¶ Intro / Opening
Weird way.
Welcome back Midnight viewers to what ordinarily would be a Father Malone's weekly round up. Instead, well, I'm still Father Malone, but this week on the show, we're switching it up a little and crossing over. That's right. I was lucky enough to be a guest on Paul Waller's incredible horror podcast, A Year in Horror. There's going to be a link in the notes. Go over there and experience the pure joy of horror fandom that is personified in Paul Waller.
He has been on Midnight Viewing a few times in the past. I'll put links to that as well. He guested on our creep Show episode and again on our Trick or Treat episode. That's the heavy metal eighties horror movie trick or Treat, not the misguided anthology trick er Treat. As his podcast name suggests, Paul covers a particular year in horror. He is currently covering the year nineteen ninety four, and I dropped in to discuss Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the
tale of an unhinged madman and his revolting creation. But enough about Kenneth Branna anyway. What follows is our conversation about Victor Frankenstein and his creation, which is timely given that we're getting a full bells and Whistles reimagining next month with Giermel del Toro's version of Frankenstein. By the way, knowing what a fan of Bernie writes in that del Toro is, I am positive that our creature is going to be That writes an interpretation from his illustrated Frankenstein,
you know, the one back from nineteen eighty three. Anyway, I cannot link that below, but you should look it up. It's all etching and it's all gorgeous. Before I hand you off to Paul, I wanted to mention a couple of things during our conversation. I bring up the show Penny Dreadful and its portrayal of Frankenstein's monster. The name that I fumble around for is Rory Kanear. He's the talented actor playing the monster. Most might know mister Kanear
from the recent Double seven films. He's m I six agent Bill Tanner, and fans of Black Mirror will remember him from the National Anthem episode you know, the Prime Minister and the Pig. He was the Prime Minister. Also, I mentioned while fumbling around for his name, that he's the son of another actor. That's his dad, Roy Kannar, who was a very funny and those sal Kinds produced three Musketeer movies from the nineteen seventies, but just about everyone on earth him as Henry Salt, father to Varuk
assault in Willy Wonka and the Chompet Factory. Another self correction.
¶ Recap of Previous Episode and Introduction to 1994
We talk about the movie May and I mistakenly refer to its lead actress as Angela Mattis. It's Angela Bettis that popped into my head five minutes after we finished recording. So I'm glad I can bring it up here. Lastly, October fourth and fifth, those dates are fast approaching, and with it the Nightmare in Vegas Horror Convention, in car Show, midnight viewing will have a presence there. I'll be on display in my priest collar. What the fuck? Why not? Right?
The real question now is mustache or not? We'll see. Joining me will be HP, host of Noise Junkies and Night Mister Walter's podcast, as well as the Culture Cast Chris Stashue and other guests and surprises and giveaways and handouts and free hot dogs. That part is not true get your own food. There will be sass on tap though. That's sassy attitude. That'll be flowing free freedom public. That's
a service we provide. Tune in Friday Asbichfest continues. We've got Aliens Versus Predator w Requiem, the first direct sequel to any of the Predator adjacent films. HP joins me as usual for all of our fests. Morana's Fest is on the horizon. Everybody looking at all the filmed entertainment released theatrically, I'm not watching nine hundred hours of SCTV of mister Rick moranis that is in anticipation of his return in space Balls two also this October. Wait, I
guess HP isn't on every fest. We are starting up the Books of Blood Fest here at Midnight Viewing, examining all the filmed adaptations based on Clive Barker's seminal horror anthologies, The Books of Blood. We've got a rotating group of horror heavy hitters joining me for that series, including mister Paul Waller, Tell the people what you do?
Paul.
My nine is Paul Waller, not Weller. I'm a horror movie addict. Due twenty twenty, the workload for my music industry job explode right down, and the sign to I discovered the movie social networking platform called Letterbox, so I
¶ Top Box Office Hits of 1994
decided to fill in the gaps of my horror film knowledge. I'm still averaging two a day, and this podcast is a result of that horror compulsion. This is a year in horror.
But you know what the most facts in your world is, It's fair every year.
Fine, okay, nineteen ninety four, On the very release date of this episode, I can take you back.
Twenty nine years to that very year, ninety ninety four. So yeah, welcome back, horror list lovers. We've returned. Last month we covered the complete Wes Craven filmography pawn an All and the top three horror films according to me that he's directed were in reverse order. At number three,
¶ 1994 in Music and World Events
Scream that is, of course, the one with the most iconic opening scene of it ever film ever, I reckon in my time that I've been alive. Number two was an oldie, but a filthy goldie called The Last House on the Left, and a number one hot shot was, of course, Vampire in Brook, A Nightmare on Elm Street, an incredible work of terror the birth of an eighties icon and a staple of my screens.
For many, many a year.
So that was last month, done, dusted, devoured. And now this month, well it's different because we are back at looking at individual years and the horror movies that were released therein And last month I pulled out the hat nine teen ninety four, the year that Kurt Cobain died. Now I think it's not really even in the general conversation anymore, but the nineties has always had this bad rap for being a stinker of a decade for horror,
but a really interesting one for music. And these days it's pretty much deemed to be as good as any other. But there was that long stretch where just people would always give the nineties crap. No need because look, I'm going to be the judge of this. It's my shows what I'm here for. And when we get to the
¶ Podcast Format and Special Guests
end of all these years, I'll tally up these podcast stats and I'll tell you. I'll tell you what was the worst decade, And if it's the nineties, well then I'll eate my foot. Now for this one, I watched twenty four horror films altogether. Now that's hardly anything compared to a normal yearly run.
But it is what it is.
As for the world wide box office bums on seats, well just check out this top three. At number three was True Lies with Jamie Lee, Kurtis.
And mister Swatsneggar.
And then following that we have number two Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump. Now that film is a marmite for everyone. Some people think it's one of the best films ever made. A lot of people think it's total trash. All I'll tell you is whenever I see it, I cry my eyes out from beginning to end.
But the number one movie.
At the box office, would you believe it, narrowly beating Forest Forest Gump, It was Disney's The Lion King. Was there any horror in that top twenty though, Well there were two things. Jack Nicholson was in The Wolf, of course, of course he was. And then we have Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt and Christian Slater making all the way to the number ten position with Interview with the Vampire. Regardless, I've been juggling my list around and let me tell you my top eight is a very tight believe that,
But I mean, come on, it's pretty awful. Only eight films that I could say hand on are essential. It is a pretty slight year ninety four. But what else was going on in ninety four? Well, musically, nineteen ninety four, as I've already said, was awesome. The very first couple of pages of rat Your Music for what It's Worth give you a very, very awesome overview of what is
out there. The ones I recommend and picked from it were Portershaad, Dummy, weez Are, the Blue Album, Pavement, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain An albums so good they named it twice, Sunny Day, Real Estate's Diary, The Beastly Boys, Ill Communication, Built to Spill, There's nothing wrong with love Holes, live through This, and of course shell Ac Action Park. But what was the actual news. Well, here's three things that
AI told me happened in South Africa. Nelson Mandela became the nation's very first black president after the end of apartheid. Close to the home, the Channel Tunnel was finished and launched. And I'm going to dump both of these final things together. Is that both pretty tragic? The very first episode of Friends aired and the Rwandan genocide began, so pretty bad.
Christ that was the times important and often shocking current events, sure, but not nineteen seventy horror movie podcasting times, right, So how do things work on the show. Well, for those new to the show, here is a sick quick guide to what a Year in Horror is all about. This is a podcast where I choose a year at random every month, and then I run down my very personal favorite films of that year. It's that easy. That is the podcast in a nutshell. Also, with each episode, I
am joined by some outrageously handsome human guests. They help me sift my way through the most interesting films of the bunch. And for this the nineteen ninety four Big Hitter episode, where we've got a new special guest in the guise of filmmaker Rick Rawlins. Plus, we've got three regular friends that are podcasts who've come back into the fold. We've got Stephen Hill of the Stupendous True Cult Pop podcast, a staff writer at Metal Hammer magazine as well. We've
got fatherm Alone from the Midnight Viewing podcast. Also, we've got author Paul Terry. He's returned after we chatted a load about Cold Check a few months back. And you know what that is going to be a welcome return for all three of those people. So yeah, there we go. I've also just noticed no women. I need to sort that out. But you know that is a pretty cool collection of well adjusted guys, right, So here we go.
We're almost there.
My definition of horror is sometimes considered wrong, just plain wrong by those self appointed gatekeepers with a more defined opinion of what makes a horror and actual horror. And sometimes my rather witty and astute and precise takes of what is a horror, well, they make it to the very high reaches of the chart. So if you are
¶ Diving into Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
one of those easily triggered folks, then just be prepared to get rammed up the wrong side by a Ramakin, probably gripped by the mighty Lono from We Belong Dead. Yeah, that might happen. I've just thought, as I'm saying that Lono also isn't on this show. I need to sort this out more, Lono, I say, I'm going to sort that out asap. Where was I in my little script? I've lost the point nineteen ninety four. There we go, that's where we are. It was a difficult number one
to choose for me. The top four were being shuffled around quite a lot, so be aware when we get there that my number one could be your number four, etc.
Etc.
And when we make it to the very end of this episode, going to be picking out of a bag at random the very next year that am going to tackle the next month's edition of the show. And you might well be thinking, hang on, Paul, scroll back a bit twenty four films. You can't call that enough to judge a whole year in horror. You might be right, But here's the reason. I've got to have some rules to follow to create this show, and the movie needs to score at least three out of five on Letterbox
for me to watch it. And sometimes there's gonna be exceptions to the rule. And nineteen ninety four it saw the release of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Kenneth Branner Atrocity.
Right, Well maybe not, but maybe it's always.
Been seemingly looked down upon by the horror community and I'd never seen it. So with Arrow just putting out a four K, me being a newbie to it, well, how can I say no? Even though it only scored two point nine on letterbox. Finally, I'm only a fan. I'm an enthusiast. I am not a scholar of horror. I am a dabbler in this darkness. So for the most part, I don't watch these things academically. It's an obsession,
much like I imagine you have that same obsession. I get excited about this stuff still all the time, month after month. I can't wait to dig into the next batch. So remember it's all my opinions. It's a list show. If I miss something out that you love, let me know. I really do want to discover the new stuff. Also, if you pick up a great tip from me, why not email us here at the podcast. I'm at A Year in Horror at gmail dot com.
That easy.
You can also instagram me I'm at Wallernut Weller letterbox be I'm at Wallernot Weller on there as well. And you know, if you enjoy it, give it a five star review?
Why not? I don't know what that does anymore? Does it do anything? I don't know?
Are you ready? It's nineteen ninety four, A Year in Horror, Robert de Niro as the Creation. I mean, it's the Monster, right,
¶ Frankenstein in Pop Culture
A reanimated corpse who is rejected by humanity and swears revenge.
On the world as a result. Yes, fucking please.
Thing is I've been put off watching this film for so many years for a multitude of reasons. But it only took one suggestion from Father Malone to say, yeah, I'm going to come onto the show and I'm going to chat with you about it for me to go right. I'm going to put aside my negativity by the arrow four K and holy poopy poop pants, it was proper worth at Sunshines. Yes, indeed it was. Here is the
letterbox synopsis for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein is a promising young doctor who, devastated by the death of his mother during childbirth, becomes obsessed with bringing back the dead from death to life. His experiments lead to the creation of a monster, which Frankenstein has put together with the remains of corpses. It's not long before Frankenstein regrets his actions.
They're a passion. You're no limits, but he's obsession.
No one need ever die.
You're not boundaries. Francis Ford Corpola presents a classic story of true love. Let Me help You, Terror, Robert de Niro, kerev Brna, Calina Bottom, Carter, Mary Shelley's Franklin Stone read.
And starts Friday, November four, then.
A theater near you.
Yes, it's time for the chat ah. Oh yeah, it's myself. It's Father Malone and he is of the most wonderful Patreon channel. That is right, it's patreon dot com forward slash Father Malone. But if that's not good enough for you, then why don't you type into your local podcast emporium, podcast searching device, podcast midnight viewing. That's where you're gonna find him. You must prepare to be flawed with the good old fashioned movie tainment, because that's what that man delivers.
Here.
We are just about I don't know wenes is coming out two and a half months ago talking all about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Father alone. Hello, good afternoon, evening whatever. I don't know someone, Yeah, not that early though.
Well, this oddly will come. I think this comes out before the one we've already recorded for Wes Craven. So that's interesting. But this film I had dedicated previously in my life zero time too, never seen it before, never cared and there are a few reasons behind it.
So you've gone for Mary Shelley's.
Frankenstein from ninety four. I'm going to before we get to this film in particular, I would love to know like your history with Frankenstein, Frankenstein's self, like with regards to maybe the books, maybe other films, like are you a fan of Frankenstein.
Yeah, I'm a fan of Bradley what we consider the universal Monsters, and naturally frank is front and center there. Earliest memories of Frankenstein. My family had an eight millimeter projectory silent projector, and you could buy eight millimeter Little Leader's Digest sort of condensed versions of films, so you would have a fifteen minute version of a three Stooges film, although those were only fifteen minutes anyway, but you get
my point. So we had a copy of Frankenstein Versus the Wolfman, which I got to use to watch like on a wall or a sheet all the time. So that's my earliest memory of him, and that is that's more of a wrestling movie than it is a horror movie, so he wasn't really scary to me. And then at the same time, because I grew up in the seventies, so I was watching reruns of The Monsters, which is primarily my main image of Frankenstein is probably Fred Gwynn. But at the same time it was the groovy Gholies.
There is mad Monster Party. It was not a good time to be frightened of frankenstat. I get that. Franken
¶ Analyzing Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Berry cereal was on every tay, every kitchen table, you know what I mean. He was pretty widered down as a boogieyman by then. I'll goly give you my top five Frankenstein movies. So at number five from nineteen ninety I've put Franken Hooker Patty Mullen. I love that film, love.
That film, but it's a weird choice because it's not Frankenstein's Franken Hooker. But I still had to put it there at number five. Number four, Frankenstein Meets the wolf Man. I can't believe that was your first foray into that. I watched that a few months ago. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. I couldn't believe that I'd never seen it before and was like, oh, this is my first one.
Was amazing. The fucking ice cave stuff, man, that's good stuff. He disappeared to a k oh, look there's a cave. He disappeared to this ton. Okay, sure for those of you who need continuity.
It's so rubbish, but it's so amazing and I love it for it. So next one Hammer now sixty seven Frankenstein Created Women.
Yes, good, excellent flick. Excellent flick.
Number two Mary Shelley's Frankenstein unbelievable. We'll get into it in a minute. My number one from thirty one Frankenstein Universal Monsters.
I would add a few to that list.
I'm interested in that, so I don't know. I mean at the end, I'm going to ask you to put a flick with it for a double bill, but without spoiling that, Like where would you send people for like some cool Frankenstein stuff.
I would tell them to check out for performances as Frankenstein. For the character of Frankenstein. I would tell them to check out The Bride. That was the film What's Starring unfortunately sting, but it features a performance by Tom Noonan. Oh no, I'm sorry, Clancy Brown, My god, what am I talking about? Tom Nonan plays the monster in the Monster Squad, but Clancy Brown, the Kurgan from Highlander, plays Victor, the Monster and the Bride. He's fucking fantastic in it,
rocky horror picture show. That's a pretty that's a pretty good Frankenstein movie. I would encourage everyone to go there and along those lines. My favorite fan of the Paradise there is a there is a Frankenstein sequence in there. It's brief, it doesn't really qualify, but my god, it's a phantasma oracle version of the Frankenstein myth and with a great song going absolutely counts.
Like yeah, if we're including like Frankenstein makes the Wolfman, hey see counts?
Okay? Cool? All right?
So which brings us to this film? I've already said that, like where I rank this one? Like it's so high for me, And I thought a lot of this film was pretty bad as well, but when it shines, it really shines for me. What about you, like in general with Mary Shirley s Frankenstein, is it something that you.
Are into? Like were you ever into this film? I saw this movie opening day in Century City, California, of course, and that's this is on the heels. We should say that this is about a year after Bram Stoker's Dracula comes out. Francis Ford Coppola's version, which is the superior version of that book as far as I'm concerned, as
far as adaptations. So expectations were high because Francis Ford Coppola and This and James Heart, the screenwriter of Bromstarkers Regular are the executive producers and effectively producers of this film. So what it seemed like was what we're getting is a whole new era of the universal monsters, you know, and but a literary bent on it. Very excited, very excited. And on top of that, they've gotten Kenneth browna who, to a young Boston Irish kid, was a fucking hero
to me after Henry the Fifth. My god, yes, I'll stand with him. And he's basically following the orson Wells path, so he's starring and writing and directing and just running catering. I was in love with that fool. So the prospect of this movie was very My expectations were very high. And then I saw it, and then my expectations were very,
very low. I do not like this movie. I there are moments in this film that I think are great, there are performances that are great, there's some production stuff, but I remember thinking at the time and then this was wholly confirmed on the rewatch. Maybe he's just an egomaniac. When I think of Orson Wells and I think of the movies he was making and starring it, I never think he's not talented enough to pull this off. And I think that several times while watching Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Maybe it's miscasting. Maybe he casts the wrong guy in it, maybe he hired the wrong director. One or the other is out of balance here.
He is the reason why I never went to it like I. You can't imagine how much I hated much ado about nothing. You can't imagine this was totally not me. I don't want costume, dramay stuff, ruffles, mohusive, tight bodices that sort of height it.
Can I tell you that I was a projectionist when that movie came out, and I had a trailer for it, and when we would have parties at the theater after hours,
and I made a loop. There's a moment in the film, and it's in the trailer where it's a close up of a masked figure and the mask pulls off and it's Keanu Reeves looking trying to look really defiant, and it was really funny but I had a couple of different trailers, so I was able to splice that moment and turn it into a loop, so we would have a party in the theater while Keanu Reeves took his mask off over and over again for hours on end. I imagine that was much better than the film. Oh
much better. Certainly.
I hate that stuff, and like Helena Bond and Carto is in it all at that time, and like, knowing she was in there, I do you know what this is going to be? So and then I saw the running time and stuff, you know, like when you're pulling out, like do I want to rent this?
And it's like, yeah, oh, certainly scan down to the runtime. Yeah, if it's ninety minutes, I'll fucking go for it. But like ninety seven, one hour fifty four not having it?
So yeah, So it comes with that all that baggage, which is fair enough, my personal baggage that I put to this film. And I've always been reluctant until you picked it, and I was like, right, I'm going to And then I was like, do you know what, let's get that nice four karrow thing. It's just come out so I can watch it as good as I possibly can. And as I mentioned there that I loved a lot of it, but I really hated a lot of it. And I'm still so unsure of what I feel about
this film and what got me all the time. All the time I was thinking, is this just because it's a different time night before? But was incest like a cool thing in the nineties?
Was it a common thing? Was it not looked down upon? I certainly felt by then we had begun looking down on incestin in no small fashion. Okay, because I'm confused. Well now, now, to be fair, a part that's his adopted sister. It doesn't alleviate anything. It doesn't. We're in the land of Edgar Allen Poe marrying a fourteen year old cousin. This is the time frame we're talking about. I'm not condoning any of it, but no, it adds a weird layer to it. And what's startling to me
is Bromstoker's Dracula. They called it Bromstker's Dracula in an announcement that this is the first time you're actually going to see that novel put on screen. So the promise was that's what they're doing here as well. Which is in no way what they've done. They've made up whole sections of plot in character, they've borrowed from other films in some cases just it. You guys can do what you are.
That I remember reading a book like when I was very young, in fact, I think I was not nine or ten, but I do remember that it like those bookends, and they're in here, So I do remember that. And like something that never ever appeared was when they they he helps like another family or something in secret, and that was in here, but it was so vague from me.
I couldn't remember.
Was that another book that I'd read because I was bigin to Ivanhoe and things like that as well at the time, Like it could have been something in that I don't know, but no, it turns out it was here, and I'm glad for that. But like, I haven't gone through my extras yet. So there's a documentary on that thing, which is like the differences between the book and and I think that'll be interesting to go in.
So like where did they stray like terribly?
Here?
The thing is they're not necessarily straying all the time so much as extrapolating, which is what you do when you adapt a book into a screenplay, right, you take
what you think is the most important section. So what they've chosen to do here is to focus on the romance portion of the Frankenstein book, which is the love between him and Elizabeth, which is mentioned in the book, and she's more of a prop than anything in the book, and then consequently in the film, although they've tried to pump up her character and their romance, the problem is it is the flattest romance. I do not care. The
characters don't care for each other. It's so melodramatically produced. It's all stirring music and unearned. There's not even any passion. These two were fucking at the time, and there's just nothing on screen that turns yeah, man, yeah man. Helena Bonham Carter professional home wrecker. So yeah. At the time, Brian is married to Emma Thompson cast Helena bonm Carter in this and they hook up while they're making this movie. Helen Bonham Carter moves on. Remember Lisa Marie, Remember the
Martian and the Martian woman in Mars Attacks. Okay, so they do. Tim Burton does Planet of the Apes. Lisa Marie is in Planet of the apes as one of the chimpanzee ladies, but the main chimpanzee is Helena Bonham Carter who breaks them up and takes and now, yeah, that's called zero chemistry on the screen. That is insane. Zero chemistry, man like negative, Like they've chosen to focus on an aspect of the book that is barely there
and unnecessary to the plot of this fucking movie. And these two people who are actually in an affair are just like, Oh, you can tell why it didn't last. You have blown my mind with that. I can't believe that.
It's like they hate each other, like in real life, that's what it feels like. And it's like we've contracted in to do this now and that's the total opposite.
I'm stunned. Wow. They Yeah, you know what's funny is the way they interact and just went the way they kiss, it makes it reinforces the brother and sister of it.
Oh, there is a holy shit moment in this film for me, and it is when the romance hopefully is finished at some point.
And then we it never finishes, God damn it.
We get a sort of fade a black and then we open up and we're in a sort of grotty alley way, and there is a de Niro as the monster just you know, cowder like you know, and I was just like, oh, hang on, that's good.
I like that, and.
Every single step of the way for a good chunk of this film. At this point, I was like, this is the best Frankenstein stuff I've ever seen. I was so I was loving everything within that moment. But I don't know how a film can fire so flatly, like almost flatlining, Like I didn't know how we were going to talk about this film at all.
How are we going to do it?
And then that kicks in, and then we get to that family, as I mentioned, and I'm like, what's going to happen here? I'm really invested. Is it impressive to you? Like, as I say, I loved it, It's fine if you think, oh man, that was pretty rubbish as well, but like, where would you go with like that moment, my holy shit moment?
Where would you rate that? That's when the movie comes alive. Actually, what I remember that I liked about the film initially was the stuff with the monster, And then watching it again last night, I really love the stuff with the monster. And now I'm convinced we were robbed of a much better film that focused on the monster and his dealing with the world, because he's always been a pitiful figure as a character. He did not ask to be this thing and does not understand his place or anything and
has to find his way. And this is now what I did like about what we were saying, Like, this sort of sequence of the monster learning is very rarely, if ever shown, where we get to see how he came to speak and how he got up vocabulary. In fact, it should have been longer that he should have spent more time with this family. They added the blind Man. Now the blind Man is a character from Brian or Frankenstein, and now he keeps showing up in all these verses
of Frankenstein. But let's not kid ourselves. He's not in the novel. But if we're going to include him, why aren't they friends for a good portion of this film before the other family find out that the dad's new friend is a fucking monster and beat him up. No, I don't beat him off, but you know what I mean, I'll.
Take it like that is key and I in all it was getting chills at various moments where like because I hadn't seen it before on film, like where he's peeking through and he's learning about love because of the relationship between the mum and the dad in the family, and like about how they treat their children, and like this is an alien concept to him, and it felt so good.
And when he's trying to mouth.
Words together, and I was just like, I was so
¶ John Cleese's Role and Character Changes
impressed with what I was watching, and I did a foolish thing halfway through is I read a few reviews and it said that a common quite a common trait within them was that de Niro was miscast. Now, you mentioned something about being missed. A couple of people miscast earlier.
Only one, only one, No, only Kenneth Brown has miscast in this movie. I think de Niro was. Everyone was all a buzz when he was cast in the movie, like, oh my god, what's he going to do with it? Yeah, he's not miscast in the movie. He's unfortunately got a bad movie framed around him. And we're not given enough of this guy that we're not given enough of this the creature who finds joy in doing good for this family,
for helping them. We don't get enough of this monster who for the I think for the first time cinematically, whenever they've gone to include the character of a bride character he does demand it in the novel, but this is the only time it isn't completely creepy from the get go. It always comes off as I want to mate, give me a girl, whereas this is the monster recognizing that in a family there is satisfaction in peace and acceptance, and that's what he needs. So that's what he's asking for.
Not give me a mate, but give me a companion please, And that sings in this movie. And Danira pulls all that off. Man when they finally run him off, and he's just bawling like a child, Like, who can't feel bad for him? Man, tell me that's a bad performance. What are you out of your minds?
Yeah, I think I think it's Stella, Like I couldn't believe. There was a moment where he pulled like from the frozen ground, like it was pulling turnips out for the family, And as I said, I was getting tills and like, it's so rare that you are in love with a film at that moment, And that was one of them that the music swelling and stuff and like I think
it's because he didn't expect anything back. He just wanted to help them because they're helping him and they don't even realize they're helping him.
It's just such a.
Great moment, and it's like it makes me like love discovering things that I've poo pooed in the past.
So yeah, I don't know.
I just felt so good watching that, and then I just thought to myself, right, what is this.
¶ Kenneth Branagh's Portrayal of Victor Frankenstein
Film got to offer now?
So we've got the I would say that the ship met out the way, but we've got all the romance stuff that that's not going to come back.
I wouldn't do that because we heaven for a fen that they bring that back over and over it and refocus the entire movie for a portion. But I was sad John Claese is gone. Don't you wish that that had been like his Igor character, like that has been his assistant. Instead, what they've done is, see here's a book changed from the book. The Henry Clairval character, the Tom Holt's character. He's a good performance in it too. Is he's trying to provide the comic relief, straining mightily
against this script to provide the comic relief. But he's Victor's childhood friend. He never leaves Geneva and then eventually the monster kills him when in the book, So I know they added it added him to the the ingelestatt section of the movie, but just so Branna has somebody to talk to, but they had the perfect guy to talk to. Let's continue talk about junklies, but I want to talk about the main problem with the Victor Frankenstein character and as he's characterized here.
After all I wanted to say about the John Clee thing is that he was the ray of light in the whole romance bit where we kept going to him and he it was like, oh, okay, so he's going to be the guy that takes him under his wing and we're going to get to learn from him. There's going to be some monologues going on. It just feels cut off before. And I've just come from watching the Life of Brian as well, so instantly, you know, it's
fresh in my mind. I know it is capable of got all those great memories from him, and here he's not playing to type at all. And I was just really enjoying it and like to get as I say, like an anti VAXXA just doing away with him fair enough, like with today's knowledge, Like that's an interesting way to go.
But I could have done with him and the rest of the film for sure. Yeah. I First of all, he looks remarkably like Billy Connolly in this film for some reason, with that wig. I'll try. I kept thinking it was Billy Connolly on occasion. But Coleice Alalys seemed like the darkest member of the Pythons, if that's possible. Some others might have shown it more. But there's just something deeply disturbed about him, and so having to having
that come out a bit is really enjoyable. In fact, like when he gets to the end, like there's a moment right before a transition where he lowers his voice and they were abomin nations and it's like, oh boy, I can't wait for more of this guy. Oh no, no, no, we're just gonna shuffle him out here. We're gonna shuffle him out of here because of the main problem with the movie is Kenneth Brana is a fucking megalomaniac. Let's talk about it then.
So the other thing in the reviews, okay, was Kenneth Branna shouting like instead of like acting his way through it. He decided to shout his way through several scenes. Now that was the worst I could pick. I could think of a few other things to say about him. The issue with he.
Made you think, I think, Okay, I think in each of his movies he cultivated and then bristled against the sort of Orson Wells comparison, like the sort of boy genius does it all kind of thing. So when it came to this movie, he has to look back at
¶ The Birth Sequence and Its Impact
all the different performances of Victor Frankenstein up until then, and he has to find a lane that hasn't been done and he has to commit to it. And meanwhile, newly fit Kenneth Branna because he's Hollywood eyes. Now he's done dead again by now? And did he do much to do about nothing but it probably yeah, yeah, So he decided to make this an ode to his physique and make this a muscular Victor Frankenstein instead of the shivering, barely sunlit lab dweller or the jibbering maniac. He was
going to make him a football start. I mean, the let me okay, we'll get more of this, but I do want to say that my main problem with the characterization of Victor Frankensteinire is he wants him to be the completely obsessed maniac, the character who needs to conquer death or create life more to the point, but he also wants it to be happy and romantic. So we get the death of his mother, which is the kickoff point in the novel and points to why he's doing
this to begin with. I think he doesn't want anyone to die. But that shift in character means that he is now deeply wounded and flawed and obsessed with one thing and one thing only, and he becomes dissociated from his town. Like in the book that he leaves and they don't hear from him anymore, and he's just fucking
focused on his business. But here they want to cultivate the romance, so he's still I mean, we find out he's not writing letters, but we're made to think he is, and it distracts from everything, and it makes his character like, you can't be fucking bouncy and tortured. It just doesn't work.
It's such a shame. There is too much naked Kenneth, you know. I feel like it's a you know, when dads discover Instagram and then then get all buff.
It's like that.
It's like it's like, yeah, I might be divorced, but look what I can do. It's got that sort of vibe to it. But it's so melodramatic. It's so every single thing that he does isn't just done as it would be. Everything has to be important, and yeah, if you were focused on this one thing, like that's what you would be focused on, you'd become a nerd within yourself, you know you would.
You would be like, right, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this properly. And I don't. I don't ever feel that. I just don't. It's so wild wild. Yeah, let's face it that he's decided that the birth sequence is going to be him fucking the monster into life. It's him disrobed and running and grunting and pulling chains that make logs slam into other things and bodies swinging around and then dumped into a vat of amnionic fluid.
Now they make a point to show us in some sort of workhouse medico situation, a woman giving birth and a spittoon of some sort catching all the amniotic fluid so later when we see that tank and it's filled to the brim, and you know that Paul, you, me and everyone could get into that fucking tank. How long was he collecting that? Did he have people on staff? Where's his money coming from? What's going on here? It's really weird anyway, Yeah, it's so weird. So he makes
it like this thing where Frankenstein golden locked Frankenstein. Let's not forget that. We're talking a lot about the physique, but he really frames it all with this giant mane of a lion hair. You know, he learned from his actual hero, Laurence Olivier. If you're gonna make the black and white movie, make sure you're blonde. You want to you want all the focus on you. I don't know. It just ends up being ridiculous him to your point, shouting instead of it's alive and the joy of it,
he's screaming it into life. He's making it live because he's so virile.
I think that scene is uh, super gay. I super enjoyed it. I didn't expect anything like that, you know, I was expecting like a you know, when there's a homage. A homage is very good word for it. I was expecting that and that's not what we got. It's not at all. It was so gay, and I was like, I don't know where this is gonna go.
This is electric eels. Let me talk, let's speak to the phallicness of it all. There's no lightning here. There's a vat of electric eels that is in a bladder that is pulsating, and then he hooks up a tube and sends in the eels.
Yeah, it's a fantastic birthing scene of the monster, but also absolutely ridiculous. And here's the thing, right that was still in a bit where I'm still uming and a ring about this whole film, as I say, And it wasn't enough to get me on board, but it was bizarre.
It was just bizarre.
It took like that de Niro sequence to sort of get me into this thing, and it really did get me into it, but it didn't last well.
Can I just say that the end of that scene, when we finally get the monster with the vat of viscous fluid that dumps out onto the floor and Frankenstein comes and just tries to help him stand that scene, I'm making fun of Branna a lot for his performance here, but his instinct as a filmmaker there to let that
play because it goes on forever. I think back. I only saw that Movi be in the theater thirty years ago, thirty three years ago something, and that's the image that comes to mind him those two sort of slickly trying to get up this do this amnionic slide, this naked oil wrestling moment, the diddy dip, if you will. It's shocking and disturbing and horrifying and sweet at the same time because he really is trying to help his creation here and he hasn't yet rebuked him. I don't know.
Something about that whole image is what makes the whole movie. If the movie works at all, it's working right here.
In an interview that I watched somewhere on YouTube after I watch this, he called this film a gothic romance. He didn't mention horror, no shit, Jesus, But in that moment it's so gross, like if you were going to say a pinpoint of horror moment, it's so like cinema, you know, you'd be like, oh, watching this thing, it fit that at that moment, it really does feel like a horror, and it's not your traditional scares or anything like that.
It's just something that's so sick, and it's revulsion, which you rarely get in a movie without it just being gross out. There's something, there's a creeping factor to it that that gets under your skin, and it's almost by accident. So maybe that's why it's featured so well, because there's nothing in the rest of the movie that does a horror movie. It's all action from there on out. You can't even have the character sneak up on another character.
There are so many moments where you could have easily crafted a scare in this film, and he's just like, no, I'll have him jump off a cliff like a fucking wrestler for some reason. Here, what are you doing? What about?
Like when the monster stitches up the maid, I think it is for killing the girl, and then a group a mob finder and then they hang.
Her so they throw off.
Its a really tall building and like the neck crack and everything. The way that's filmed is so mattterrift rather than like dumb for a horror scare. So I still of get where he's going, Like his nose, it's a gothic romance rather than that, well.
You don't want to live in Geneva, man, that the townsfolk there are just ready to rite at every fucking moment. But yeah, you know what's funny is I appreciated that they accelerated the sequence from the book here where the maid gets framed for Williams murder. But the thing is in the book they try her, there's a trial, and she's sentenced, and then she's hung publicly and Victor does nothing. He just stands because he doesn't want people to know
that it was his creation that actually did this. And then that guilt is part of the part of the escalating guilt that he feels, and it just gets getting worse because it just keeps coming and coming and coming for him. But he's not interested in that. He's interested
¶ Characterization and Makeup Design
in the romance part of it. And this annoyance of a character.
You mentioned this the sort of like the way they fastly go through the book, and it feels like to me and I can't remember the book very well, but there's certain things that we know when you close your eyes, like oh, I think there was like a snowy mountains and stuff, and there they are, but like it goes so fast through all these things, like it becomes an epic adventure where he then goes off to find the monster and you know, we're in like snow snowcap mountains
and things, and then the next scene that they're talking in a cave and then the next scene is it all happens so fast it's crazy for me that like, what's happened.
To this film? Yeah, you know what's funny? Okay, So I don't know the work of Steph Lady all that much, but I do know Frank Darebyn's work, and he should have motherfucking known better because structurally this movie is so concerned with and I think this is owing to the bram Stokers Dracula of but all, it's so concerned with telling the aspects of the book that hadn't been told before as a novelty that it ends up overstuffed, so we end up skimping on things that we need, which
it's so busy jumping scene to scene to plot point to plot point that you know, Yeah, in the book, Victor is searching in the mountains for the monster and then they end up in his cave and then they have a conversation. But like we we don't look when the monster showed up at the manor and said, I'll meet you on the frozen sea, and then okay, so then we've got a scene of him fucking mountain climbing, and then we've bet in the tax scene, and then he's got to wake up and slowly come to and
now we're in the cave. He's standing there. Right then, Victor, I need a mate. I'm going to keep killing people until you give me a mate to have the conversation right that. Why did we need that sequence other than here's what happened to the book, y'all, and nobody's done this, and I'm going to do.
It, and I did mention I'm at the beginning of it, and I don't want a really long film. I just don't like it until I'm in a film that I'm really enjoying. Then I just wanted to go on forever. But it felt like a cheat to just like skip so quickly, like that whole sequence, which should have been like twenty minutes or something like maybe five. Maybe, you know, It's just I thought it was crazy the way we just did that.
The entire lead up to them in the cave, and conversation should have been spent in conversation, because when de Niro is telling him his woes, I'm very locked in. People who said he's miscast, by the way, I want to reiterate, are idiots. He's great here.
I only ever hear de Niro's voice one time, one time, and it's weird when it slipped through, and it is in that is in that monologue. It just slips once. But how I mean, with that voice, how can you help it right? But I just say, it's so convincing. I'm so convinced he is the monster. Although and I want to get to something about it. The makeup design doesn't make sense. Nope, it's not very good.
It's once again, just as Broano was, I'm going to do muscular, athletic Victor Frankenstein. We have to not in any way do what they've done before with this monster, which is very limiting. It's been done. The character has been drawn and sculpted and makeuped over sixty years by now, seventy eighty years by now. So yeah, you got to do something different, but maybe just make it scary because he needs to be scary. As it is, it looks
like a man who was involved in an accident. Yeah, the townspeople's reactions to him are Yeah, little children would point and cry, certainly, and people would have some yeah, of course, and people would have some rude things to say. But it wouldn't be like, oh my god, it's a monster.
¶ Production Design and Ending Discussion
If you saw born Karlov coming down the street, yeah, you're gonna run, Christopher leaven and I wouldn't also, you know, we'd be like, come on, dude, let's go.
I'm just going out on the time with you. But at the same time, and they do it again with Boncar spoilers at the end.
They do it with.
Her at the end where there was no reason for the cuts on the face to be stitched up. Because there's no reason for the cuts to be on the face.
It's no. They tried to do this thing where they light her head on fire and then we want those burns, but we don't because we want her to be monstrous, and the only way to be monstrous is stitching. But they light they lit her head on fire, they've melted her face. She's not looking great. I think that'll do it right, Yeah, but oh no, let's stitch up an eye. We haven't seen that before, Like, how about make her sexier?
How about that go on all the way? It makes it seem like something we haven't seen dead after fucking Bardess.
Very very annoying because I mean, you said it. There are so many things in this film that could be the best ever Frankenstein film for me, and it just fails at certain moments that are like, Wow, why did you do that? I don't understand why you did. It was unnecessary to do it, but they did.
Well.
I want to look at this bit of my note because I don't know why I've said it. Oh I do. It's the mountains. I got extremely angry in my notes when he was in the mountains. It's like, why are we here? Two minutes ago he was at home, Like this.
Is too quick. Now we'll go to the Alps for some reason? What walk we can? I tell you the scariest part of this movie, please, The fucking staircase in Frankenstein manor that railingless giant staircase in the house, terrifying. Imagine walking in night and go I gotta go down and get a sandwich and waa another one. When are we getting a railing Papa?
That I've made a note of it because I was it was the best thing about the first forty minutes I thought was that staircase agreed. There was a moment where they have a row and Bonco runs up it and like she's like, wow, this could be a long scene and it fights out.
It fights out on her. They had to. I think overall, the production design in this movie is beautiful. I thought they did a great job. The costumes are fucking fantastic. They're a little too cost to me, a little two sometimes it looks like they were just made. But I will say, of if there's a problem with Frankenstein's makeup, there's no problem with that great cloak that they put him in. That's fantastic looking and menacing as hell. Costumes
overall really great. My problem with it is that Branna is going for He wants it to be grubby and gross because the times were grubby and gross. But he's so hung up on melodramatic epic that he can't get out of his own way. He shoots this movie like he would eventually shoot his version of Hamlet. It's very softly focused in lit in places, so even when they're like rolling around in the dirt in the alleyways. It
doesn't look all that, it doesn't look unsanitary. It looks like they're gonna wash that off because they're actors in a movie.
Yeah, even when he is in the shed next to the pig sty, like he's literally living in a pig sty, it seems all right. It seems like, well, that's the best time that you know, he's ever going to have in fact, in his sorry life. So yeah, I don't know, And we've got it. Before we finish this, we need to mention the ending. This film's bookended, much like the book is book nded. Yes, so with regards to it, we've got different set of characters. We're on an expedition
to find I think it was a north Pole. I think that's where we're going, and they come across Frankenstein and the monster. Now I know how cynical it was to put it all in there, like because he wanted to do things that hadn't been seen before.
But I really liked it.
I liked the whole idea of that, and I've got nothing against it, no problem with it at all. In fact, rather enjoyed the way that was done. So I'm okay with it again. With the reviews, a few people were saying it's unnecessary and I wouldn't mention it unless it was if it was one, But there was a few people saying it was a bit like just added on to pad out the running time.
¶ Double Bill Recommendations and Final Thoughts
And I don't see that. I'm sort of I don't feel one way or another about it. Like I did appreciate seeing it portrayed. I just think it fumbles the ball in the scared department because being trapped on this ship in the ice and this madman climbs aboard and now there's a monster out there that wants him. What a potent setup for the rest of this movie while he's telling the tale, Yes, as the monster is getting more and more crew members just because it wants this guy.
Like it could have been fucking great. But what we get is him just it is a book end. It's here's my story and then at the end, don't do what I did.
Okay, we do get an iconic sort of it's almost like a painting of the monster's death, and like, I really did enjoy that, and I wrote, Okay, that looks iconic. I like that we're talking about the bonfire yeah. Yeah, we're talking about like what they call it, like a pire a funeral. Yeah, so I like that, and like the whole way like that that's his like father and burning, and then he's burning within it as well, and just like, oh man, that looks good, okay, and then it's sort
of as it finished. It just left me so conflicted about what i'd seen because those moments that I enjoyed, I didn't just enjoy. I enjoyed it like it's my favorite ever film enjoyment. I loved certain moments, But I've never had that experience with a film that just pissed me off so many times.
It's the weirdest experience. It's a complicated film in that regard because it is so clumsy for so long, but then when it shines, it really shines. The moments that I've mentioned that I really enjoyed I were magnified a thousand times on the rewatch. So I understand what you're saying. It's a bad movie, though, Paul, don't kid yourself. It's number two next to the original the OG. No, Well, you are so wrong. I hear you popping off about stuff all the time. We're not even going to bring
up Young Frankenstein right now. But now you've just gone too far by even putting this in your top five. Frank and Stein should be on your list before this movie.
Ow day, Okay, I will try Young Frankenstein again, though, because I think it's my most common email that I get is people just tell me I'm wrong.
So because you are. This is just two ways about it.
I mean, but Father Malone, where are you gonna take us for a double bill?
Where's it going for? You stole Franken Hooker from me, so I'm not gonna go there. Although that's a natural that movie has a problem just because it has that goomba character, that fucking guy who showed up in a bunch of trauma movies for two seconds, that which which admittedly is a character you've never seen in a horror movie before the what is this ship? What's doing over there? Monster? Or what? We haven't really seen that guy. I guess we did back in the Dead End Kids days of
the anyway, So not Franken Hooker. But I based on the characterization of the monster how he's presented dramatically here, which I think is the best part of the movie, I would recommend not a movie, but a television series that would be Penny Dreadful, where it's basically a monster mash team up thing where that we've were mixing and matching all of the Victorian horror characters. There is a Mina Harker character, and a there's a Wolfman and a
Dracula and Frankenstein. There's a Victor Frankenstein who is the more sort of drug addicted ready portrayal of what he would probably actually be like. And the monster, on the other hand, is fucking fantastic and just as soulful and as vicious and unpredictable as he would actually be. I think, if you want the true Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, take a step outside that book entirely and check out what they were doing on Penny Dreadful for two seasons. It's fucking phenomenal. So I found that.
In a in this country it's called pound Land for both seasons. I got it for a pound So yeah, I love that. And it was because I watched episode three I think it was, and I found it like, oh hello, like what's this and then I've never watched it. It's just sitting there gathering dust.
Oh my no continue continue. In fact, when what they'll eventually get to it spoilers everybody. But this is only sort of sauce for the Goose. I think we get to meet the monster before we go flashbacks to his life prior to dying and becoming the monster, and interactions with other characters on the show that we did not know they had any interaction at all. It's really fascinating.
It's really good. And I cannot remember the actor's name right now, but I know he's the son of a famous other actor and ah, it's killing me.
Nevertheless, he's really good. The final thing with it, how long is this two seasons? Is it like like a twenty two like an X Files thing or is it? No?
Thank god they were following the British model by then, this was a showtime series, so I think there are ten, maybe twelve episodes per season. Okay, but you know what, you know what, every hour you devote to the show is going to be worth your time. Okay, I'll come mind, young Frankenstein, give it a chance. Well, for my double bill, I went for may Oh, just excellent flick. I love that movie. She's She's creepy as hell. Angela madness. I believe you know it. Yeah, I don't know why she
wasn't more popular. If she had made the scene right now, she'd be a huge fucking star. She'd be a goth superstar. She was right on the cusp there before goth culture really exploded. Yeah, she scares me. Actually, she's more just her.
The way about her in May is more scary than the whole of this film that we've been talking about.
Just her in any given scene. I agree.
Hey, father mellow, thank you very much for chatting with me about missus Mary Shelley and her Frankenstein.
Always a pleasure.
Okay, I've only just discovered this thing. I found it on YouTube, so I can't really say if I like.
It or not yet.
Whilst I was watching a film, it was way too much. It was way overbearing. But I've listened to it once already and I think it's okay separated from the film so far, but it needs a few more spins now. This is only one of four horror movie scores that Patrick Doyle has actually bothered scoring. Not a very huge
horror fan this one. But the other one that he's done is a two thousand and six take on Jekyll and Hyde, a scary kids film called Igor and Stephen King also ran adaptation called Needful Things, so there's his reports. Whilst I already know Needful Things, I don't really rate that score. This one's already a lot better and I've only listened to it once. But as I say, I can't be a judge. It's not fair. Perhaps you can, though,
As I say, I found it on YouTube. So where can you find this film to watch?
Though?
Well, a few months ago you're able to watch this for free on Pluto, but it's now left that streaming service, so I don't know. I don't know how you're going to watch yours for free right now. I guess we've just got to suck it up and spend some cash. As for podcasts, well, in twenty eighteen August Rewind podcast they focused almost two hours on this beauty and it's
a really good podcast. I would recommend that as well as well as maybe if you're in the mood, just listen to this one again, because myself and father alone we smashed it, if I say so myself. That is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein