LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Horror Films: Monsters
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Ghosts and monsters still remained popular, but many films that still relied on supernatural monsters expressed a horror of the demonic. The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961) and The Haunting (Robert Wise, 1963) were two such horror-of-the-demonic films from the early 1960s, with high production values and gothic atmosphere. Perhaps the most recognizable milestone of the sub-genre remains Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968), in which the devil is made of flesh.
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Although other studios produced the occasional big-budget horror film, such as Paramount's remake of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) with Fredric March and RKO's King Kong (1933), Universal dominated the genre during this period. The major exception was MGM's Freaks (1932), directed by Browning. The story involves a traveling circus sideshow and the cruel woman trapeze artist who exploits them. Browning used a group of people with actual physical oddities, and the climax, in which they pursue the trapeze artist in the rain and mud, is particularly chilling. Uniting in camaraderie, the "freaks" are depicted as more humane than the physically normal characters, anticipating the reinterpretation of the monsters that would characterize horror films from the 1960s onward. Evidently this was a radical reversal that was ahead of its time: the film was severely cut for its American release and banned for thirty years in Great Britain.
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The early 20th century brought more milestones for the horror genre including the first monster to appear in a full-length horror film, Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre-Dame who had appeared in Victor Hugo's book, "Notre-Dame de Paris" (published in 1831). Films featuring Quasimodo included Alice Guy's Esmeralda (1906), The Hunchback (1909), The Love of a Hunchback (1910) and Notre-Dame de Paris (1911). [3]
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Clark, Stephanie Brown"Frankenflicks: medical monsters in classic horror films." In: Cultural sutures: medicine and media / edited by Lester D. Friedman. Durham [N.C.]: Duke University Press, 2004. Public Hlth RA440.5.C835 2004
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The first Dracula film was followed closely by the definitive, quintessential combination of science fiction and Gothic horror in a 'mad doctor' thriller. This classic monster/horror film - Frankenstein (1931) - was James Whale's adaptation from Mary Shelley's novel about Dr. Henry Frankenstein with a virtually unknown actor - Boris Karloff. With a boxy forehead and neck electrodes (and other features created from Whale's sketches by make-up artist Jack Pierce), Karloff's poignant portrayal of the pathetic created Monster's plight gave a personality to the outcast, uncomprehending character with a lumbering and lurching gait.
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This classic horror film based on Mary Shelley's novel is the monster movie that defined the genre. Demented by his power in artificially creating a man-like monster, Dr. Frankenstein is a mad scientist who exclaims "It's alive! It's alive!" moments after zapping a cadaver into a living monster. Boris Karloff's performance makes the monster seem pitiful and almost human.
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Monsters