Оригинальное название: Arctic Wands
Категория: Жанровое видео

The ruins of Burg Frankenstein sit on a hill overlooking a small rural community just South of Darmstadt, in Germany.

I don’t know if the locals ever got together and mobbed around the countryside wielding torches and pitchforks, but they do celebrate Halloween every year. The custom was introduced here 30 years ago by American servicemen stationed nearby. It has since grown into a major tourist festival where guests can enjoy dinner-theater on the castle grounds and party all night with goth ghosts, grinning ghouls, sexy vampires and friendly monsters. Much Gluhwein is consumed.

Here’s the Burg Frankenstein Halloween site, and here’s a link to a striking and distinctly Karloffian Frankenstein Folding Mask. Download the PDF file, print it out and test your origami skills. It’s a little complicated if you can’t read the German instructions, but you’ll figure it out. This is a really cool mask!
Over time, we must admit, James Whale’s Frankenstein has lost its power to shock. What remains is its poetry, its stark beauty, and its enduring magic.

Filmgoers in 1931 were terrified and outraged over Frankenstein. Today, children are entertained by its sparking mad lab, its quaint cemetery chills, and its sad sack monster. Then again, children always empathized with Frankenstein’s Monster. Boris Karloff noted that youngsters “could see right through the makeup and could see the tragedy of this poor creature, and express great compassion for him”.

In January of 1984, patrons of the Pacific Film Archives at the University of California, Berkeley, were invited to introduce young people to Frankenstein — what a grand idea! — and were rewarded for it with a free copy of the poster seen above.

The Monster’s skeleton (note the telltale neck bolt) appears trapped in clockwork machinery, pistons pounding at it from all sides. The bony hand threads a rose up through exposed ribs and into the chest cavity. A rose as red as a beating heart.

I must say, there are many hundreds of Frankenstein posters, but this my favorite one ever.

The artist, David Lance Goines, is a giant in the world of graphic design. His style evokes Art Nouveau while being resolutely contemporary. His posters are like antiques from the future. Goines' considerable talents as an illustrator and calligrapher — not to mention heraldry and superb draftsmanship — are matched only by his remarkable skills as a printer. Goines oversees the entire process, controlling the quality of the piece from initial concept to final product.

I've included a second piece here, a stinging-insect take on Nosferatu. There's lots more on Goines’ generous website. It literally overflows with images, all of them downright stunning.