Having not directed a film in almost two decades (the last being 1971’s Von Richthofen and Brown), B-movie guru Roger Corman was lured (by a $1 million payday) to helm 1990’s Frankenstein Unbound. It would prove to be his final directorial effort.
A sci-fi / horror mash-up, Frankenstein Unbound has more in common with Corman’s Poe films of the 1960s than the low-budget but entertaining schlock he churned out in the decades that followed.
The story opens in the year 2031, in the city of New Los Angeles. Dr. Buchanan (John Hurt) has developed a powerful weapon that emits a particle beam, one strong enough to vaporize enemy combatants, yet at the same time precisely focused, meaning it will not damage the surrounding environment. Unfortunately, Buchanan’s weapon has one very serious side effect: it fractures time and space, and opens a portal that transports him to the past.
Finding himself in Switzerland in the year 1817, Buchanan meets none other than Victor Frankenstein (Raul Julia), who is reeling from the recent death of his younger brother. Justine Moritz (Catherine Corman), the child’s former caretaker, has been accused of killing the boy and is currently standing trial. But Buchanan knows the truth: it was the monster that Frankenstein himself created (played here by Nick Brimble) who committed the murder.
Eager to save Justine from the gallows, Buchanan enlists the help of Mary Godwin (Bridget Fonda), a young writer who has taken a keen interest in the trial. Recognizing her as the eventual author of Frankenstein, and therefore perhaps the only person who can prove Justine’s innocence, Buchanan visits Mary on a nearby island, where she is vacationing with her lover Percy Shelley (INXS’s Michael Hutchence) and Shelley’s friend and fellow poet Lord Byron (Jason Patric).
But there is more at stake here than the life of an innocent nanny. It seems the monster, which continues to roam the countryside, is demanding a mate, and has threatened to kill Frankenstein’s fiancé Elizabeth (Catherine Rabett) unless Frankenstein creates one for him. With his knowledge of electricity, Buchanan might be able to help Frankenstein save Elizabeth, but is he willing to assist in bringing yet another potentially violent creature into the world?
It is a fascinating story, with strong performances by Hurt, Brimble, and especially Raul Julia, whose Victor Frankenstein proves at times even more monstrous than his creation. Yet as he did with such Poe outings as The Masque of the Red Death and The Tomb of Ligeia, it’s the world - or should I say worlds - Corman and his team conjured up throughout Frankenstein Unbound that most impressed me. Starting with the future’s New Los Angeles (brought to life via futuristic gadgets, matte paintings, and Buchanan’s pretty kick-ass talking car) through to early 19th century Switzerland, the sets and costumes are all very convincing.
The same can’t be said for the special effects (including one rather strange scene where a Mongol emerges from the time rift and attacks Buchanan), which are on-par for a film from this time period, meaning they have not aged well. That said, the make-up (especially that of the monster) and various gore effects all looked awesome, and did their part to update this classically-themed story for modern-day horror aficionados.
All this, plus the film’s thought-provoking ending (in which Buchanan is forced to contemplate his own life’s work and its parallels to Victor Frankenstein’s), served as proof positive that Roger Corman hadn’t lost his touch. As gorgeous, as entertaining, and as challenging as anything he made previously, it’s a damn shame that Corman didn’t direct more movies after Frankenstein Unbound.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
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