Victor Frankenstein (2015)

Plot of Victor Frankenstein: Victor Frankenstein is a medical student with ambitions to create a humanoid, possibly as a copy of his brother who has died. He rescues a deformed young man who is employed in a circus as a foil for the clowns, and who is seen to cure a trapeze artist, Lorelei, who has fallen from the big top. He cures the man and names him Igor, and between them they construct a hybrid animal called Gordon who escapes from a demonstration and must be killed. With funds provided by Finnegan, a classmate of Frankenstein’s a further creature is constructed, now considered by Igor to be a step too far. Meanwhile a policeman Inspector Turpin is pursuing the couple since Igor is wanted for murder (which he did not commit).

Content: There is no sex or nudity, although Igor and Lorelei snog a bit. Igor and Victor drink a lot during the development of the creatures, probably to indicate that they are out of control. The circus is very period and when Igor is being mistreated by the clowns the scenes are quite unpleasant. The streets of London are extremely Gothic. Once in Victor’s laboratory it is all very steam punk with big gear wheels rumbling and heavy duty electrical switching. Some social scenes as Lorelei has become the mistress of a rich, and homosexual, baron. The final scenes in Finnegan’s castle are wild as the scientists try to harness lightning to animate the monster.

A View: This outing apparently cost $40 million. If so, they got quite a bit for their money, but it still lost a lot. Even the Daniel Radcliffe fan base could not make it a hit. Mostly the critics just thought it was a film which lacked any sort of innovation, just a bad rehash of existing tropes, regardless of their relevance to the Mary Shelley story. Igor, for instance, apparently first appeared in an 1830s stage version of the story. In my view the story tellers are a bit up against it anyway. Despite the affection there is for the tale, what the hell is the point of constructing a person from bits of other people. So, not really a watch even for nothing.

Fun Fact: The Scottish castle owned by Finnegan was played by Dunnottar Castle outside Aberdeen.