Frankenstein in popular culture


's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, and the famous character of Frankenstein's monster, have influenced popular culture for at least a century. The work has inspired numerous films, television programs, video games and derivative works. The character of the monster remains one of the most recognized icons in horror fiction.

Film derivatives

Silent era

The first film adaptation of the tale, Frankenstein, was made by Edison Studios in 1910, written and directed by J. Searle Dawley, with Augustus Phillips as Frankenstein, Mary Fuerte as Elizabeth, and Charles Ogle as the Monster. The brief story has Frankenstein chemically create his creature in a vat. The monster haunts the scientist until Frankenstein's wedding night, when true love causes the creature to vanish. For many years, this film was believed lost. A collector announced in 1980 that he had acquired a print in the 1950s and had been unaware of its rarity.
The Edison version was followed soon after by another adaptation entitled Life Without Soul, directed by Joseph W. Smiley, starring William A. Cohill as Dr. William Frawley, a modern-day Frankenstein who creates a soulless man, played to much critical praise by Percy Standing, who wore little make-up in the role. The film was shot at various locations around the United States, and reputedly featured much spectacle. In the end, it turns out that a young man has dreamed the events of the film after falling asleep reading Mary Shelley's novel. This film is now considered lost film.
There was also at least one European film version, the Italian The Monster of Frankenstein in 1921. The film's producer, Luciano Albertini, essayed the role of Frankenstein, with the creature being played by Umberto Guarracino, and Eugenio Testa directing from a screenplay by Giovanni Drivetti. The film is also now considered lost.

Universal Pictures

The first sound adaptation of the story, Frankenstein, was produced by Universal Pictures, directed by James Whale, and starred Boris Karloff as the monster. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Its sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein was also directed by Whale with Karloff as the monster. It was followed by Son of Frankenstein, the last of the three films with Boris Karloff as the monster. The Ghost of Frankenstein marked the Universal series' descent into B movie territory; later efforts by the studio combined two or more monsters, culminating in the comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. The later Universal films in which the Monster appears are:
  1. The Ghost of Frankenstein
  2. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
  3. The House of Frankenstein
  4. House of Dracula
  5. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.

    Future reboot film

For the reboot film, Guillermo del Toro said his Frankenstein would be a faithful "Miltonian tragedy", citing Frank Darabont's "near perfect" script, which evolved into Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein. Del Toro said of his vision, "What I'm trying to do is take the myth and do something with it, but combining elements of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein without making it just a classical myth of the monster. The best moments in my mind of Frankenstein, of the novel, are yet to be filmed... The only guy that has ever nailed for me the emptiness, not the tragic, not the Miltonian dimension of the monster, but the emptiness is Christopher Lee in the Hammer films, where he really looks like something obscenely alive. Boris Karloff has the tragedy element nailed down but there are so many versions, including that great screenplay by Frank Darabont that was ultimately not really filmed." He has also cited Bernie Wrightson's illustrations as inspiration, and said the film will not focus on the monster's creation, but be an adventure film featuring the character. Del Toro said he would like Wrightson to design his version of the creature. The film will also focus on the religious aspects of Shelley's tale. In June 2009, del Toro stated that production on Frankenstein was not likely to begin for at least four years. Despite this, he has already cast frequent collaborator Doug Jones in the role of Frankenstein's monster. In an interview with Sci Fi Wire, Jones stated that he learned of the news the same day as everybody else; that "Guillermo did say to the press that he’s already cast me as his monster, but we’ve yet to talk about it. But in his mind, if that’s what he’s decided, then it's done... It would be a dream come true." The film will be a period piece. It is unclear what stage of development this film is in.
Universal Studios has since begun development of their own cinematic universe featuring their classic monsters. Variety reported that Academy Award-winner Javier Bardem was in negotiations to star as the Frankenstein Monster.

Hammer Films

In Great Britain, a long-running series by Hammer Films focused on the character of Dr. Frankenstein rather than his monster. Peter Cushing played Dr. Frankenstein in all of the films except for The Horror of Frankenstein, in which the character was played by Ralph Bates. Cushing also played a creation in The Revenge of Frankenstein. David Prowse played two different Creatures.
The Hammer films are a series in the loosest sense, since there is only tenuous continuity between the films after the first two. Starting with The Evil of Frankenstein, the films are standalone stories with occasional vague references to previous films, much the way the James Bond films form a series. In some of the films, the Baron is a kindly, even heroic figure, while in others he is ruthless, cruel and clearly the villain of the piece.
The Hammer Films series consisted of:
  1. The Curse of Frankenstein
  2. The Revenge of Frankenstein
  3. The Evil of Frankenstein
  4. Frankenstein Created Woman
  5. Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
  6. The Horror of Frankenstein - a black comedy remake of The Curse of Frankenstein
  7. Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell
In 1959, Hammer shot a half-hour pilot episode for a TV series to be called Tales of Frankenstein, in association with Columbia Pictures. Anton Diffring played the Baron, and Don Megowan his creation. Curt Siodmak directed. The series was scrapped, largely because of the two companies' disagreement over what the basic thrust of the series would be: Hammer wanted to do a series about Baron Frankenstein involved in various misadventures, while Columbia wanted a series of science fiction stories loosely based around the idea of science gone wrong. Though unreleased at the time of its production, the episode is available on DVD from several public domain sources.

Other films

Depictions of the Monster have varied widely, from a savage, mindless brute to the depiction of the Monster as a kind of tragic hero in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, The Bride, and Van Helsing. Throughout the Universal series, he evolves from the latter to the former.
Three films have depicted the genesis of the Frankenstein story in 1816: Gothic directed by Ken Russell, Haunted Summer directed by Ivan Passer, and Remando al viento directed by Gonzalo Suárez. The opening scene of Bride of Frankenstein also dealt with this event.

1950s and 1960s

The Frankenstein story and its elements have been adapted many times for television:

Music

Parodies have been broadcast on radio:
The story of Frankenstein and "Frankenstein's monster", has formed the basis of many original novels over the years, some of which were considered sequels to Shelley's original work, and some of which were based more upon the character as portrayed in the Universal films. Yet others were completely new tales inspired by Frankenstein.
The Monster has also been the subject of many comic book adaptations, ranging from the ridiculous, to more straightforward interpretations of Shelley's work.

Dick Briefer's ''Frankenstein'' (1940–1954)

In 1940, cartoonist Dick Briefer wrote and drew a Frankenstein's-monster comic book title for Crestwood Publications's Prize Comics, beginning with a standard horrific version, updated to contemporary America, but then in 1945 crafting an acclaimed and well-remembered comedic version that spun off into his own title, Frankenstein Comics. The series ended with issue #17. The original Prize version served as catalyst for an intra-company crossover, where all characters starring in Prize Comics at the time teamed up to fight Frankenstein.

DC Comics

' Movie Comics #1 featured an eight-page fumetti adaptation of the film Son of Frankenstein.
The Monster appeared in Superman No. 143, in a story entitled "Bizarro Meets Frankenstein!"
In 1973 the "Spawn of Frankenstein" appeared in the Phantom Stranger comic, written by Len Wein. The portrayal of the monster was as a reclusive, sympathetic character who had been living alone in the Arctic since the death of his creator.
A 1995 Batman special called by Jack C. Harris and Bo Hampton amalgamates Batman and Frankenstein. Bruce Wayne fills the role of Victor Frankenstein, wishing to revive his deceased father. Having successfully done so, his creation becomes the monstrous "Bat-Man", a hulking figure in a rough analogue of the Batman costume who preys upon highwaymen, similar to the one who took the lives of the parents of Bruce Wayne. Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth is changed to a hunchbacked dwarf named Alfredo, filling the "Igor" role.
In The Superman Monster, Lex Luthor is Viktor Luther, the creator. He discovers the spacecraft that would have carried the infant Superman to Earth. Inside, however, is only the skeleton of a child. Using the Kryptonian technology, he is able to animate his super-powered creature, which initially resembles Bizarro. The creature flees and is raised by the kindly couple Johann and Marta Kant. They name the creature Klaus, after their dead son. The story features the Lois Lane character becoming "the Bride" to Superman's Creature.
DC Comics and Roy Thomas revived the character "The Spawn of Frankenstein" in Young All-Stars; he then appeared in Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory. Here, Frankenstein is a Milton-quoting, gun-toting warrior battling to prevent the end of the world. In addition, DC's team of movie monster-esque soldiers known as the Creature Commandos featured a character that resembled the Universal Pictures version of Frankenstein's monster; Private Elliot "Lucky" Taylor was nearly killed after stepping on a land mine, but was grotesquely reconstructed into a "Patchwork Creature", and later rendered mute by a suicide attempt. Later, DC Comics debuted an unrelated superhero called "Young Frankenstein."
In Warren Ellis and John Cassaday's Planetary, the protagonist, Elijah Snow, discovers an abandoned laboratory, filled with patchwork undead monsters. It is heavily implied that the lab belonged to Victor Frankenstein, and that, alongside Count Dracula, the Invisible Man, and Sherlock Holmes, Frankenstein had been part of a covert, 19th century conspiracy to shape the direction of the future.
In the comic book Major Bummer, Louie defends the common misnaming of the monster as "Frankenstein": Dr. Frankenstein is, so to speak, the monster's "father", and it is only right that a son should have his father's family name. This is also the argument taken by the Seven Soldiers incarnation.
In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, the Seven Soldiers' version of the character is re-established in the ongoing series Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E..

Marvel Comics

The monster appeared as a foe to Marvel Comics' X-Men in issue #40 of their eponymous series. In the story, written by Roy Thomas, the monster had various powers, including incredible strength, optic beams, and magnetized feet. He was an ambassador sent to Earth by aliens in the 1850s, but upon arrival, he went berserk. His fellow aliens followed him to the North Pole, where he was frozen. In the present, he was discovered by scientists and thawed. According to Professor X, this android was the inspiration for Shelley's novel.
The Monster of Frankenstein, the first five issues of which contained a faithful retelling of Shelley's tale before transferring the Monster into the present day and pitting him against James Bond-inspired evil organizations. The artist, Mike Ploog, recalled, "I really enjoyed doing Frankenstein because I related to that naive monster wandering around a world he had no knowledge of — an outsider seeing everything through the eyes of a child."
In Invaders #31, the Invaders, searching for the Human Torch and Toro, disappear in Switzerland. The Invaders’ investigation brings them face to fist with Frankenstein. A wheelchair-bound Nazi scientist and Japanese doctor plan to transplant said Nazi scientist’s brain into Captain America’s body. The Invaders have to fight Frankenstein in the issue

Other publishers

Classic Comics #27, reprinted in Classics Illustrated #26, had versions of the Shelley novel.
Dell Comics published a superhero version of the character in the comic book series Frankenstein #2-4.
In 1972, French comics publisher Aredit devoted seven issues of its digest-sized Hallucinations horror comic magazine to adapt Jean-Claude Carrière's Frankenstein novels.
In 1991, Dark Horse Comics issued an adaptation of the 1931 Universal film.
The Monster is Monster in My Pocket #13. He appears among the good monsters in the comic book, the video game, the animated special, and the 2003 animated series. In the comics, he was relatively inarticulate, represented by hyphens between each syllable he spoke, but possessed of simple wisdom and strong morals. This characterization was essentially characterized in the video game, where he was a playable character, and his only line of dialogue in the cut scenes was "Yeah..." In the animated special, he was known as "Big Ed" and was essentially a comic simpleton.
Junji Ito serialized a manga adaptation of the novel, which was collected and published by Asahi Sonorama as the last tankōbon volume of The Junji Ito Horror Comic Collection in 1999.
In 2001, Curtis Jobling released a picture book titled Frankenstein's Cat, which focused on Frankenstein's first creation; a cat named Nine. A television adaption aired in 2008 on CBBC.
2004 saw the debut of Doc Frankenstein, written by the Wachowski brothers, the writer-director team of The Matrix), and drawn by Steve Skroce. The book tells the continuing adventures of Frankenstein's monster, who has since adopted his creator's name and became a hero through the ages.
In 2004, manga artist Atsushi Ōkubo produced the manga Soul Eater; in the fifth chapter a character known as Franken Stein made his debut, much of his design was referenced from the novel "Frankenstein" including his body being covered in dozens of self-inflicted stitches. Like his namesake Franken Stein is both a skilled doctor and scientist, actually accomplishing in resurrecting another character into a zombie. But otherwise the rest of Victor Frankentsin's character was mostly tossed aside. the major difference between Franken Stein and Mary Shelley's Victor Frankenstein is the fact that Franken Stein has the classic personality of a psychopath or serial killer.
In 2005, Dead Dog Comics produced a sequel to the Frankenstein mythos with Frankenstein: Monster Mayhem, written by R. D. Hall with art by Jerry Beck. In Dead Dog's version, the monster sets out to create his own.
Also in 2005, Speakeasy Comics put out their sequel, The Living and the Dead, written by Todd Livingston and Robert Tinnell, with art by Micah Farritor. In it, Victor, now calling himself Hans, must create a new body for his first cousin who wants her syphilitic son to remain alive after a vicious beating, and she coerces him to do so under fear of exposing him for who he really is. Half-crazed due to the disease, the newly born monster proceeds to start a Grand Guignol theater in Ingolstadt until Victor puts him down with the help of the first monster he ever created. As thanks, Victor begins work on the last attempt he will make at playing God, and begins to build the original creature a mate.
In 2005, Puffin Books released a graphic novel adaptation adapted by Gary Reed with art from Frazer Irving.
The 2006 Beckett Entertainment/Image comics graphic novel The Cobbler's Monster: A Tale of Gepetto's Frankenstein features an amalgamation between Gepetto and Victor Frankenstein, who reanimates his dead son.
In 2006, Eros Comix published Adult Frankenstein, a comic book with Frankenstein X-rated stories all written by Enrico Teodorani, with cover by Joe Vigil and interior art by some of the best Italian authors in the erotic comics field.
Also in 2006, Big Bang Comics published an issue of Big Bang Presents featuring a superhero incarnation of the Monster called Super Frankenstein.
Manga artist Mitsukazu Mihara published a collection of six short stories entitled Beautiful People on October 20, 2001. The main story, also titled "Beautiful People", follows a woman who had plastic surgery done hoping to become beautiful and loved, but after she meets a young girl stitched together from corpses, she realizes that girl was the truly beautiful one because of the love that she gave.
The 2007 manga series Embalming-The Another Tale of Frankenstein-, published by Shueisha, is based on the idea that Victor Frankenstein actually existed and created an artificial human from bodyparts of dead people and that 150 years after this event, numerous doctors across Europe are using what is left of his notes to try and create their own monsters. The series also features characters reading Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
In 2009 Papercutz published a Classics Illustrated Deluxe Graphic Novel adaptation of Frankenstein by French cartoonist Marion Mousse. His adaptation was originally published in French in three volumes, and was all collected and translated into English for the Papercutz version. Of all the comic book adaptations, this one is probably the most faithful to the original book.

Toys and games

Frankenstein's monster appears in the Konami video game series Castlevania numerous times, with its name being "The Monster" or "The Creature", often as a major boss, but sometimes as a regular enemy. The monster usually has the appearance of the Karloff/Universal version; however, the 2010 series reboot ' features a completely different-looking boss known as the "Mechanical Monstrosity", created some time prior to 1047 by "Friedrich von Frankenstein".
Several other video game version are also available, including Bride of Frankenstein, - A Cinematic Adventure Starring Tim Curry and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, based on the 1994 film of the same name. Other games featuring the monster include ' for the original Nintendo Entertainment System and Frankenstein's Monster for the Atari 2600.
In the 1995 Super NES game ', Kong's archenemy, King K. Rool, assumes the persona of Baron K. Roolenstein.
A Frankenstein-like monster called Victor von Gerdenheim is a playable character in the fighting game series Darkstalkers, along with many other monsters from popular culture.
Frankenstein's monster also appears in the video game adaptation of the film Van Helsing. He only appears as a non-playable character.
The role-playing game ' by White Wolf Publishing, focuses on beings created from human remains and animated by "the Divine Fire" who seek to attain humanity. One of the "Lineages" of said creatures is that of the Frankensteins, who, like their namesake, are crafted from the best parts of multiple corpses and brought to life by lightning. The monster himself, going by the name John Verney, appears in some of the book's fiction and illustrations.
In 1989, the line of action figures for The Real Ghostbusters featured figures of several Universal Monsters, including Frankenstein's Monster.
In 2002, LEGO released a Dr. Frankenstein and monster set as part of the LEGO Studios toy line. In 2011, a new green skinned Minifigure called Monster resembles the creature.
The 2008 video game Fable II contains a quest in which a man named Victor is attempting to reanimate the body of a deceased woman, both homages to the book. Upon completion of the quest, if the player buys the house, it unlocks an area known as "The Shelley Tomb", a reference to the author of the novel.
In the 2009 Wii game MadWorld, Frankenstein's monster appears as a boss battle at the base of a dungeon, and is simply called "Frank" with bolts in his back, rather than his neck as common stereotypes depict. He is also shown as being regenerative when connected to an electric chair, and his size well exceeds the usually large 7'0" to go as much as 20'0".
In Atlus' popular series, the residents of the "Velvet Room", a supernatural room that is "Between mind and matter", are named after characters from the Frankenstein series, namely Igor, Elizabeth, Margret, Theodore, Marie, Caroline, and Justine.
In 2019, Plaid Hat Games released Abomination: The Heir of Frankenstein, a board game sequel to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, taking place 20 years after the events of the novel. In Abomination, the Creature lives and recruits scientists in Paris to carry on the work of Victor Frankenstein, while Captain Walton seeks to stop the competition and fulfill his vow.
Frankenstein's Monster is set to appear in the horror fighting game Terrordrome 2: Reign of the Legends.

Other usages

author Isaac Asimov coined the term Frankenstein complex for the fear of robots.
Frankensteining is a term used by abusers of crystal methamphetamine to calm themselves by diassembling and reassembling objects. The term is used in that subculture and is recently gaining wider currency: it has been used in an episode of and has four different definitions in Urban Dictionary, all with the same meaning of assembling parts from diverse sources. It is especially common when discussing assembling bicycles from parts stripped from others, illegally or otherwise, as can be seen from a Google search of frankensteining bicycles.
Frankenstein or Franken- is sometimes used as a prefix to imply artificial monstrosity as in "frankenfood", a politically charged name, coined by the American academic Paul Lewis, for genetically manipulated foodstuffs. The Franken- prefix can also mean anything assembled haphazardly from originally disparate elements, especially if those parts were previously discarded by others—for example, a car built from parts salvaged from many other cars. For many years Eddie Van Halen played a guitar built in such a manner which he called the "Frankenstrat".
In 1971, General Mills introduced "Franken Berry", a strawberry-flavored corn cereal whose mascot is a variation of the monster from the 1931 movie.
"Frankenstein" is the name of a character in the 1975 movie Death Race 2000 and its 2008 remake Death Race. The first incarnation was portrayed by veteran actor David Carradine and the second by Jason Statham.
George A. Romero's 1985 film Day of the Dead features a scientist conducting experiments on zombies nicknamed "Frankenstein".
The hit song China in Your Hand by the British rock band T'Pau employs the story of Frankenstein, and Mary Shelley's writing of it, in its role as a classic cautionary tale.
In David Brin's science fiction novel Kiln People, defective golems that become autonomous are called "frankies".
Mewtwo of the Pokémon franchise has been likened to Frankenstein's monster in regards to being born through an artificial means and discontent with the fact.
Stitch, the main protagonist of Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise, was somewhat influenced by the monster, as he was created by a scientist from miscellaneous alien DNA. Unlike Shelley's monster, however, his intentions were initially evil until he discovered an inner loneliness, causing him, and eventually his creator, to turn from crime to justice. Throughout the franchise, Stitch also demonstrates the monster's herculean strength and childlike curiosity.
In season 3 of Megatron clones Dinobot, making a Frankenstein's monster out of the clone by transmetallizing him with the Transmetal Driver and adding the half of Rampage's mutant spark he cut out earlier. The result was an extremely mutated Transmetal II minion under the influence of his "half-brother's" evil.
In 2006, the book The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived listed Dr. Frankenstein's Monster at #6.
The California Medical Association, in a rather humorous gesture, chose Halloween 2006 to announce that Dr. Richard Frankenstein had been elected president of the organization. He had previously been president of the Orange County Medical Association in 1995-1996.
Frankenstein is a character in the Korean web-comic manhwa Noblesse. He, like that of the actual character Frankenstein, is a scientist, but the similarities end there. Through his research he has gained immortality and immense power. He now serves the most powerful of all vampires, the Noblesse.
Pop artist Eric Millikin created a large mosaic portrait of Frankenstein's monster out of Halloween candy and spiders as part of his "Totally Sweet" series in 2013.
The character Professor Franken Stein from Soul Eater is based loosely off Frankenstein's monster but with Frankstein himself in the mix.
In Hellsing, Alexander Anderson is based on Frankenstein's monster, given that his name came from a song that has a reference about Frankenstein's monster, his abilities are similar and he is referred to as God's Monster after using the nail of Helena.
Frankenstein's Monster appears as the Berserker class Servant of the Black Faction in the Fate/stay night spin-off Fate/Apocrypha. This depiction of the monster is a young female homunculus in a wedding gown.
The 2015 film Ex Machina is a film noir retelling of the Frankenstein story with a 21st century femme fatale android.