Now, the book starts with Robert Walton finding Victor Frankenstein in the arctic. After several days sleeping, Victor wakes up and tells Captain Walton his life story. I'm at odds with this sort of bookend in a movie sense, because beginning with the Walton story and ending with it only works in a narrative sense, if you ask me, of course. No, no. My version of Frankenstein starts with Victor Frankenstein's mother dying. As Victor sees her pass away, he'll seek to conquer the secrets of life and death. That would make a bit more sense, to start the story of Victor Frankenstein given the reason to bring the dead back to life. In the novel, Victor studies the natural sciences and philosophy, and sort of envisions what life is and how he can control it. His mother does die in the book, but it isn't touched on enough. No, there'd be a genuine reason for Victor to want to cure death and control life.
Skipping ahead to college, Frankenstein is heavily influenced by alchemy and the teachings of both chemistry and philosophy from Doctor Waldman. Victor learns that reanimating dead tissue is impossible in terms of modern science, but with a recent, secret discovery of Waldman's, stem cells, Victor seeks to combine that with the works of Giovanni Galvani, famous for his experiments on corpses using electricity. Victor steals some stem cell samples and rents out a warehouse to test his experiments, eventually dropping out of college to have time for them.
Victor draws up blueprints for creating a man, and steals what body parts he can from both the cemetery and the slaughterhouse. The final result is a man-shaped creature almost nine feet tall. Generating electricity from a large motor, and bringing the brain and heart back into working order thanks to stem cells, the creature awakens, horrifying Victor.
Now, at this point, I'm conflicted. Do I make the monster hideous or not? While I'd like to make him a sexy bad boy, that would completely be missing the mark. I'd like to point out that no human being is born ugly, but if you're stitched together by a college dropout using animal parts and had yellow eyes, you'd be terrifying. I'd keep it somewhere in the middle: human-looking and ugly, just not green and corpse-like.
Victor is horrified with his creation and tries to destroy it, setting the lab on fire in the process and passing out from exhaustion and fear in the process. After waking up hours later and examining a few burnt bones in the ashes of the wrecked warehouse, Victor assumes the monster is dead and goes back to live with his family.
The film follows the monster for a bit, struggling to survive in the wilderness. He learns how to speak and read from a family of outsiders and immigrants, who take pity on him. The creature, now going by the name of Adam, learns of the cruelty of man after the family is forced out their home, never to be seen again. Outraged and angry, the creature attacks the angry mob and is forced to flee towards Victor's home, miles and miles away. While Victor is recovering at his friend's house miles away, he receives a letter, telling him that his brother was murdered.
After examining the crime scene and discovering large footprints near where his brother, Ernest, was killed, Victor realizes that the creature is still alive. Justine, a maid, is convicted of the murder after Ernest's golden locket is found among her possessions. Victor knows the creature is to blame, but does nothing, not wanting to tell the world of his crime against nature. Victor watches Justine's execution, and digs up her fresh grave under cover of night, promising to bring her back to life.
Victor rushes back to the university, where he goes to see Dr. Waldman, begging him for more stem cells to undo Justine's death. Victor is followed in and confronted by Adam. Waldman berates Victor for creating such a monstrosity, and is crippled by Adam. Adam tells Victor that they're "even" after killing Ernest, since Victor tried to kill him. Victor tries to attack Adam, but is far too weak to do so. Adam commands Victor to build him a she-monster, after which, he will leave Victor alone forever.
Victor, Waldman and one of Victor's friends (Henry Clerval) use Justine's body and body parts from the university to create a she-monster. The she-monster is brought to life, and it immediately attacks everyone, including Adam. Feeling threatened, Adam goes on a rampage, killing Henry, the she-monster, and eventually, Victor's wife, having just walked in at the wrong time. Adam runs off, Victor chases him to destroy him, and Waldman burns down the lab, killing him and destroying the rest of the stem cells.
Victor is found in the arctic by Captain Walton, a former shadow of his happy and healthy self. On the verge of death, Victor is shocked to see Adam once again, having climbed aboard the boat stuck in ice. Adam does his best to apologize to Victor, and even refers to him as father one time, reciting Paradise Lost. Victor dies without saying anything, and Adam takes his body, walking out into the freezing wilderness, to be alone and to presumably die. Learning that discovery is often dangerous, Captain Walton orders the ship to turn around, never to see the monster or the man who made him again.
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