Frankenstein's Aunt

the novel

Frankenstein's Aunt is the protagonist of three novels two by Allan Rune Pettersson and a seven episode TV miniseries based on the first one. The story is a humorous homage to the Universal Horror Frankenstein films.

Although the later TV series is based on the first novel by Allan Rune Pettersson, there are many differences in the TV series: Characters were edited out and added, the story was changed and expanded, and it has another ending.

The book is a direct sequel to the first novel and therefore does not revive the story of the TV series.

A novel by Werner Meier was published in German in Austria in 1987 which retells the story of the TV series with almost no differences. The book has the title Frankensteins Tante which means Frankenstein's Aunt.

Similar to the first book by Allan Rune Pettersson, Aunt Hannah comes to Frankenstein with the aim of finding a bride for her nephew so that the family will gain some little Frankensteins. He, however, is too busy for anything like that. He tries to create a man with the power of a machine and the brain of a genius. Unlike in the novel, Aunt Hannah meets more spooks like a merman, a fire spirit and a White Lady and the orphan Max, who is running away from a circus.

The makers of "Frankenstein's Aunt" Jaroslav Dietl and Juraj Jakubisko interpreted the classic Frankenstein theme in a humourful way tending to parody. But they did not only want to entertain the audience, but to emphasize the triumph of reason and sanity over human aggressiveness and intolerance.

A recut of the series in a 96 minute movie was made with the title Freckled Max and the Spooks. A musical for schools is based on the novel of Allan Rune Petterson.

In 1988 it was nominated best film in the International Fantasy Film Awards.

The series was first released on DVD in Germany on March 17, 2008. This is currently the only release of the series on video so far and includes only the German language version.