We did it, folks. We’ve made it to another spooky season. You know what that means: it’s time for Spooky Season Spookathon Spooktacular 2023! If you read that previous sentence and have no idea what the hell I’m talking about, then you must be a new reader. Welcome aboard! Each year I task myself with watching one horror movie per day for the first thirty days of October with a specific theme in mind, and then Halloween itself is spent watching a mini movie marathon composed of movies that take place on Halloween. Last year’s theme was slashers I had never seen before.
This year’s theme? Movies featuring Frankenstein and/or Frankenstein’s monster. I’ve mentioned before that Frankenstein is my personal favorite novel. It is one of the most influential horror stories of all time, but I realized I’ve seen relatively few film adaptations of it. Frankenstein and his monster are cultural icons on the level of Dracula, but there are far more films featuring Dracula than there are of Victor and his little experiment (shameless plug: I’m cohosting a new podcast covering all things Dracula called Taste the Pod of Dracula debuting this October). The parameters I’m setting for films to qualify are that either Frankenstein or the monster need to be prominently featured (no cameos), and they have to be true horror films (sorry, Young Frankenstein and Monster Squad).
As an added bonus, below is one of the first horror films known to exist! Frankenstein was directed by J. Searle Dawley and released in 1910. It stars Augustus Phillips as Frankenstein, Charles Stanton Ogle as Frankenstein’s monster, and Mary Fuller as Elizabeth. Also, it was produced by some guy named Thomas Edison. Consider it an amuse-bouche before the main course in October. Enjoy!
On that note, here are the films I’ll be watching this year should you feel inclined to do the same.
10-1 Frankenstein (1931) directed by James Whale
10-2 Bride of Frankenstein (1935) directed by James Whale
10-3 Son of Frankenstein (1939) directed by Rowland V. Lee
10-4 The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) directed by Erle C. Kenton
10-5 Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) directed by Roy William Neill
10-6 House of Frankenstein (1944) directed by Erle C. Kenton
10-7 House of Dracula (1945) directed by Erle C. Kenton
10-8 The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) directed by Terence Fisher
10-9 Frankenstein 1970 (1958) directed by Howard W. Koch
10-10 The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) directed by Terence Fisher
10-11 The Evil of Frankenstein (1964) directed by Freddie Francis
10-12 Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) directed by Terence Fisher
10-13 The Horror of Frankenstein (1970) directed by Jimmy Sangster
10-14 Frankenstein ‘80 (1972) directed by Mario Mancini
10-15 Frankenstein (1973) directed by Glenn Jordan
10-16 Frankenstein: The True Story (1973) directed by Jack Smight
10-17 Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974) directed by Terence Fisher
10-18 The Bride (1985) directed by Franc Roddam
10-19 Frankenstein Unbound (1990) directed by Roger Corman
10-20 Frankenstein (1992) directed by David Wickes
10-21 Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) directed by Kenneth Branagh
10-22 Frankenstein (2004) directed by Kevin Connor
10-23 Frankenstein (2004) directed by Marcus Nispel
10-24 House of the Wolf Man (2009) directed by Eben McGarr
10-25 Frankenstein’s Army (2013) directed by Richard Raaphorst
10-26 I, Frankenstein (2014) directed by Stuart Beattie
10-27 Frankenstein (2015) directed by Bernard Rose
10-28 Frankenstein vs. The Mummy (2015) directed by Damien Leone
10-29 Victor Frankenstein (2015) directed by Paul McGuigan
10-30 Depraved (2019) directed by Larry Fessenden
Halloween Day Mini Marathon
The House of the Devil (2009) directed by Ti West
Trick ‘r Treat (2007) directed by Michael Dougherty
Halloween (1978) directed by John Carpenter
Halloween (2018) directed by David Gordon Green
That should just about do it. All of the aforementioned films are available to stream at the time that I’m compiling this list. If there seems to be a glaring omission or two, it’s likely due to that film currently nowhere to be found on any streaming platform. Stay spooky, friends!