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With Jacob Elordi taking over Andrew Garfield as Frankenstein's monster in Guillermo del Toro's upcoming Netflix film, let's take a look back at the actors who have played the creature.
Let's get it out of the way first: Frankenstein is the doctor, the one who made the “monster.” The full title of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel is actually Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. It follows the story of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who “creates” a creature through questionably scientific methods. She references Prometheus because in some mythologies, he is known to have created humanity out of clay.
So many monsters
According to Wikipedia, there are more than 150 films and TV series that reference Frankenstein's story. My last count was 170, and I included the upcoming film Lisa Frankenstein as well as the movie Elordi will be taking part in.
As tempting as it is to chart the evolution of the story, let's stick to something less unwieldy: the actors we're most familiar with who have played one of the most recognizable and iconic monsters in popular culture.
The first time Frankenstein appeared on film was in 1910. A silent film called — what else — Frankenstein was made by Edison Studios, owned by American investor Thomas Edison.
The movie was 16 minutes long and involved Frankenstein creating his monitor chemically. After two years of university, Frankenstein decided he knew enough to mix chemicals together to create life. The film ended with the creature disappearing as soon as it saw its reflection in the mirror.
Fun fact: Wikipedia lists 168 movies that reference Frankenstein and his monster. The year with the most number of Frankenstein or Frankenstein-like movies is 2015 with eight. It's followed closely by 1972 with seven. Third place goes to the next year with six. There were five in 1990 and 2018. The years 2019, 2016, 2010, 2004 and 1966 each had four films.
The longest interval of years without a Frankenstein movie was between 1921 to 1931. That's 10 years without Frankenstein or his creature. Since 2002, there has been at least one Frankenstein movie per year.
Karloff, Chaney, Lugosi, Lee, De Niro and Eckhart
Arguably one of the most famous depictions of Frankenstein's monster is that of Boris Karloff in the 1931 movie produced by Universal Pictures. The film was selected to be preserved by the US National Film Registry. It was the only Frankenstein movie in 1931. It spawned two more sequels with Karloff in the role: 1935's Bride of Frankenstein (one of two Frankenstein movies that year) and 1939's Son of Frankenstein (the only one that year).
Béla Lugosi, more famously known for playing Dracula, also took a turn as the monster in the 1943's Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. Lon Chaney Jr. reprised what became his iconic role, The Wolf Man. Incidentally, Chaney also played the monster in the movie released the year before, The Ghost of Frankenstein, while Lugosi played his companion, Ygor.
Several years later, Christopher Lee played The Creature in 1957's The Curse of Frankenstein while Peter Cushing played the title role. It was Hammer Film Production's first horror film in color, and the first of their series of seven monster films.
Fast forward to several decades later, Robert De Niro played The Creation opposite director and star Kenneth Branagh's Victor in the 1994 film Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The script was co-written by noted horror screenwriter Frank Darabont and produced by Francis Ford Coppola.
Christopher Lee attended the premiere and when asked what the difference was between his movie and Branagh's, he said, “About 40 years and $40 million.” Both Coppola and Darabont denounced the film, citing Branagh's mishandling of the project.
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While the monster made an appearance 10 years later in the Hugh Jackman-led Van Helsing, he died during the first part of the film and didn't make much of an impact in the plot. Incidentally, 2004 was also the year Frankenfish was released.
Twenty years later, Aaron Eckhart takes his turn. This time, Frankenstein's monster has a name, Adam, in 2014's I, Frankenstein. The movie was billed to be more action-packed than any of the story's iterations. However, the film was universally panned and only made $76 million against a production budget of $65 million.
In my opinion, Karloff wins as the best monster ever. Even Rotten Tomatoes agrees with me. His 1931 film is the highest rated among the movies mentioned here, earning 94% from 95 critics and an 87% audience score. On the other end of the spectrum is, Eckhart's is at an abysmal 5% from 106 critics and 38% audience score.
While I'm not a big fan of the monster, I think it's time he gets the adaptation he deserves. Here's to hoping that Elordi will do him justice in del Toro's upcoming film .
