I, FRANKENSTEIN (2014)

I, FRANKENSTEIN (2014). Stuart Beattie, dir., script. Kevin Grevioux and Stuart Beattie, screen story, from the Darkstorm Studios graphic novel by Kevin Grevioux, with primary characters by Mary Shelley. Michelle McGahey, prod. design. USA, Australia: Hopscotch Freatures, Lakeshore Entertainment (prod) / Lionsgate (US dist.), 2014; see IMDb for world-wide distribution. 93 min.

A mashup of SciFi (sic), horror, gothic drama, and a motif or two from medieval drama making a comeback. The Storyline from IMDb summarizes the premise as "Frankenstein's creature finds himself caught in an all-out, centuries old war between two immortal clans," to which Erlich adds that the two "clans" are Demons and Gargoyles, with the Gargoyles Terran agents for the more militarily-tasked Archangels (the Archangels, make no appearance, but their appeance has been foreshadowed if they appear in any sequels). There is a suggestion of a battle also for the psyche of Frankenstein's Creature — given the name "Adam" here — so we have (possibily unconsciously) a good old-fashioned War in Heaven, only fought on Earth, plus a Psychomachia. Relevant here are images of three dimensional rows and columns of human corpses — think COMA or MATRIX, but with dead people — in close containment surrounded by mechanisms and wires and devices electrical, electronic, cybernetic, steampunk, and ur-steampunk from the time of Victor Frankenstein. There is also a beautiful sequence of a dead lab rat wired up and in a super-hightech device, being jolted into re-animation. Note that the "anima" part of the reanimated human corpses will be demons banished to Hell, who can come back to possess only bodies without souls, which means they can only possess the dead, but can't make them effectively animated; the paradoxical problem will be resolved if they possess a dead body and then the body is revived. The climax of the movie, with The Fate of Humankind in the Balance!!!, there are images of fiery demons possessing the dead bodies while electricity, cybernetic (data?) impulses, and cinematic pyrotechnics surround and interpenetrate the bodies, so there's a spirit of fire inside a corpse, penetrated by various natural forces, and temporarily contained and restrained within something like a Iron Maiden — with their getting loose a threat. Erlich does not know what to make of this, but notes he was the only one among a small audience who laughed, although the Variety critic found amusing the end-credit "special thanks" to Mary Shelley, however much that was all he found amusing, or entertaining.

5. DRAMA, RDE, 24/I/14