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MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN – Patrick Doyle
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Following the critical and commercial success of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1992 there was a brief resurgence and interest in Hollywood for making faithful adaptations of classic horror novels. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was director Kenneth Branagh’s attempt to bring the classic 1818 story back to the big screen, with high production values, a star-studded cast, and a more intellectual focus on its dark philosophical themes of creation, ambition, and the consequences of playing God. Branagh himself plays scientist Victor Frankenstein, who after the passing of his mother becomes obsessed with defying death. Victor moves to Germany to study science and medicine with his friend Henry Clerval (Tom Hulce), and marries his long-time love Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter). Eventually Frankenstein has a breakthrough where he discovers how to bring inanimate matter to life; wanting to take things further, he begins collecting human body parts, which he stitches together and tries to bring to life. Miraculously, Frankenstein succeeds, but the resulting creature (Robert De Niro) is grotesque and terrifying, leading Victor to abandon it in horror. The Creature, left to fend for itself, struggles with loneliness, rejection, and a desire for companionship; it learns language and human behavior but is consistently met with fear and violence from the people he meets, and in time vows revenge on Victor for bringing him into a world that hates him. Read more…
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