Frankenstein (1931 film) in "The Ghost of Frankenstein" (1942) after his apparent murder in the earlier film). This character — a deranged blacksmith whose neck was broken and twisted due to a botched hanging — befriends the monster and later helps Dr. Wolf Frankenstein, leading to the "hunchbacked assistant" called "Igor" commonly associated with "Frankenstein" in popular culture. Frye also appears in later films in the series, such as in "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" (1943). Guillermo del Toro had expressed interest in directing the reboot film for Universal. Del Toro said his "Frankenstein" would be a faithful "Miltonian tragedy", citing Frank Darabont's
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari some of which featured an antagonist using Caligari-like supernatural abilities to control others, such as "Dracula" (1931), "Svengali" (1931) and "The Mad Genius" (1931). Kaes said both "Caligari"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s stylistic elements, and the Cesare character in particular, influenced the Universal Studios horror films of the 1930s, which often prominently featured some sort of monster, such as "Frankenstein" (1931), "The Mummy" (1932), "The Black Cat" (1934), and "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935). The Expressionism of "Caligari" also influenced American avant-garde film, particularly those that used fantastic settings to illustrate an inhuman environment overpowering an individual. Early examples include "The Fall of the House