Frankenstein
TOM SAVINI: “My favourite scene would have to be Boris Karloff backing into the doorway, as the Frankenstein Monster, and turning around. When you’re a kid — eight, nine years old — you totally believe Frankenstein [the Monster] existed. I had no idea about makeup or any of that stuff. That’s the sad thing about learning to do make-up. You destroy that magic. I wish I could see the movie again, through the eyes of an eight-year-old child. Because when he turns around… holy shit.”
INT. FRANKENSTEIN’S LABORATORY — DAY Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) sits at his table, smoking. Dr Waldman (Edward Van Sloan) paces behind him. FRANKENSTEIN: Oh, come and sit down, Doctor. You must be patient. Do you expect perfection at once? WALDMAN: [Banging the table, then sitting down] This creature of yours should be kept under guard! Mark my words, he will prove dangerous! FRANKENSTEIN: Dangerous? Poor old Waldman. Have you never wanted to do anything that was dangerous? Where should we be if nobody tried to find out what lies beyond? Have you never wanted to look beyond the clouds and the stars? Or to know what causes the trees to bud, and what changes a darkness into light? [He laughs] But if you talk like that, people would call you crazy. Well, if I could discover just one of these things, what eternity is, for example, I wouldn’t care if they did think I was crazy. WALDMAN: You’re young, my friend. Your success has intoxicated you. Wake up and look facts in the face! Here we have a fiend whose brain… FRANKENSTEIN: Whose brain must be given time to develop. It’s a perfectly good brain, Doctor. Well, you ought to know. It came from your own laboratory. WALDMAN: The brain that was stolen from my laboratory was a criminal brain. Frankenstein is somewhat startled by this, but then shrugs it off. FRANKENSTEIN: Oh, well. After all, it’s only a piece of dead tissue. WALDMAN: Only evil can come of it. Your health will be ruined if you persist in this madness. FRANKENSTEIN: I’m astonishingly sane, Doctor. WALDMAN: You have created a monster, and it will destroy you! FRANKENSTEIN: Patience, patience. I believe in this monster, as you call it. And if you don’t… well, you must leave me alone. WALDMAN: But think of Elizabeth! Your father! FRANKENSTEIN: Elizabeth believes in me. My father… [He chuckles, darkly] He never believes in anyone. I’ve got to experiment further. He’s only a few days old, remember. So far he’s been kept in complete darkness. Wait ’til I bring him into the light. Frankenstein hears something. Footsteps. Slow, shambling footsteps approaching the laboratory. FRANKENSTEIN: Here he comes. Let’s turn out the light. Frankenstein stands and turns out the light above the table. Waldman gets up and moves closer to the door. Both men look on as… The door of the lab opens, and a tall, hulking figure, shrouded in shadow, opens the door. But he is walking in reverse, pushing it open with his back. The figure (Boris Karloff) turns. As the light hits his face, we see that it’s horrifying: the expansive forehead marked by a scar. Bolts protrude from his neck. And the eyes are utterly dead. Meet the Monster.