There’s a reason that this book has been adapted for so many other types of media over and over again: none of them have ever truly captured the text in its entirety. The 1931 Karloff film is almost entirely different, the more recent Branagh version grew closer but was still sensationalized… No lightning, no bolts on the neck, no Igor, no “It’s ALIVE” — instead the original text features a lot of slow, Gothic ruminations on the nature of life, religion, ego and regret. Aside from a few slow, plodding passages detailing the good doctor trekking across Europe, the original far surpasses all of its transmediations.