It’s alive! ‘True face’ of Frankenstein’s monster will go on display

In the 90th anniversary year of the classic film’s US release, there’s a far more authentic vision of the creature first imagined by author Mary Shelley – without a bolt in sight

A lumbering, rough-hewn figure with a bolt through his neck – that was the iconic Frankenstein’s monster as first portrayed by Boris Karloff in 1931.

But now, in the 90th anniversary year of the classic film’s US release, there’s a far more authentic vision of the creature first imagined by author Mary Shelley – without a bolt in sight.

The exhibit to go on show at the first museum dedicated to Frankenstein is closely based on Shelley’s 1818 description: ‘His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath, his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing…’

Millennium FX have built an 8ft animatronic figure that will greet visitors at the House of Frankenstein, which opens in Bath on June 17. 

Co-founder Jonathan Willis said: ‘Karloff was the classic, of course, 90 years ago this year, and Christopher Lee and Robert de Niro have terrified audiences with their own take on it, but they portrayed a clunky, disfigured amalgamation of corpses, whereas Shelley saw it more as a triumph of science with body parts selected for their beauty.’

Creepy classics: Boris Karloff is seen left in a 1931’s Frankenstein, while Robert de Niro is seen right in 1994’s Frankenstein

Christopher Lee’s Frankenstein is seen above in  1957