After striking gold with Dracula Universal tried again with Frankenstein, the adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel about a scientist (Colin Clive) who is obsessed with creating life to the point of grave robbing. He pieces together a man and attains life, but it goes terribly wrong as his creation (Boris Karloff in his breakout role) begins a reign of terror throughout the countryside. James Whale directs Frankenstein in a way that makes it different from other productions of the era. His camera angles are more complex and interesting as they follow the action of Dr. Frankenstein's rise and fall. You see multiple angles of the lab, giving us more of a subliminal understanding of what's going on, even if we don't. Karloff's monster is a great achievement of cinema. Without speaking, he portrays the creature as sympathetic, even when he's throwing children into the lake. He doesn't understand. He kills when he's threatened, not out of blind rage. Karloff shows us this without even speaking and makes us feel sorry for this heinous monster. Frankenstein was yet another achievement for Universal and made them two for two in the monster making business, ushering in decades of superior and pathetic creature features for the world to digest.
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