Top Five Frankenstein's Monsters

I haven't done a top five in quite some time. It's not much of a secret I love Frankenstein and his monster. Here are my favorite from film and TV:

#5: Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster - Scary? No. But Herman was made of awesome.


#4: Robert De Niro - Branagh's movie has flaws, but when De Niro ripped out Elizabeth's heart, mine almost stopped.


#3: David Prowse - Prowse is best know for his role as Darth Vader (the body not the voice) in the original Star Wars trilogy. But he gets the bump above the others because he played two very different monsters, from the hunk in The Horror of Frankenstein (1970) and the furry beastie in Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974), both from Hammer.



#2: Christopher Lee - Lee would win every monster contest if it wasn't for Karloff and Lugosi. His staggering monster from 1957's Curse of Frankenstein (Hammer) was truly grotesque.


#1: Boris Karloff - My first love. Could there be any other #1?


Who is your favorite monster?

Hammer for Halloween

Yes, Halloween is a very special time of the year.

What I Owe Boris Karloff

As a senior in high school during the fall of 1992, I purchased a copy of Frankenstein (1931) on VHS. I was on an extending field trip (3 days and 2 nights), and didn't watch the film until returning home. I'd grown up with the monster series from Crestwood Studios, but had never seen the film.

I have always been a fan of dark things. Even though doing so brought nightmares, I watched Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th with my neighbors, the Sullivans. We played silly games in the basement, games designed to terrify each other. They had a collection of old copies of Fangoria and Famous Monsters of Filmland.

But I hadn't actually seen Karloff in action until I was 17.

Elm Street and Friday the 13th weren't my style. Too much gore. Too little introspection. (Yeah, I was as goofy as a young kid as I am now) But the Monster...under all that make-up, Karloff pulled off pain and longing and betrayal and confusion and...

Wow.

There's more, of course, and part of Karloff's story should be an inspiration to anyone working to make a go of his/her dream. The man made dozens of films and worked as a stage actor before Frankenstein, but work was never consistent. He filled the gaps with manual labor, digging ditches and driving a cement truck. Times were tough, and Karloff quite lean at 44 when the Monster was unleashed in 1931's Frankenstein.

The inspiration? Don't quit. Don't give up. Keep plugging away even when the dream is impossible.

Thanks Mr. Karloff. Thanks for bringning the monster to life. Thanks for inspiring my love for the weird and gothic, and my continuing affair with Mary Shelley's hideous progeny. Most of all, thanks for all the hard work.

NaNoWriMos, as you near the end of the month, keep going.

Man, I Was a Weird Kid...

Thanks to K.C. Shaw for starting another meme. This one is simple: childhood book memories.

I have sooooo many happy memories of books as a kid, but I'll pare it down to three.

1) The Crestwood Monster Series



We had these books in my K-3 school library. I always had one in my desk. Personally, I think they made me the monster lover I am today. All the big names had a book: Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, even a generic mad scientists book and one about giant bugs. Each volume was basically a summary of old movies (Universal and otherwise). We still have a few copies at the Lawrence Public Library.

2) Mickey the Microbe

Maybe my memory fails me, but I'm pretty sure the eponymous Mickey was a microbe traveling through a young boy's body, exploring all the parts, and reporting his adventures. My third grade teacher read this one to us, and I can't seem to find anything about him on the web. (It seems Mexico has a Mikey Microbe character who promotes health.) I vividly remember the day Mickey crawled up the nasal passage--sort of spelunking in snot.

3) Hidden Places

My third and final warm fuzzy is the hidden reading spot. In fourth grade, it was at the back of the room, tucked to the side of the coat rack. I could actually worm my way out of sight, balancing on a box of playground balls, and read in a little secluded cave. I've always enjoyed cramped, dark places for reading, despite my general claustrophobia. I've always needed to shut off all distractions to really engage in a book, and I still love it today.

I think I'm going to stop by the library on the way home today...