Monster Mash: Four Horror Films That Changed the Genre

Four films that reshaped horror cinema will screen at Pictureville on 24 and 31 October 2026 as part of Monster Mash: Four Monsters that Changed Horror. James Whale's Frankenstein (1931), released by Universal Pictures after Dracula, follows Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his creation, played by Boris Karloff, with make-up by Jack Pierce. Controversial for its violence, it launched Universal's monster cycle. Whale's Bride of Frankenstein (1935) returns Karloff as a speaking Monster seeking companionship, with Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelley and the Bride, and Dr Pretorius drawing Frankenstein back to science. John Carpenter's The Thing (1982), set at an Antarctic research station, features an alien that imitates life, with practical effects by Rob Bottin and a score by Ennio Morricone; it flopped initially but became a landmark. Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (1985), loosely based on H. P. Lovecraft's Herbert West – Reanimator, stars Jeffrey Combs as a medical student with a reanimation serum, blending body horror and black comedy.