Broke Back Monster
Within the world of the horror movie there are a handful of characters that are synonymous with the genre. In the modern age names such as Freddie Krueger, Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees tore things up in their respective franchises during the 1980's and since then there have been many attempts to create a new icon with very little success.
Going back to the very beginnings of cinema audiences were introduced to more classics characters such as Frankensteins Monster, Dracula, The Wolfman and The Mummy to name but a few and whilst these originators have been brought back to life in more recent remakes/reboots you'd be hard to find a recent movie that matches the quality of those early pioneers.
One of the aforementioned terrors is the subject of this review as I take a look at Paul McGuigans 2015 Victor Frankenstein.
The history of the character of the crazed Dr and his monstrous creation can be traced all the way back to the original novel by Mary Shelley which was originally published all the way back in 1818 which of course makes it almost 200 years old.
In respect of the world of film the very first adaptation to make it to the silver screen was 1910's Frankenstein and over the last century the monster has appeared in over 50 different films alongside the likes of Abbot and Costello and believe it or not James Bond, played in that instance by Dave 'Darth Vader' Prowse. In fact in the same year that McGuigan released Victor Frankenstein there were no less than five other movies released featuring Frankensteins monster in one form or another and whilst not all of these films featured the good Dr himself any film that has featured the creator has normally been about his madness/genius and the relationship with the monster he creates.
Victor Frankenstein is different in that at the start we are introduced to a hunchbacked circus freak with no name (played by Daniel Radcliffe) who's primary role in life is to be beaten and tortured by the other circus workers both for the entertainment of the crowd and behind the scenes. We quickly learn that he is actually quite a clever chap as he has taught himself the intricacies of the human body and medicine in order to treat any ailments that befall his fellow workers.
One night Victor Frankenstein (James McAvoy) shows up and following an accident discovers the truth behind the hunchbacks genius. He therefore breaks him out of the circus and takes him home where we reveals that the hunch is actually a huge abscess which he drains before fixing the young mans posture and giving him the name of his absent flatmate Igor.
From here he convinces Igor to help him in his experiments involving reanimating the dead whilst at the same time we follow two other story threads, one involving a blossoming romance for the now handsome Igor and the other following a police detective who is on the trail of somebody who has been stealing dead animal parts (which of course is Victor).
Eventually the two scientists create a monkey of sorts that they bring back to life although it goes awry and they have to kill the creature before it can harm anyone. This partial success however draws the attention of a wealthy benefactor who is impressed with what he sees and therefore funds their work into creating a humanoid creature which will of course be the eponymous monster that we all know and love.
Igor however is having a crisis of conscious about the whole thing and is torn between his love and the bromance that he and Victor share which ultimately lead him to staying on to enable Victors plans. The detective turns up forcing the pair to scarper before they can successfully reanimate the monster and in the process he loses a hand and damages an eye.
The benefactor moves Victor out of town to another site to complete his work and tries to off Igor who he believes is surplus to requirements. Surviving the attempted murder Igor should by rights leg it with his woman but its his connection to Victor that wins the day and he opts instead to go and warn his friend that the benefactor is going to kill him once his work is done.
This all leads to the climax of the film, set of course in a castle, where the monster is brought to life and everyone dies except for our brothers in scientific arms who battle their creation and eventually manage to finish him off. The movie ends with Igor in love and Victor wandering the hills like a slightly crazed Maria and yes that is an obscure Sound of Music reference!!!
There is no reference to the death of the detective which I'm fairly sure they would be held responsible for, not to mention the multitude of other deaths that occurred during their watch so I guess we are meant to assume that they're either in hiding or that the whole episode was ignored as so much fake news or something.
Now it should be noted that this movie was something of a box office bomb, it cost $40 million to make and took just $34 million at the global boxoffice which is surprising when you consider the talent on offer here. It was after all written by Max Landis who was the mind behind Chronicle and American Ultra and has in its two leads a couple of great actors, particularly in McAvoy who I enjoy in pretty much everything he does. Even stranger is the fact that I didn't actually hate this movie which under normal circumstances I almost certainly would.
Yes it is different and for fans of the original book and classic Karloff films I can see why it may not be particularly appealing but there is something interesting about the way in which the Frankenstein and Igor relationship is presented. As I've hinted above it is very much about their bromance rather than the science of what they are trying to achieve and whilst they don't go full Broke Back Mountain there is definately a touch of the Top Guns about this film.
The other main characters in this film are pretty surplus to requirements in the grand scheme of things. The detective is only reintroduced whenever it is necessary for the films narrative and he doesn't really offer anything to the overall plot. Igors love interest is slightly more interesting and makes a little more sense as to the role she plays in Igors arc but again you can imagine the film being just as effective without her in it at all.
Then theres the monster itself which only makes an appearance for the final ten minutes or so of the film and whilst serving a purpose looks pretty bad considering the year of release was 2015.
So in summary I would say that I completely'get' why many people hated this movie I personally thought it was OK although maybe no better than just that which is not what you'd expect with the talent involved. With that in mind I am going to give Victor Frankenstein a 6 out of 10 and close by saying that this is certainly worth watching for a 90 minute piece of escapism but if you're expecting a great horror flick then this is not the film for you.
