Showtime’s 27-Episode Dracula & Frankenstein Crossover Deserves To Be As Big As American Horror Story
Misty Layne started as an actor and sketch comedy writer before deciding to concentrate mainly on writing. Utilizing both her love of television and film and her behind-the-scenes knowledge, she began a website reviewing films in 2013, with a focus on horror and indie media. Eventually, she began writing about all things television and film for other sites as well. Misty shares a home with five cats, a ton of books, and a fairly impressive vinyl collection.
American Horror Story: 13 is finally here, but other great horror shows are available to watch during Halloween month, too, and one in particular deserves just as much attention and success.
A few highly anticipated new horror shows are premiering soon, including Crystal Lake, Below, and Carrie. However, some older horror shows on streaming are some of the best for binging and do a wonderful job of creating creepy atmospheres and chilling storylines. Netflix's Hemlock Grove, for example, took vampires and werewolves and built new lore around them, adding other elements of horror and family drama. Another, even more underrated show was darker and more gruesome than both Hemlock Grove and American Horror Story.
Showtime’s Penny Dreadful, set in Victorian-era London, took several classic monsters and brought them together in a story about a handful of people fighting darkness, mixing in crime drama elements throughout its storyline. Three of the series' most prominent monsters were Victor Frankenstein, his sewn-together Creature, and Dracula. Throwing them into a show already filled with werewolves and demons made Penny Dreadful intriguing, unrelentingly haunting, and undeniably binge-worthy.
Showtime’s Penny Dreadful Is A Horror Masterpiece Superior To American Horror Story
American Horror Story may have the benefit of exploring different horror genres, but Penny Dreadful perfected Gothic horror. Everything about the series was dark and sumptuous, from the costuming to the tableau, and it featured many classic monsters, most of whom were devised during a period when Gothic horror elements were commonly used in storytelling. Add in Penny Dreadful’s Victorian-era London setting, and the terrifying vibes were impeccable.
More impressive, though, were the complex characters and their intertwined narratives. American Horror Story has had some fantastic characters, but since it’s structured as an anthology, characters only really stick around for a season, even if cast members do return. Penny Dreadful had three sequential seasons, during which audiences became intimately familiar with its characters, almost all of whom were a unique blend of good and evil (except Dorian Gray, who was mostly just evil due to his callousness). Each character's internal struggle between sinner and saint was fascinating to behold.
It also had a cast that rivaled American Horror Story’s. Jessica Lange is definitely one of the most captivating actresses of all time, but Penny Dreadful featured Timothy Dalton, horror queen Eva Green, Doctor Who's Billie Piper, Josh Hartnett, and the iconic Patti LuPone. From its cast and characters to its setting and monsters, Penny Dreadful arguably trumps American Horror Story.
Penny Dreadful Features The Perfect Dracula & Frankenstein Crossover
Of course, the monsters often took center stage. Penny Dreadful drew on classic Gothic horror novels, including Frankenstein, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dracula, and more. The show also threw in werewolves, demons, witches, clairvoyants, Lucifer, and pretty much anything else one might imagine when thinking of monsters of a bygone age. Mixing and matching all those elements could have created a chaotic mess. Penny Dreadful pulled it off beautifully, creating some of the scariest scenes in TV history while crafting fascinating character arcs.
Showtime also produced a 10-episode limited series spinoff titled Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, following two detectives who investigate a suspiciously supernatural murder in 1930s Los Angeles.
Victor Frankenstein and his Creature played a central role in the series (and later on, so did the Bride of Frankenstein). Steeped in loneliness after Frankenstein abandoned him, the creature badgered him to make a companion throughout Penny Dreadful season 1. In season 2, Frankenstein does create another creature, a female this time, but he soon becomes obsessed with her. Dracula, different from the Bram Stoker version but no less menacing, appeared in season 3 as Lucifer's brother, posing as a zoologist to bring about the end of days.
With two of the most famous Gothic horror stories playing out at the same time, Penny Dreadful became the perfect Dracula and Frankenstein crossover. That alone should have been enough to make this show as big as American Horror Story. Reinterpreting well-known monsters, weaving them into the narrative, and creating storylines and characters with depth and nuance is what made Penny Dreadful an even better horror series, one that deserved more than three seasons.
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