With the awakening of classic monsters back onto film, such as "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and "The Mummy," it's nice to see a "Frankenstein" film that manages to work nicely.
This was a made-for-cable production, and it was a good attempt. A lot more faithful to the novel than other carnations (but it still freely takes its liberties ), this movie presented some new ideas that were interesting to think about. But the major change was the film's biggest disappointment: The monster was no longer a resurrected assembly of corpses, but a being cloned from Dr. Frank himself. Therefore, they can feel each other's pain and emotions. "Two parts of a single man," as the good doctor states. The twist is more like a "Jekyll and Hyde" idea, rather than the usual father and son relationship. It was a fascinating concept, but not really a good idea for a Frankenstein film claiming it is faithful to the book.
Other than that, it is a top notch job. David Wickes directs with good timing and the suspense it well brought out. Bergin and Quaid are good in the leads as the doctor and the monster, and John Mills also brings in a powerful performance in a cameo as a blind man. This is worth a comparison to the much better "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein," directed by Kenneth Branagh. Both have similar style and terror.
***1/2 out of *****
This was a made-for-cable production, and it was a good attempt. A lot more faithful to the novel than other carnations (but it still freely takes its liberties ), this movie presented some new ideas that were interesting to think about. But the major change was the film's biggest disappointment: The monster was no longer a resurrected assembly of corpses, but a being cloned from Dr. Frank himself. Therefore, they can feel each other's pain and emotions. "Two parts of a single man," as the good doctor states. The twist is more like a "Jekyll and Hyde" idea, rather than the usual father and son relationship. It was a fascinating concept, but not really a good idea for a Frankenstein film claiming it is faithful to the book.
Other than that, it is a top notch job. David Wickes directs with good timing and the suspense it well brought out. Bergin and Quaid are good in the leads as the doctor and the monster, and John Mills also brings in a powerful performance in a cameo as a blind man. This is worth a comparison to the much better "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein," directed by Kenneth Branagh. Both have similar style and terror.
***1/2 out of *****