Saturday 30 January 2016

Bernard Rose's FRANKENSTEIN - UK DVD review

Director Bernard Rose’s take on FRANKENSTEIN (not to be confused with any other films of that name), which is out on UK BD, DVD and Digital February from Signature Entertainment, gives the tale a modern day makeover, transplanting the action to present day Los Angeles.

A group of scientists at an illicit research lab, create a young man (played by Twilight’s Xavier Samuel) through genetic engineering. But unfortunately, their “experiment” goes wrong and his cells begin to mutate, creating legions and deformities all over his body.

Escaping from the lab, he eventually winds up amongst the homeless on the streets of LA. Where he is befriended by a blind musician, named Eddie (played by the Candyman himself Tony Todd), who teaches him how to live on the streets.

Told entirely from the point of view of the young man, nicknamed “Monster” by Eddie and the other street people, the film is an interesting take on the old Mary Shelley tale. There are a number of nods to the original story, the monster being chased by an angry mob (brandishing baseball bats rather than torches this time) after the near drowning of a young girl, and of course the Monster being befriended by a blind guy.

There were also some interesting modern twists to the tale, like the scientists creating people through 3D printing and the Monster finding his way back to the lab thanks to a mobile phone GPS app.

The film was quite enjoyable and was very well made, for what was obviously a mid-budget production and has a surprisingly good cast, which also includes Carrie Ann Moss (The Matrix). Though the story of Frankenstein is one that’s been done countless times before, so doesn’t really offer anything that new, despite the modern twists.

If you enjoyed Bernard Rose’s previous films, such as Candyman and Paperhouse, you should enjoy this one. Though it’s Tony Todd who arguably steals the show here.

FRANKENSTEIN is available on UK digital platforms from February 15th and on UK Blu-ray and DVD from February 22nd courtesy of Signature Entertainment. 

View the trailer on YouTube
Buy the UK BD from Amazon.co.uk
Buy the UK DVD from Amazon.co.uk

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