Director: James Whale (Show Boat, The Invisible Man, Frankenstein)

Many consider Bride of Frankenstein to be superior to Frankenstein (1931). Made four years later, after several attempts at developing a suitable script and with a reluctant James Whale directing, Bride of Frankenstein was well received by critics and audiences upon its release on Good Friday, 1935. Even today, the movie holds its own as a marvellously enjoyable romp, suffused with more black humour than its predecessor, and blessed with another bravura performance by "Karloff" as The Monster.

The sequel is told within an inventive framing device – one more credible than today's idiotic attempts at resurrecting dead plotlines and characters. This conceit also acknowledges the genesis of the whole Frankenstein mythology by depicting the famous 1816 meeting between Mary Wollstencraft Shelly (1797-1851, played by Elsa Lanchester), Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon) and Mary's husband, the renouned poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (Douglas Walton), at Villa Diodati on the shores of Lake Geneva. (Two lesser-known attendees, Dr Polidoris, who later penned the novella The Vampyre, and Claire Clairmont, were not written into the scene, perhaps to simplify what was only meant to be a brief prologue to the movie.) On this stormy night, inspired by the ghost fiction of other writers, the group decided to each write their own ghost story, the most terrifying imaginable. Or as the young Mary Shelley put it in her preface to Frankenstein: "One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror – one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart." At a loss for ideas, Mary finally has the nightmare that inspires her to write her classic novel, which was eventually published in 1818. In the film, she merely continues to narrate the rest of the story told in Frankenstein after Lord Byron's recap. James Whale accomplishes much even before the movie proper kicks off.

The townsfolk have gathered around the burning ruins of the old mill, where Dr Frankenstein and his creature are supposed to have perished. Amidst the hilarious chirpings of Millie, Frankenstein's dotty housemaid (played by Una O'Connor), the crumpled body of Henry is found and carted away. Poking around the debris near the chamber under the mill, the parents of little Maria who was drowned in the first film are dispatched by the Monster; the father Hans (Reginald Barlow) is drowned himself, no less. His dim wife (Mary Gordon) mistakenly helps the Monster out of the pit, into which the Monster tosses her like a rag doll. The creature then lopes up to Millie, who shrieks all away back to the Baron's castle, attempting vainly to spark renewed panic. One wonders how the actors kept a straight face when playing this material!

New developments include the shadowy figure of Dr Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), who coaxes the revived Henry Frankenstein back to the laboratory; the Monster learning to speak, albeit haltingly; and of course the creation of the eponymous Bride Monster (Elsa Lanchester again). This idea came directly from Shelley's novel: "She also might turn with disgust from him to the superior beauty of man; she might quit him, and he be again alone, exasperated by the fresh provocation of being deserted by one of his own species." In the book, Frankenstein recognised the madness of his scheme, however, and "tore to pieces" the femme-Monster's cadaver before its resurrection.

Another element worth mentioning is the vaguely homoerotic undertones between various male characters. First there is the existing bond between Henry Frankenstein and his Monster, which is more father-son or God-man than anything sexual, although it could be said that Henry suffers a degree of maternal envy. Next there is the sequence with the lonely blind man, with whom the Monster puffs cigars, and particularly the scene where he rather lovingly puts the Monster to bed. Consider Dr Pretorius as well, who always struck me as an ageing queen with his innuendo-laden speech and effeminate demeanour, and whom Henry's fiancé Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson) despises. Ex-teacher Pretorius asks Henry to "forgive the intrusion", says "my business with you Baron is private", and "I think you will be interested in what I have to show you". Recall that not only does Pretorius befriend the monster, but he also says, "have a cigar – they are my only weakness" (Whale loved cigars, too). Furthermore, you have to wonder who else the bride of Frankenstein could be. Since Henry and Elizabeth are engaged, the title cannot be referring to her. Naturally it means the bride made by Frankenstein for the Monster, but it does invite other interpretations.

Off-the-wall thematic musings aside, Bride of Frankenstein is an exemplar of early horror cinema. Since Frankenstein all but exhausted the terror potential of the scenario, the sequel has more fun with the dialogue and characters, and even takes a few stabs at religious iconography, while also presenting a tight narrative that offers other subtextural readings. All of this is delivered with the artistry and production values that James Whale was celebrated for. Superb ghoulish entertainment.

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