Everything expands. Following a pretty terrible prologue involving the Shelley's and Lord Byron during a storm as an excuse to "In Our Previous Episode" the movie, James Whale returns to the expressionistic sound stages of his iconic Frankenstein universe, where true to sequel form the main players manage to escape the death defined for them in the previous installment, the body count rises, and the world is opened up to more possibilities. Herein is the blind violinist so expertly parodied in Young Frankenstein, the Bride so iconic that despite her maybe two minutes of screen-time manages to seer herself into the viewers mind, and Dr. Pretorius, the guy who, less Dr. Frankenstein's previous salvation be a tad sentimental to the audience, enjoys being pure evil incarnate. The production values go up, too, as in general acting, editing, and sound improve against an already striking set.
Technically, this movie is somewhat closer to Shelley's book than the first film. The monster learns language, and the arranged marriage works as well as any modern arranged marriage would (i.e., it doesn't). This is not really a significant factor in the movie, however, since the Universal Monster's Frankenstein Monster Universe is far removed from Shelley's original prose, so this sequel of course operates better as a further fleshing out of Whale's created world as opposed to a mimic of Shelley's. Pretorius and his two Igors instead of one is a strange demon to appear on Frankenstein's shoulder, but it does lead to some fantastic set-ups, including a chilling and out-of-nowhere reveal of doll-sized people grown from Pretorius'...*Ahem*....seed.
Definitely a kooky and campy outing, I can see why people tend to like this better than the original. Certainly the macabre humor hits a lot of high notes.
--PolarisDiB
Technically, this movie is somewhat closer to Shelley's book than the first film. The monster learns language, and the arranged marriage works as well as any modern arranged marriage would (i.e., it doesn't). This is not really a significant factor in the movie, however, since the Universal Monster's Frankenstein Monster Universe is far removed from Shelley's original prose, so this sequel of course operates better as a further fleshing out of Whale's created world as opposed to a mimic of Shelley's. Pretorius and his two Igors instead of one is a strange demon to appear on Frankenstein's shoulder, but it does lead to some fantastic set-ups, including a chilling and out-of-nowhere reveal of doll-sized people grown from Pretorius'...*Ahem*....seed.
Definitely a kooky and campy outing, I can see why people tend to like this better than the original. Certainly the macabre humor hits a lot of high notes.
--PolarisDiB