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Here is the perfect viewing queue for the days of April showers.
Frankenstein
A thunderstorm isn’t just backdrop in James Whale’s 1931 horror classic “Frankenstein,” it’s essential. After all, if it weren’t for a certain bolt of lightning, Henry Frankenstein’s (Colin Clive) famed monster (Boris Karloff) would never have walked with undead arms outstretched. Aptly, water is a life-giver, and no one proclaims “It’s alive!” amid a stormy atmosphere like Dr. Frankenstein.
Hard Rain
What do you get when you mix the prestige of Morgan Freeman and the increasing B-movie appeal of Christian Slater? According to this ’98 Indiana-set disaster flick, a whole lot of precipitation. One wonders how much better “Hard Rain” would have been if John Woo, originally slated as director, had helmed the film instead of Mikael Salomon, but one still can’t beat a movie that features men on jet skis zooming through flooded high school hallways.
The Crow
“It can’t rain all the time,” says Sarah (Rochelle Davis), the teenager who befriends Eric Draven (Brandon Lee), a resurrected widower, in Alex Proyas’s ’94 cult adaptation of the comic book series “The Crow.” And yet, it indeed seems to rain all the time in the crime drama’s Detroit setting, and given that this was the film on which Lee lost his life (he was shot with a gun that mistakenly wasn’t loaded with blanks), the dour downpour seems eerily prescient.
Jumanji
Among the many maladies that befall the board-game-playing characters in ’95’s “Jumanji,” the film adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg’s beloved picture book, the most devastating is an indoor monsoon, which, if you’re willing to suspend your disbelief, winds up flooding an entire neighborhood. And you thought a round of Monopoly was strenuous.
Singin’ in the Rain
It’s tempting to reach for something more original here, but try as one might, there’s just no more iconic rain-related flick than ’52’s immortal musical classic. Starring co-director Gene Kelly as Don Lockwood, the besuited man who eventually delivers history’s most famous soaking-wet song-and-dance, it’s the sort of high-spirits film that makes you want to jump in puddles. ■
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