Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein at nineteen. Cinema has been retelling it ever since – and mainly getting it wrong.

Hosts Laura Gommans and Tom Ooms dig into the big question: is Frankenstein the story of a misunderstood outcast, an abandoned child who never asked to exist, or a cautionary tale about scientists who should really know better? More importantly, why is Frankenstein always so ugly?

They trace the monster on screen through James Whale’s Universal original in 1931, Hammer Horror’s gloriously excessive franchise — essentially the Marvel Universe before Marvel existed — and into modern Frankenstein-by-another-name films like Ex Machina and Blade Runner. Plus reviews of the two new adaptations, Frankenstein and The Bride, putting the myth back in the spotlight.

Also: Laura confesses to having seen Fifty Shades Darker in the cinema three times and to watching Arrival at the gym. This is relevant. Kind of.

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