#1 The Curse of Frankenstein

That's right Monster Kids - number one on my top-ten favorite Frankenstein films is The Curse of Frankenstein! Hammer Studios' first foray into gothic horror is a full-blown Technicolor masterpiece.
(Though I just learned today that this film was pitched to Hammer by the man that would go on to head Amicus Films - the 'other' great British house of horror).

There will never be a greater Dr. Frankenstein than Peter Cushing (nor a better Van Helsing for that matter). If Cushing was of the correct age he could have easily been the guy in the early Universal Franken-films. A perfectly convincing classic horror actor - who just as easily wears the shoes of a hero or a villain. And in The Curse of Frankenstein make no mistake, Cushing is the villain..

The movie is one of only two Hammer retellings of the Shelley' Frankenstein tale. All the other Hammer-Franks are penned outright by filmmakers. The film starts with the young doctor taking on an in-house science tutor name Paul Krempe. Flash forward to Dr. Frankenstein as a young adult and Krempe as his contemporary, who later essentially becomes a reluctant assistant. They successfully 'torture' a dead puppy back to life (in the name of film science I suppose) and create some crazy electro-paddlefans and that is enough for the good doc to go off the deep end and cave in fully to his ego.

Though at no time does the doc seem to have a second to spare he apparently maintains proper with his bride-to-be cousin Elizabeth (horror actress Hazel Court) and random booty-calls with slightly-too inquisitive house-maid Justine (Valerie Gaunt - Horror of Dracula).

Between debauching the 'servantry' and ignoring every bit of life advice from Krempe, the doc hasn't just been raiding the gallows and crypts - but outright murdering people to piece together a truly horrifying Monster (Christopher Lee). The monster is utterly hideous and entirely malevolent. Few Frankenstein films were made by anyone outside of Universal to that point so the appearance of the monster is pretty much established as the block-headed Karloff/Strange creature.
I would have LOVED to been in the cinema when that 1957 audience gets their first, horrifically zoomed, full-color look at the Chris Lee monster, who in all intents and purposes looks more human and terrifying than the Universal creatures. The monster literally looks like a re-assembled, very pruned corpse. Horrifying!

Not a chap you would want to run into in the woods, especially with your old, blind granddad!

An all-time very favorite horror-film visual is when Justine has snuck into the forbidden laboratory and surveys the trouble she might get into. Unbeknownst to her, the monster is just behind her - but we only see the extremely frightening shadow of his arm moving from the darkness towards her..

The movie to an extent becomes a tense, high-stakes "get out of the room" thriller with some characters just making it - and others not. The music is as forceful and unrelenting as the monster and for the first of many times the legendary, always recognizable (but never the same twice) Down Place at Bray Studios would be cast as the Frankenstein Castle..

The Curse of Frankenstein was considered so gory and frightening in 1957 that it was derided by writers of the day as an affront to good-hearted god-fearing audiences. Funny how today it is almost unanimously hailed as the best Hammer film made.

Well there you have it folks - the top ten is complete. The Curse of Frankenstein trumps em all!
If you see the list differently don't hesitate to share yours! Until the next top ten, "Rarrrrrrrrrrr!"

#2 The Son of Frankenstein

"One doesn't easily forget, Herr Baron, an arm torn out by the roots." -Krogh

That's right kids, my top Universal Frankenstein film is the one where the screenwriters essentially said "Mary Shelley be damned - we're writing our own stories now". And that would mostly be the way they addressed classic horror from that point on. Why choose "Son" and not the very popular "Bride"  or the first film - most popular among the purists? I'd say that's an easy one - Son of Frankenstein is the darkest, most frightening and most well rounded horror film of the three. It is a true classic thriller. Rather, when fall rolls around it's the one I look forward to seeing the most.

Years after the initial horror in the tiny Frankenstein hamlet, the good doc's son, Wolf (Basil Rathbone) and family roll into town on a particularly dark and stormy night, expecting to be greeted with a kegger of SpatenBrau, pretzels and happy, dancing Bavarians. Instead he encounters that same old howling, angry mob this town is already well known for. The chief of police Inspector Krogh immediately infers that nothing good can ever come from a Frankenstein homecoming. We know all too well the inspector is never wrong.

It's hard to say just what the hell is going on with Basil Rathbone during this film. It's been suggested he didn't take the horror genre as a serious acting gig (explains why he did so many other horror films afterwards - not), but I wonder if he didn't simply see it as being the way to best portray this character as very high strung and possibly addicted to caffeine - as he was definitely losing his way and feeling the pinch between his new found aspirations to make monsters, the one armed, dart-tossing Krogh and of course dear Ygor, the murderous crook-neck with revenge plots aplenty bubbling inside his shaggy noggin.

"They hanged me once Frankenstein. They broke my neck. They said I was dead. Then they cut me down. They threw me in here, long ago. They wouldn't bury me in holy place like churchyard. Because I stole bodies, eh they said. So, Ygor is dead!" -Ygor

Karloff is billed as the monster but is Ygor, played to glorious horror perfection by Bela Lugosi here that is actually the most monstrous character in this film. Wolf's first moment encountering Ygor is highlighted by nearly being splatted like a giant Bavarian mosquito at the murderous hand of Ygor via a tremendous, foam-filled boulder. Nothing Ygor says or does at any point in this film infers that he would be a good pal to keep around for a laugh. Good for us!

 Karloff's final go-round as the monster features a particularly ghoulish "dead" appearance to his makeup and of course that fan-favorite woolly vest. A classic look. Thank goodness he has also apparently again lost the ability to speak since the last film. The monster no longer seems to long for female companionship. He only seems interested in doing the murderous bidding of his old pal Ygor.
The "giant" appears to have pretty insightful knowledge of the wondrous Frankenstein castle, trekking through secret rock-laden halls and into rooms via hidden doorways.

The home itself is a character in the film and I'd be remiss not to mention it. I particularly love the scene in Wolf's library during the storm that features very Haunted Mansion-ish lightning through the windows..

Old TV Guide Creature Feature ads always seemed to infer graphically that Wolf's young son Peter, played by Donny "Voice of Bambi" Dunagan was the "Son" of Frankenstein. Peter for the most part is the true 'WTF?' character in this movie - but having personally quoted most of his utterly comical dialogue probably thousands of times over the years I couldn't imagine this film without him. Dunagan is still living today and I would love the chance to meet him at one of the horror cons some day. It would be difficult not to holler out "Welllllllllllll hellllllllllllllllooooooooooooo!"

Finally, I wanted to mention the scene where Elsa, Wolf's wife arrives in the extremely shadowy and black Frankenstein Castle - after riding through hundreds of miles of the creepiest, decrepit terrain ever shown on film - in a horrific late-night storm. She politely asks the house maid about the castle - "Are the bedrooms cheery??".
If the maid would only answer: "look around lady, what the fuck do you think?"....

#3 The Bride of Frankenstein

Five minutes into The Bride of Frankenstein we realize that this is not merely a 'part two' of Frankenstein but a pretty concerted effort by the filmmakers to utilize whatever improvement in grand skills they had learned in the few short years since the first film and to up the ante with loads of on-screen personality and stylish, gothic photography.

We first meet Minnie (Una O'connor) who (outside of the slightest bit of fun with the old Baron in film one) is the possibly the first legitimate comedic Franken-foil of the series (makers of Young Frankenstein probably had a field day studying her). She's a legitimate old bat with a cockney swagger but still proves no match for the late-night visiting, smug-face-making, no-time-for-women, alchemist Dr. Pretorius - who carries both the comedy and the villainy loads from the moment of his introduction through the rest of the film. Pretorius forces the all-of-a-sudden sensible Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive - filming the movie with broken leg - just prior to his death) back to his stitch-sewing bad habits. Somewhere in this part of the film we find out Lady Frankenstein has possibly had too much Laudanum and is seeing spooks and phantoms in the bedroom fireplace.

Then there' the Dr. Pretorius' 'little people' scene… This bit  is simply baffling, absurd - and is maybe an example of the influence of style on this film exceeding story telling. It's a real head scratcher. Fortunately the alchemy angle from that point on loses favor to Pretorius' outright villainy anyway. The scene would probably have been a better, well-storied, rare outtake for DVDs than eating up screen time. Because they knew about DVDs in the 30's. 

Karloff's monster packs up the baloney sandwiches and goes on the road in this film - making a quick stop in the blind man's cottage, where he learns all about friends, wine, cigars and good, hot food. He also makes it clear that fire pretty much sucks as far as he's concerned. Later he takes his new found indulgences to the crypts where he of course parties down with Pretorius, who is more than happy to share Gene Simmon's favorite drink (Cold Gin - which Pretorius' only weakness apparently). At some point they establish that the monster needs a sexy Franken-mate and that she should look exactly like Mary Shelley for some reason. We also discover that Dr. Pretorius has also invented the telephone. Oh, and the monster can talk now - but he never uses the phone - go figure.. "Hey doc, it's the Monster. I just wanted to give you a quick buzz and say hate living, love dead…"

If much of this sounds like I'm more interesting in goofing on the film than praising it's achievements it's because that is exactly the film this is - an exquisite goof. Visually it is a gothic masterpiece - and the musical score equals the visuals. The characters are cartoonish and the film appears to be edited to a strange pace (mostly at the end). And all of this is why I wouldn't change a thing (well maybe the little-people) - because like the monster and Pretorius, we don't belong to a movie critic's club - we belong dead…

#7 Young Frankenstein

Not lacking for popularity or rabid fan appreciation I still always thought Young Frankenstein was far superior to The Rocky Horror Picture Show and could have / should have been the ultimate "audience participation" midnight movie.

While Mel Brooks' black and white masterpiece is smack full of legendary schtick and hilarious punchlines, it's attention to detail regarding the three great Karloff-era Universal Frankenstein films is what really makes this flivver giv'r.  Gene Wilder's "Dr. Frahnkensteen" is unmistakably inspired mostly by the Basil Rathbone "Wolf von Frankenstein" character that apprehensively inherited this monster problem - not just with the tall guy with bolts in his neck but the hump-backed, gallows-robbing sidekicks Ygor/I-gor.

The scenes where the monster (Peter Boyle) encounters De Lacey (the blind man in the cottage - played by an uncredited Gene Hackman) is some of the greatest slapstick put to film.
If a boiling bowl of soup in the lap and a well lit hot-thumb doesn't make you laugh out loud then you may yourself be a humorless corpse.

I often wondered if Hackman going uncredited had any connection to John Carradine doing the same in the blind man scene from Bride of Frankenstein.

From securing the original Frankenstein's lab machinery to recreating a perfect Lawrence Talbot "there-wolf" forest to spinning book-cases and one-armed, dart slinging burgomasters - all the parts are here for a successful Franky flick that is very worthy of any top-ten Frankenfilm list…

I just wish Boyle would have had some stitches across his noggin.

#8 Frankenstein: The True Story

In the 70's certain, sometimes partially episodic Made-for-TV movies became can't-miss family events. Roots, Dead Man's Curve, Sybil etc. were among these. The horror classics were well represented amongst these mostly-made to-sell-ads experiences. Kolchak/Night Stalker came from this territory. Jack Palance did a stint as Count Dracula etc.

And then there was Frankenstein: The True Story, a 185 minute formal attempt at retelling Shelley's novel - starring hunky, Mick Jagger-esque, Canadian Michael Sarrazin as the monster and a young Jane Seymour (ages prior to her turning a lame doodle into a mass produced gold charm) and James Mason a few years before Salem's Lot..

 I recall settling in - in front of the TV to catch the first third of each installment (I of course fell asleep missing most of the original airings) As a young whippersnapper  I would not have differentiated this production from a Hammer film (filmed at Pinewood) and to be honest it wouldn't be hard to envision Peter Cushing and his funky electro paddle-fans pop in for a spot of afternoon tea.

The movie is long and sometimes boring, but the great de-volving monster aspect really fascinated me (I'd later figure out Hammer had already kinda covered this territory in a film that will be much higher up the list). Sarrazin transforming into an old drippy potato is a visual I wouldn't soon forget. You have floppy, sawed-off arms, heads floating in jars, people freezing to death - and then of course there is the whole "people getting flipped into a large acid vat" aspect (again already done by Hammer). This movie taught me that Frankenstein didn't just have to be Karloff with a squared head, he was for the most part a tragic victim of another man's ego.

This title "The True Story" definitely left me with the impression that all of this really happened - and that the monster was a guy who actually lived someplace where people had British accents and kept huge acid vats in their garages. In fact when I grow up I'm getting one installed in my back yard.
And you're invited to go for the first swim, fucker.

Top 10 Frankenstein Films - #10 Dracula vs Frankenstein

This Horror-ween season I'm counting down my top Frankenstein flicks. I don't plan on retracing entire plots (which can be found in 100 different places with one click online) but essentially share what I loved about them..

And #10 is.....
1971's Dracula vs Frankenstein!
Yeah, this cheeser is more about The Count than The Monster - but to a young kid growing up in the 70's, brief shots of this pie-faced Prometheus was all that was necessary to get the job done. Though today Al Adamson's flick seems pretty comical, at the time I was first seeing this one on late-night Creature Feature it was actually one of the more effectively scary movies the local channel would run. It's a fairly bloody film and for kids like me who were not yet exposed to gorier stuff like  Night of The Living Dead or HG Lewis flicks it left a lasting imprint.

There is a real intensity and vibe of dread to the musical score even if it is juxtaposed against an absurd, jazz-man looking Count (The mighty Zandor Vorkov) and his bizarre, echo-ey speaking voice (and dime-store plastic fangs), evil dwarves and a very old J. Carrol Naish who's dentures click like a telegraph during all of his speaking scenes. Someone had some real fun with the theramin here.

The Monster is played (mostly) by John Bloom who was obviously chosen for his mammoth stature - and as crazy as this walking corpse looks I imagine it's not far from what a real man, sewn together from graveyard bits might look like. Years ago my friend and I found a dead guy who was hit by a train and fell in a canal in Florida. He looked just like DvF's Monster.

This is also Lon Chaney's final film and though his role is pretty hard to watch - mostly because he just looks so bad - it is of interest as Jr. had played both Dracula and Frankenstein for Universal in the day. So much for hoping for one last Talbot transformation here.

I doubt this film would approach making any real critical list of Frankie films and should probably never bump any single Hammer outing featuring The Monster but it has loads of wild nostalgic value to me and is an easy top-tenner here.

One last note - if you are a big fan of this film be sure to join up over at the Zandor Vorkov Plastic Fang Society. We're talking absurd horror!

Top Ten Vampire Films #1

Black Sabbath/The Wurdelak
Yes I am a sucker for Bava, but I simply don't think there is another vampire film as great as The Wurdelak. 30 years after Lugosi embodied the screen vampire, an older, grayer Boris Karloff perfected it. In the only vampire role of his career, Boris effectively scares the pants off the entire audience as the Russian father returning home after a long absence as vampire (Wurdelak). Boris occasionally took the role of the hardcore evil antagonist and with this film he perfected it.
The story holds throughout. The 'look' of the film is probably the very best Bava ever achieved and the scares are aplenty. There are several extremely unique and chilling moments in this trilogy segment - and to think, this is only the second scariest segment of Black Sabbath, but we'll discuss A Drop of Water some other time!

Dr. Gangrene's #1?

Tell them Boris sent you..

Top Ten Vampire Films #2

BLACULA!
Blacula, oh Blacula.. How do I love thee let me "count" the ways.. Since my list is simply personal favorites rather than 'most important to the genre' etc. I feel perfectly fine putting Dracula's Soul Brother at #2. With Blacula you have all the great fun of an early 70's Yorga-type blue vamps against a very "Sanford and Son" (my favorite all time show) setting. In fact there is probably no less than five Sanford regulars that appear in the film.. Finally, this one really delivers in the scary scene dept. A female vamp, awaking on the autopsy table to chase a white dude down the corridor is one of the freakiest, most frightening sequences in all of horror! Scream Blacula Scream is an admirable sequel as well. Do yourself a favor and watch this after midnight!
Honorable Mention: Dracula vs. Frankenstein

Check out Dr. Gangrene's #2

"Not until you use some depilatory powder, Count.."

Top Ten Vampire Films #3

Black Sunday
If you qualify Black Sabbath as a Vampire film rather than a witch film you have to consider it a top contender. Bava's vampire, escaping the grave against a full glorious black and white gothic backdrop is a sight to see. I have to admit, as a kid it was difficult not to cover my eyes when the headstone falls over or when Barbara Steele meets her fate, iron maiden style.. Executioners, morbid bats in old Russian cemeteries and truly frightening vampires. Excellent stuff!

Check out Dr. Gangrene's #3

Where's my Stridex?

Top Ten Vampire Films #5

Let The Right One In

To come up with a fresh, smart twist on the vampire tale in the modern movie era and have a story that works so effectively from start to finish is a rare thing. The Swedish "Let The Right One In" not only is all that but so much more. Remade for English-speaking audiences as "Let Me In" by the glorious Hammer studios almost note for note. Check them both out and enjoy every minute...

Check out Dr. Gangrene's #5

I cut you!

Top Vampire Films #6

Bram Stoker's Dracula
Probably not even near other's lists - and the atrocities against acting purported by Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder are acknowledged but there's no denying the slam-dunk job done by Gary Oldman as the old Count... A mixture of absurdity and excellence from start to finish. The intertwining of the Vlad The Impaler lore with the Dracula story really was never part of the popular culture until this movie came along. Stunning visuals and a stellar beat-actor-worthy performance by Oldman make this one a top fang flick in my book..

Check out Dr. Gangrene's #6

Oldman, having a chuckle over Keanue Reeves' ' 'BillnTedeqsue' Harker dialogue

Top Ten Vampire Films - #7

Let's Scare Jessica To Death
Oh my.. This one about scared me to death as a kid. Trippy 70's flashback flick where a couple of hippies move into a creepy old house in a creepy old northeastern town, where all the inhabitants are of course.. vampires.. Not a traditional vampire film by any means, but a damn effective one..

Check out Dr. Gangrene's # 7

I wandered into this puddle.... and found evil. Pure evil.

Beware of 70's movies that take place in  homes like this..

Top Ten Vampire Films - #8

Fearless Vampire Killers (or Pardon Me But Your Teeth Are in My Neck)

Originally shot by Polanski as a "straight" film for lack of a better term, the studio stepped in and added a bit of Three Stooges Shemp-stick post filming. Having seen this movie for years with the funny edits I can't imagine it without it. A vivid Hammer style landscape and gothic castle sequences make this movie a feast for the eye. You know the deal, outsiders (vamp killers) find a remote pub, are shunned by locals and end up in a horrific vampire castle scenario. Same story, done with a lot of unique flair...

Check out Dr. Gangrene's #8 here

I just wanted to borrow some Crest!

They did WHAT to my film?

Top Ten Vampire Films #10

To honor Dr. Gangrene's Top Ten Fang-Flicks I've compiled my own.
At #10 is FRIGHT NIGHT (Original 1985).

Peter Vincent, Vampire Hunter..

The leaves are blowing, Peter Vincent, a classic horror-host is on late night TV. People are going missing and your mom is digging the vampire that just moved in next door.. Great fun!

Top Teeth...

My pal Dr. Gangrene is counting down his top ten all time vampire flicks.

Be sure to check in every day to see his pic over at Dr. Gangrene's Tales From The Labs to see where your favorite lands..

(I think I'm gonna have to roll out my own Top 10 fang-flicks in honor of the occasion)