History Literature / TheBrideOfFrankensteinPandorasBride

The [[ArtificialHuman created woman]] we now know as the Bride of Frankenstein never asked to be anybody's wife. When she (quite understandably, in her view) rejects the brutish male monster for whom she was built, the monster proceeds to burn down the laboratory where she was just brought to life. The Bride, armed with a confused but quick-thinking brain she inherited from one of her unknown donors, rescues her ''other'' creator, Dr. Septimus Pretorius, from the blaze, and together they make it out. Dr. Pretorius takes the Bride- who soon names herself Pandora- into his care, along with his [[Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari sensitive narcoleptic Goth valet Cesare]], his [[TheGrotesque failed but adored and adorable]] previous experiments (called the Children of Cain), and Cesare's showgirl sister Thea. But with more and more young woman disappearing around the {{Uberwald}} countryside and turning up butchered a few days later, Pretorius is suspected of the crimes, forcing this motley bunch to go on the run to [[UsefulNotes/TheWeimarRepublic Weimar-era Berlin]]. It soon becomes clear that none other than Henry Frankenstein, incensed at his own failure to create the perfect bride for his monster, is behind the slayings, with the oddly passive support of his previously horrified wife Elizabeth- but once Pandora arrives in Berlin, she realizes even that's just scraping the surface of a much vaster conspiracy, and if she wants to protect her new family and friends, she'll have to get to the bottom of it before time runs out.

** The Cesare of ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'' was a murderer working for Dr. Caligari. Here, he's Dr. Pretorius's kindly valet and assistant (and possibly his lover)- though to be fair, his much less creepy personality here probably comes from Pretorius trying to help him with his sleeping sickness, rather than using it to hypnotize and exploit him like Caligari.

** Dr. Pretorius is implied to be gay, as he was in the original film, though he no longer comes off as a DepravedHomosexual. (And as a bonus, his complete sexual disinterest in women means he's highly respected as an abortionist and obstetrician- it makes his female patients feel safe.)

** In a period-pun sort of way, the rampantly heterosexual Thea still fits- because before "gay" came to mean "homosexual", it meant "promiscuous", and Thea is a ''very'' promiscuous woman.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Dr. Pretorius is a grave-robber, a maker of monstrosities, an alchemist who regularly defies all laws of nature, and in general a deeply amoral MadScientist- but he's absolutely not the type to go around murdering living women for parts. Even if he did hold Elizabeth hostage to ensure Pandora's creation. [[note]]Presumably, then, in this continuity, he wasn't aware that Karl killed the donor for Pandora's heart, but Karl ''was'' Frankenstein's assistant and not his.[[/note]]

** Cesare from ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'' is Dr. Pretorius's assistant and valet instead- and it turns out he's a pretty nice young man when he's not being brainwashed into committing murders while sleepwalking.

* MistakenForProstitute: Cesare says it's happened to him. Later on, Pandora is herself mistaken for a ''Gravelstone''- a disfigured sex worker who services fetishists- due to her still-healing scars.
* MonsterMash: A variation- while the Bride and Frankenstein's monster are certainly present, the other "monsters" are all taken from German Expressionist horror and drama films rather than the other classic Universal Monsters movies.

** Pandora talks to Professor Rath- here called Professor Unrat- from ''Film/TheBlueAngel'', who has been reduced to working as a clown in a nightclub after his divorce from Lola-Lola. Despite his fall from grace, he seems more or less resigned to his new role in life and provides her with helpful exposition- a stark change from the tragic ending of the movie.

* UncannyValley: Pandora is beautiful (she's still visually based on a young Creator/ElsaLanchester, after all), but a little ''too'' perfect (as Thea points out, she looks like she was designed by a committee- and in a way, she was), as well as unusually tall and [[UndeathlyPallor extraordinarily pale]]. And that's before either Pandora or Thea learn that there are parts of Pandora's body that will simply split and roll open like waxed paper if cut instead of bleeding.

The created woman we now know as the Bride of Frankenstein never asked to be anybody's wife. When she (quite understandably, in her view) rejects the brutish male monster for whom she was built, the monster proceeds to burn down the laboratory where she was just brought to life. The Bride, armed with a confused but quick-thinking brain she inherited from one of her unknown donors, rescues her ''other'' creator, Dr. Septimus Pretorius, from the blaze, and together they make it out. Dr. Pretorius takes the Bride- who soon names herself Pandora- into his care, along with his [[Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari sensitive narcoleptic Goth valet Cesare]], his [[TheGrotesque failed but adored and adorable]] previous experiments (called the Children of Cain), and Cesare's showgirl sister Thea. But with more and more young woman disappearing around the {{Uberwald}} countryside and turning up butchered a few days later, Pretorius is suspected of the crimes, forcing this motley bunch to go on the run to [[UsefulNotes/TheWeimarRepublic Weimar-era Berlin]]. It soon becomes clear that none other than Henry Frankenstein, incensed at his own failure to create the perfect bride for his monster, is behind the slayings, with the oddly passive support of his previously horrified wife Elizabeth- but once Pandora arrives in Berlin, she realizes even that's just scraping the surface of a much vaster conspiracy, and if she wants to protect her new family and friends, she'll have to get to the bottom of it before time runs out.

* Brutal Honesty:

* UncannyValley: Pandora, whose obvious scarring, bloodless complexion (literally, it turns out), unusual height and birdlike movements tend to mark her as ''off'' when she meets new people, no matter how beautiful she might be.

* RavenHairAndIvorySkin: Pandora, of course.

* NotSoSimilar: [[spoiler:But while Pandora simply wants freedom and safety for not only herself, but everyone who is "different", Elizabeth wants revenge, and it doesn't matter how many men ''or'' other women she hurts in the process.]]

* MeaningfulName: Pretorius suggests the Bride be named {{Myth/Lilith}}, after Adam's disobedient first wife before Eve. She rejects it, not wanting to be associated with anyone else designed to be a wife, and chooses Pandora at Cesare's suggestion after they discuss the myth of Pandora's Box and the Bride says she'd rather have thrown the box at someone's head.

* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler:Elizabeth and Pandora, it turns out. Both of them are "brides of Frankenstein", with Elizabeth actually marrying the doctor and Pandora being made as a gift for the monster. Both of them resent their lot in life as women who are expected to exist solely for the sake of their male counterparts. Both of them even start wearing more masculine clothing as soon as they're liberated from the role of just being someone's bride.]]
** NotSoSimilar: [[spoiler:But while Pandora simply wants freedom and safety for not only herself, but everyone who is "different", Elizabeth wants revenge, and it doesn't matter how many men ''or'' other women she hurts in the process.]]

* UncannyValleyGirl: Pandora, whose obvious scarring, bloodless complexion (literally, it turns out), unusual height and birdlike movements tend to mark her as ''off'' when she meets new people, no matter how beautiful she might be.

** The Cesare of ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'' was a murderer working for Dr. Caligari. Here, he's Dr. Pretorius's kindly valet and assistant- though to be fair, his much less creepy personality here probably comes from Pretorius trying to help him with his sleeping sickness, rather than using it to hypnotize and exploit him like Caligari.

* MeaningfulName: Pretorius suggests the Bride be named [[{{Myth/Lilith}}, after Adam's disobedient first wife before Eve. She rejects it, not wanting to be associated with anyone else designed to be a wife, and chooses Pandora at Cesare's suggestion after they discuss the myth of Pandora's Box and the Bride says she'd rather have thrown the box at someone's head.