the devil is easy to cheat

you can actually read the screenplay for free right here!! i’m not sure how much of it was officially filmed since A LOT tends to get altered between the original script and shooting (budgeting, actor input, crew input, and sometimes something works better on paper than it does in practice) but i can definitely list all the omitted or changed moments that i personally can’t stop thinking about:

young Victor poisoning his father with the flowers that grow around his mother’s grave as revenge for either ignorantly allowing Claire to die in childbirth OR intentionally killing her (i’m actually okay with this not making it into the final cut. like it certainly fits with the whole Victor/the Creature as Hamlet allegory, cycles of familial violence as well as the telenovela motif of the film itself but i think it goes *too* far with Victor’s characterization)

Elizabeth’s introductory scene at her convent where she kisses the wounds of a Christ statue with a little *too* much passion

after Victor tries to rizz Elizabeth up in the confessional booth they actually spend some time still in the church where she lights a few candles for her mother and father before revealing that she’s an orphan like Victor

the dinner scene between Victor and Elizabeth has a bit more dialogue where Elizabeth goes into more detail about her stay at the convent and Victor admits he can’t dance

when Elizabeth rejects Victor she says that whenever she’s around him the world feels too loud and confusing

during Victor’s second vision the dark angel actually screams “I LIVE” before he wakes up

there’s a detail of the Creature’s hair and nails growing faster than normal (maybe due to his self-regeneration??)

while down in the holding cell the Creature finds a flower growing near the window, cries over it, and uses the sewage to water it

instead of the leaf, he gives Elizabeth that same flower

when Elizabeth visits the Creature she kisses his torso and washes his feet with her hair (the Mary Magdalene-isms of it all!!!)

she also sings a song to him called “travertine” which i could not for the life of me find it so i’m pretty sure it was an original piece written for the film

during the scene where Victor finally hits the Creature he’s yelling at him to stop hiding from him until the Creature grabs his hand with tears streaming from his eyes

before Victor sets fire to the tower he kisses the Creature’s forehead and tells him it will be quick (to which the Creature quietly repeats “quick”)

Victor actually makes it further down the road while the tower is going up in flames and covers his ears and it’s the silence that reminds him of his mother’s death rather than the Creature calling out his name

the blind old man plays music and the Creature dances to it while hiding in the mill gears

while staying with the old man the Creature gets too engrossed in reading and bumps his head against the cottage roof but the two laugh about it

the old man also teaches him how to garden and harvest vegetables

the Creature takes one of the mice with him back to the ruined tower and keeps it tucked in his pocket

when the old man dies and the Creature tries carrying him away the hunters tell him to drop him and when the Creature stands up, he bumps his head again which makes him quietly laugh—before he’s shot in the throat

as the Creature lays dying he calls the moon his mother and the same mouse crawls into his open hand trying to wake him

William actually helps Victor with his prosthetic leg and acts much less cold towards him (although i think William looking away when Victor puts on his leg is less out of disgust and more that he can’t bring himself to see his brother be vulnerable and show pain)

the Creature gets a chance to speak to Elizabeth as she’s dying and they both sing “travertine” (she also shows him the flower she kept)

POSSIBLY THE WILDEST OMISSION: THE CREATURE REACHES INTO VICTOR’S MOUTH AND RIPS OUT THREE OF HIS BACK MOLARS AND SAYS “WHAT SHOULD YOU LOSE? YOUR BEAUTY?”

“Like me, you will curse the hour of your birth. Alone and alive you will stand until I destroy—or you unmake me” the hardest thing ever spoken by the Creature

the Creature repeats a poem spoken by Annamarie (the old man’s granddaughter) as he’s torturing Victor

the final scene actually has the Creature run towards the sunrise “for the pure pleasure of it” (i've actually thought about this change and i think i prefer the theatrical version. it reads as more "hopeful" in the script whereas it feels more sombre and bittersweet in the film since the creature is still alone with his immortality, he's still different from the rest of humankind, and he might always struggle to find his place in the world, so all he can do is greet the sun everyday and remember that first happy memory of him and Victor)