🎃 31 Days of Halloween – Day 4 (Bonus) 🎃
The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) ★★★ · Watched Oct 4, 2025
Ghost of Frankenstein features the first—and only—appearance of Lon Chaney Jr. as Frankenstein’s Monster. It's not the last the franchise sees of him, of course. But it’s interesting to see him take the role here before getting, shall we say, a bit hairier in his next outing. That said, Bela Lugosi completely steals the show as Ygor, bringing his usual intensity and charm to the proceedings.
The film also solidifies a peculiar bit of Frankenstein lore: the Monster’s unexpected fondness for children. It’s a strange twist, especially considering that in Mary Shelley’s novel, he kills every child he encounters, and even in the original 1931 film, the flower scene is really a nod to the death of William. This softer, child-friendly angle would later be mined to great effect in Fred Dekker’s 1987 cult classic, The Monster Squad.
It’s a quirky entry in the Frankenstein saga—part horror, part camp, but elevated by strong performances and its odd little contributions to the mythos.
