The thing that struck me is that in Son of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley's immortal creation seems to assume a supporting player to the activities of its human confederates. Its interesting that this movie was the longest of all Universal's horror genre. And it seems to trigger the twilight (no pun intended) of the classic horror film genre.
The year this was released was 1939. World War II was in the beginning stages, could the atrocities and realities of war beginning to manifest within the world be cause for the rejection of the horror film? Or was it just a calculated move by the studios?? Seems worth reflecting on what might have triggered this shift in the acceptance of horror films at the time.
Again we have cosmic rays bringing what should have been a miracle to life - but for Father Von Frankenstein's assistant making the mistake leading to the monster killer rather than a normal man.
ReplyDeleteThere's enough horror at war time in the news reels; we move on to Abbott and Costello comedy horror in 1948, which is quite some time into the future.