Welcome to 2026's 31 Days of Heistoween, a daily dose of spooky icons, spine-tingling oddities, and — most harrowing of all — memes. Check back every day from now through October 31 for each daily entry!
When Victor Frankenstein first decided to use cadaver parts as Play-Doh in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, he flew solo. He could play god all by himself. The idea that Frankenstein needed a helping hand wasn't introduced until a few years later, when Shelly's novel was adapted into an 1823 play titled Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein. Without that subtitle, they were leaving things pretty vague! When Universal brought Frankenstein to life in 1931, they brought the hunchback assistant along for the ride. At first his name was Fritz, eventually becoming Ygor (or Igor) in the third film in Universal's franchise (Son of Frankenstein). Thus the idea of Frankenstein having a hunchbacked intern to wheeze "yes, master" at him became an integral part of the lore.
And then Hammer Films decided to make Igor sexy. Like, real sexy. Distractingly sexy.
Hammer Film Productions revolutionized horror in the mid-'50s by bringing literature's classic monsters to life in living color. 1957's The Curse of Frankenstein marked a massive change for the perception of horror as a film genre — literally. Because of it being in color. But that's not all! The Hammer movies were full of gore, violence, and sex — for a '50s movie. Their take on Frankenstein dialed all of the story's proclivities to 11. Victor (Peter Cushing) was a murderous sociopath who was marrying his cousin, having a torrid affair with his housekeeper, and ... uh, then there's Paul.
Long before Kirk and Spock or Xavier and Magneto, there was Victor and Paul, two brilliant 19th century gentlemen with a clash of morals. Nowadays you'd absolutely read these two as fucking — and I don't know, maybe my gay forefathers saw the same thing when they watched this in 1957. I'm sure they did. Look at them.
But I want to talk about Paul Krempe, played by Scottish actor Robert Urquhart. Victor hires Paul to be his tutor when he's but a lad, and then Victor grows up to be the same age as Paul. They don't do much to age-up Paul, but the gray they put in Urquhart's hair only makes him hotter.
Listen: I adore a man in a suit. This gay is crazy about a sharp-dressed man. Paul's looks are so sharp that they could cut through bone.
The tossled locks that he clearly tried to tame, the close-shave beard, his eyes — it helps that on top of being rakishly handsome, Paul is the movie's moral center. He's the kind of mad scientist that you could take home to mom, y'know?
Leave it to Hammer to take a role usually reserved for pitiable comic relief and make it into the movie's thirst trap. Just ... lord, what a man. The Curse of Frankenstein is a banger of a movie, but I couldn't stop thinking about how I'd love to bang Paul. Look at him in those trousers.
And if Paul isn't your exact type, but you kinda feel what I'm putting down, then put on the sequel, 1958's Revenge of Frankenstein and check out Francis Matthews as Hans Kleve. Hammer sure did love its hotties.
Come knock on our door tomorrow for even more 31 Days of Heistoween treats.
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