Frankenstein Friday is observed every year on the last Friday of October and this year, it falls on 30 October. The day is celebrated to honour the creator of popular horror novel "Frankenstein", Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.
The English author wrote the story of a young science student named Victor Frankenstein when she was 21. She was inspired by legend of an alchemist, who lived in Frankenstein Castle near Gernsheim in Hesse, Germany.
Since "Frankenstein" contains elements of Gothic novel and is about the creation of a grotesque and sentient creature, it is considered to be an earliest example of science fiction. Popular English writer and anthologies editor Brian Wilson Aldiss even recommended the novel as the first science fiction work.
Apart from influencing several literature works, the title character of the novel inspired the makers of several films and television dramas, who featured the monster in their projects. The first film adaption of the novel was made by Edison Studios under the direction of J Searle Dawley in 1910 followed by "Life Without Soul" in 1915.
Check out the list below for some of the popular on-screen adaptions of the monster Victor Frankenstein:
- In 1931, Universal Studios made its first "Frankenstein" movie under the direction of James Whale and English actor William Henry Pratt, who is popularly known as Boris Karloff, portrayed the title character.
- American actor Creighton Tull Chaney, who is known by the stage Lon Chaney Jr, was the next one to play the monster. He portrayed the character in 1942 film "The Ghost of Frankenstein".
- Actor Glenn Strange featured the horror character in a series of films made by Universal Pictures, including "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man", "House of Frankenstein", "House of Dracula" and "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein".
- English actor Peter Wilton Cushing also portrayed the sinister scientist in some of the movies created by Hammer Films such as "The Curse of Frankenstein", "The Revenge of Frankenstein" and "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed".
- Showtime's popular horror drama "Penny Dreadful" is reportedly the first television series to feature Doctor Victor Frankenstein and his creature.