Frankenstein (1931)
Frankenstein - a name synonymous with the horror genre for one reason - this film from Universal Studios, this film from nearly a century ago. Whole books have been written about this film, it's sequels and the Universal monster legacy as a whole, so influential are they not only on horror cinema but cinema in general.
Frankenstein is a seminal film which belies it's age with each repeat viewing. A macabre masterpiece which fixed the monstrous image of the creature into the publics consciousness where it remains today.
Frankenstein is a fascinating if primitive work that launched it's director (James Whale) and star (Boris Karloff or ? if you read the opening cast list)on interesting and in Karloff's case highly successful paths, and even though based on German expressionist silent works it established the horror film as a viable genre for Hollywood.
The film was seen as shocking in it's day and still plays as a genuinely creepy experience. The idea of a man playing God as Colin Clive does with his 'It's alive' speech and the lakeside sequence with the little girl fell foul of censors for decades to come even though today it all seems rather tame.
The film belongs to Boris Karloff. He breathes life into a career best and definitive portrayal of an on screen monster being both terrifying and sympathetic, witness Frankenstein's servant Fritz (Dwight Frye) torturing the creature with flames and the touching moment where the creature reaching up to grasp a ray of sunlight. James Whale also contributes to the grand scheme of things with his innovative direction and sometimes wayward camera angles that create an at times tense and at others melancholic atmospheres of Gothic horror mixed with science.
Everyone on here who reads this should have seen the film, nay, everyone should own the film such is it's historical impact on cinema and the horror genre.