07/08
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for The Bride of Frankenstein

June 17, 2009: Neil Burger Circles Bride of Frankenstein Remake Opens in new window
Universal and Imagine are in talks with Neil Burger to direct a planned remake of 1935's "Bride of Frankenstein." More...

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