Obsessed scientist Dr. Henry Frankenstein attempts to create life by assembling a creature from deceased body parts. Aided by his loyal misshapen assistant, Fritz, Frankenstein succeeds in animating his monster, but it flees into the countryside and begins to wreak havoc.
▶ Watch Trailer
Colin Clive
Henry Frankenstein
Mae Clarke
Elizabeth
John Boles
Victor Moritz
Boris Karloff
The Monster
Edward Van Sloan
Doctor Waldman
Frederick Kerr
Baron Frankenstein
Dwight Frye
Fritz
Lionel Belmore
The Burgomaster
Marilyn Harris
Little Maria
Ted Billings
Villager (uncredited)
Director
James Whale
Screenplay
Garrett Fort
Tagline
"The man who made a monster."
Status
Released
Original Language
EN
Budget
$262,007
Revenue
$12,000,000
Production
Universal Pictures
Dsnake1
October 4, 2018
Frankenstein, a movie primarily about how Doctor Henry Frankenstein deals with the fallout of his monster actually coming to life, holds up very well almost ninety years from its release. Starting with the monster itself, we find a fantastic character. Without any lines of dialogue, the filmmakers and Boris Karloff had to use actions and emotions to display the motivations of the monster, and t...
John Chard
October 26, 2019
Oh, in the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God! We will always see debates about which of the original wave of Universal Monster movies is the most important. With Dracula being released just under a year before Frankenstein, that tends to give the vampire crowd a sense of justifiable cause for a trumpet fanfare. Perhaps the more pertinent question is which is the better movie...
Gimly
December 22, 2019
Not a totally faithful adaptation of the Mary Shelley book, still extremely important for not just horror movies, but movies as a whole. I thought about coming at this review from the perspective of what 1931's _Frankenstein_ meant for the future of cinema, and how it was still essentially in its infancy and doing anything even close to what _Frankenstein_ did, changing the culture forever and rem...
JPV852
October 10, 2021
Very well made monster movie featuring fine performances all around, even Boris Karloff as the Monster even though he only grunts throughout. Some good set pieces and just an all around entertaining flick. **4.25/5**
Wuchak
September 30, 2023
**_Iconic Gothic horror tragedy_** This Universal classic from 1931 was based on the 1927 play by Peggy Webling rather than Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel. For those interested in versions fairly faithful to the book, I suggest Kenneth Branagh's 1994 version with De Niro as the creature or the 2004 version with Luke Goss as the monster, the latter of which runs almost 3 hours. Of course, the gi...
★ 5.9
The Horror of Frankenstein
1970
★ 7.6
Frankenstein
2025
★ 6.4
Frankenstein Created Woman
1967
★ 6.0
Victor Frankenstein
2015
★ 6.2
The Resurrected
1991
★ 6.6
The Revenge of Frankenstein
1958
★ 6.3
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
1969
★ 7.7
National Theatre Live: Frankenstein
2011
★ 6.1
The Bride!
2026
★ 7.0
The Mist
2007
Where to Watch
Rent
Buy
Search our entire catalog of thousands of movies across every genre.