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Our celebration of Frankenstein’s Monster as an honorary zombie is veering off a little this week. “The Bride” was not, let’s face it, a very good movie. It was overwrought, melodramatic and often ham-fisted. For all that, it did present a nicely original take on the old story and had pretty damn fine monster.
The dim-witted monster, named “Viktor” by his only friend, was played to perfection by Clancy Brown. Brown is one of those rare actors that is absolutely great in everything he does. While his prosthetics here are, sadly, a bit unimaginative, his performance is layered and meaningful. The character is simple-minded, but capable of an impressive emotional depth. Brown’s performance captures his loyalty, devotion and need to be loved.
So the movie isn’t great, but Brown’s performance makes it well worth the effort. Because of him, we welcome Viktor into this admittedly not-so-exclusive club.
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“Surviving Zombies: Apocalypse Field Guide” on the Science Channel
Educational – 2012 – Television Mini-series (Two Episodes)
I missed this when it first aired, but caught it recently. Although it didn’t set the world on fire (get it, because it’s about the apocalypse!) it’s worth a watch. There are, after all, just two 30-minute episodes.
The show follows three buddies who happen to run a business designing and fabricating a truly lethal line of medieval weapons at their shop, Zombie Tools. They’re all personable, clearly knowledgeable and different enough to be interesting. The show didn’t last enough to let them get really comfortable, but they acquitted themselves well.
The guys are planning for the worst and, using a trio of shipping containers as a base, go about setting themselves up a survival bunker in the woods. While I may not agree with all of their choices, they did make an interesting build. Interspersed are shorter segments covering first aid, nutrition and other topics. They’re all decent, but all hamstrung by time. With only 44 minutes total, there’s just not enough of it.
The show ends long before the bunker is at all complete (we actually never even get to see the inside). There are a lot of plans, but no time for execution. More disappointingly no tests are ever performed. Most of the fun of playing zombie apocalypse, of course, is actually fighting zombies. It’s a fun watch, but unfortunately more potential than execution.
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From the exciting conclusion of “Witches”, issue #91, by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialona, Daniel Green, Lee Loughridge and Todd Klien
Now that we’ve gotten through the obvious, our celebration of Frankenstein’s Monster as an honorary zombie can start to dig into some of the more interesting interpretations of the character. One of my very favorites is Frankie from Bill Willingham’s amazing comic series “Fables“. Although the series will sadly end with issue #150 early in 2015, it has left an indelible trail of joy for thousands of dedicated fans.
Although a minor character, Frankenstein’s Monster, “Frankie” for short, was a memorable one. First introduced in issue #29 as part of a not-so-subtle homage to 1943’s pulp classic, “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man“, he was the result of a Nazi super-soldier experiment. While initially hostile, he calmed down quite bit after being decapitated by an enraged Bigby Wolf. He spent the next decades unliving a peaceful existence in the Fabletown Business Office.
He really came into his own during the “Witches” storyline (Issues #87 – 91) when the magically expansive business office was cut off from the rest of Fabletown and left to fend for itself against the resurgent powers of the evil Baba Yaga. Frankie, having recently discovered his genius (which he missed because he rarely thought about anything) became the brains behind the operation led by the brave Ozian flying monkey, Bufkin. With the help of several unexpected allies, and no small amount of luck, they were able to liberate themselves and defeat the witch.
When Bufkin was later convinced to go on an epic quest (because that’s what heroes do), Frankie was left in the Business Office with his good friend, the Magic Mirror. As neither are particularly ambulatory we have to assume that’s where they remain to this day.
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Greg Nicotero, the director – executive producer – writer – makeup effects supervisor – actor (I think he may also be a valet) for “The Walking Dead”, was awarded the George Pal Memorial Award at the 40th Annual Saturn Awards. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, he couldn’t actually attend the ceremony in person. Instead he (and a few friends) put together this fun, and clearly heartfelt, acceptance speech:
Congratulations to Greg for this well-deserved honor!
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Our celebration of Frankenstein’s Monster as an honorary zombie would be a sad affair if we didn’t include the single most recognizable incarnation of the creature, the one that defines him for at least three generations: Boris Karloff’s portrayal in 1931’s classic “Frankenstein“. The term “iconic” is thrown around loosely, but indisputably applies here. Only 70 minutes long, the movie received universal acclaim and remains firmly ensconced on any serious list of the best movies of all time.
The instantly recognizable make-up was designed and applied by legendary artist Jack P Pierce, who was sadly uncredited. The scarred, protruding forehead and low-brow summoned images of primitive man and ape. The heavily-lidded eyes bespoke the creature’s lack of perception and intelligence while the pinched, cadaverous mouth reminded one of his ghoulish origin. Finally the scars, stitches and bolts graphically evoked the torture of the creature’s existence.
The film made Karloff (actually William Pratt as “Boris Karloff” was purely a stage name) a star. The role was a tortuous one; the four-inch platform shoes weighed 11 pounds each and that was the least part of the elaborate make-up and costume. His performance, significantly changed from the mindless killing machine of earlier scripts, was subtle and nuanced and brought pathos to the creature that resonated with audiences. He was monster, to be sure, but a reluctant, pitiable one.
It may be said, in fact, that the movie overshadowed the source material in a way few adaptations ever have.. Nearly every incarnation of the story sense owes at least something to this film. Every parodied scream of, “It’s alive!” and every stiff-legged, grunting monster are directly inspired by it. For almost everybody this is “Frankenstein”.
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Horror/Thriller – 2013 – 102 Minutes
It’s very difficult to review this movie. One of the reasons that I enjoyed it so much is that I had absolutely no background on it; no expectations at all. All I saw was that Sharlto Copley [IMDB] was in it, and assumed – playing the odds – that it would be great. As it unfolded I was completely in the dark and it vastly improved the experience. You should go watch it now, before learning anything else. I’ll wait.
See, wasn’t that pretty great?
The movie opens with Copley unconscious and in a open pit full of corpses. He can’t remember who he was, or how he got there. After being helped out of the pit by an anonymous stranger he finds a nearby house with several others and discovers that the amnesia seems to be universal. Mistrust is thick as people begin to make and trust their assumptions. What’s going on? Why is there a pit of corpses on their lawn? Who’s to blame (and wouldn’t it seem like the guy in the pit might have deserved to be there)?
The acting is excellent across the board and the script maintains suspense perfectly. It doles out nuggets of inscrutable information that increase interest, but fail to clarify events. The atmosphere is finely tuned to highlight the relatively few, but very well done, scares. Unfortunately the movie does get a little scattered as it winds down. It’s impossible to clarify without spoilers, but you may, as I did, get the impression that there were two competing concepts and neither was able to win completely.
The ending may be muddled, but getting there is a hell of a ride. Copley continues his streak of picking, smart, interesting scripts and making the most of them. As I started with, the movie absolutely benefits from ignorance. Don’t both learning anything more about it, just find it and enjoy.
