This October, I decided to do something different. No strict movie reviews that are a few paragraphs each, and no going to Party City. I don't care if nobody reads this, this is sort of for myself. There's nothing in this essay that you couldn't learn by reading the original book, but this is merely an exercise in my creative process.
With the modern world embalmed by technology, both good and bad, it's important to remember the risks that come with scientific discoveries. Nuclear energy has the potential for good, but with the future of weaponry uncertain, maybe Einstein was right, regretting that he wanted to become a watchmaker instead of the man who helped create the atomic bomb.
Mary Shelly's Frankenstein has a bit more of a humble origin. Mary and her husband were in a gloomy old house with some friends, and decided to entertain eachother. Inspired by the works of Luigi Galvani, Mary Shelly wrote a story about creating a man from parts of a corpse. Since then, Frankenstein has been made into so many movies and parodies, that people know the story dead on. Here's a quick fact: You probably don't, which is a shame. The actual book is quite good. The fact that I have bought multiple versions of it speaks volumes on how dedicated I would be to creating my own version of Shelly's work.
Now, it would be boring and egotistical if I made a 100 percent novel-accurate rendition of Frankenstein, so I thought I would tell you how I'd make a Frankenstein movie if I had the time and funds. This is in part inspired by Cinemassacre's analysis of the major Dracula films, discussing which one is closest to the novel. While I'd like to follow the novel mostly, I'd like to invent my own adaptation. While Francis Ford Coppola made a Dracula movie and a Frankenstein movie, both of which were intended to follow the novels more closely, they were kinda over the top. Don't worry, I absolutely adore Coppola's version of Dracula, but it was his vision and not mine. This is sort of a thought experiment on how I would go about a Frankenstein movie.
My main goal in a Frankenstein movie would be to try and make it my own. No "it's alive" or Igor, like in the Universal films. Hammer Studios introduced a lot of great ideas, but it'd be best not to copy those, since they were mostly made with sequels in mind. Ideally, I'd keep my Frankenstein as a solo picture. Adding onto that would be my wish to keep it as far away from other monsters as possible. So no, Dracula and the creature would not meet in a sequel. Sorry. While the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduced a lot of great ideas, it kind of intoxicated the creative process by making sequels mandatory, and crossovers inevitable. In fact, Universal's new revival of their classic horror movies are already being made into a shared universe, and it seems so forced, it isn't even funny. The adaptation I'd take the most inspiration from is the manga version written and drawn by Junji Ito, who is most know for his body horror comics. His version, in my opinion, is the best. It takes necessary risks without going overboard and becoming really, really stupid.
With that out of the way, let me break it down piece by piece, starting with the characters.
Next week, I'll break down the plot and characters, so you can understand what I'm trying to do in practice.
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