PRESENTS

Monsters,

human and not quite human, have long been popular with fans of horror fiction. Undoubtedly the favorite monster is that created by Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley?s novel -Frankenstein? (1818). Hollywood discovered Frankenstein in 1931 with the classic film starring Boris Karloff. The movie version and its sequels are in striking contrast to Shelley?s intent, because she tells a moral tale about rejection and suffering. The monster is inherently good until spurned by the rest of humanity.

A more genuine monster novel is Robert Louis Stevenson?s -Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? (1886) in which a physician, through drinking a self-concocted potion, becomes a monster. In -The Phantom of the Opera? the monster is entirely human, wearing a mask to hide his deformed features. The first movie version in 1925 starred Lon Chaney, Sr. It was remade in 1943 and 1961, and in 1986 it became a stage production in London, England.

Another variety of monster, the animal-like creature with a human mind, was created primarily for films. -Godzilla? (1956) in Japan and -The Fly? (1958, 1986) in the United States are examples. A science-fiction adaptation of the monster theme appears in -Alien? (1979) and its 1986 sequel.