Mary Shelley's Frankenstein...

Sophisticated horror? This should be interesting. I watched this movie twice in my life and still am unable to decide whether or not i absolutely hate this piece of garbage, or admire it for it's obvious and blatant over usage of symbolism. Let me give you some background info on this. Back in 1994 Kenneth Branagh decided to break away from his Shakespeare films and directed a true version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I say true version because the Universal Studios' versions and other interpretations are flagrantly flawed. The original written story dealt with much more terror as Victor creates a creature with feelings and thoughts. The creature seeks vengeance on Victor for making him a monster. This movie is exactly true to the story, but it is about as close as u can get.

This film is very strange. There is symbolism in every scene. For example, note the people who choose to wear red, notice all the crosses in scenes, the obvious light vs. dark rooms, and man vs. nature in Oh so many ways. Way to go Branagh... you paid attention in English class. In fact I had to watch this film in English class... Twice! That's most likely the only unique thing about this movie other than actually following the story line of Shelley's Frankenstein.

So what else is in this movie? Robert De Niro plays as the gruesomely disturbing creature. This isn't anything like the Boris Karloff monster at all. The whole creation seen looks gross and adds great shocking images. That's where this movie shines for sure. Branagh gives you what a reanimated man would really look like. You also have classic Branagh over-dramatization which I laugh at when he looks all psychotic. The third somewhat know actor is Adrian Quinn as the captain of the ship that finds Victor on an icecap hunting for the creature.

The plot is nearly ripped out of the pages of the book. A ship crew attempting to sail through the arctic discovers a weary Victor. Victor tells his story to the ship's captain while they are trapped in ice. Story picks up with the story of Victor's family and the death of his mother giving birth to his youngest brother. It shows how he developed a relationship with a girl named Elizabeth who was living with them. The story is much more intricate describing the relationships of Victor with his friend Henry, his father, the townspeople, and his professors. Victor attends school and becomes particular interested in a professor's experiment to create life. The dialogue with him is somewhat frightening when he sated he "was too close." to creating life. Victor's obsession makes him become a monster yadda yadda yadda. You already know he's going to succeed in his creation. A lot of the movie is simple and follows the creature as he befriends a family living in a cottage. The monster learns, thinks, and feels life just like humans. However, he cannot stand what he is and seeks vengeance on Victor. Then there is some fires and cool death scenes.

This movie hasn't stood the test of time, but definite an interesting watch for literary movie types. If you want to see what the real story of Frankenstein was go check it out. If not, i beg you to stay away from this. You will be unhappy and outraged thinking this was going to be profound film. Nope it's just impossible to take all of what Mary Shelley had to say about man and society being monsters and translate it to film. That's true for all movies though.