As if Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” needs another adapted storyline, then the release of the movie Frankenstein pops up. This past year even saw Victor Frankenstein with a story that shows the monster from the point of view of Igor. But, I guess it’s never to late to modernize the creature that has had a good run at the box office for many years. Well in this new edition we are treated to a present day view. Now on Blu-ray/DVD the film shows promise throughout the first two acts, but unfortunately has a lackluster ending.
Told in first person by the monster, Adam (Xavier Samuel), the film opens with his awakening from being brought to life by scientists Victor Frankenstein (Danny Huston), his wife Elizabeth (Carrie-Anne Moss) and aided by Dr. Marcus (Matthew Jacobs). When giving Adam a drink of water he flails out of control. After some time Adam starts to act human. But, when his skin develops an ugly rash that disfigures him and his health starts to decay, Victor suggests that they put their experiment to death. When things go wrong during the execution of the death drugs, Adam escapes into the scary present day world.
Loosely following the book by Mary Shelley, Director and screenwriter Bernard Rose gives a modern twist to the film. He puts the monster through his paces while touching on major points in the original story. From his meeting with the little girl to the blind man, the movie traces Adam wandering around Los Angeles escaping danger, causing chaos, and getting with a hooker, while looking for his true love.
While the attempt at bringing a new look to the worn out novel is admirable, knowing the story even in its rudimentary form, defeats the purpose of it all. The violence has been kept in tack to provide the horror mystique and giving the monster a personality does help a bit, but not enough to make it “different”. The good acting by Xavier Samuel as Adam does give the film some strength. He shows emotion of remorse for Adam’s wrong doing, fear of those who want to destroy the monster, an almost human curiosity and compassion for the afflicted, all of which Mary Shelley wanted to provide her readers.
The cinematography, make-up and special effects are very good, giving the film some strength and providing the fear factor associated with the Frankenstein monster. And I like the use of the Taser that actually revitalizes Adam instead of rendering him helpless. Skid Row looks pretty authentic and shooting it at night helps with the realism during Adam’s escape from his pursuers.
Hoping that Carrie-Anne Moss would bring something new as the beauty to the beast, doesn’t really help the effort on the project. Although she does have a strong presence on the screen as a mother figure she really doesn’t give her all to the character. Even Danny Huston seems to be just filling a role instead of showing any emotion as the mad scientist developing his greatest discovery.
Frankenstein has been rated R for bloody violence and gore, language and some sexual content. Be sure to keep the Blu-ray/DVD out of the hands of immature children and watch it first before letting teens see it.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A modern remake of a classic horror flick. (C )
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Carrie-Anne Moss, Tony Todd, Xavier Samuel, Maya Erskine, Matthew Jacobs and Danny Huston
Directed and screenplay by: Bernard Rose
MPAA Rating: R for bloody violence and gore, language and some sexual content
Genre: Horror
Running Time: 1 hr. 29 min.
Video Release Date: February 23, 2015
Language: English
Reviewed Format: Blu-ray (also available in DVD)
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 TrueHD
Video: Full 16×9 Widescreen, Aspect Ratio1.78:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Number of Discs: 1 disc
Distributed by: Alchemy
