#classicmonster

Frankenstein (1984)

★★ Watched 23 Oct 2025

One of the most middle-of-the-road Frankenstein adaptations, Frankenstein (1984) sits somewhere between the overly faithful dryness of Terror of Frankenstein and the wild ambition of Frankenstein: The True Story, without inheriting the best traits of either.

It has that unmistakable stagey, made-for-TV feel shared by several ‘70s and ‘80s adaptations, but it lacks the imagination of the Ian Holm-led Mystery and Imagination version, the writing strength of Dan Curtis’s production, or the literary accuracy of Terror of Frankenstein. What’s left is a curiously flat retelling that never quite finds its identity.

The cast is stacked with big names, but most feel miscast or underutilized. Carrie Fisher barely attempts an accent as Elizabeth, Robert Powell (as Victor) is oddly subdued, and David Warner, usually magnetic, mumbles through his lines as the Creature. It’s one of the most intentionally pathetic, melancholy portrayals of the Creature. There’s almost no menace in him, just quiet misery. Henry Clerval (now positioned as Victor’s assistant) also spends much of the runtime in heightened emotional distress, giving the story a strangely maudlin tone.

There are small deviations from the book, like thieves robbing the old blind man and killing him, Justine falling off a cliff rather than standing trial, and the friendship with Clerval is condensed into something more sentimental. But none of it improves the sluggish pacing, until the finale rushes through the story’s most powerful moments as if out of time or budget.

One nice connection for fans of the broader Frankenstein cinematic universe: John Gielgud plays the old man here, having previously appeared as the constable investigating Elizabeth’s death in Frankenstein: The True Story.

Terror of Frankenstein (1977)

★★½ Watched 22 Oct 2025

Of all the Frankenstein films up to 1977, Terror of Frankenstein may be the most faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel. Nearly every major plot beat is here, from Victor’s childhood in Geneva to the Creature’s final appearance aboard Captain Walton’s ship. The only significant omission is Justine’s trial. Even much of the dialogue is lifted directly from Shelley.

It’s also the first adaptation to use the Arctic wraparound exactly as written with Walton’s crew discovering Victor, who recounts his story, and the Creature later appearing on the ice after his creator’s death. Frankenstein: The True Story included the Arctic setting, but not as the framing narrative Shelley devised. This one finally gets it right, and the frigid authenticity of it all may come down to practical reasons: it’s a Swedish production, and the filmmakers could actually film in icy, wintry conditions. That constant chill seeps into the entire movie, giving it an appropriately bleak, northern European atmosphere.

Leon Vitali, better known as Stanley Kubrick’s right-hand man, sometime actor, and casting director, plays Victor Frankenstein, and his performance is fascinating in part because he looks so young. His Victor feels like an overambitious university student rather than a tortured elder scientist, which aligns perfectly with the book’s portrayal of youth corrupted by obsession. Similarly, a very baby-faced Stacy Dorning plays Elizabeth, and their combined innocence gives the tragedy a sharper edge.

Even the Creature looks remarkably accurate to Shelley’s description: a tall, beautiful man whose perfect features are undercut by corpse-like pallor, blackened lips, and stringy hair. He’s not a stitched-together brute or a lumbering Karloff clone, he’s uncanny in a more subtle way, his beauty corrupted into something alien.

Yet for all its faithfulness, Terror of Frankenstein never quite lives. It’s as if, in sticking so closely to the text, it loses the fire that animates Shelley’s novel. The pacing is deliberate to a fault, the emotions muted, the production occasionally too austere, and cold as the Arctic itself.

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