Frankenstein (2025)

Plot of Frankenstein: We know how it goes. In the Arctic an injured man is rescued by the crew of a Danish ship stuck in the ice. He tells a story. The man, Victor Frankenstein in obsessed with the creation of life, and after false starts, creates a man from body parts in an isolated building made available to him by Henrich Harlander, who, Victor discovers is suffering from syphilis and wants his brain to be transferred into the body. Victor refuses, they fight, Henrich dies in a fall. Victor animates the creature with electricity and chains it in the depths of the building, disappointed that it can only say the word, Victor. Victor’s brother’s fiancée Elizabeth, finds the creature and they seem to bond. Victor frustrated with the creature’s failings sets fire to the building and just escapes but is injured, losing a leg. The creature also escapes and holes up in an outhouse connected to a peasant’s dwelling where over time it learns to speak and read, helped by a blind man. It is shot at and realises that its wounds heal rapidly, and that it is immortal. It returns to Victor demanding a companion which he refuses, and in an accident shoots his brother’s fiancée Elizabeth. The creature escapes pursued by Victor, to their final meeting place on the ship in the Arctic.

Content: No sex or nudity, although Elizabeth seen is a slightly diaphanous night dress once. The father is very unpleasant to the young Victor. Victor appears before a committee, showing that he can reanimate a partially constructed human, very gory. He experiments on bodies also very gory, showing flayed backs and chests. He gets corpses from public executions which we see taking place, and from the bodies of soldiers on an icy battlefield. The animation takes place in a storm. The creature is very tall and scarred all over with staring eyes. When it escapes it is always clad in billowing dark clothing. It is not always violent but its appearance cause men to attempt to kill it, always unsuccessfully. It fights wolves, and also kills Victor’s brother in a fight. In the Arctic it survives rifle fire and eventually confronts Victor in the captain’s cabin on the ship.

A View: This version of the story seems to be presented as a sort of dark fairy tale. The creature is imbued with great strength and ability to resist even concentrated gunfire, and for that matter, fire and explosions. The director does Gothic extremely well and the first part of this film is no exception, but it tails off a bit as the story progresses and the creature becomes more ‘human’. It seems actually to have avoided some of the more violent aspects of the original book but worth a watch if you like that sort of thing.

Fun Fact: Pleased to see Wilton House, near Salisbury, as a posh residence early on. Well worth a visit by the way.