Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Victor Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie Review

Ai-yi-yi, Frankenstein.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 9, 2016

If there’s one thing Akira Kurosawa’s iconic masterpiece Rashômon has taught discriminating cineastes for several decades, it’s that a change of perspective can often recast a story in unexpected ways. That approach has been repeatedly utilized by filmmakers who aren’t exactly in Kurosawa’s league, frequently with regard to well known properties that are revisited from the point of view of a supporting or even tangential character. Some of these, like Without a Clue, have rather cheekily not just reinvented basic story tropes (in this case, the legendary tales of Sherlock Holmes) but even the preconceived perceptions audiences may have of the characters within those fictional worlds. Something rather similar to Without a Clue is on display in Victor Frankenstein, though probably to less felicitous effect. Just as Without a Clue posited Dr. Watson as the “real” brains in the outfit, a brilliant detective who had invented a fictional character (i.e., Holmes) and then hired an actor to portray him as a “front” for his efforts, Victor Frankenstein offers Igor (Daniel Radcliffe) as something akin to the “power behind the throne”, an intuitive physician whose knowledge of anatomy becomes integral to the experiments of the not quite totally mad (yet) Dr. Frankenstein (James McAvoy), who is in fact still in medical school in this version. Victor Frankenstein was greeted with pretty blistering reviews when it was released theatrically (including by our own Brian Orndorf), but I had a somewhat more favorable response to the film, which is not to say that you’re about to read that this is some kind of undiscovered masterpiece. Buoyed by a rather handsome (if appropriately grimy) production design and interesting if mannered performances by Radcliffe and McAvoy, Victor Frankenstein is something of a cobbled together monster itself, with parts that function at least relatively well and others that seem to be about as useful as an appendix stolen from a rotting corpse and transplanted into an about to be animated body.

One of the kind of probably unintentionally ironic things about this new if perhaps not exactly improved point of view is that the character of Igor is nowhere to be found in the source novel by Mary Shelley, nor (despite a popular misconception) is he in any of the more famous Frankenstein films, at least with that name. While there is indeed a hunchbacked acolyte in Frankenstein, his name was (perhaps comically) Fritz (portrayed by the wonderful Dwight Frye). A character named Ygor (played by Bela Lugosi) does appear in two sequels, 1939’s moody Son of Frankenstein and the less successful 1942 The Ghost of Frankenstein, but the character has no physical deformities and does not perform the same function as Fritz did in the first film. Somewhat hilariously, there was a hunchback in 1944’s House of Frankenstein, but in this case his name was the perhaps somewhat less exotic Daniel. (Fans of this particular film will know there’s not even a Dr. Frankenstein tooling around this time.) However, one salient if tangential plot point of House of Frankenstein seems to have potentially inspired scenarist Max Landis’ work on Victor Frankenstein, for a traveling circus plays into the plot here, as it does in the long ago kinda sorta sequel.

The film in fact starts in a circus, where Igor is fairly unhappily ensconced as a clown. Landis’ screenplay almost seems to be attaining a distinctive flavor in the opening few minutes, even considering lamentable lines like Igor’s “I always had someone to look up to”, which references the troupe’s trapeze artist, Lorelei (Jessica Brown Findlay). There’s some rather interesting content here nonetheless that quickly identifies Igor’s interest in anatomy due to what he thinks is a congenital deformity, and when Lorelei takes a completely predictable tumble, Igor’s knowledge of the inner workings of the body saves the girl, even while convenient passerby Victor Frankenstein thinks her chances are nil. Soon enough, though, things tip over into silly hyperbolism when Frankenstein returns to the circus to “free” Igor, who is being held captive by a typically martinet and sadistic barker.

Once Frankenstein and the initially unnamed hunchback are safe and sound in Frankenstein’s rather palatial digs (not a castle, by the way), Frankenstein quickly “heals” the hunchback, who is in fact not congenitally deformed but simply the unhappy host to a large fluid filled abscess sac. Frankenstein also tells the now upright young man that his flat mate (who is rarely if ever around) is a guy named Igor, and that the former circus clown should assume that identity should anyone ask him who he is. Frankenstein, obviously impressed with the newly christened Igor’s medical knowledge, lets Igor in (at least partially) on Frankenstein’s experiments utilizing electricity to reanimate supposedly dead matter.

Up to this point, Victor Frankenstein has made a few tonal stumbles, but is perhaps salvageable. But Landis is not content to leave well enough alone, and instead starts stuffing the film with all sorts of needless subplots. One of these deals with Lorelei, who, like Igor, reinvents herself as something of a society mover and shaker and who of course is soon enough romantically involved with the former hunchback. More problematic is an investigation launched by a policeman named Roderick Turpin (Andrew Scott) who rather amazingly puts two and two together with little to no evidence to come to the conclusion that Frankenstein is trying to create life from death and that he’s doing so in conjunction with the circus’ erstwhile hunchback. (It’s interesting if not exactly germane to note two things about this character and the actor portraying him. First, is it pure coincidence that Turpin shares a surname with the nefarious nemesis of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street? Second, Scott will probably be best known to audiences for his role as Moriarty in another “reboot” of a venerable franchise, the Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock: The Complete Seasons 1-3.)

What’s deadly to Landis’ formulation, though, are not the tangents but the cipher at the center of the tale: Victor Frankenstein himself. Landis doesn’t seem to know if this character is a hero or a villain, or indeed some mishmash of the two. Instead, McEvoy is left to flounder at times, perched uncomfortably between “mwa-ha-ha” hyperbolism and a kind of goofy likability. Director Paul McGuigan generally paces things well, but gives in to the need to provide set pieces where the narrative doesn’t really demand them. Whimsy and gore can easily coexist in films (Army of Darkness is a perfect example), but here the results often resemble the monster Frankenstein creates, an unconvincing assemblage of disparate parts that only fitfully springs to life.

Victor Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Victor Frankenstein is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. According to the IMDb, this was captured digitally at a 2.8K source format by Arri Alexa XT cameras, from which a 2K DI was prepared, which I'm assuming was in return utilized to prepare the master for this Blu-ray. The results are often quite sumptuous looking, courtesy of a handsome production design by Eve Stewart. While some of the CGI effects are a little hokey (including some fairly unconvincing matte paintings used to "create" the grimy streets of London), some of the practical effects, including the bits and pieces of bodies Frankenstein and Igor utilize, are quite impressive and feature at times discomfiting levels of fine detail (that is, if things like entrails with spiky animal fur poking out around the sides causes you to squirm). The film has its fair share of color grading, once again (seemingly inescapably) exploiting blues and yellows at various times, but detail levels generally remain quite high. Some darker scenes have a very light dusting of noise which is typically transitory and relatively nonintrusive.

Victor Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Victor Frankenstein's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 sparks with life (sorry) in some of the film's big set pieces, including the silly showdown at the circus which comes early in the film and which features a glut of sound effects courtesy of events like a fire breather attempting to take out Frankenstein or a knife thrower attempting to take out Igor. The film's climactic sequence with the monster also features some great LFE, and an earlier sequence with a kind of horrifying chimp hybrid that the duo brings to "life" has some fun "crackling" effects that whip through the surrounds. Dialogue is cleanly presented and Craig Armstrong's unsurprising but at times boisterous score resides comfortably in the rear and side channels.

Victor Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 14:17)


• The Making of Victor Frankenstein (1080p; 29:27) offers seven brief EPKs that offer the requisite interviews, behind the scenes footage and snippets from the film.


• Gallery:

  Production Design (1080p; 1:58)

  Production Photography (1080p; 2:38)

  Behind the Scenes (1080p; 3:08)

  Note: All three galleries offer either Auto Advance or Manual Advance options. The timings are for the Auto Advance options.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:46)

Victor Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Perhaps because I suffered through a less convincing "update" of this venerable tale, 2014's largely flaccid I, Frankenstein 3D, Victor Frankenstein didn't strike me as being quite as bad as initial critical assessments at the time of its theatrical release had led me to believe. The film has more than its fair share of problems, but it also has some exciting sequences and the basic premise is decent enough, even if the realization of that premise repeatedly stumbles. Fans of the cast or those entranced by Shelley's source novel may want to check this out as a rental if nothing else. Technical merits are generally strong for those considering a purchase.