Tag Archives: horror

A Vindication of the Rights of Moviegoers

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stingy

A do do do, a da da da…

And yet, I’m being unfair, because on the surface, The Bride from 1985 isn’t completely without merit. The film was not well received when it was released, and beautiful Jennifer Beals was nominated for a Razzie  for her performance as “Eva”,  this film’s version of The Bride of Frankenstein.  This I found particularly unfair. Beals well served the role that was written, right down to the helpless Gothic heroine hamming. But, the flashes of strength and independence she briefly snuck in, including the reference to Mary Wollstonecraft, were subversive, more important and telling than the Sting character’s pathetic blather about an “equal” woman.

But more on that below. For now, see details….  Continue reading →

Fritz’s Found Footage Frankies

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Frankenstein’s Army

Year Released: 2013
Directed By: Richard Raaphorst
Written By: Richard Raaphorst, Miguel Tejada-Flores, Chris W, Mitchell,
Notable Cast: Karel Roden, Joshua Sasse, Robert Gwilym, Alexander Mercury, Luke Newberry, Hon Ping Tang, Andrei Zayats, Mark Stevenson, Klaus Lucas, Cristina Catalina, Jan de Lukowicz, Zdenek Barinka
Plot: Toward the end of World War II, Russian soldiers pushing into eastern Germany stumble across a secret Nazi lab, one that has unearthed and begun experimenting with the journal of one Dr. Victor Frankenstein. The scientists have used the legendary Frankenstein’s work to assemble an army of super-soldiers stitched together from the body parts of their fallen comrades — a desperate Hitler’s last ghastly ploy to escape defeat. – SOURCE: imdb.com “Production”

Commentary: Frankenstein’s Army is a delightful oddity of steampunk carnage, and a baffling one, too. Taking place during the end of World War II, and following a troop of Soviet soldiers, the filmmakers decided to use the found footage format to tell the story. Continue reading →

The Impeccable Pecs of Victor Frankenstein

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kenneth-branagh-frankenstein1

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Released: 1994
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Writers: Steph Lady, Frank Darabont
Notable Cast: Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hulce, Helena Bonham Carter, Aidan Quinn, Ian Holm, John Cleese
Plot: Based on Mary Shelley’s novel, ” .Frankenstein” tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a promising young doctor who, devastated by the death of his mother during childbirth, becomes obsessed with bringing the dead back to life. His experiments lead to the creation of a monster, which Frankenstein has put together with the remains of corpses. It’s not long before Frankenstein regrets his actions. (Source: Robert McElwaine on imdb.com)

Note – the format I use below was one that I used in a prior 31 Days of Halloween blog-a-thon, and I found that I liked it and that it helped me concisely express my thoughts around a movie.

Commentary: I viewed this film on home rental VHS back in 1994, and my opinion of it then and now, with a recent rewatch has not changed. This film should work, it should have been great and glorious with its A-List cast and its stellar production values.

So why do I feel like Kenneth Branagh drained the life out of this incredible, immortal story? Continue reading →

Over at the Frankenstein Place (Reprise)

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SLCC RH

Last night I attended a production of the Rocky Horror Show, Richard O’Brien’s stage musical later turned into the infamous cult sensation, at Salt Lake Community College’s Grand Theater. Overall, a job well done!

Production and cast:

IMG_20181018_144149852_HDR.jpg

img_20181018_144215757_hdr.jpg Continue reading →

Your Weekend Frankenstein, Oct 20-21

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This weekend, let’s take you through some classics of Frankenstein rock. Above, from Edgar Winter. Continue reading →

Don’t Dream It, Victor

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rocky

There’s not much I can add to illuminate what’s known and what’s loved about Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I’m pretty sure that if you are reading this, you know this movie and its music all too well.

Maybe I can offer this: Dr. Frankenfurter is the fabulous ultimate expression of Mary Shelley’s Victor Frankenstein. Where one is an odious, cowardly mass of 19th century anxieties and weak egotism, the other’s rampant self-centeredness is perfect and glorious. Both scientists create their own downfalls, but only one does it with heels and fishnets, and with a lack of remorse that’s honest and goddamn decadent. Continue reading →

Your Weekend Frankenstein, Oct 13-14: The Public Domains of Horror!

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This weekend, enjoy the very first film adaptation of Frankenstein ever made! This 1910 short was discovered in the mid-1970’s, is twelve minutes long, and I like it a lot. I especially enjoyed the creepy, phantasmagoric creation sequence of the monster around the four-minute mark. And the monster itself is more nightmarish than the bolts-and-stitches model engineered by Universal Studios two decades later.
Continue reading →

You Best Believe I’m in Love, L-U-V

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Luv5

Silvia Hoeks as Luv, Blade Runner 2049

Blade Runner 2049

I think the Blade Runner series fits quite well in the canon of fiction inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, even if Philip K. Dick’s mind wandered elsewhere.

Human beings with god complexes creating biological, artificial lives and being horrible parents? Alienated and angry offspring suffering and murdering for their parents’ sins? It was all there when Rutger Hauer’s Roy kissed his creator on the lips. Continue reading →

The Frankenstein Chronicles

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FCs

Season 1 of the ITV Encore production of The Frankenstein Chronicles contains science fiction/supernatural horror. It develops very slowly but its final reveal is utterly devastating.  Primarily, it is a complicated police procedural drama, and one of the most creative adaptations of Mary Shelley’s novel I’ve seen. Avoiding the dazzle of and focus on a created monster, it gives us no shortage of human ones. Perhaps a long and frustrating journey (you need a bit of patience and attention to get through the season), but one well worth taking. Continue reading →

This Monster, This Superhero

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Girl frankenstein

This panel moved me. She wants to join Frankenstein in the battle against evil. We all want to take up arms and live a life of superheroic adventure.

In 2004 Chaos magician and rock star comic book creator Grant Morrison brought to life a vibrant, weird and understated superhero magnum opus: Seven Soldiers.

Morrison took the name of an old Golden Age superhero team (The Seven Soldiers of Victory) and he took inspiration from a 1970’s period in DC Comics where strange, lush horror comics were en vogue. Continue reading →