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I love fall. The heat finally breaks in Phoenix. I get to bring out my favorite Halloween decorations including my ghost-shaped throw pillows “Boo” and “Woo.” The consuming of pumpkin spice lattes commences. But my favorite part of October is Fall Break. It’s that magical time of year when I stop working for about a week and go into idea-generating mode. I watch a lot of movies and TV in the name of research. I travel. I try new foods and activities. The best part about Fall Break is intentionally being open. Open to whatever might come my way and throwing all of those ideas into the hopper to see what comes out later when I'm back in my office.
If you know me in real life, you know that I don’t do horror. For example, I was so weirded out watching THE LOST BOYS in 1987 with Wonder Twin and our high school friends (who all loved the movie), that I couldn’t watch vampires again until they sparkled. Which makes me wonder why an iconic monster has become a recurring part of my life recently.
It started at Universal Studios Hollywood. I was there on Fall Break with my family last week. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that behind-the-scenes stories are my jam. I love to see how things are put together, what influenced the creator, and especially the fact behind the fiction. Universal Studios was in the middle of preparing for their annual Halloween Horror Nights (well, that’s a big NOPE for me) so there were random bloody body parts littered around the normal backlot tour. But there were also vintage movie posters including Universal Studios' 1931 classics FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA. This got me thinking about how many versions of Mary Shelley’s famous horror story have come out over the years, beyond the original story idea. For today’s purpose, we are counting the character “Dr. Frankenstein’s Monster” and the monster character many know as “Frankenstein” as the same thing. How many of these twists on the Frankenstein story have you seen:
THE BRIDE (Such a turkey, but Sting in period garb totally makes it worth it!)
VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN (Told from Harry Potter's...I mean...Igor’s perspective)
Wonder Twin and I are both stuck in 1918 thanks to BREATHE, so super old movies are an interest to both of us. Recently, Wonder Twin discovered a version of Frankenstein that you probably haven’t seen. I doubt that Virginia would have been allowed to see this “horror” movie (if I can watch it, then it really isn’t horror) at the cinema when it came out in 1910. This mini silent movie is an interesting time capsule. The special effects (though laughable by today’s standards) are impressive for the time. HINT: Film-makers had recently discovered the idea of running parts of the footage they took backwards for a neat effect. Here’s a Throwback Thursday mini horror movie just for you!
As a writer, wouldn’t you love for one of your creations to come to life (pun intended) like Mary Shelley's did to be enjoyed--feared?--for hundreds of years? #WriterGoals! You know you’ve hit the big time when your character ends up on a box of breakfast cereal.
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Are you interested in behind-the-scenes stories, too? If so, stick around. If you are a Japanophile, world traveler, and/or foodie, I have several blog posts already up about the fact behind the fiction of TANABATA WISH. If you want to learn more about life in 1918 Philadelphia as you read BREATHE, I have even more posts about it coming up. Because to me, the microscopic killer Spanish flu is way scarier than Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, and The Wolf Man combined.