“Guest accomodations are at The Supporters Inn, where we support you in everything you do, including sitting at the dinner table!”
(Don’t get the chili!)
The visuals for I, Frankenstein (2014) were undoubtedly a startlingly immersive experience, but on the small screen, the lack of an interesting story becomes apparent in this sequel to the original Frankestein. The original novel, for all that it was a response to a challenge to write a horror story to a group that included the author, Mary Shelley, found its true calling in its exploration of themes concerning humanity, how we treat the Other, and how such treatment can redound, much to the detriment of those responsible for same.
In this sequel, the monster stumbles into a war, but not a human war, which would make some sense and link the audience to the story. No, this is a fight to the death between the demons of Hell and a legion of Gargoyles, representatives of Heaven. Both sides can assume human appearance, or can take on their native appearance for purposes of tearing the other side to pieces.
The monster, named Adam by the Queen of the Gargoyles, is special to the demons because the demons face a limitation: they need bodies empty of a soul, yet still living, in order to make their appearance on Earth. Only with an enhanced army can they finish off the Gargoyles, who apparently have no manner of replenishment, or at least none that is shared with the audience. Adam, having killed Dr. Frankenstein’s wife and caused the death of the good Doctor himself, and being assembled from pieces, is thought to be the key to bringing dead bodies back to life – sans souls. And so for two hundred years he’s stumbled around the Arctic, pursued by demons.
Let’s review: we have demons and gargoyles, neither of which appear to be trustworthy, we have the monster, responsible for the murder of the Doctor’s wife and is lacking in charm, and we have the current-day doctors working on revivification without knowing their employers are demons from Hell. Nary a sympathetic character across the landscape.
At this juncture, the only thing that can save this story would be some self-consciousness, manifested in clever lines or even plot complications from the humans, but we don’t get that. It’s just a lot of demon on gargoyle on monster on demon violence, with not much going for it in terms of interesting theme, character development, or plot complications. We could have even had a credible romantic subplot (“my, what big stitches you have!”), but they skipped that one, too.
So if you like demons and gargoyles and have a big screen – a huge screen – this might be worth your time. Otherwise, don’t bother. You’ll spend your time creating an alternative script. Here’s how I felt about this movie:
