"Bride of Frankenstein" (1935)

The Bride of Frankenstein picks up right where Frankenstein left off but you could get away with not seeing the first film as the connection between the two is tenuous beyond a handful of characters. The Bride of Frankenstein assumes you know who Frankenstein and his monster are and proceeds on to becoming weirdly soulful and lyrical. Frankenstein had made the monster (Boris Karloff returning to the iconic role) a sympathetic, misunderstood outcast but Bride really goes out of its way to underline this point. Everyone is hunting him down or running away at the sight of him until he comes across a blind man who sees the inner beauty of the monster; they both lack a sense (sight and the ability to speak respectively). The blind man teaches the monster some words and shows him kindness only for the hunters to catchup once again and ruin it. If nothing else, it strengthens the monster's resolve to finally make a friend and start asking deep questions, like whether it was best he was never brought to life in the first place. This dovetails with Frankenstein's mentor Dr. Pretorius's (a wonderfully campy Ernst Thesiger) plan to create a female monster to marry off to the poor misunderstood guy. But the Bride (a fantastic bit of costuming and makeup design) rejects the monster as well and he accepts that he's not meant for this world, in a poetic and deeply sorrowful ending. The film is filled with a moody vibe, from its wonderfully atmospheric lighting to its Gothic sets, and expands nicely upon the themes from the first film.

Grade: A