From the Movie Snob's personal library....

Frankenstein  (1931).  In connection with the summer movie Van Helsing, they've released three collectors' sets of classic horror movies--one set of Frankenstein movies, one of Dracula movies, and one of Wolfman movies.  Out of curiosity, I picked up the Frankenstein set at Sam's Club for like $20.  It contains four or five movies, but I've watched only the first one so far.  Suffice it to say, it apparently took a lot less to scare people seventy years ago than it does today.  Judging from the dramatic close-up of the monster you get when he first appears in full light, the very appearance of Boris Karloff in makeup is supposed to scare the wits out of you.  (In the opening credits, they list the actor playing the monster only as "?", which I thought was a nice touch.)  Anyhoo, the moviemaker takes a lot of liberties with the source material; as I recall, the monster in the book is intelligent and quite talkative once it learns to talk, but Karloff's creature is incapable of anything but grunts and growls.  The climactic scene in a dilapidated windmill seems like a pretty impressive feat of special effects for the day, and I'm pretty sure the end of Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow is a deliberate homage to Frankenstein.  I'm looking forward to watching The Bride of Frankenstein, which I hear is even better than the original.