Episode 76 - Halloween Horror Month (2025) Frankenstein (Fire Bad!!)

    MIDDLE AGE MOVIE REVIEWS 



Episode 76 - Halloween Horror Month (2025)Frankenstein (Fire Bad!!)






Our hosts Matt, Tim, and Joey Kick off a month long look at horror films from the Classic Universal Monster Movies. They are joined by fellow film critic podcaster Josh from The Real Reel talk podcast shows.



First up on the slab for dissection is the infamous Frankenstein from 1931 starring Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, and Dwight Frye.

The guys discuss the pre-code horror warning at the beginning of the film and how it mirrors modern day warnings with a trigger warning.  They do compare the standards of the 1930s to the warnings of today.  



Joey goes into his comments on how the film is a product of its time.  How this movie looks good even on laser disc.  

Matt talks about the impetus of this story and how they used drapes for the mat paintings. How Joe talks about how it was shot on 35 mm film.  






Josh also tells us his take on the characters and how the characters spit in the eyes of death.  

Find out this and more on this episode of Middle Age Movie Reviews. 



Where to find Josh (The Real Reels Podcast)On Twitter xOn Spotify  SpotifyOn YouTube  YouTube






Theme Song Eddies Twister provided by Open Music Archive.Org which is an open source public domain music. The Open Music Archive concerns itself with the public domain and creative works which are not owned by any one individual and are held in common by society as a whole.
Middle Age Movie Reviews is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0





Death Clock - Death Clock 2,800 hours of movies
Is it worth taking the time to tick off your Death Clock?  1 hour and 10 minsTim:  YES absolutely

        Tim's Remaining Death Clock (2,717 hours and 19 Min)    
        Matt:  Yes


       Matt's Remaining Death Clock (2,700 hours and 09 Min) 
        Joey: Yes

                 Joey's Remaining Death Clock (2,721 hours and 44 Min)




                 Josh: YES absolutely
                  








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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Electronic Media Collective podcast Network. Yeah,
it's a mouthful. For more great shows like the one
you're about to enjoy, visit Electronicmediacollective dot com and now
our feature presentation.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello, Welcome to the Middle Aged Reviews Podcast. Three guys
saying Quite a good scene, isn't it? One man crazy,
three very sane spectators. My name is Tim and my
podcasting partners.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Are Monster, Matt, Joey and.

Speaker 4 (00:39):
Joining us for the first time tonight.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Filling in the question mark spot in our podcast or
credits from the Real Real Talk podcast, It's Josh Say.

Speaker 5 (00:46):
Hello, Josh, Hello everyone.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
All right, Joey, why don't you tell us what we're
watching at the Picture show tonight?

Speaker 6 (00:54):
Tonight we are watching the nineteen thirty one movie Frankenstein,
Number fifty from the book of one thousand and one
Movies You Should Watch Before You Die, written by Mary Shelley,
John L. Balderston and Peggy Webling, directed by James Whale
and starring Colin Clive May Clark and Boris Carloff.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Thanks Joey. Okay, So, since we have a new guest tonight,
I want to know first off, Josh When was the
first time you ever watched Frankenstein?

Speaker 5 (01:27):
So I had to think about this for a minute.
Would have been in the mid nineties. I was probably
a sophomore in high school, maybe a junior in high school.
A couple of friends and myself we were young movie nerds,
so we would go down to the local Blockbuster Video
and this one just happened to come home with us
one weekend, and I loved it. They didn't like it
as much as I did.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
Nice.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
I love the fact that you've embraced the middle aged
ness and you referenced everyone's favorite nineties video rental store
of Blockbuster. Yes, that is awesome, all right, Tim?

Speaker 4 (01:58):
How about you?

Speaker 3 (01:58):
When was the first time you watched Forankenstein? Was it
a Blockbuster night?

Speaker 4 (02:02):
No, it wasn't.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Actually, I've had this one sitting on his shelf for years.
I think we covered this a loough when we did
Young Frankenstein. Never actually watched the original thought I did.

Speaker 4 (02:11):
Never did.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
We went ahead and did Bride of Frankenstein. So that's
one of our previous podcasts, as you know. So in
preparation for that, I tried watching Frankenstein so I could
get kind of the backstory. Only made it about halfway
through at that point, never finished it, so this would
probably be my first time actually watching it from beginning
to end.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
All right, great, well, we'll get some first time perspective
on this episode. Okay, Joey, our film school critic, our
film school officionado.

Speaker 6 (02:39):
When was the.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
First time you saw Frankenstein in its entirety in high school?

Speaker 6 (02:44):
I'm sure I saw many clips of it growing up,
many parodies I vividly remember, and recently saw it again
a Woody Woodpecker sketch with a Woody Woodpecker esque Frankenstein monster.
So I probably saw a whole lot of things parodying
it and inspired by it before I saw the movie itself.
But that's it.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
I was a teenager, nice well, like you, Joey, like you, Josh.
I was a teenager when I first saw this. However,
I did not see it as a blockbuster night. I'm
going to reference my father again, because my father was
the first guy on the block to own a laser
disc player. Now, for all of those who are younger
than us, a laser disc player was the precursor to
the DVD. Your DVDs were about the size of a record. Again,

(03:27):
that may be a really large round disc that you
would put in this machine and take it out and
flip it over like a pancake. Which was awesome because
it was when they came out with the restored version.
I believe it was restored back in like nineteen eighty six.
They brought back the original cut where they found footage
of the flower girl scene Marina getting tossed into the water.

(03:50):
So I've always known it as being part.

Speaker 6 (03:53):
Of the movie.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
I've never actually seen a cut of it prior to that. Now,
of course, you know if the Boris Karlo Frankenstein has
been template for all merchandising for Frankenstein, so I've always
seen Boris Karloff as Frankenstein. But the first time seeing
the movie was back in the early nineties. It was
nice to go back and rewatch this and remember my
younger times. Okay, Tim, Well, as our resident horror host,

(04:16):
what are you going to request for our synopsis this evening?

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Okay, So, I know I've been pretty rough on you lately.
I've been writing some pretty long synopsis, so I'm gonna
go a litis on you tonight. I would just like
you to read the synopsis as Edward Van Sloane warning
the podcast of the Horrors to come.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
All right, so kind of like an uptight British kind
of accent, but yet still Hollywoodish.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Sure, however you'd like to portray him, You know, you
had the source material to work with us.

Speaker 4 (04:48):
You know, if you got to go off script, athletic
feel free.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
I guess all right, fine, how do you do? Middle
aged movie reviews feels it would be a little unkind
to present this podcast without just a word of friendly warning.
We're about to unfold the story of doctor Henry Frankenstein,
a man of science who sought to create a man
after his own image. Ghoulishly collecting the bodies of the

(05:15):
dead men, he meticulously constructs his new creation, a patchwork
body onto which he plans to inject new life. But
unbeknownst to him, his assistant Fritz not Igor acquires an
abnormal brain, not an abnormal brain which he used in
his creation. His experiment is a success. The creature does

(05:38):
indeed come to life, but soon he discovers that all
is not right with his creation, for it has become
an aggressive monster. His failure grips him in depression and
spirals him towards utter madness. I think this podcast will
thrill you, it may shock you, it might even horrify you.

(05:58):
So if any of you feel that you do not
care to subject to your nerves to such a strain,
now is your chance to well, we've warned you.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Nicely done, Matthew, nicely done, thank you, and look only
three paragraphs this.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
Time, yes, all right. Well, this film of course begins
just as Tim had directed to me, with Edward Van Sloan,
who I've never heard of this guy before, just kind
of steps out of the curtain and gives us a
warning which kind of reminds me a little bit of
what some of the TV shows now are doing, where
they have like trigger warnings right at the beginning of

(06:36):
the movie. But it's definitely a huge difference from back
in the nineteen thirties because times have changed. There's definitely
things that are more shocking now. Edward Van Sloane gives
us that warning which Tim has lovingly recreated with that
wonderful script. But my question to you guys right off
the bat is your thoughts on this early nineteen thirties disclaimer.
Do you feel as though this movie really needs it?

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Now?

Speaker 3 (06:58):
In the twenty twenty five I'll turn it over to
you first, Josh, what are your thoughts on this initial disclaimer.

Speaker 5 (07:04):
Specifically to your question does it need it now in
twenty twenty five, No, of course not, but looking at
it from nineteen thirty one, it's a really clever bit
of marketing. In nineteen thirty one, sound is only four
years old. At this point, you're not used to what
you're seeing on the screen, and then someone comes out

(07:25):
and warns you. Alfred Hitchcock did something similar with Psycho
not allowing people into the theater. It was a cool
marketing trick, so someone who didn't know what they were expecting,
now you're kind of built up and you're getting a
little tense. I think it was a great move for
the time. Is it necessary today, No, of course not.
But we're also so seasoned for what to expect and

(07:47):
watching Frankenstein. This is a drama much more than it
is a horror by today's standards.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
I agree with you. It does feel more like a
drama than a horror. What about you, Joey, what do
you think of this opening warning?

Speaker 6 (08:00):
It's pretty cheesy now I forgot that the guy did
the warning at the beginning is actually playing the other
doctor as well. He definitely has some really good delivery.
I liked how you know, well, we warned you. It's
well delivered, but it's definitely cheeseball by today's standards. But
that's also a reason to like it.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
Gotcha, how about you, Tim, How do you feel about
this old talkie?

Speaker 2 (08:22):
This was added into the movie by the insistence of
the studio because if you think about it, there's a
lot of blasphemous overtones that goes against your Christian teachings
in this. So I think they kind of did it
to cover their butts, let's just say, to try to
warn people what's about to happen. But it had, you know,
as Josh boyts, probably a pretty good marketing effect because

(08:43):
this movie made a lot of money for its time.
And also we have dragona that was just made as well.
But most of the early movies, there's some horror stuff
that happens before this, but most of them are patriotic
war movies or dramas or love stories and things like that.
You're not getting a lot of this horror. This is
really you know, they're still kind of breaking in this
new frontier of these kind of fantasy horror films, So

(09:06):
I think they needed to warn people because they probably
really weren't ready to see this. This is probably super
shocking to see such a thing on the screen at
that time. I think it was very warm to by
today's standards. No, I mean, this is such a g
rated cool baby. There are scarier cartoons out now than.

Speaker 6 (09:23):
There is this movie.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
But back then, I can see why they put it in,
and I can almost agree with it because of the
mindset of the people at that point.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
I do agree with you, guys. It definitely is a
sign of the times that seeing something like this on
Frankenstein seems very came I think like the first horror
film that scared people was like back in the late
eighteen hundreds where someone took a film recording of a
train coming into a station and people were freaking out
because I got the train was going to run right

(09:52):
into them. So, yeah, when you have something like that
that scares people, I could see where Frankenstein would scare
the early thirties crowd.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah, because I'm thinking probably the scariest one that I
can remember coming out it was probably the No Saratu
the Silent Zone that was probably really the big, big
one that a lot of people were exposed to. But
outside of that, I think it starts to get a
little more fringe. And Josh, you're probably the better expert
in this area than I am, with my layman's knowledge
of horror films.

Speaker 4 (10:18):
I feel like No Saratu is probably the trailblazer.

Speaker 5 (10:22):
Yeah, because you have No Saratu is nineteen twenty two.
It's only nine years before this there was a really
good Phantom of the Opera with Lon Cheney that's got
some really scary makeup work in it. But now you're
adding in religious overtones and things. So nineteen thirty one
is what they referred to as the pre code era

(10:44):
of Hollywood. So the code that's put into place for
Hollywood to follow was written in nineteen twenty seven, but
it wasn't in force until nineteen thirty four, so they
knew the rules. I think you're right by putting in
that disclaimer. It really set to think, hey, we know
that there's some things in here that are not okay
in polite society, but it's just a movie. So if

(11:06):
you don't like those things, get out. So I do
think that's probably what they were doing. It was a
little cya moment to cover your bike and let's get
through this. But again from a marketing standpoint, you also
got some people tend stuff. They're like, oh, now I'm nervous.
What am I gonna watch? Yeah? And then watching the
Little Girl that had to be a pretty distressing thing
for a nineteen thirty one audience.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
Oh yes, yeah. Well then let's go ahead then and
open up to our stories. So, in a village of
the Bavarian Alps, Henry Frankenstein and his assistant rits a
hunchback piece together a human body. Some of the parts
are from freshly buried bodies, others from the bodies of
recently hanged criminals. Is it hang or hung anyway? Henry

(11:49):
desires to create a human, giving this body life through
electrical devices. He still needs a brain for his creation.
Henry's former teacher, doctor waller Man, shows his class the
brain of an average human being and the corrupt brain
of a criminal for comparison. Henry sends Fritz to steal
the healthy brain from Walden's class. Fritz accidentally damages it

(12:13):
and so it brings Henry the corrupt brain. Now, before
I dive into my questions. So when we did Young Frankenstein,
this was like, my favorite joke was the abnormal brain
that whole sequence. It was really neat to see the
original idea of the abnormal brain switch right here in Frankenstein.
What did you guys think of that? I'll go over

(12:34):
you first, Josh.

Speaker 5 (12:35):
Just like you said, the joke by itself is really funny.
But then when you add in the context of understanding
where the joke came from, why the joke is there,
it does it makes it so much funnier. And then
to see that, oh, shoot, that's really how they did it,
like it wasn't even a joke, and that's what they
did it here, and now that's played as joke later.
I think it's hilarious. Yeah, it's a great connection.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
How about you, sim what'd you think of the joke creation?

Speaker 4 (12:59):
I think that's what everybody knows. I want to say.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
More people are probably exposed to Young Frankenstein than they
are to any of these original universal Frankenstein films. So
you see it there, and it's cool to see it
if you venture back and go, Okay, I want to
see where this all came from, where the origins are
and you start watching these universal ones. It is cool
to see how mel Brooks took from Frankenstein and The

(13:24):
Bride of Frankenstein, which kind of overlapped because they are
in the original book too, where they weren't separated like that.
And I think you're just like, oh, well, that is
cool because that was part of the original Frankenstein. But
he managed to take it at it in here and
make it funny. That's I think a lot of people's
gateway horror film, and it makes you want to go
back and watch some of these old ones and see

(13:46):
how they were made and how closely related they are.
And I think mel Brooks was brilliant the way he
did it, and I think seeing it in the original one.

Speaker 4 (13:54):
It's just great.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
How about you, Jolley, Any thoughts on the brain?

Speaker 6 (13:58):
Well, you know, he had to steal the brain because
the guy who got hung well he was just too
well hung. Oh his neck was broken and they made
a point of that. And then I do like that
the reason why he got the abnormal brain was really
dirty is that he heard a noise and he got startled
and he dropped the fucking good one.

Speaker 4 (14:15):
He actually hits that skeleton. Its scared of himself, you know.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
All right, Well, you know, it's kind of neat to
go back and watch these classic thirties films because you
get to see the impetus of a lot of the
studio effects. And I don't know about you guys, but
I thought it was really cool to see that they
shot a lot of the outdoor scenes, quote in studio,
and they managed to make it look like it's outside
with some beautiful matte paintings and stuff, and you could see.

Speaker 6 (14:37):
The lines in the drape.

Speaker 4 (14:38):
Yeah, evidently nobody owned an iron on set.

Speaker 6 (14:41):
Yeah, I'm sure it looked great on v Greene.

Speaker 4 (14:45):
Yeah, you know what the film when they've been using
back then, Joey.

Speaker 6 (14:48):
They would have projected it on thirty five everybody saw
the streaks.

Speaker 4 (14:51):
Yeah, you think they would have oh.

Speaker 6 (14:52):
Yeah, on TV maybe not, And and on VHS, yeah,
it would have looked like dog shit. As soon as
the laser disc came out, which Matt brought up, but
I just looked at that came out in eighty six.
I guess that's when they had a best looking version
of the film, and then they had restored the scene
we're going to talk about. So, yeah, that's when people
would have first been like, oh, I could see the
lines right.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
It was really neat to see how they use the
sets to make it feel like an outdoor scene, especially
when they go to dig the corpse up. I thought
it was kind of clever that you need to see
Henry Frankenstein jump down into the pit, and I just
thought it was a neat use of studio trickery.

Speaker 5 (15:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
I like how when he's digging too, he just flings
dirt in death's face, like you're not I'm going to
create life, I.

Speaker 4 (15:33):
Spit on you.

Speaker 5 (15:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (15:34):
Yeah, he's a total creeper too, Like as soon as
they get done with a funeral, he's just like it
was like leering over, like what the fuck.

Speaker 5 (15:42):
Is this all about? Yeah, there's no respect for the dead.
Let's just go no.

Speaker 4 (15:46):
And that's the Colin Clive's whole thing.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
I mean, that's why they wanted to in for this
film and then subsequently for the Bride of Frankenstein, because
he's just such an over the top actor.

Speaker 4 (15:54):
He's a complete alcoholic drum.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
I think it lends to the dramatics of his perform orments.
And I think adding to that too, a lot of
these actors are from broad film stuff. Yeah, they're doing
plays and things like that, so we're still in the
early stages of film where they're still almost play acting
even though they're making films. So everything's so oh over dramatic.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
If you get.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
Smacked, you're gonna almost pass out and they're gonna have
to slap your face so I'm faint on the drop
of a dime, all that kind of stuff. It always
makes me think of that one Fraser where they have
that drama teacher that they had as kids and they
thought he was the greatest, and they bring him back
up in stage and they try to give him a
play that he can do, and he's like, whoa, you know,
he's on the skull in his hand or whatever, and
it's so overly dramatic and like, oh my god, this

(16:39):
guy's horrible.

Speaker 4 (16:40):
So that's kind of how I feel with some of
these early movies.

Speaker 5 (16:43):
Yeah, they're play acting. They're still used to projecting to
the guy in the farthest back row to see the
motion and everything, so everything's way too big and way
over the top. But I think it makes it fun today,
kind of almost campy and cheeky. The way they set
it up, but they're definitely they're still on the stage.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
Yeah, I had to say I agree with Josh. It
does feel like there's some extra campiness to the acting.
I felt some like Adam West and maybe some William
Shattner coming out of Clive Owen. So especially when he
switches from being psychotic looking scientists to all of a
sudden be didwn and deprive it me, it was like
flipping a switch. Yeah, it was crazy. You know. One
thing that I noticed about this movie that I thought

(17:23):
was interesting and I kind of I think I mentioned
it when we watched The Brider Frankenstein was that they
took the character of Victor Frankenstein from the movie and
they just changed his name to Henry Frankenstein. Does anybody
know why, because I couldn't find any research on that.

Speaker 5 (17:35):
All of the rumor is that they did it just
to americanize the name and make it more palatable to
American audiences. Victor being a European name, Henry is like
the guy down the street, so there was more accessible
to an American audience.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
Gotcha.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
That probably also explains another lot of mine later on,
when we're introduced to him as Baron Frankenstein. He had
a very British accent. I mean, at one point he
even says what the deuce? And I'm like, no, no,
a German baron would not say what the deuce? A
German baron wouldn't sit there and sound like a nineteen
thirties brit sound more like, uh, the burger mice.

Speaker 5 (18:11):
From Santa Claus is coming to town.

Speaker 3 (18:14):
Yeah, thank you, Mayor mccheese.

Speaker 4 (18:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
So what you're saying is is that even though they're
wearing leader hose, and it's not distracting you enough from
the British accent.

Speaker 4 (18:25):
No, it is not.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
It is not, all right, yeah, because if I show
up baring leader hose and I'm gonna try to embrace
that German accent.

Speaker 4 (18:32):
Oh Matthew, please give us some example.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
Now school, you gotta dosn't find it's now im booming.

Speaker 3 (18:46):
Yeah, yeah, I can't do it. I can't do a
German accent.

Speaker 5 (18:50):
All right.

Speaker 4 (18:50):
You just got so angry. Yeah, that's really half of it.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Just to be really angry, channel anger and then just
say everything very sharply.

Speaker 5 (18:57):
Fild up some spit in your mouth.

Speaker 3 (19:06):
All right. Well anyway, uh so back to Henry so
Henry's fiance Elizabeth h. Levin's Levinznah Levinzna.

Speaker 4 (19:15):
I don't know if they ever give us her last name,
do they.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
I don't know every credit he has her last name,
so I don't know.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
Well, I m dB just puts her up as Elizabeth.
So apparently they had problems saying the last name to
and gave up.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
Gotcha. Well, she speaks with her friend Victor, which I
thought was funny because Henry has a friend named Victor
but he can't be named Victor about the scientist's peculiar
actions and his seclusion. You know, he's trying to do
scientific stuff, so he's probably being secluded so he doesn't
get bothered by her every whim and every single adhd

(19:51):
thought that comes to her mind, like honey, what are
you doing? I'm billiing, I'm billiing some.

Speaker 5 (19:59):
You sure you're doing that?

Speaker 6 (20:00):
Right? Is that right?

Speaker 3 (20:01):
I don't know if that's right?

Speaker 5 (20:02):
Is that?

Speaker 3 (20:03):
Are you sure about that? Maybe that's what he's trying
to avoid.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
I don't know, man, The way I see it is,
Oh my god, is that a course you've brought in
the house?

Speaker 3 (20:13):
All right? All right, I digress. So Elizabeth and Victor
ask Waldman to help understand Henry's behavior, and Waldman reveals
he is aware Henry wishes to create life. Concerned for Henry,
they arrive at his lab just as he makes his
final preparations. As a storm rages, Henry invites Elizabeth and
the others to wash a lifeless body on an operating table.

(20:36):
Henry and Fritz raised the operating table toward the opening
at the top of the tower. The creature and Henry's
equipment are exposed to the lightning storm and empowered, bringing
the creature to life. Henry is ecstatic at the sight
of the creature moving and has to be restrained by
Victor and Waldman because he gives that classic lineup.

Speaker 4 (20:55):
It's alive, It's alive.

Speaker 6 (20:58):
Side note.

Speaker 3 (20:59):
I think the first time actually seen the scene was
in the classic nineteen eighties film Weird Science, because it
was playing on the TV when they created the.

Speaker 6 (21:07):
True Yeah, but a great film. Yes, this is where
they have the line they cut out too where now
he knows what it feels like to be God. Yes,
that and the Little Girl in Her Boat eighty six
For decades.

Speaker 3 (21:21):
Yeah, and I don't think it was until nineteen eighty
six that they found the film and restored it. So
I like what you did there, Joey.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
In fact, I think they had a hard time finding
a good copy of that line because so many of
the copies that deteriorated, and the way they finally got
a good copies they found some kind of audio file
of it and they finally were able to restore it
using that.

Speaker 6 (21:40):
So they had the film, but they didn't know the audio.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
The audit was there, but over the years it had
gotten so buried in the copies that always harp them
to bring it out. And then they found this audio
recording and they were able to use today's technology to
pull it off this audio recording, clean it up, and
then insert it back into the movie so that you
didn't even know. But before that they were able to
kick up a little bit, but you still couldn't hear
it that well.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
Gotcha, So they didn't quite have reaper yet, right.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
I'm sure anyone of us could do it on our
PC in about twenty minutes, you know.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
But yeah, yeah, So what about you, Josh, what do
you think of the restoration of this classic line?

Speaker 5 (22:15):
Taking it out was because of the again I mentioned
it a little bit it's the Hayes Code where you
couldn't liken yourself to God. God was above humans, so
humans couldn't be like God. So they were taking all
of those things out. I love that they were able
to find a way even with the limited technology of
the eighties and even the nineties, because nothing was like

(22:37):
it is today. We all know we were there. They
were still cutting film and taping it together, and they
were scraping the edges of film to make it look
like there was a fade out into a next scene.
And so the ability to and the patients that they
had to do to go through that. We were talking
before we started recording about editing and sometimes the struggles

(22:59):
that we go through and we've got all kinds of
tools to do it and it's easier. They went through
a meticulous process to bring it back, and I'm glad
they did because this movie would be awful without those
scenes back in it.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
Yeah, because I mean, it definitely brings home the fact
that you know that doctor Frankenstein is off his rocker.
I mean he wants to peel back the curtains and
see God, see the life. So you don't get that
without these lines being in there.

Speaker 5 (23:25):
For sure.

Speaker 3 (23:26):
You know, speaking of Frankenstein, you know I had mentioned
that Boris Karloff's look here is very iconic, but also
Clive's look as Doctor Frankenstein is also kind of iconic
in pop culture. I mean, he's in two movies, you know,
He's in Frankenstein and Bright of Franksin. I think he
comes back for the Curse of Frankenstein or The Son
of Frankstin. I'm not sure.

Speaker 6 (23:45):
No, I think he's done after Brad.

Speaker 4 (23:47):
Yeah, he's done after Brighton.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
Okay, he dies not too long after that, I believe, Okay,
because I think he dies.

Speaker 6 (23:52):
Of alcoholism pickled.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
In fact, if you remember, they even had a problem
with him on that film because he was so drunk.
Remember like at one point had to leavehim on the
bed because he couldn't even stand and oh yeah, but
they brought him back because he was such an eccentric person.
They thought this film wouldn't sell without him.

Speaker 3 (24:08):
Yeah, his look from this movie is very iconic. Even
over in Universal Studios at the Epic theme Park in
their Dark Universe section, they have paintings of him all
over the place because they recreated the Frankenstein Castle there.
It's really neat to be able to see that. Oh hey,
they are throwing back to the original, But yeah, so Frank,
since monster, despite its grotesque form, seems to be an innocent,

(24:31):
childlike creation. Now we kind of see him on the table,
but we don't get the reveal from him until after
Henry and doctor Walden are talking and he actually enters
the scene in a most interesting way because he's walking
back towards us. We see the back of the monster
as he turns, and we get that reveal with like
the low light and everything. And I thought that was

(24:53):
really clever the way he did that. Does anyone know
specifically why they would have done it that way? I
think just to reveal, man. I mean, let's get the
most bang for our buck. Let's get them see the
backside first and just marvel for a couple of seconds, like,
oh my god, what the hell is this?

Speaker 4 (25:09):
And then he slowly does that turn and you only
see that flat head.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
And then as he starts to turn, you see the
bolts in his neck, and you see the pro magnum
man forehead that he has, and then you see those
sunken cheeks that Karloff had his bridgework removed, so we
can get that effect.

Speaker 6 (25:22):
I think that's why he got cast. Yeah, over like
Lugosi and other people who had tried out. I think
it's he took his bridge work out and they're like,
you're it.

Speaker 2 (25:31):
Well, they wanted Lugosi, but he was too good for
the role. He was far too handsome to being that
much makeup. He was not happy about having to do
that because there's actually and.

Speaker 6 (25:40):
He sells out a few sequels later, right.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
Well, he does, but at the end of Dracula they
did some testing to see how the makeup and stuff
with dirt for Frankenstein. You can't find the footage anymore.
It's lost forever, but there's a picture out there of
Lugosi as the Frankenstein monster, kind of mocked up and stuff.
But I guess it was the director that seen Boris
call Off in the cafeteria at the studio and seen

(26:04):
him just stopped and passed me note and said, hey,
would you like to try out for this? And he's
like yeah, because up til that point, Boris Carloff's just
playing bit parts about being like thugs and things like
that and other films, And so he went and tried
out for it and They're like, oh, oh, you're the monster.
So that was it that made his career after this.
I mean, he still kind of became a one trick pony,
but he became a very popular one trick pony. He

(26:24):
actually sat down and worked with the director and how
the monster should look. They had several sessions.

Speaker 4 (26:28):
It was his idea to have the eyes kind of
droop over so it always looked like he was a
little out of it.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
And then added in those big shoes. Those shoes are
actually real shoes, are asphalt shoes. Guys used to work
at hot asphalt would wear those so they wouldn't burn
their feet. So that's where those shoes come from. And
you know the large forehead, which I think added like
another fourteen.

Speaker 4 (26:45):
Inches to him when he was done.

Speaker 6 (26:47):
Well, doctor Frankenstein was taller, was he. Yeah, that was
the other reason why they're like, we got to make
Boris Karloff look look bigger. Yeah, but come full circle.

Speaker 4 (26:56):
Yeah. It was the reveal.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
I mean, it was a brilliant reveal, and I think
they got the most bank for the buck having him
back in, even though.

Speaker 4 (27:03):
It's ridiculous to have somebody back into a room through
a door.

Speaker 3 (27:06):
Part of me was wondering if that was because they
were channeling the classic theater. To review a character, he
wouldn't exactly just walk right into the frame. He would
actually have to like come out on the stage, but
kind of very surprisingly, so.

Speaker 6 (27:19):
You had the big reveal.

Speaker 4 (27:20):
Man. I think if they were doing it that way,
you would have heard don.

Speaker 5 (27:25):
But I do think you're right, Tim. It's all about
building anticipation. It's like I gotta see it. I gotta
see it, I gotta see it come on. And then
they finally get that payoff, that delivery, and like I said,
with that bridgework out, the sunken eyes everything, that's a
huge payoff.

Speaker 4 (27:41):
The eyes are what got me. Yeah, it almost looks
by rolling up into his head.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
I'm pretty sure they're not, because I got that wax
build up of his brows way out there.

Speaker 4 (27:49):
It was just like, oh man, that guy is not
all here.

Speaker 3 (27:54):
So I want to channel a different Frankenstein asque character.
And I gotta say, Josh, you did that wrong. You're
supposed to say it's all about the Antissa patient.

Speaker 5 (28:05):
Yeah, my opportunity.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
There are people in this world that are pulling their
hair out right now because you did that.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
Well, let's not dive too much into a time warp
and head back to the reveal of the Frankenstein Monster.
We have this wonderful use of the set. He opens
up the roof and causes the monster to reach out
towards the sunlight.

Speaker 6 (28:27):
Yeah, he's trying to go back to the light.

Speaker 3 (28:29):
Yeah, to give this this very overly dramatic feeling that
the monster is just a very simple creature. And of
course that's when Fritz walks in the bring with this
flaming torch, which frightens the monster. And it's interesting that
here we get to see on film the monster's major fear.
Every time we see this character represented again, he's always

(28:51):
afraid of fire, even humorously in Young Frankenstein. The fright
is mistaken by Henry and Walden for an attempt to
attack Fritz, and so they then chain the monster in
the dungeon. And of course Fritz is a total jag
off because he continues to antagonize the poor monster with
a torch.

Speaker 6 (29:11):
That doesn't work out for him very well. But man
dipping taking a torch to him, like, you know, he's
cowering in the corner. He was smiling too. Fritz was
loving it. Yeah, I'm thinking Fritz didn't have a very
good upbringing it. This was like his revenge on the monster.
You know, Fritz has looked down on because he's literally
hunched over, and then he's got finally someone that he

(29:32):
can put beneath him. I guess, yeah, I.

Speaker 4 (29:34):
Just want to know where he got the whip. I mean,
where's this guy getting this whip at?

Speaker 6 (29:38):
I think that whip was his undoing. I couldn't tell
what he was hung by, but uh, I'm guessing it
was the whip.

Speaker 5 (29:43):
They never tell you what kind of dungeon that was.

Speaker 6 (29:45):
That's true, Fritz's fun dungeon.

Speaker 4 (29:50):
I'm picking up what you're laying down there.

Speaker 6 (29:53):
Maybe Fritz was trying to have some necrophilia. Finally pushed
the monster over the edge.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
He's like, no, not.

Speaker 6 (29:59):
To buddy, if you think my cane is big, you know.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
And with this scene, I find another point where doctor
Frankenstein is doing a little more uh sudden change or turn. Okay,
we got to tie up. Ah hew, Well now I'm
going to exit out a frame. And then the next
scene he's talking to Walden and they hear the screaming
from Fritz. He's like, oh, what's that. There's only like
two other people in the whole freaking building. I think
you can figure out who it is.

Speaker 5 (30:26):
Yeah, I think.

Speaker 6 (30:27):
That's Fritz, screaming bloody murder.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
Right. Maybe he's having a real good time in the dungeon.

Speaker 6 (30:31):
Right, Yeah, he was hanging him up, choking him. Fritz
was choking himself, and then uh, you.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
Know, maybe he walked in and he's like, hey, you
want to see my impression at David Carty.

Speaker 3 (30:42):
Oh, oh too soon, yep, so he came and he went, yeah,
you know. Henry and Walden find that the monster has
hung Fritz, and the monster lunches at the two, but
they lock it inside. Realizing the monster must be destroyed,
Henry prepared an injection of powerful drug, and the two

(31:02):
conspire to release the monster and inject it as it attacks.
When the doors unlocked, the monster lunges at Henry. As
Walden injects the drug into the monster's back, monster falls
to the floor unconscious. I gotta say this is some
classic nineteen thirties action sequences here, very similar to that
of a captain from the Starship Enterprise. What did you

(31:24):
guys think of the Monster's fight sequence?

Speaker 2 (31:26):
Here. It's just ridiculous, the whole thing with Clives acting down.

Speaker 4 (31:31):
He goes in his dramatic way.

Speaker 2 (31:32):
But the other thing I thought was interesting, as I
guess originally that syringe part of it too, that also
got cut from the original.

Speaker 4 (31:39):
That was one of the four.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
Scenes that was added back in, as well as with
the you know the little girl and the I Am now
God's scene.

Speaker 5 (31:46):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
I can't imagine, like some of these scenes that they
pulled out, how this movie would make any sense whatsoever, right.

Speaker 4 (31:51):
But I do like the delayed reaction. It's super powerful.
It'll take down an elephant, and they hit him with it.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
It's like, huh, well, maybe we didn't get that dose
quite right.

Speaker 5 (32:02):
I think slight miss calculate.

Speaker 3 (32:03):
She looks at the wrong chart.

Speaker 4 (32:05):
Are you sure you're a doctor? I want to see
your diploma?

Speaker 5 (32:08):
Give him?

Speaker 4 (32:09):
I mean, I guess it was Frankenstein, who's like, oh,
well here it is.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
This is a really good senate. But yeah, he's not
a real doctor. He didn't finish school, So I don't
know why we're giving the doctor Moniker dropout. Not e've
got an honorary.

Speaker 3 (32:22):
He didn't even get a D minus in medical school.
To be called doctor, right right, all right, So they
knock out the monster. Henry then collapses from exhaustion and
Elizabeth and Henry's father take him home again another point
where I'm like, okay, he said, what the deuce? I
mean the father is clearly not being played by a
German actor as we've been over, and I'm not going

(32:43):
to beat this horse dead.

Speaker 6 (32:45):
Henry's dad is awesome. He's like my son in a
windmills off whatever, there's another woman. He's the comic relief.

Speaker 4 (32:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (32:54):
They end the movie with him, yes, yeah, And I've.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
Picked up on something in there and I don't know,
I'll run it by you guys. But when they're initially
talking to him and he's complaining because he's like, where's
my son out? He's supposed to be marrying this woman,
which is funny because he's supposed to be marrying her
and yet he's nowhere to be fine, he's just completely
forgot about it because he's so engrossed in his work.
He's like, you know, the wedding not important, not at all.
Bringing back the dead super important, but he's like, you know,

(33:19):
this wedding needed to have already happened, so does that
mean Elizabeth's pregnant.

Speaker 4 (33:23):
Oh, I'm just saying it seemed like there was some
urgency to make that wedding happen as fast as possible.

Speaker 5 (33:29):
That or the dowry had already been cashed.

Speaker 4 (33:31):
Ah, he got his chickens in his goats.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
Maybe she has a castle somewhere that's sunk into the swamp,
and then her dad built another castle on top of it.

Speaker 4 (33:42):
Get there before it's sink.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yeah, this is just the baron's way of securing his landholdings.

Speaker 6 (33:48):
Henry was way more interested in digging up dead guys
and hanging out with the hunchback.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
But you got to give it to her. She's just like,
you know, he's busy. He's just you know, he's got
his little experiments.

Speaker 4 (33:59):
It'll be fine, it be fine.

Speaker 5 (34:01):
He's got to hang out with the guys.

Speaker 4 (34:03):
She's in for a penny, in for a pound, for sure.

Speaker 6 (34:05):
Henry had been stinking, oh yeah, as well as his monster.
Oh yeah, I can't imagine, just the rotting flesh.

Speaker 3 (34:13):
Oh yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean it's all he's doing
is hanging around with dead corpses.

Speaker 4 (34:16):
Mm hmm and a sweaty little Fritz.

Speaker 6 (34:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (34:19):
I mean, when you're whipping the hell out of people,
you're working up a sweat.

Speaker 5 (34:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
Right, now that Fritz is dead and the monster is
knocked out, Henry's safely back home with his dad and
his pride to be. And of course that's when Waldman
is examining the monster as he prepares to vivosect it,
and the monster comes to and strangles him, and it
escapes from the tower and wanders through the landscape, encountering

(34:43):
a farmer's child, Maria. This is where we get the
scene added back in where the monster is playing with
Maria and the flowers. And like I said, I've always
seen this movie with a scene in it, so I
gotta say for that time, it's definitely something that makes
you think, like, oh, yeah, why is this child playing
with a stranger? Didn't they know stranger danger? I mean,

(35:03):
I know, we grew up in the eighties and we
knew not to go near vans. It had free candy
written on it. Don't go up to a monster when
you're playing around.

Speaker 6 (35:12):
She's lucky she only drowned, right, right, But I mean,
think about it, it's not even the whole stranger danger thing.

Speaker 4 (35:19):
What the hell's wrong? With her dad. It's like, oh,
I gotta go.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
You just stay here, even though you're much she young
to be here by yourself, next to this unguarded lake
that seems like nothing can happen wrong here at all.

Speaker 6 (35:33):
Yeah, and we've established that she does know how to swim.
In fact, the monster's mistake, his playful mistake, wouldn't have
been a tragedy if she did know how to swim, right,
she would have just been like you silly, and then
and they would have both had food in the water
and splashed around.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
So they're like pulling the heads off of the flowers
and throwing the flowers in. And when I first saw this,
I thought that maybe frank Sign was gonna pull her
head off and throw her head in.

Speaker 6 (36:02):
That needs to be the remake, much darker movie. Siero
Boat del Toro is remaking this. It's coming out soon, Yes,
and right after he does, everyone else is going to
remake this. Because Fengouli was saying that the copyright of
the universal version of Frankenstein is going to go into
the public domain in twenty twenty six. Yeah, Google Ai

(36:23):
was saying, twenty twenty seven, look what just happened with
Steamboat Willie. We're gonna be fucking inundated with Frankenstein.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
Oh yeah, yeah, But I think Disney figured out how
to stop that from happening, and I went and put
it past the Universal to figure out the same thing.

Speaker 6 (36:36):
Disney didn't stop shit from happening.

Speaker 4 (36:38):
I thought they did, didn't they.

Speaker 6 (36:40):
There's horror movies of Steamboat Willie and he looks like
Mickey Boughs.

Speaker 5 (36:44):
They found a way to stop it for a really
long time, but it basically after seventy five years, it
starts to fall back into public domain. But because they
changed the look of Mickey through the years, it's only
early Mickey that's available. That's why it's Steamboat Willie that
is the horror monster. Okay, so every time one of

(37:04):
those Mickey Mouse turned seventy five, it goes into public domain,
which is why there's some controversy about this. Is this
nineteen thirty one? What year is it actually for the
copyright to drop? But I think it's supposed to be
next year.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
I've seen twenty twenty seven. But regardless, this has happened
within the next year and a half or something.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
Yes, well, I do know that the movie itself is
in the public domain because you can get it anywhere
on like Internet archive.

Speaker 5 (37:30):
Internet archives, not legal map, right, Okay, but I do
think like Anither Living Dead, if somebody forgets to file
the paperwork, it goes into the public domain.

Speaker 6 (37:41):
Yeah, nobody forgot for Universal. They got to shit together.
But yet I want to say anyone will be able
to distribute it, probably in twenty twenty seven as well.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
I think they paid like thirty thousand dollars for the
screen rights for this, because this is actually based off
of a screenplay that actually failed.

Speaker 6 (37:57):
Yes, the novel has been in the public domain for
a long time.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
Right, Yeah. The play that this is based off of
was written by Peggy Webling, and.

Speaker 2 (38:06):
She's one of the writers. If she's not, yes, I
think they tagged her to help write this.

Speaker 5 (38:09):
Yeah, this is.

Speaker 6 (38:10):
A second film adaptation. I didn't realize how old the
novel was. I want to say, like eighteen eighteen, and
then in nineteen ten they did the silent film version,
which is, depending on who you ask, arguably scarier version
of Frankenstein, like he's a fucking train wreck looking dude.
But that's not the Harry version that people remember. They
remember this one.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yeah, I'm surprised they don't try to do the one
from the book because in the book he's translucent.

Speaker 6 (38:38):
Yeah, oh, that would be gross.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
The horror of it the Bonster is that he's translucent.
You can see all the inner workings because he was dead.
It brought back to life. But they knew they couldn't
make that happen, so they came up with the green
grease paint all that kind of.

Speaker 4 (38:52):
Stuff because they do. There was no way they could
pull off.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
But I'm thinking, man, if they did that now, they
probably could pull that off and may could look awesome.

Speaker 6 (38:59):
It could be they're going to do that tim right now.
The only pictures of Guillermo del Toro's version that's been
surfacing is like showing the monster in the winter setting
and he's all bundled up. It just was like a
man that's bundled up. So we haven't seen what his
version of Franknsin's going to look like. So he might
be translucent. Gross.

Speaker 3 (39:19):
That'd be kind of cool. It'd be almost like that
movie Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon's Bacon. There you go.

Speaker 5 (39:25):
Yeah, the trailer for the new Frankenstein all you see
is him all bundled up. They're gonna hold that reveal
very tight until it comes out in November.

Speaker 6 (39:34):
Well, he already did his version of a creature from
the Black Lagoon. Yeah, Shape of Water was obviously just
like his reimagination of that. The creature was almost the
fucking same. It just looked better.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
It was what he should have done whatever actors playing Frankenstein.

Speaker 4 (39:48):
It's much harder these days do.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
But if he could have kept it a secret and
done the question mark thing on top of it too,
like that had been awesome.

Speaker 5 (39:55):
I love the question mark.

Speaker 3 (39:56):
Yeah, it is kind of because they carry that on
into Bride. It was neat in the credits to see
that question mark up for the monster.

Speaker 5 (40:04):
Anyway.

Speaker 3 (40:05):
So back to Henry and Elizabeth. So the preparations for
the wedding have been completed and they are to marry
as soon as Waldman arrives. Victor rushes in saying that
Waldman has been found strangled. Henry suspects the monster. The
monster enters Elizabeth's room, causing her to scream. When the
searchers arrive, they find Elizabeth in shock, then unconscious. The

(40:27):
monster has escaped. Now Maria, when she died, there was
really no witnesses. So this is where it kind of
gets a little weird for me, because Maria's father arrives
carrying his drowned daughter's body and he says that she
was murdered, and the villagers form a lynch mob to
capture the monster. How do they know that the monster

(40:48):
is responsible for Maria?

Speaker 2 (40:50):
Well, I got a couple thoughts of this. So first off,
let's just back it up to doctor Waldman. What the
hell's wrong with this guy? He knows this thing is
only sedated. We know there's a whipping the castle, and
we know there's rope in the castle. Why did he
not tie this thing up? That bothers me to know it?

Speaker 6 (41:08):
Was he listening to the things heart? Why did he
have to do that? He's like, I just want to
put my head against his chest all and now you're dead.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
And then going to the next part with the little girl.
It seems weird, but think about it. This is a
small village. Everybody knows everybody else. I mean, think about
It's like small town Americana. It's a small town Brit German,
brit brit, Brit Bavarian. I'm like trying to say British
and German together. I can't quite make it happen Germish, Germish.

(41:41):
We'll go with Germany.

Speaker 4 (41:42):
It's a Germish town. And I think it's just like,
somebody has killed my daughter. We must find him.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
I think that's really what it is, because everybody's in
chocklate as he walks through that town, everybody's partying, and
people stop, they turn and stare. The music slowly stops,
and as they realize that there is a killer among
we must find him and kill him. I'm sorry, we
must find him and bring him back for justice. Try
not to kill him if you don't have to, but
don't let him escape kind of thing. I think that's
what the mayor mccheese or the burgermeister says to them.

(42:12):
But that's my theory on that gotcha.

Speaker 6 (42:15):
So her dad really just went off to drink beer
with the rest of the people. Maybe farmer drunk fuck
didn't leave his daughter unattended and she just drowned. I mean,
somebody else must have seen the monster and he's like, yeah,
that's the ticket. It was the monster. He has no
fucking clue that's what happened.

Speaker 7 (42:32):
They never say it's a monster. They just say it's
somebody though. Yeah, and Frankenstein. If you look at Count Clive,
he's like, yeah, I'll help find him. Let's get this
guy here. He's not a bit to nothing, all right, Josh.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
Any comments on the monster suddenly being the perpetrator of
Maria's dead.

Speaker 5 (42:49):
You know what, I honestly had never even noticed that.
They just magically knew it was him. I hadn't even
thought about it. That's a great question. Now I have
to go watch it again just to look at that,
because to me, I'm just like, oh my god, he
killed her and now they're coming out. For some reason
in my head, those two things were just it just

(43:12):
I don't know I missed it. Yeah, I have no
excuses here. I don't even know how I miss that.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
It's not a deep movie though. These scripts are writing
back then are exactly a thinking man's.

Speaker 5 (43:22):
Film, right. They were not chasing authenticity. None of that
mattered at this time nineteen thirty one, So we're not
even out of the Great Depression. It's what can we
turn out and get out to people to take their
minds off of the world. So I never thought about
that part too deeply. Yeah, poor Maria kill the monster go.

Speaker 4 (43:43):
You have shattered Josh's world. Man, good job, I know.

Speaker 5 (43:46):
Now I'm ruined. I have to watch it again.

Speaker 3 (43:49):
I'm sorry. Well, hey, if anyone out there wants to
help Josh out, feel free to email our show and
his show.

Speaker 5 (43:57):
Yeah, just email us all yes, tell me how arable
I am because I miss that these years.

Speaker 4 (44:02):
And if you liked that Matt has wrecked the movie
for you can.

Speaker 6 (44:05):
Subscribe to all of the shows.

Speaker 4 (44:09):
Yes, yes, all the shows all right.

Speaker 3 (44:12):
During the search, Henry is attacked by the monster. The
monster knocks Henry unconscious and carries him to an old windmill.
The peasants hear the creature and find it climbing to
the top, dragging Henry with it. The monster hurls the
scientists to the ground. His fall is broken by wooden
blades of the windmill, saving his life. Some of the
villagers bring him home, while the rest of the mob

(44:35):
set the windmill ablaze with the monster trapped inside. Okay,
so now what we all know is that windmills are
used to process grain. Grain, of course, is used to
make flour. Flour is then in turn used to make bread.
So they're burning the windmill and they're destroying their ability
to make bread. Right, No forethought, Come on, people.

Speaker 6 (44:56):
No, the windmill should have smelled delicious, just this dough
like rising up out of the ashes through the doors. Ah,
that's what it should have been. Like, it's just puffing
up around him.

Speaker 5 (45:10):
He's like, ah, the dose rising.

Speaker 4 (45:13):
I did have that thought. I looked at that on.
That's a pretty expensive thing for them to be burning down.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
Yeah, But then again, I'm sitting there going, well, John,
are you gonna go up there?

Speaker 4 (45:21):
How about you? Victor? Are you gonna go up there?
I'm not going up.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
There to get that monster. I know, let's get Mikey.
He'll burn anything.

Speaker 6 (45:29):
I love the dummy hitting the fans of the windmill.
That was fun. He would have been I think, extra
fucked up. I mean, you're sure you're gonna hit the
ground with less impact, but you're gonna be like coughing
up blood and your ribs broken. I mean, that was beautiful.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
That's okay, Joey. They picked him upright away to carry
him back home, so he'll be fine.

Speaker 5 (45:51):
Now.

Speaker 3 (45:52):
You know, it's funny because we've already seen the brider
Frankenson earlier this year, and then seeing the ending here
I couldn't help it realize like some continuity differences between
the two movies. But I think it was really neat
that you know for a fact that Henry Frankenstein lives.

Speaker 6 (46:07):
Yeah, but they leave it up in the air.

Speaker 3 (46:09):
About the Frankenstein Monster. I just thought it was really neat.
They're able to give you that feeling of almost closure
to it, but yet not quite because you know that
somebody's thinking, let's make a sequel.

Speaker 2 (46:19):
Well, originally they were going to kill Factor Frankenstein. He
was supposed to die, and they had some early versions
of that and the audiences are like, I'm not feeling it,
so that the universe is like, let's go back and
will film it. And you know, Colin Clyve was already
back home, so it's a different actor that's doing those
final scenes and they decided to let him live.

Speaker 5 (46:38):
Am I right on that, Josh, Yeah, because of test screenings,
because they've been doing that forever. They didn't have any
aspirations of making a sequel. That wasn't the way Hollywood
worked at the time, but it was one of those
things where they didn't want such a morbid everyone dies
ending someone had to live, and they left just enough
hole that everybody can live, can have a part two.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
In fact, I think they let him escape again right
of Frankens science, because he was supposed to die during the.

Speaker 5 (47:05):
Explosion, which is why curse comes and son comes.

Speaker 2 (47:10):
Yeah, you actually see him when the place starts to
blow up. Then he is outside the castle or the
was it the castle they were into the Yeah, it
was the castle at that point, So that guy cheats
death twice.

Speaker 5 (47:20):
Oh yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 6 (47:22):
This is the first film franchise.

Speaker 4 (47:24):
Yeah, yeah, I think it is.

Speaker 6 (47:25):
Really they had got sequel.

Speaker 4 (47:28):
Do we have a lot of drag in the movies?

Speaker 2 (47:29):
Universal ones after that, not as many, other than maybe
Abict Costello.

Speaker 6 (47:33):
The creature from the Black Lagoon. There's sequels to that.

Speaker 5 (47:36):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 6 (47:37):
There's Mummy sequels. There's uh, the Wolfman.

Speaker 5 (47:41):
Several Wolfman movies.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (47:43):
Yeah, Wolfman got kind of the scheft, like he had
to like be in the Frankenstein sequel. Yeah, yeah, he
can get his own sequel, and then Mummy's got sequels, Yeah,
terrible ones.

Speaker 2 (47:53):
They kind of toy at the titles of the Frankenstein
movies because in the Father's Toast, he's like, here's to
the son of Franken's.

Speaker 6 (48:00):
Stein the House of Frankenstein for.

Speaker 2 (48:02):
The House of Frankenstein. Yeah, it doesn't quite say it
like that. I think it's a son at the House
of Frankenstein. But still there's two titles of the movies
we will see.

Speaker 6 (48:10):
Yeah, he said everything but goes to Frankenstein, which is.

Speaker 5 (48:14):
And Here's to having in Costello meet my Son, which
is another great movie. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:22):
It is funny that the final thing we see is
of the baron and the comic relief where you know,
he's like, oh, well, here, let's pour some wine from
my son and then he like takes it in the
other room and then like he drinks it.

Speaker 4 (48:33):
Yeah, so he just wasted on the boy. But I'll
drink it. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (48:37):
Yeah, my son's about to have a conjugal visit. I
think this is for me.

Speaker 5 (48:42):
He wouldn't appreciate an eighteen eighteen vintage.

Speaker 6 (48:45):
Yeah, eighteen eighteen? Are you girls eighteen? Oh, it doesn't matter,
it's olden times.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
Uh, Joe, you know that line that we draw in
the sand. I think you might have just just almost
crossed it there. But that pretty much wraps up the
Frankenstein film. So final thoughts on the film just to
lead into our ranking, and what are your first tien.
Wou'd you think of watching the original Frankenstein.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
I enjoyed it again, you know, since I had watched
the Gateway film Young franken Stein before, it was fun
to go back and see the inspiration for that film again.
As I've discussed in the past, the universal movies, I
own them all. I really want to sit down and
watch them all. I never seem to make it, so
of course this podcast gives me an excuse each time
we pick one, which I'm very happy about. It forces

(49:28):
my hand to do so. I enjoyed that they're kind
of short because it's you know, it's basically like an
hour long TV show really, I mean compared to some
of the other films that we've done, so I like
that about it as well. Definitely, by today's standards, it's
campy and a little hokey and things. But I still
enjoy seeing the original monsters. I mean, I just I've
always been that way. I like frank Stein, I like Dracula,

(49:49):
like the wolf Man. Those are the things I like,
scary things that go bump in the night more than
I like watching Saw or things like that. That's not
horror to me. That's you know, hack and slash. That's
I kind of draw a line. I'd rather have again,
a movie where creatures is that go bump in the
night any day of the week.

Speaker 3 (50:06):
Yeah, I agree with you. I like the classic monster movies.
I've been wanting to see a you know, Frankenstein meets
Dracula meets the Wolf Man the Dark Universe that has
been rumored since the two thousand and what was it
fifteen Tom Cruise Mummy movie. Did anybody see that, by
the way, Yeah, I did, no, Tim I own that

(50:28):
one as well.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
It's on my list of things to eventually watch, but
it's not the one I find miss of wanting to
go to every time.

Speaker 3 (50:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (50:35):
I never made the effort yet.

Speaker 3 (50:36):
Don't don't, just don't.

Speaker 6 (50:40):
Yeah, Johnny Depp was supposed to play was.

Speaker 5 (50:44):
The Visible Man in that series.

Speaker 6 (50:46):
Yeah, they even took a picture of like all the
actors that were going to play them and didn't happen.

Speaker 5 (50:50):
And I think Blumhouse owns the rights to the Dark
Universe now, oh yuck, because they did The Invisible Man
with Elizabeth Moss and then I believe if they have
a doctor jekylin Mister Hyde schedule to come out in
the next year or so.

Speaker 3 (51:04):
They just came out with that Wolfman movie last year
with the girl that plays the Silver Surfer. Yes, that
was actually pretty good. I'm not real big on Bloemhouse movies,
but I really enjoyed that one.

Speaker 6 (51:15):
Javier Bargdn was supposed to be Frankenson, right, I believe
so before that went the shit? Did they say who
was going to be the wolf Man or did that
movie get made? Was the Benisi adulteral part of the
Dark Universe? I don't think so.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
No.

Speaker 5 (51:28):
I think his came out in the intermediary years between
Brendan Fraser as the Mummy and then they try to
recreate it with Tom Cruise because Tom Cruise was the
first of the Dark Universe. He killed it and we
moved on.

Speaker 3 (51:44):
So, speaking of moving on, back to my thoughts on Frankenstin.
I really enjoyed this movie, and I like the fact
that it's the beginning of the whole monster universe.

Speaker 5 (51:52):
What about you, Josh, I love it, Brida Frankenstein is
a better movie, but this is the better monster. Like
that he doesn't speak. I like the way he moves
in the way. He's such an innocent, almost childlike monster
in this. I love that version of the monster. This
boris Karloff, This question Mark is the best of the

(52:15):
monsters of that whole original run at seventy one minutes
or whatever it is, it's easy to consume and it's
perfect for a stormy Sunday afternoon.

Speaker 3 (52:25):
Nice. Nice, So Joey late on it. What's your final
thoughts on the film?

Speaker 5 (52:30):
I like it.

Speaker 6 (52:31):
Parts of it hold up and are remainder still be disturbing.

Speaker 3 (52:35):
And then let's segue into our rating system of the
death clock.

Speaker 6 (52:38):
So I think it's definitely worth taking the very little
bit of time off your death clock. And I think
you should make a double feature out of this and
Brider Frankenstein, which is just as good except for the weird,
pretorious as other stupid creation's part.

Speaker 4 (52:53):
You don't like the homuncular that was my favorite part.

Speaker 3 (52:57):
How about you, sim Is this worth taking time off
your death clock?

Speaker 4 (53:00):
Oh? Yeah, absolutely? And this is a great film. They're fun.
You can watch them with the kids, you know, which
is nice. And I think Joey's right, you should make
it a double header.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
You should definitely, do you know frank Stein and the
Bride of Frankenstein, since you know they both come out
of the book together, and then it just makes sense
that you should book in them together. When you watch them,
I think they're a lot of fun. Even if you're
not a big horror officiano. I think it's fun to
just go back and see kind of the roots of
where it started.

Speaker 3 (53:28):
I totally agree. I think it is worth haaking time
off your death clock. It's classic. It is what we've
seen as the Frankenstin monsters since the very beginning. How
about you, Josh? Is this movie worth taking time off
your death clock?

Speaker 5 (53:39):
Absolutely? If nothing else, then to just fill in the
blinks on why the jokes in Young Frankenstein are so funny.
In an hour and ten minutes, you're gonna watch the
newest episode of Stranger Things, and I think this is
gonna be just as fun. So do it all?

Speaker 2 (53:53):
Right?

Speaker 3 (53:54):
Well, folks, this has been our review of Frankenstein. Let's
talk a little bit about some feedbacks. So, guys, we
have been getting feedback over on our YouTube channel. People
are really excited about our Lord of the Rings reviews,
so we've been getting some action there, so it's great
to hear from everybody. Thank you for giving us some feedback.
We love hearing it, so please leave us more. Let's

(54:15):
know what you think about the show, and if you
want to email our show at Manreview Podcast at gmail
dot com and you will have your email read right here.

Speaker 6 (54:24):
On the show.

Speaker 3 (54:25):
So gentlemen, about this time is when we would ask
what are you normally watching? But since this is our
special Halloween episodes and we're talking about the original Frankenstein,
I wanted to know what is your favorite Frankenstein adaption?
And I'm gonna go over you first, Josh, I got
a pretty good idea that we're gonna love this. What's
your favorite Frankenstein?

Speaker 5 (54:45):
My favorite Frankenstein has been mentioned numerous times throughout this episode.
It's young Frankenstein, the best all around Frankenstein. I have
just love it. Peter Boyle as the monster is hilarious.
I even like listening to him sing putting on the rids.
I am looking forward to Gamo del Toro's Frankenstein dropping
sometime in November on Netflix.

Speaker 6 (55:05):
I thought he was gonna say de Niro back to Frankenstein.
Are you talking to me? You gotta be the only
one here?

Speaker 3 (55:13):
How about you, sim what's your favorite Frankenstin adaptation?

Speaker 2 (55:16):
I mean, it's gonna be the same for everybody. Well,
Julie might be a wild card, but I mean, it's
always young Frankenstein. You ask anybody, it's Young Frankenstein. But
a close second for me will always be Abogastello meat Frankenstein.
I think that was the first time I was actually
introduced to Frankenstein in a movie format outside of somebody
wearing the horrible nineteen seventies Frankenstein mask with a little

(55:38):
slit that you cut your tongue on and the plastic
you know, schmock, you know, Frankenstein suit?

Speaker 3 (55:43):
Nice? All right, jolly, how about you, what's your favorite Frankenstein.

Speaker 6 (55:46):
Well, it's got to be Blakenstein from nineteen seventy three. No,
it's not the black exploitation Blackenstein, which I thought was
just a really poor taste SNL parody. But that was
a parody of a parody. It's a movie. I can't
say that I've actually seen Blackenstein, but looking at these
pictures online, I kind of want to know. Now my
favorite is the first way I experienced the entire story,

(56:11):
and it was somewhat faithful to the book because it's
a kid's version of the book. There were these step
up classic chillers that they had in the eighties, and
I'm literally staring at a bunch of them that I remember.
They had Doctor jackelminster Hyde. They had Phantom of the Opera.
I read that one. I read this one Frankenstein. They

(56:34):
had Dracula. I remember the cover. They have some weird ones.
I'm seeing that, like, I don't even remember. They did
a King Kong, they did a War of the World.
I kind of want to find and buy all of
these now. I love the artwork on the covers. They
did make it look a very Boris Karloff esque. He's green,
actually looks better. He's got stitch work on the cover, like,

(56:54):
look this up, step up classic chillers. If nothing else,
just for the artwork, and I remember there there's a
little bit of artwork inside. It wasn't a color like
the covers. And it ended like you know, the actual book,
you know that it's you know, you're a winter winter
frozen hellscape, and you know, I think the monster drifts

(57:16):
away on an iceberg or whatever, and you don't get
to read the rest of the journal and think like
I think it's implied that doctor Frekett sent Freeze to
death and someone found it. Yeah, it was the PG
version of that, and it was still a little creepy
for kids. That is probably still my favorite, and I'd
like to track it down someday.

Speaker 5 (57:35):
Nice.

Speaker 3 (57:36):
I know when you sent me the picture of it,
I had very much feelings of my childhood reading those
Choose your Own Adventure books from the covers.

Speaker 6 (57:44):
Yeah, if you didn't hold it in your hands, you
probably had one of those little flimsy tissue paper like
catalogs that you were flipping through and looking at the
covers and saying, hmm, when they have the book there,
maybe I'll get that. I can read this in five
more of them, and I'll get a personal pan.

Speaker 3 (57:59):
Pizza channeling my inner child there, Joey with the with
the schoolastic book orders. Thanks well, gentlemen. The last one
is of course me. I'd give you Young Frankenstein probably is
up there. But there's a movie that I've always enjoyed
that kind of keyed into that schlocky kind of movies.
It was made in nineteen ninety by Roger Corman. It

(58:20):
stars John hurt Raoul, Julia Bridget Fonda, Jason Patrick, and
Nick Brimble as a monster. It is Frankenstein Unbound, and
it is really the weirdest version of Frankenstein to the
point that you gotta love it. It's a B movie
written all over, I mean by Roger Corman of all people.

Speaker 6 (58:39):
I vividly remember the cover. I'm staring at it right now,
and it's just an eyeball and the eyeball stitch together.
You got part green, part blue, and part brown. Yeah,
you didn't try to do that in the movie, did
they with the close up of the eyes.

Speaker 4 (58:54):
No?

Speaker 3 (58:55):
No, I think it's just a little early photo shopping
done there. Okay, but it's it's Julia before he became
uh Gomez Adams. And it's like I said, it's just
it's a fun movie and has to deal with sight
uh with with time travel where John Hurt plays like
this doc Brown kind of character, travels back to eighteen eighteen,

(59:17):
meets Mary Wines, Mary Shelley, and meets Victor Frankenstein. It's
it is just it's a fun, shut your brain off
version of Frankenstein.

Speaker 5 (59:28):
And I really thought when you said Raoul Julia, I
thought you were gonna say before he played m Bison
in Street Fighter. I really thought that's where you were
going to go.

Speaker 6 (59:36):
To be fair, he knocked it out of the fucking park.

Speaker 5 (59:40):
He was the only good part of that movie.

Speaker 4 (59:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (59:42):
Yeah, And like remember we were seeing pictures of him
as m Bison, were like, oh, this is gonna fucking
fuck and we were right, but we didn't we didn't
know that was the.

Speaker 3 (59:54):
I mean you mean you didn't like Jean Claude van
de am as Guile.

Speaker 5 (59:58):
As the true blue American so with a Belgian accent.

Speaker 6 (01:00:01):
Yeah, it looked cool. I liked his flip kick.

Speaker 5 (01:00:05):
Yeah, it's just like in this it's a baron, Baron
Frankenstein with an English accent in a German town.

Speaker 6 (01:00:12):
Exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
There you go. If the bustles from Brussels can be
an American, then a baron from Britain can be a German.

Speaker 5 (01:00:22):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
All right, Well, gentlemen, this has been our Halloween season.
I've already said that, so I'm going to stop there.
I'm gonna flip it, and I'm gonna say, all right, Josh,
thank you so much for joining us tonight on our
Halloween episode of our Frankenstein review. Can you let our
listeners know where they can hear your eloquent shows.

Speaker 5 (01:00:46):
Yeah, anywhere you listen to podcasts, it's just it's real Search,
Real Real Talk, r e A L R e E
L Talk, YouTube, TikTok anywhere podcasts are streamed. I'm out there,
got a bunch of shows. If you love horror and break,
just any movies or just grumpy old men talking about movies,

(01:01:07):
we got something for you and we have a new
We have a new website out now. It's real talkpod
dot net, r E E L talkpod dot net. Check
us out.

Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
Awesome, Well, Tim, you want to take us home?

Speaker 6 (01:01:22):
All right?

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
Thanks for listening to the Middle Aged Movies Podcast. We've
hope you enjoyed our review of Frankenstein. I know we
had a monster of time bringing it to you, And
if you enjoyed it, please leave a rating or a comment,
smash that like bud, leave us some.

Speaker 3 (01:01:37):
Love, follow us on Facebook, x blues Guy and Instagram,
have a comment or a suggestion, an email, a show
at mamreview podcast at gmail dot com.

Speaker 6 (01:01:46):
I can't believe no one mentioned Frankenweenie. I know, Tim,
that is not a porn of I know it made
by any.

Speaker 5 (01:01:56):
Josh, you want to takeod night, goodnight everybody in the
last