Horror and cult film podcast with Baz Bishop.

Episode 03: Bride of Frankenstein — James Whale's Perfect Film.

Baz makes the argument: Dr. Pretorius is the real Bride of Frankenstein. The film's outsiders are its moral centre. The Bride is the only Universal monster who never harmed a soul.

A close reading of the 1935 Universal horror film as a queer text. James Whale. Ernest Thesiger's grave in Brompton Cemetery. GRID. The men who walked through the world without apology. And what horror gave us before we had the language for what we were.

Timestamps:

[00:00] Cold Open — Brompton Cemetery, October 2021. Finding Thesiger's grave.

[04:34] The Setup — The film. The argument. Dr. Pretorius is the actual Bride of Frankenstein.

[08:10] Movement 1 — The Film Itself. Surface plot and what's underneath.

[12:15] Movement 2 — James Whale. The gay director. Coded film.

[17:22] Movement 3 — Dr. Pretorius. The magnificent villain. A new world of gods and monsters.

[24:43] Movement 4 — The Bride. Three minutes. No dialogue. Full agency.

[31:06] Movement 5 — The Monster and the Outsider Body. The hermit sequence.

[37:15] The Turn — GRID. The worried well. The men who never apologised.

[43:46] The Close

Films and references in this episode: Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Frankenstein (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), Gods and Monsters (1998).

Key figures: James Whale (dir.), Ernest Thesiger (Dr. Pretorius), Boris Karloff (The Monster), Elsa Lanchester (Mary Shelley / The Bride).

Other references: Brompton Cemetery, Chelsea, London. GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency, 1982). Shock Theatre / Channel 12, Allendale SC.

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Contact: baztothebonepod@icloud.com

Audio credits: Theme music — The Last Reel (mid-tempo), original composition, licensed via Suno. "extremely-close-thunder" by Spennnyyy | freesound.org/s/350506/ | CC BY 4.0

Baz To The Bone is produced independently in Wales, UK.

Horror. Cult Film. Bad Taste Done Properly.