I have distinct memories of being in pre-school and chasing my friends around the playground pretending to be Boris Karloff. I must have been three or four, maybe. I had no idea what this Frankenstein dude was, but I knew I wanted to be him.
My infatuation with monsters started basically at birth, but really solidified as a toddler with "Frankenstein" and "King Kong." The imagery — completely divorced from any sort of narrative context — grabbed hold of me somehow and wouldn't let go. I drew pictures of Frankenstein's Monster everywhere, and I had a King Kong lunchbox (from the terrible 70s Jeff Bridges remake, unfortunately).
It wasn't until I was around the third or fourth grade that I actually saw either movie and even then I was struck by the notion that, in a fundamental way, they were pretty much exactly the same film: big awkward outsider with a sensitive side is misunderstood, smashes things, gets killed by assholes.
As a big lumbering dork who was painfully shy and got punched in the face by bullies sometimes for no reason, I related.
"King Kong" doesn't hold up for me in quite the same way, but Karloff's monster still has his grip on me. And, while I can psychoanalyze that until the sun goes down, the fact is that this fascination of mine is elemental in some primal way. It's reptile brain stuff. Vampires, werewolves, the boogeyman, etc... I don't remember there ever being a point in my life where I wasn't completely enraptured by the very idea of MONSTERS. That's how it always was to me -- in all caps and bolded. I obsessively read and reread the Crestwood House "Monsters" series of books. I loved Dracula, the Wolfman, Godzilla, all the rest... but Frankenstein's Monster was the king. I used to lay in bed at night fantasizing about Frankenstein fighting Godzilla (someone really should make that movie). Even now, as a 36-year-old man, looking at that picture at the top of this page sends a thrill up my spine.
The movie itself is pretty great. I know the general consensus is that "Bride of Frankenstein" is the superior film, but for me Whale tips a little too much into camp with that one. There's something so simple, so dark, so primal about the original, and there are images from this film — the initial reveal, the girl at the lake, Fritz (Dwight Frye) with his whip, the villagers with their torches, the final showdown at the windmill — that continue to haunt me.
As a side note, if you haven't seen Bill Condon's 1998 film "Gods and Monsters," you really should give it a look. It missed this list by a hair.
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