Frankenstein is set in New Orleans where detectives Carson O'Conner (Parker Posey) & her partner Michael Sloane (Adam Goldberg) are on the trail of a serial killer who likes to cut open his victims & take their organs, the latest victim is Bobby a security guard at a library who is missing a heart. The autopsy has surprising results as Bobby originally had two hearts, concrete like bones & various organs the pathologist hasn't seen before. The case turns even spookier when Conner gets a visit from a man (Vincent Perez) who claims he is a 200 year old creature stitched together from various body parts by Victor Helios (Thomas Kretschmann) who is now working in genetics & was responsible for Bobby, he claims the killer is one of Helios's creations & wants to be killed but can't commit suicide. Conner has to suspend her disbelief & set out in search of a killer the likes of which she has never faced before...
Produced & directed by Marcus Nispel I have to admit that I really didn't like this made-for-TV contemporary modern day set adaption of Frankenstein. The script by John Shiban was based on a concept by Dean R. Koontz who went uncredited & was originally slated to write it but dropped out of the production due to creative differences (or perhaps the fact that he knew it was going to be crap?) & I have to say this is a really dull & lifeless adaptation which is far too long, far too uneventful & leaves a lot of unresolved questions at the end which can be attributed to the fact that this was planned as a pilot for a proposed TV series which judging by this thankfully never materialised. The character's are so clichéd & dull with the usual cop's & bad guy's, the dialogue is forgettable & bland, there's next to no gore or exploitation & some of the directions the story goes in are bizarre like making Michael Madsen's character pregnant! Some of the story goes unexplained & again I think that's down to the possibility of their exploration in a potential TV series so details like how Victor Helios has survived for 200 years or what was inside of Michael Madsen's character go unanswered. The film felt like it went on forever, I got pretty bored pretty quickly & even though I only watched it several hours ago I can barely remember anything about it, it really was that dull & forgettable.
Director Nispel has filmed everything in very muted colours to such a degree this looks like it's black and white at times, now some may find that stylish & on occasion it is but the film is already so dull & lifeless that bleeding all of the colour out of every frame doesn't do it any favours overall. Nispel also sets all of his scenes in run down factories & apartments, even the police pathology lab looks like it need to be torn down & rebuilt! Again it just looks awful & it becomes a chore to sit through as there's no energy or life to it. Nispel admits in one of the documentary's featured on the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre DVD that he doesn't like blood or gore & he proves it here as there's barely a drop of blood in it, someone is shot, someone is impaled on some metal pins & there are a few internal organs which really isn't good enough. This certainly isn't scary, there's no tension & it's utterly predictable when it's not being totally bizarre.
Technically the film looks nice in terms of photography & lighting but the lack of colour & constant run down depressing locations really drove me nuts! It's better made than the usual made-for-TV crap but that's about as positive I can be. The acting was poor, I didn't like anyone in it at all either actor's or character's.
Frankenstein is a bad contemporary take on Mary Shelley's often adapted novel, I'll take Peter Cushing in a full blooded Hammer horror Frankenstein over this modern day crap every time & I strongly suggest you do the same.
Produced & directed by Marcus Nispel I have to admit that I really didn't like this made-for-TV contemporary modern day set adaption of Frankenstein. The script by John Shiban was based on a concept by Dean R. Koontz who went uncredited & was originally slated to write it but dropped out of the production due to creative differences (or perhaps the fact that he knew it was going to be crap?) & I have to say this is a really dull & lifeless adaptation which is far too long, far too uneventful & leaves a lot of unresolved questions at the end which can be attributed to the fact that this was planned as a pilot for a proposed TV series which judging by this thankfully never materialised. The character's are so clichéd & dull with the usual cop's & bad guy's, the dialogue is forgettable & bland, there's next to no gore or exploitation & some of the directions the story goes in are bizarre like making Michael Madsen's character pregnant! Some of the story goes unexplained & again I think that's down to the possibility of their exploration in a potential TV series so details like how Victor Helios has survived for 200 years or what was inside of Michael Madsen's character go unanswered. The film felt like it went on forever, I got pretty bored pretty quickly & even though I only watched it several hours ago I can barely remember anything about it, it really was that dull & forgettable.
Director Nispel has filmed everything in very muted colours to such a degree this looks like it's black and white at times, now some may find that stylish & on occasion it is but the film is already so dull & lifeless that bleeding all of the colour out of every frame doesn't do it any favours overall. Nispel also sets all of his scenes in run down factories & apartments, even the police pathology lab looks like it need to be torn down & rebuilt! Again it just looks awful & it becomes a chore to sit through as there's no energy or life to it. Nispel admits in one of the documentary's featured on the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre DVD that he doesn't like blood or gore & he proves it here as there's barely a drop of blood in it, someone is shot, someone is impaled on some metal pins & there are a few internal organs which really isn't good enough. This certainly isn't scary, there's no tension & it's utterly predictable when it's not being totally bizarre.
Technically the film looks nice in terms of photography & lighting but the lack of colour & constant run down depressing locations really drove me nuts! It's better made than the usual made-for-TV crap but that's about as positive I can be. The acting was poor, I didn't like anyone in it at all either actor's or character's.
Frankenstein is a bad contemporary take on Mary Shelley's often adapted novel, I'll take Peter Cushing in a full blooded Hammer horror Frankenstein over this modern day crap every time & I strongly suggest you do the same.