> It's ALIVE!
This Halloween, perhaps you'll stop by for a visit to the lab? We've pieced together that there's a new girl in town. And a certain doctor you might find truly electrifying.
Guests to the lab this evening passed by some crosses marking freshly covered graves, and a very suspicious shovel lying nearby. Upon entering the lab, they were treated to an array of gadgetry inside castle walls, a questionable box labeled "PARTS," and a very still figure (with a goodly amount of hair) lying on a table before them. A very busy and wildly white-haired figure in a lab coat stood behind the table fidgeting with various chords and switches. Sounds of electricity filled the room, and distant thunder could be heard.
With appropriate variation, this is what happened next...
Frankenstein: Welcome to the laboratory. I am Dr. Henry
Frankenstein, and you have been invited here tonight to witness
something spectacular. Through my experimentation, I have discovered the
secret of which God Himself is so jealous. The formula for LIFE!
[The doctor holds up a jar with a faint flickering inside.]
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| He can't be digging up anything but trouble. |
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| A look at the original movie poster at Universal Orlando. |
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| Early set design in the works. |
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| We love to learn from the greats (also at Universal). |
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| The treat bags come to life. |
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| Our ducks for this year. Including, yes, a wolf-duck. |
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| The doctor presents his project. |
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| Eyeballing new surroundings. |
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| Elsa and the lab assistant seem to get along. |
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| Some of the doctor's gadgetry. |
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| Coming back to life is a bit of a shock. |
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| All this cause the guy on his shirt wanted a girlfriend? |
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| An assortment of tools. And spare eyes. |
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| Looks like she's got a nice surgical scar. |
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| Cast and crew. |
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| Nothing questionable about this "PARTS" box. |
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| See, they do smile. Happy Halloween! |
As "The Monster's Mate," so-called, was not given a name in the films any more than Frankenstein's original monster ("Frankenstein" is actually the doctor's last name), we decided to name our reanimated female "Elsa" after actress Elsa Lanchester, who portrayed her in the film (though was credited merely as a question mark "?"). Ms. Lanchester also played Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the true author of the "Frankenstein" story, at the beginning of the film.
We were also able to do a bit of research at this year's Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando's Universal Studios theme park at their very fun Horror Make-Up Show building, where we were able to take a good look at the original movie poster and read some history of the film. It's always fun to read how dedicated the classic actors were to their craft, Elsa Lanchester being no exception.
We went quite traditional with Elsa's appearance, using the full wig and recreating a white sheet into something very close to the design of the original outfit (with thanks to the sewing genius of his mom), bandaging arms and hands, and even sporting a "surgical scar" on the neck. However, the doctor took a bit of a wild turn, his hair more a nod to Doc Brown in "Back to the Future" (appropriately explained as the result of an "electrical incident"). By all rights, our doctor became slightly more like the antagonistic Dr. Pretorius from the film, though this was not by design. (However, some tiny bones featured in the "PARTS" box were in homage to Pretorius' miniature human creations.) Our doctor's t-shirt featuring his previous creature was also a recent procurement from Universal.
Much thanks to our lab assistant (her mom) for crowd control and treat distribution, our nephew for loaning us his plasma ball (and his dad who delivered it), and our friends at Pale Night Productions for allowing us to borrow some especially fitting lab coats.
On a fun note, our final visitor this year was non-human. A cute little mouse scampered beside the garage doors after we closed them and were getting our final shots. We suspect the little guy came in to get out of the cold, but found himself trapped. He probably just wanted to get away from that crazy doctor and whatever he was up to...
This year's treat included one of four costumed rubber ducks (a vampire, wolf-duck, witch or Frankenstein's monster, since there were no such "brides" to be found), Gummy Body Parts, pretzels, a new variety of our standard candies, which now included chocolates, and some Laffy Taffy. ('Cause who couldn't use some awful jokes now and again?) Despite the sudden cold that descended on us that night, our lab assistant distributed about 47 bags.
In "The Bride of Frankenstein," discussing why she wrote Doctor Frankenstein's story, Lanchester as Shelley states, “The publishers did not see that my
purpose was to write a moral lesson: The punishment of a fellow mortal
man who dared to emulate God.” In truth, we had not rewatched the film before the card (below) began coming together, but this made it even more suiting to the story.
It was also intriguing to take in the following dialogue between a conflicted Henry Frankenstein and his wife, Elizabeth.
Dr. Henry Frankenstein: “I’ve been cursed for delving into the mysteries of life.
Perhaps death is sacred, and I’ve profaned it.
For what a wonderful vision it was. I dreamed of being the first to give to the world the secret God is so jealous of: The formula for life.
Think of the power, to create a man. And I did. I did it. I created a man.
And who knows? In time I could have trained him to do my will. I could have bred a race. I might even have found the secret of eternal life.”
Elizabeth: “Henry, don’t say those things. Don’t think them. It’s blasphemous and wicked. We are not meant to know those things.”
Henry: “It may be that I’m intended to know the secret of life. It may be part of the divine plan.”
Elizabeth: “No. No. It’s the devil that prompts you. It’s death, not life, that is in it all and at the end of it all."
Clearly, Elizabeth got it. Here's our card from this year, which was printed on parchment paper...
JUST THE TEXT:
God, in all His creative genius, has in fact given life to plants, animals and people, including you and me. Yet, unlike our mad doctor, He didn’t need to borrow any materials to work with. He simply spoke and life happened.
Additionally amazing was when God later came to Earth as a man named Jesus and actually rose from the dead. No electricity needed. (Though it clearly took a lot of power.) That’s a feat we haven’t seen before or since. More than that, Jesus died and came to life again to provide us a different kind of life.
You see, God told the very first people He brought to life to avoid doing just one thing and they would go on living. Unfortunately for us, they didn’t listen, and we’ve all been naturally ignoring God ever since. This killed our relationships with God, each other, the planet and even our own bodies, which wind down over time.
Thankfully, Jesus lived all of life God’s way, yet in dying He was able to take the punishment we should get for ignoring God. So when He returned to life, He promised to give whoever trusts Him a new type of life that lasts forever. All those relationships that were killed, and even our bodies, He has the power to bring to life again. When we truly know Jesus, He can make us finally and fully ALIVE.