Frankenstein Lives!: 200th Anniversary BBC Radio Program

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audio, Boris Karloff, Frankenstein, Frankenstein 200, Halloween, horror, podcast, radio program

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s classic horror tale “Frankenstein” celebrates 200 years of life in this, the year of our Lord, 2018. It is arguably one of the most important literary works of the past two centuries, and led to the creation of one of the world’s most beloved movie monsters, thanks to a very different interpretation by Universal Pictures and legendary horror actor Boris Karloff.

Earlier this year, I published Feeding or Fighting the Monster Within: The True Message of Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’. If you haven’t read it yet, I would of course love for you to do so, as I personally feel this is one of the best posts on my blog. The Frankenstein Monster we know from films is very different from the one Mary Shelley created in her book, and in this post, I explore those differences and take a very real-world look at this polarizing Creature, and discuss why one version deserves our sympathy, while the other does not.

Being a very visual, book-type learner, I’m not someone who enjoys listening to things like audio books or podcasts — especially when they’re clocking in at a full hour of listening time. I much prefer to read words on a page than listen to someone speaking them. But when I saw a BBC audio program called “Frankenstein Lives!”, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein, I decided to give it a try.

A Toast to Gods and Monsters

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80th anniversary, Boris Karloff, Bride of Frankenstein, Doctor Pretorius, Elsa Lanchester, Henry Clive, horror, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Universal Pictures

Lord Byron: “Astonishing creature.”

Mary Shelley: “I, Lord Byron?”

Lord Byron: “Frightened of thunder, fearful of the dark. And yet you have written a tale that sent my blood into icy creeps. Look at her, Shelley. Can you believe that bland and lovely brow conceived of Frankenstein? A monster created from cadavers out of rifled graves? Isn’t it astonishing?”

Mary Shelley: “I don’t know why you should think so. What do you expect? Such an audience needs something more than a pretty little love story. So why shouldn’t I write of monsters?

Lord Byron: “No wonder Murray’s refused to publish the book. He says his reading public would be too shocked!”

Mary Shelley: “It will be published, I think.”

Percy Shelley: “Then, darling, you will have much to answer for.”

Mary Shelley: “The publishers did not see that my purpose was to write a moral lesson. The punishment that befell a mortal man who dared to emulate God.”

Lord Byron: “Well, whatever your purpose may have been, my dear, I take great relish in savouring each separate horror. I roll them over on my tongue.”

Mary Shelley: “Don’t, Lord Byron. Don’t remind me of it tonight.”

Lord Byron: “What a setting in that churchyard to begin with. The sobbing women. The first plod of earth on the coffin — that was a pretty chill. Frankenstein and the dwarf stealing the body out of its new-made grave. Cutting the hanged man down from the gallows, where he swung creaking in the wind. The cunning of Frankenstein in his mountain laboratory, taking dead men apart and building up a human monster so fearful, so horrible, that only a half-crazed brain could have devised. And then the murders. The little child, drowned. Henry Frankenstein himself thrown from the top of the burning mill by the very monster he had created. And it was these fragile, white fingers that penned the nightmare.”

Percy Shelley: “I do think it a shame, Mary, to end your story quite so suddenly.”

Mary Shelley: “That wasn’t the end at all. Would you like to hear what happened after that? I feel like telling it. It’s a perfect night for mystery and horror. The air itself is filled with monsters.”

Lord Byron: “I’m all ears! While heaven blasts the night without, open up your pits of hell.”

Mary Shelley: “Well, then, imagine yourselves standing by the wreckage of the mill. The fire is dying down. Soon the bare skeleton of the building rolls over, the gaunt rafters against the sky……”

That is the fantastic opening scene of what is considered by many to be one of Universal Pictures greatest horror films: “Bride of Frankenstein”.

Terror Tuesday: Horror Anthologies (Part II)

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Alfred Hitchcock Presents, anthology series, Boris Karloff, Goosebumps, Hammer: House of Mystery and Suspense, Horror Anthologies, Night Gallery, Rod Serling, The Ray Bradbury Theater, Thriller

I know you’ve all been simply dying for my second installment of Horror Anthology picks. But fear not (well, maybe be a BIT afraid), I’m back today with six more series you need to check out.

I’ve got a couple of real classics for you this week, as well as the one series on the planet that I’d enjoy seeing rebooted. I see you shivering with antici—pa-tion (more Rocky Horror, sorry), so let’s not waste any time and get right down to business.

Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.

~ Robert Bloch

“Nightmare” Magazine, 1974: An Exclusive Interview with Christopher ‘Dracula’ Lee

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Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, Dracula, Hammer Films, horror comics, interview, Nightmare Magazine, Peter Cushing, Rasputin

It’s always enjoyable when you go looking for one thing but find something much cooler. That’s what happened to me the other day when I stumbled over an old magazine/comic interview with one of my favourites: legendary actor Christopher Lee. When it comes to articles from these neat old horror magazines and comics, it’s not often you can find transcripts of them, let alone high quality scans of the pages themselves. But much to my delight, this article was available on the wonderful internet library site archive.org — a site that is dedicated to preserving and providing access to all types of digitized information.

I consider my blog to be a gathering place of information as well. A place where I too would like to preserve certain things that interest me, as well as have my say about them. And with Halloween fast approaching, I thought what better addition to my own personal Seeker of Truth library than Christopher Lee talking horror, Dracula and Boris Karloff?