For those who know me I might have already told you that back in highschool, there were two books I particularly had affection for :
first one is Dracula, by Bram Stocker, which I already discussed about (and it's sequel whose alternative title must be "Dracula on crack")
and the second one is : Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley.
Of course, everybody know what's it all about : a scientist trying to create a human being, turns out that he will create something not really human that will become someone to fear. This a story about science, love, religion, and of course it holds a very important message : "stop messing around with nature or you will face something that goes way beyond your own capacities" (and especially today, some men SHOULD BE knowing that !)
the book is awesome, it's simple, well written, there's action, there's passion, and more than one time you'll find yourself shivering in your room (even with Kate Perry turned on at full volume....... in fact... I would be too scared to continue in this situation...)
So, as a lover of this book (who not only enlightened me but also switched on my love for british literature of the XIXth century) I tried to watch films that was made out of it !
first thing I have to say is that nowadays Frankenstein and his creature are not fashion, vampires are, not scientist. So there wouldn't be blockbusters on the story for now... but that might change.
I couldn't have my hands on the classic movie in black and white, but that's something I swear I'll fix one day ! so I'm just gonna focus on the both version I saw : Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, with Kenneth Branagh, and Frankenstein with... er... Luke Goss
Well the first movie I saw was the one with Kenneth and Robert de Niro, and I must confess that I really enjoyed it, what made the book great was there , but maybe sometimes the movie was going to far from the original book
WOW ! that's not Frankenstein's creature ! he looks more like the Nemesis from Resident Evil 3
Of course, the most common face of the creature we know is this one :
but I don't remember this from the book. As far as I recall, the book mention the creature as "anormally large, with long black hairs and yellow eyes". Why did they make this ? this is not even close to what the book told ? plus, as a kid, I was a big fan of the castlevania games, and as you all know, frankenstein's creature makes very often an appearance... and this is the same design... so I really thought Shelley described it like that.
Well, after this shock, there are others minor differences, like after the creature killed Frankenstein's wife, the good doctor tries to revive her and makes her become like the first creature... shocked by that, the poor woman burns herself a life after a small beating between the two men (and yes, it was for the lady...) ... a very famous (I didn't say "good") Canadian singer would say : "...Aouch ?"
the movie was satisfying but the end is maybe a bit too fast... the race between Frankenstein and his creature last for about 1 minute, in the movie, and, from what I remember, it's like the last important scene of the book. Even if I liked the movie, I was still disappointed with the looks and behaviour of the creature, so the search for a good Frankenstein movie was still on...
Check in for part II we'll see the other Frankenstein movie
(I would have written it right now if I had the time, but I'm out of time. "I'll be back !")
Edited by TechnoWolf, 19 November 2010 - 07:40 AM.