Foolish Mortals Beware… It’s the House of Frankenstein

Foolish mortals beware…

The summer is coming up and you may be looking for trips and activities to spend the lovely hot days of the summer season.

If you are fans of haunted houses and horror attractions, I suggest you visit the House of Frankenstein in Toronto. Yes, going to Toronto for a haunted house may sound crazy but it is worth the trip as you can also visit different attractions and haunted houses on the same street as the House of Frankenstein.

Your love for Frankenstein will be duplicated as you will encounter the famous creation as well as many “monsters” inside of this terrifying house. Be prepared to face and see the abominations that will make you scream!

Be warned guys… this is not for the weak of heart!

Click here to have more information about the House of Frankenstein.

Are you considering visiting this house this summer? Let us know in the comments!

Picture’s credit: House of Frankenstein, http://www.houseofrankenstein.ca

Part 1: Evolution of Science-Fiction

Science-Fiction has a lot of history. The first antecedents from this genre were found out by Historians from the 2nd century. In this era, they were using speculation and storytelling to understand the world and creating a dividing line between the mythological and historical tends. Thus, they were trying to make the difference between actual situations that happened and others that were only based on beliefs and had not enough possible facts to happen.
After a while, Science-Fiction continued to evolve after the 2nd century, but its bigger development occurred in the 19th century with the arrival of the first science fictions novels. This development occurred mostly because of the arrival of some significant technological advances such as electricity, telegraph and so on, in modern societies, which ultimately change science. An excellent example of the use of these new technologies was in Frankenstein. Moreover, the genre continued to evolve and became what we are used to seeing nowadays, which is mostly works that demonstrate potential innovation and new technologies.
Furthermore, the genre nowadays mostly consists of speculative fiction, which is a narrative based on supernatural and futuristic elements. It also deals with original concepts such as futuristic science, technology and extra-terrestrial existence that are most of them based on science and theory, instead of only creative thoughts.
Finally, the genre became so popular and so diversify that Sci-Fi needed to include sub-genre. Thus, it was divided into two significant sub-genres: Hard Science Fiction and Soft Fiction. Their primary differences are that hard science fiction usually includes attention to detail in the natural sciences like physics, astrophysics, and chemistry. On the other hand, soft science fiction is based on social sciences such as psychology and economics.

Here’s the link for PART 2:
Credits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction

http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/SF-Defined.htm

The Monster’s Creation: A Different Presentation

As we all know, the 1931 Frankenstein movie is an horror and Science Fiction classic. It is also being considered as one of the best movie of all time, genres for genres.

The creation of the monster and the “It’s alive! It’s alive!” line are pure classics that will still be instilled in pop culture for a long time. The line itself was ranked as the 49th greatest movie quote in american cinema history.

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Here is a movie clip of the creation of the monster:

After looking at this scene, which presentation of the creation you prefer? Is the passage of the novel more powerful than this classic scene? Let us know in the comments!

Video credit: Movieclips.

Frakenblog Quiz: How well do you know Frankenstein? Part II

In response to all the positive comments on the first quiz, I have made another one since many of our readers have asked for more. Enjoy!

1.    How does Victor Frankenstein’s mother die?

• She is sentenced to death
• The monster chokes her
• She is shot
• She dies of a disease

2. How does the monster learn to speak?

• His creator instructs him by reading to him and daily lectures
• His creator enhances his human like capacities with the help of alchemy
• By learning from Walton
• By listening to Felix teach Safie his language

3. In Paradise Lost, to which characters does the monster relate to?

• Adam and Satan
• Adam and Eve
• The son of God
• Raphael

4. Which of the these is NOT one of the famous alchemists of which Victor studies in his youth?

• Hydrargyrum
• Alain De Lille
• Lucretius
• Chymes

5.    Which of these books is NOT of those read by the monster?

• The inferno
• Paradise lost
• The Odyssey
• Eumenides

6.     What does Walton do after Victor dies?

• He doesn’t care, he laughs and continues with his work
• He leaves Geneva and with his painful memories
• He moves to the south where he changes careers and tries to forget his past life
• He swears vengeance upon him and plots to slay the monster

7.    After successfully saving the girl, what event takes place right after?

• The girl, frightened by his looks, shrieks for help and kicks the monster
• He is awarded and given a home and promised safety
• He is shot
• He is damned and hunted away

8.    In chapter 6, Justine Moritz confesses the murder of William, what is her consequence

• She is banned from the town for five years, she must come back a new person
• She is legally condemned to execution
• She is condemned to life imprisonment
• She is lynched before her trial, her body hanging from a tree

9.    What is the monster’s motive when he kills Victor’s brother?

• He decided to kill everyone he is associated with and then end his own life
• He was cursed into doing so with dark alchemy
• This is his reaction when Victor attempts to create something else
• He is sick of all people relate to Victor in any way

10.  What happens on Victor and Elizabeth’s wedding night?

• The monster assaults Elizabeth and slaughters her
• The monster assaults Victor and slaughters him
• The monster is intimidated and does not take his revenge
• Victor knew the monster would come so devises a plan to capture and kill him

 

Enter a caption

 

Answers: 1:a  2:d   3:a   4:c   5:a   6:b   7:c   8:b   9:d   10:a

 

(Questions and answers inspired from Sparknotes.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 famous rock artists that made a song about Frankenstein

Throughout the last few decades, horror has often been an important part of the culture of rock, metal, and punk. Thus, several songs have been written referring about Frankenstein. In this case, here are 3 popular rock artists/groups that made a great song about this well-known monster.

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SOME KIND OF MONSTER BY METALLICA

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TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN BY ALICE COOPER

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MUTTER BY RAMMSTEIN

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 Let me know what is your favorite song about Frankenstein!

Credit: http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-10-28/the-10-best-songs-about-frankenstein

Note: These videos are used for scholar purposes. I do not own any copyright of these songs.

SparkNotes’ Summary Video

Hello guys! Today I give you the best summary video on Mary Shelley’s novel that I have been able to find on the Internet.

The SparkNotes team has done an impressing work producing this summary video. The video covers the important parts of the novel while offering a quick synopsis, analysis, and discussions about the major themes and characters of the novel.

I hope you guys enjoy the video and may it help you understand the novel even more!

Credit: SparkNotes, channel: VideoSparkNotes

Frankenstein in Real Life

In 1940, Russians scientifics made an experiment where they kept a dog`s head alive for few minutes. The head of the dog reacted to sound, touch, taste and light.

Even if it is disgusting for the average citizen, it is quite incredible from a scientific point of view.

For a long time, we thought of bringing the dead back to life as imaginary, fantasy and science-fiction, such as Frankenstein’s monster.

Even if it lasted only for a few minutes, it is incredible results, considering that it has been performed in 1940.

Science never stops evolving, as the first human head transplantation is scheduled for December 2017.

It is interesting to consider how Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is seen has one of the greatest horror stories of all time, and how its main plot might become reality in years to come.

Credit to jonesdavy72 for the Youtube video

Letter to Victor Frankenstein

Dear Victor Frankenstein,

We say that with intelligence does not come maturity.

 

You made me,

But you also destroyed me

 

You are my creator,

But who is, between us two, the real monster?

 

You are a great scientist, no doubt,

But I had to make my own route

 

When you put something to life,

You don’t abandon it,

Maybe that is why you lost your wife,

As a father, you must commit

 

At my creation, you left me. You should have think twice,

And maybe I would have been nice

 

 

 

 

The Conception of the Igor character.

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Many are familiar with the hunchbacked assistant of Doctor Victor Frankenstein known as Igor, however most people fail to realize that he was not part of the original novel. Indeed, Igor was not even present in the widely successful 1931 film Frankenstein. The original hunchback assistant of the infamous doctor was named Fritz, who unfortunately met his demise at the hands of the Monster after tormenting it with a flaming torch. Sequels of the film, notably Son of Frankenstein, featured a character named Igor, though he was neither hunchbacked nor a lab assistant but rather a blacksmith.

The confusion behind Igor’s role as a hunchbacked assistant may come from the 1953 adaptation of the classic horror film House of Wax. In this movie, the museum curator’s assistant was named Igor, though he was not hunchbacked, but rather deaf and mute.

The similarities between Gothic horror films at the time all took inspiration from the classic Frankenstein movie, and over decades morphed an idea of the original source material which was separate from the novel.

 

 

Sources:

http://www.scifiscripts.com/cartoon/nightmare.txt

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2517033/Daniel-Radcliffe-set-Igor-new-Frankenstein-movie.html

http://screencrush.com/daniel-radcliffe-frankenstein-igor/

https://web.archive.org/web/20090206230249/http://hyel.thedanamark.net/trumpets/dwinfo/dictionary/igors.htm

Victor Frankenstein as a Prometheus Figure

In the Note section in the beginning of Mary Shelly’s book, it mentions that the novel has the subtitle: ‘The Modern Prometheus’. After reading the book, I can definitely agree with the relevance of this subtitle.

Just like Prometheus in Greek mythology, Victor Frankenstein does something no one else dared to do. For Prometheus it was giving the human race the secrets of fire. For Frankenstein it was creating life out of death. They both thought to achieve their purposes for the sake of the development and betterment of humanity and both their creations brought them suffering. This suffering comes from Zeus for Prometheus in the form of being chained to a rock and having his liver eaten by an eagle every day. For Frankenstein, it could be said to be worse as it is his whole project, his own creation, that makes him suffer. His creature destroys him by ruining his family and murdering his friends and family members but the creature also ends up being the death of him.