There aren’t many fictional characters who have appeared in more movies than the Frankenstein Monster. Dracula, certainly, and probably Sherlock Holmes, but he’s right near the top of the list, that’s for sure. And why not? Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s gothic novel “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” practically burned itself into the flesh of popular culture, creating the ultimate allegory for playing God and watching your ill-conceived creation run amok.
So there are tons of great, or at least noteworthy, adaptations out there. These are the very best of the best: the classiest adaptations, the weirdest reimaginings, and the gruesomest gorefests.
20. ‘Mad Monster Party?’ (1967)
Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass are best known for their classic stop-motion Christmas specials, like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town,” but they dabbled in horror comedy too. The cult classic “Mad Monster Party?” — never mind the question mark (but the answer is “yes”) — tells the story of Doctor Frankenstein’s retirement party, where all the other monsters scheme to take over his job as the leader of “The Worldwide Organization of Monsters.” It’s a comedy, but the jokes are all groaners, so just stick around for the delightful creatures and charming animation. (And if you can track down the long-forgotten 2-D animated quasi-sequel, “The Mad, Mad Monsters,” it’s well worth the trouble.)
19. ‘The Munsters’ (2022)
The director of “The Devil’s Rejects” and “Halloween” (2008) has, if you can believe it, a softer side. Rob Zombie’s reboot of “The Munsters” is an affably daffy prequel to the beloved sitcom, in which a Frankenstein monster named Herman (Jeff Daniel Phillips) falls in love with a vampire named Lily (Sheri Moon Zombie). They eventually move to 1313 Mockingbird Lane, but not before running into a heap of trouble in Transylvania. It’s obvious that Zombie had a tiny budget, but he makes the most of it, blasting his sets with lustrous colors and filling his scenes with cheeky costumes. It’s a trifle, but it’s a lovable trifle, and both the leads are perfectly cast. Especially Phillips, who takes an iconic role and makes it all his own.
18. ‘Van Helsing’ (2004)
After Stephen Sommers made two blockbuster “Mummy” movies he decided to make every other Universal Monster movie, all at once. “Van Helsing” flopped but it’s still fun. Hugh Jackman stars as Gabriel Van Helsing, a dashing monster hunter who teams up with a cursed woman (Kate Beckinsale) to stop Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) from using the Frankenstein Monster (Shuler Hensley) to bring his vampire children to life. The plot makes no sense, but Sommers has a flair for ridiculous action sequences, gorgeous production design, and making his cast look absolutely fabulous.
17. ‘Frankenstein Created Woman’ (1967)
Hammer Studios turned their hit “Frankenstein” reboot into a long, successful franchise. The fourth film isn’t the best (we’ll get to that) but it’s wonderfully tragic and conceptually striking. Doctor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) finds a way to preserve the human soul, outside of the body. When a tale of doomed lovers ends in a murder, and the execution of an innocent man, and his lover taking her own life, Frankenstein puts the man’s soul in his lady lover’s body. “Frankenstein Created Woman” doesn’t tackle with the complex issues of sexual identity it raises — at least, not very well — but it broaches the topic with fascination, and tells a gruesome and emotional story in the process.
16. ‘The Monster of Frankenstein’ (1981)
In the 1970s, Marvel released several hit horror comic book series, two of which were adapted into feature-length anime movies that are still nearly impossible to find in the United States and are overdue for reevaluation. “Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned” is a speedball of a film, racing through the events of the comic series with chaotic abandon. It’s fun, but it’s a manic experience. “The Monster of Frankenstein” works better as a film, and tells the classic tale with some significant new additions, including a murder mystery and an outlandishly tragic ending you have to see to believe. It’s bizarre, it’s bloody, but the melodramatic anguish is hypnotic.
15. ‘Flesh for Frankenstein’ (1973)
Erroneously referred to as “Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein” — the legendary pop artist is credited as a producer, but had very little involvement — Paul Morrissey’s sexually explicit take on Shelley’s story takes all the perverse subtext from films like “Bride of Frankenstein” and makes it the text. Then it goes over that text with a highlighter and circles it with a red Sharpie. Udo Kier plays a necrophiliac doctor who builds two creatures, in the hopes of using them to breed a superior race, because his own children (born of incest, no less) are a disappointment. It’s a grotesque farce, at turns oversexed and undercooked, and far too revolting for most audiences. For fans of cult cinema, however, it’s a classic.
14. ‘Frankenstein vs. Baragon’, aka ‘Frankenstein Conquers the World’ (1965)
How’s this for a set-up: The Nazis discover the still-beating heart of the Frankenstein Monster and ship it to Japan near the end of World War II, where it’s irradiated by the Hiroshima bomb. The heart grows into a feral child, then just keeps growing. To top it off there just happens to be a subterranean kaiju named Baragon burrowing around, wreaking havoc, and framing the Frankenstein Monster for its crimes. Frankenstein may not conquer the world, but he sure does fight Baragon, making one of the movie’s titles significantly more accurate — but significantly less sensational — than the other. It’s not even the weirdest kaiju film Toho produced based on Frankenstein, if you can believe it. That honor goes to…
13. ‘The War of the Gargantuas’ (1966)
The sequel to “Frankenstein vs. Baragon” is more bizarre, stylish, colorful and thrilling. It turns out Frankenstein survived the giant octopus at the end of the last movie (or, depending on which ending you saw, the giant earthquake) and has been keeping to himself in the countryside. But another Frankenstein mysteriously emerges from the ocean depths, and this one’s a violent beast. There’s a sadder streak to “The War of the Gargantuas,” as the Frankenstein Monster tries to rehabilitate his brother, only to realize too late that there’s nothing he can do except fight him to the death. Oh, those poor gargantuas!
12. ‘Frankenhooker’ (1990)
The title hasn’t aged well, but it does prepare you for Frank Hennenlotter’s ridiculous cult comedy. Jeffrey Franken’s fiancée dies in a freak lawn mower accident, so he assembles a new body for her out of sex workers, after developing a new drug called “super-crack” which causes them to explode. Yes, this the real plot. But his resurrected fiancée, Elizabeth (Patty Mullen), isn’t quite what he expected, and she escapes to seek customers for her undead sex work. It is, like Hennenlotter’s other classics, “Basket Case” and “Brain Damage,” cartoonishly strange, extremely violent and weirdly funny, and remains one of the ultimate midnight movies.
11. ‘The Monster Squad’ (1987)
One of the icons of 1980s latchkey kid cinema, right up there with “E.T.” and “The Goonies,” is “The Monster Squad” about a bunch of children who still believe in monsters, so they’re the only ones who notice when Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Frankenstein Monster move into town and try to open a portal to Hell. It’s a clever, self-aware movie, filled with memorable moments, but the heart and soul belongs to Tom Noonan, playing the Frankenstein Monster like a lonely child. This version of the Monster brings a tear to your eye — that is, when you’re not laughing at immature gag lines like “Wolf Man’s got nards.”
10. ‘Frankenstein’ (2025)
Guillermo del Toro’s interpretation of “Frankenstein” is actually pretty straightforward, with half the film dedicated to the Doctor, played by Oscar Isaac, and half dedicated to the monster, played by a pale and haunted Jacob Elordi. The production design, makeup and (most of) the visual effects are gorgeous, and Isaac gives one of the great Doctor Frankenstein performances, capturing the hypnotic obsession, intimate tragedy and — ultimately — the unforgivable moral failings of the character. Elordi’s performance is more angelic, and as such has less depth. Also, Del Toro doesn’t seem to trust his audience, and insists on telling the Doctor to his face that yes, if you think about it, he is the real monster. As if there was any doubt. It had the potential to be more challenging, but as a meat-and-potatoes remake of the classic tale, it’s satisfying and sumptuous.
9. ‘Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’ (1994)
In the wake of Francis Ford Coppola’s Oscar-winning, over the top spectacle “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” came Kenneth Branagh’s take on “Frankenstein,” starring Branagh himself as a hunky doctor who brings the monster to life. This time the creature is played by Robert De Niro, who gives an incredibly rich and nuanced performance, imbuing the Monster with a passion that is, at turns, beautiful and violent. Branagh has an extremely blunt take on the material and overshoots the mark, undermining Frank Darabont’s ambitious screenplay, but it’s an impressive production with moments of genuine wonder and terror.
8. ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ (2024)
Zelda Williams’ bright and hilarious horror-comedy, an homage to classic 1980s fare like “Heathers” and “Weird Science,” stars Kathryn Newton as a teen outcast whose true love just happens to be dead. Like, long dead. When he’s unexpectedly brought to life, she has to dismember her enemies to fix his broken parts, using a tanning bed like a laboratory. Diablo Cody wrote the screenplay, and it’s just as sparkling and pointed as her classic script for “Jennifer’s Body,” while Williams’ imbues the film with life, heart, and playful viciousness. It took “Jennifer’s Body” a long time to become a cult classic too. “Lisa Frankenstein” will have its day soon enough.
7. ‘Son of Frankenstein’ (1939)
“Frankenstein,” “Bride of Frankenstein” and the “Abbott and Costello” movie get all the acclaim, but the third film in Universal’s classic franchise is also a treasure. Basil Rathbone plays the mad scientist’s son, who works the evil Ygor (Bela Lugosi) to resurrect the Monster, played for the final time by Boris Karloff. Ironically, it’s Lugosi who steals the film, since he turned down his chance to play the Monster in the first place. He’s wickedly demonic as the first of many Ygors (spelled, in later films, “Igor”), and would eventually take over the Monster role after Ygor’s brain gets transplanted into the Monster’s body in the fourth and fifth films. Those other sequels are fun too, but “Son of Frankenstein” is a particularly wonderful story, eerily told, and deserves more credit than it gets.
6. ‘Frankenweenie’ (1984 and 2012)
Tim Burton’s first live-action short was an amusingly twisted, kid-friendly horror film about a child who resurrects his dead dog. The undead dog is still a very good boy, but he looks gross, so the neighborhood panics and starts running after him with torches. It’s impish, inventive and extremely cute, and it sent Burton on his path to “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” “Batman” and eventually, decades later, a feature-length, stop-motion remake of “Frankenweenie.” The remake has more style, and a lot more undead pets, but it retains the original’s wonderful balance of innocence and macabre. Watch both versions, they’re equally great.
5. ‘Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein’ (1948)
After nearly two decades of taking their monsters seriously, Universal switched gears, and sent the comedy duo Bud Abbott and Lou Costello to give ‘em some good-natured ribbing. The plot involves Dracula, played by Bela Lugosi for the second and final time, trying to put Costello’s brain inside the Frankenstein Monster, but of course it backfires. Our hapless jokesters end up running through a creepy castle while Dracula and the Wolf Man – played Lon Chaney, Jr. for the fifth and final time – hilariously fight to the death. Some of the gags are funnier than others, but “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” will always be good-natured, goofy, monsterific fun.
4. ‘The Curse of Frankenstein’ (1957)
Hammer reinvigorated the whole horror genre with “The Curse of Frankenstein,” a lush and malevolent blockbuster retelling of the classic tale, starring Peter Cushing as one of the most evil Doctor Frankensteins in movie history. He’s going to build a monster and he’ll do anything, and kill anyone, to bring it to life. When it rises it’s played by Christopher Lee, who makes his version of the Monster intimidating and, since it’s abused by the mad doctor, oddly pathetic. There’s excellent character work here, and Cushing — who usually plays the good guy in Hammer films — does slimy, sinister work as the mad scientist. It’s a liberal adaptation but a great, scary movie.
3. ‘Young Frankenstein’ (1974)
Mel Brooks’ unofficial, comedic remake of “Son of Frankenstein” stars Gene Wilder as the grandson of Doctor Frankenstein, who moves into his family home and becomes obsessed with perfecting the monster-making process. His creation, played by Peter Boyle, isn’t what he expected, but he does do a mean rendition of “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” The film is chockablock with classic gags, most of which still land today, and everyone in the cast is in their finest form. But the real star here is Brooks, who directed “Young Frankenstein” like a classic Universal Horror movie, so every scene is beautifully photographed and chillingly designed, no matter what wacky shenanigans are taking place. And that just makes them seem wackier.
2. ‘Frankenstein’ (1931)
James Whale’s “Frankenstein” wasn’t the first film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel — as near as we can tell, that’s J. Earle Dawley’s 16-minute silent “Frankenstein,” which came out 21 years earlier — but Whale’s vision of the mad scientist in his gothic castle, raising an undead, bolt-necked monster and ruing the day he did remains the gold standard. Impossibly atmospheric and grandly theatrical, the 1931 “Frankenstein” distills Shelley’s original text into a delectable 70-minute cautionary tale. At the center of it all is Boris Karloff, whose brilliant performance tracks a truly empty, yet animated corpse through his gradual evolution into a creature with rudimentary, tearjerking emotions, only to be sacrificed by a judgmental mob for the unthinkable crime of merely existing.
1. ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ (1935)
Whale threw every idea at the wall in this electrifying horror comedy sequel, and all of them stuck. The Monster grows smarter, needier and more dangerous. Doctor Frankenstein (Colin Clive) falls back into a queer-coded, one-sided relationship with his even madder mentor, Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), abandoning his wife to assemble more corpses. And then there’s Elsa Lanchester, who appears in the prologue as Shelley herself, then dons one of the most iconic getups in movie history for the big finale, where she plays the Bride. Lanchester made perhaps the strongest impression any actor has literally ever made, appearing for only one brief scene in the movie, yet living forever in the hearts of films fans (and on Universal Pictures merchandise). James Whale captures the depth and subversion of Shelley’s work, filters it through some weird and expressionistic celluloid, and adds wild, fascinating flourishes all his own.
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