Yesterday kicked off Monster Awareness Month. I didn’t post anything up here to celebrate, because I was busy being snowed in by the Snowpocalypse or whatever you want to call it. But I plan to drop in every few days and at least talk about the movies that’ve gone by on the list, breaking it down day by day.

Day 1: Frankenstein (1931)
What is there left to say about Frankenstein? There are no shortages of reasons why it’s a classic, and maybe the most famous and respected movie of the whole month. That said, it still doesn’t manage to top any of my favorites lists. It’s not my favorite Boris Karloff movie, it’s not my favorite James Whale movie, it’s not my favorite of the Universal monster films, it’s not even my favorite Frankenstein movie. But it’s still pretty great, if you somehow haven’t seen it already.

Day 2: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
The first movie on the list that I hadn’t seen before. It was definitely interesting, and surprisingly frank in its sexuality at times, but I can see why it never quite attained the fame of its Universal counterparts. It’s still got the feel of a silent movie more than most of the Universal ones, in spite of all the talking that goes on. There’s a lot of well-handled scenes and suitably epic laboratory sets and nice shots of gaslight London, though, and that definitely counts for something.