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Mary Shelley's Frankenstein [1994]
from Uca
starring Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Hulce, Aidan Quinn
directed by Kenneth Branagh

Features:

• PAL
• Widescreen

Editorial Review:

Let's be honest: this should be titled Wretched Excess' Frankenstein. Swooping, wild, bloody, and energetic, this is bad moviemaking from the best, which makes it all the more loveable. Kenneth Branagh plays Victor Frankenstein, a man so obsessed with conquering death that he decides to create life. What he gets, after a protoplasmic mud wrestle, is a Mean Streets monster (Robert De Niro) that isn't particularly happy to be back from the dead or thrilled about all the stitches. Helena Bonham Carter may, at several points in this film, actually be channelling Ramtha. The supporting cast couldn't be peopled with better performers (Tom Hulce, John Cleese, Ian Holm) but they all look like they're ringside at some Ultimate Fighting competition. A must for any midnight movie collector for the shock factor alone. A hoot. --Keith Simanton

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

• Awful
  This is an awful adaptation. It bastardizes the essence of Shelley's novel. While the novel nurtures a moral dilemma at its heart, this destroys it. (This cannot be demonstrated better than when the monster rips out Elizabeth's heart, serving as an apt metaphor for the film ripping out the heart of the text). The sympathy for the monster which Shelley really draws on is completely undercut in the film by the monster's portrayal as a cold blooded murderer wanting an unjustified amount of revenge...it ignores... more info

• A brilliant film
  If you have recently seen the BBC's poor attempt to modernise this classic then you simply have to see this...or even better read the book.
  PS: Wyne Redheart definately needs to read the book as "the Creature" or "Frankinstein's Monster" is never called "Frankinstein" in it. Frankinstein always refers to Doctor Victor Frankinstein, pillock.

• A sombre and thoughtful adaptation
  Having studied Mary Shelley's book quite closely at university, I was interested what Kenneth Branagh (of Shakespeare renown) would make of the material.
  The result is a brooding film that focuses heavily on the act of creating the monster and birth in general, but plays down the violent and horror elements of the story (only towards the end do they burst to the fore). It is therefore all the more surprising and out of key when Frankenstein's bride immolates herself and we are shown extended footage... more info

• Chilling horror
  This is a particularly dark adaptation of the Frankenstein story, with a chillingly gothic sense of atmosphere. Branagh also succeeds in bringing a Shakesperian level of tragedy to the drama, rather than falling into the trap of focusing too exclusively on the macabre. De Niro makes a particularly fine re-animated creature, offering a suitable sense of pathos and frustratation at the lack of acceptance which ultimately provokes furious belligerence. His monster is one to be pitied as much as feared. The... more info

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