By Nia Edwards-Behi
The fact that the National Theatre and Danny Boyle’s stage version of Frankenstein still gets milked in cinemas, in its NT Live broadcast form, every Halloween, is something of a testament to the general public’s desire to see new versions of a classic and frequently adapted story. Bernard Rose, of Candyman fame, offers an extremely modern take on the tale. It’s ambitious, and doesn’t entirely work, but it certainly could have been much, much worse.
Victor and Elizabeth Frankenstein have created life. Their creation, printed into existence, adjusts to the world much like a baby. However, the man seems to deteriorate as he becomes ill and the scientists decide to terminate the experiment. The termination does not go to plan, and their creation escapes. He grows, isolated in a forest at first, before encountering human life. He encounters innocence, brutality and kindness, before ultimately returning home to face his makers.
The first half of the film is its strongest. The ‘babying’ of the Monster is effective here, in that it is literal as well as through performance. There’s some well-placed humour which alleviates any of the slight awkwardness of a fully grown man being bottle-fed, and much of that is down to Carrie-Ann Moss, who gives a relatively subtle performance. This babying is counter-balanced by the use of Shelley’s original prose for the Monster’s internal monologue. As he develops rudimentary speech, internally he philosophises on the nature of his being and the world around him. Rose stated that he wanted to retain this romantic, poetic element to the Monster, and it works very well.
Sadly, characterisation elsewhere is not so subtle, especially as the film goes on. Elizabeth suffers greatly from this – the script doesn’t fully allow her to develop as a complex character, so instead of a nuanced re-imagining of Victor’s wife, she simply veers between cold scientist and extremely Oedipal maternal figure. Overall the female characters suffer a bit from lack of development, especially – surprise! – the prostitute the Monster meets. Tony Todd is wasted as the blind man living on the streets who befriends the Monster. The relationship between them is moving, but too often Todd’s character descends into caricature. The biggest missed opportunity of all, however, is in the contrast between Todd and the brutal police the Monster tangles with. Although the inclusion of police brutality is not out of place, it is extremely under-developed. This sense isn’t helped by the cops’ particularly clunky dialogue.
Xavier Samuel deserves some praise for his portrayal as the Monster. He particularly stands out in the quieter scenes. A fine example is the familiar moment in which a little girls asks the Monster to play. The scene is all the more tense for thinking we know where it’s going, and it’s handled very well here. The film does boast some really great practical gore effects at times too – there were certain sequences which had the audience audibly anticipating – and receiving – great gory pay off at the end of particularly tense sequences.
The film’s climax is stagey for the sake of it, and it suffers from getting a bit too shouty at the close. While overall my impression of the film was that it could have been so much more, it remained enjoyable enough am experience. While at times clumsy in its execution, this is an unpredictable enough film to make it a worthwhile addition to the catalogue of Frankenstein adaptations.
Be on the lookout for more of Nia’s reviews from Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival shortly.