The Bride of Frankenstein

Baron Frankenstein, goaded by another scientist, builds his monster a mate.

"— MORE FEARFUL THAN THE MONSTER HIMSELF!”

Out/queer director James Whale was reluctant to make a sequel to his smash-hit FRANKENSTEIN (1931), so was granted more creative input than was usual under the Hollywood system to influence the screenplay, look, and casting of the film. The result is a masterfully subversive blend of comedy and horror, featuring iconic monster designs by makeup artist Jack Pierce and costumier Vera West. With a bigger budget, and freedom of creative expression, ”The only rules are the rules of the imagination—and Whale had an extraordinary imagination" (Clive Barker, SHE’S ALIVE!).

For queer audiences, radically non-conforming author Mary Shelley’s story about the “fusion of flesh to create a new, strange being” (Sacha Coward, QUEER AS FOLKLORE) connects across our deep-rooted journeys of self discovery, identity, and expression. After all, which of us isn’t “a creature given life, that questions its own purpose, that struggles to cope in a world it is placed into, and has conflict with its creator” (ibid)?

Director: James Whale

Starring: Boris Karloff, Valerie Hobson, Elsa Lanchester, Ernest Thesiger, Colin Clive, Una O'Connor, E.E. Clive