How Bride of Frankenstein Brought Horror to Life (Before Censorship Killed It) | IGN Flashback Review - IGN

IGN’s only been around for 30 years, but movies have been going for much, much longer than that. And the thing is, so many of them have never been reviewed by us. But that’s where IGN’s Flashback Reviews come in, so today we’re jumping almost 90 years back in time to talk about one of the greatest horror movies ever made… if you can even call it a horror movie, that is: Bride of Frankenstein! Elsa Lanchester’s Bride of Frankenstein is an icon, even if most people have never actually seen the only film in which the character appeared. Her image is instantly recognizable – the lightning-striped, shocked bouffant, the bandaged arms and sweeping gown, the impeccably scarred yet beautiful face. Oh, and the hiss – don’t forget the hiss! And this despite the poor creature only getting about four minutes of screentime in total. Again, 90 years ago. But the birth of the Bride also came at a critical moment for the horror genre, as the looming dangers of censorship would soon drain much of the life out of the creative boom that had led to the film in the first place. When director James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein was released in 1935, the horror genre was at the peak of a vast surge in po