Victor Frankenstein

"Victor Frankenstein " (2015, Paul McGuigan, Davis Entertainment Company, TSG Entertainment, 20th Century Fox) is a retelling of Mary Shelley's famous novel.

We meet the currently nameless hunchback destined to become the iconic assistant, Igor (Daniel Radcliffe), working as a clown and aspiring physician at a circus, where he is brutalised and beaten often by his 'circus family'. He is saved by Victor Frankenstein (James McAvoy) who sees the young man's astounding intellect and potential when Igor's dream girl, the beautiful acrobat, Lorelei (Jessica Brown Findlay), is hurt during a performance and tended to by Igor.

Upon being freed from the circus, Igor is taken to Frankenstein's impressive home where the trainee Dr. quickly corrects Igor's deformity and posture, which was not a true hunchback condition and shows him his impressive scientific experiments. Together they assemble a creature which they bring to life to impress Victor's peers and superiors at university. The experiment succeeds but, instead of being met with applause, Victor is dismayed to find that his creature has brought him only disgust and it soon becomes violent, forcing him to kill it.

Not disheartened by this, Victor and Igor continue to work on a bigger, better creature whilst dodging the attentions of a determined Scotland Yard inspector who suspects the pair of murder and worse.

Although the horror elements are remarkably tame, the film attempts to retell the tale through Igor's eyes in an imaginative fashion and updates the plot without losing too much of the original tale.

McAvoy and Radcliffe make an excellent pair of mad scientists with McAvoy playing the titular Victor Frankenstein in true charismatic, maniacal brilliance. Radcliffe brings a new dimension to the usually humorous assistant character of Igor, with a confused ethical code, heroic qualities and a sympathetic charm.

It was nice to see Igor get a new lease on life (and some intellectual credit) and to see the tale from a different perspective. However, the film itself does nothing particularly ground breaking and certainly won't appease the gore hounds. It stands as a fun retelling but can be boring in places and, despite the excellent performances of the main characters, it does not break free from other Frankenstein remakes as anything unique.

[Image: 20th Century Fox, et al]

Hani

Frankenstein Unbound

"Frankenstein Unbound" (1990, Roger Corman, A Mount Company Production, 20th Century Fox) is loosely based on a novel by Brian Aldiss.

It's 2031 and Dr. Buchanan (John Hurt) has developed an Über-weapon. Unfortunately, it seems that this weapon has created a rift in time and space. He and his Artificially Intelligent car are accidentally sent back to 1817 Switzerland where he encounters Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Raúl Juliá) who has just created his monster (Nick Brimble), and Mary Shelley (Bridget Fonda) who has not yet written her soon-to-be-famous book.

An interesting premise with a good cast, the film suffers from some odd acting by Brimble as the monster and a fairly confusing end fight scene.

The styling of the monster and his eventual bride (Catherine Rabett) is garish and odd, but well put together. I don't understand the hands or stitched together eyes though.

Hurt maintains his usual charm throughout the film, holding it together.

While Corman has made some infamously bad films in his time, this one is truly one I won't sit through again. Weird but not scary, goofy but not funny. It's an odd one to say the least!

 

 

[Image: 20th Century Fox]

Hani

Frankenstein (1931)

"Frankenstein" (1931, Universal Pictures, James Whale, Carl Laemmle, Jr.) is the iconic classic starring Boris Karloff in his most famous (and career making) role.

Based on the story by Mary Shelley, Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his hunchbacked assistant, Fritz (Dwight Frye) build a man from the body parts of corpses and bring it to life using Galvanisation with electricity. The poor creature, who is not the villain of the piece really, goes on a rampage and incurs the wrath of the townspeople.

Henry's fiancé, Elizabeth (Mae Clarke), his best friend Victor (John Boles) and his old teacher, Dr. Waldman (Edward Van Sloan) attempt to help make things right before the monster goes too far.

A truly awe-inspiring piece, the famous appearance of the monster character is still striking to this day. The film itself is fun as well as pretty, with some really humorous scenes involving Henry's father, Baron Frankenstein (Frederick Kerr), and a plot which moves forward. The full film is only 71 minutes long but manages to fit a lot of lovely creepy scenes, German folk dancing and an angry mob vs monster battle in there!

Despite not being a gory film, it remains a steadfast piece of cinema history and a thrilling and atmospheric horror. Seeing it in the cinema today was a real experience!

 

 

[Image: Universal Pictures]

 

Hani

The Bride of Frankenstein

"The Bride of Frankenstein" (1935, Universal Pictures, James Whale) is the first sequel to Universal's famous horror classic, "Frankenstein" (1931).

Following on from the first film's events, this sequel ties in well with the original, adds to the original plot and also includes an introduction from our author, Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester), who is telling the story to Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon) and Percy Byssche Shelley (Douglas Walton).

The monster, as in the first film, is memorably portrayed by the wonderful Boris Karloff, who has become more monstrous since the events of the first film and is adding to his body count (and also his vocabulary).

Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) is approached by the strange Doctor Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), a man with many strange experiments of his own to his credit, to continue in his experiments and create a female creature to be the mate of the monster. With some convincing and blackmailing, Frankenstein agrees.

A classic film with the ever iconic Bride having huge cult status to this day (despite her very small actual on-screen time!), "The Bride of Frankenstein" remains as a favourite.

The acting is excellent, especially that of Karloff who still manages to create a sad and pitiful creature who is full of uncertainty, hatred and loathing but also with a yearning for acceptance and love. The scenes with the old blind man in the woods are touching to this day!

Other characters are also surprisingly well-rounded for a 30's film. A favourite has to be Minnie (Una O'Connor), the housekeeper and maid to Frankenstein and Elizabeth, who provides some wonderful comic moments.

A real Hollywood silver-screen classic which continues to charm audiences today with dramatic sound, scenery and storytelling. A fabulous piece of cinema history.

[Image: Universal Pictures]

Hani