31 Days of Horror: Frankenstein (1931)

To follow the definitive vampire, Dracula, 31 days of horror continues with the definitive portrayal of Frankenstein's monster by Boris Karloff. Starring Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, and Edward Van Sloan, Frankenstein was Universal's follow up to their enormously successful version of Dracula. Frankenstein was to have originally been directed by Robert Florey and starred Bela Lugosi with a script that was very different from the one eventually used. Due to the rather one dimensional, robotic portrayal of the monster in the original drafts, Lugosi eventually quit the picture, and Flory was soon replaced by James Whale. Once Whale came on to the production, he greatly revised the script and cast Boris Karloff as the monster. Whale's new vision of the picture, combined with Jack Pierce's makeup and Karloff's sympathetic portrayal of the monster, gives us the image of what will always be first to come to mind whenever someone says "Frankenstein".