Frankenstein (2004)

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Blistering performances.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I agree with another review that it should not be based or compared to a movie or motion picture because it was made for television. Some did not care for the ending, but I think it was similar to a pilot in that it was interesting and slowly leads you into the mystery of it and when you think there is an ending in sight, it takes a turn to where you see the detective and the "Monster" together figuring out what to do next.The characters were good for a possible sequel because let's face it, we do not know everything about a character from one "episode" and people are generally more multi-layered with concerns, cares, problems of their own that cannot be summed up in one TV movie. I think the director and producer were hoping that people would like it enough to want a sequel or a series and today it could have been done given all the 10 episode series that there are now instead of the full series with the 22+ episodes. It would have fit in nicely, however, in 2004 there were not any and the one's that were came from the UK because their series are done that way for most things.I really liked it a lot. The actors were all good together and played off of each other very well. Vincent Perez and Parker Posey were very good together, the timing was good, the interactions were great and with Vincent Perez being the first of the creations it made me think of how Boris Karloff was about playing the Frankenstein creation. He told his daughter that his "friend" was unique in that only children understood him as not being a villain so much as being someone who did not know things and made big mistakes that were seen as horrible things and in this movie the creation is better than the creator in understanding what it is to be human and understanding the horror of creating something or somethings just because you can and the consequences involved that you can see and those you don't see. I really think this would have been even better if it would have continued on to other TV movies or a series.Plus, I like a lot of things that Michael Madsen is in. I wonder if he is going to be the "Vincent Price" of this generation. If you do not understand what I mean by that, see biographies and a good one regarding a scandal he was involved with, then you will know.

When a New Orleans detective finds a series of strange mutilations and deaths to be the cause of the fanatical doctor and his creations trying to continue their work, she teams up with a sympathetic work to stop him before his rampage spreads throughout the city.This was a pretty disappointing and not all that worthwhile effort that had a few potentially intriguing moments about it. One of the better elements here was the use of the novel to make the new story come around, as it manages to make a lot of the same elements together here in a modern-day take that feels like a true connection between the two, which is quite unique. As well, there's a lot more action to be found in the later half here with several different encounters with the creatures and the victims, a nice shoot-out in a dank factory and some actual energy that makes for an overall enjoyable time here. It's all too late, though, since the first half of this is all pretty much a lame police investigation that isn't in the slightest bit interesting as there's nothing that comes of it as all we do is stumble upon the bodies after- the-fact and there's nothing of interest there when it's not shown. Even then there's not a lot going on with the story until the revelation of the increased organ-count that brings about the experimental genetics angle that carries the story onward, and more so for the fact that, as it's a pilot for a never-filmed TV series there's just way too many hanging story lines that aren't explained the lack of excitement in this section is hammered home even further.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language and a mild sex scene.

The film deals about the Detectives O'Conner(Parker Posey, Superman returns) and Sloan(Adam Goldberg, The Salton sea)are investigating grisly killings by a macabre serial-killer mutilating the victims. Also, a tough policeman(Michael Madsen, Free Willy)named Harker(homage to Jonathan Harker-Dracula) does inquiry on the horrific events. Meantime, she finds a mysterious man named Deucalion(Vincent Perez,Fanfan LaTulipe) who warns her about a megalomaniac Doctor(Thomas Kretschman, The pianist)named Victor Helios. Doctor Helios is actually Dr. Frankestein(originally created by Mary Shelley) still alive along with his sweetheart(Ivana Milicevic).This television movie displays tension, mystery, thriller and eerie scenes when the murders and tortures take place. The film takes accent as the suspense as the terror. The plot for this TV picture was initially adapted by famous terror novelist Dean Koontz(Demon seed, Watchers, Phantoms) and attempted as a television series. Koontz was hired as writing credits and executive producer along with Martin Scorsese, but economic and plot disputes among Cable Network and Koontz, made both left the project, for that reason the screenplay gets flaws and gaps , furthermore,the movie final conclusion is ¨deja vu¨. The picture contains a creepy musical score fitting to the horror film by Norman Corbeil and Angelo Baladamenti, plus , a gloomy and sinister cinematography with frightening atmosphere by Daniel Pearl. The motion picture is professionally directed by Marcus Nispel, director of the much better ¨The Texas chainsaw massacre¨ and usually video-clips filmmaker and occasionally director, being his last film, ¨The pathfinder¨, also with dark and shady scenarios, as habitual in all his movies.

I've never been all that impressed with Dean Koontz' stuff (good plots and characters, but pretty flat prose, dialog, and descriptive passages), so I wasn't expecting much from this, especially given that Koontz withdrew from the project before its completion and the result was "based on" his ideas for the modern day Frankenstein. Still for a TV movie, this is pretty strong stuff, and tries to accomplish some ambitious goals with some success. It seems to try a little too hard in many places, crossing the line between "heated" and "overheated" quite often, which can be hard to avoid given its subject matter (Frankenstein) and it's cinematic inspiration ("Se7en"). I've always had a soft spot for Parker Posey, and it was nice to see her stretch out in a leading role. She doesn't quite have enough "gravitas" to carry the movie, although she is engaging and sympathetic enough to have me rooting for her most of the time, and the guy who plays her partner is adequate to some pretty standard role requirements. The rest of the supporting cast is pretty good for a TV movie too...although I'm afraid that Michael Madsen is becoming hopelessly typecast and is developing a bad habit of phoning his roles in. I'll grant you that even Madsen-by-the-numbers is still pretty good, but he's in danger of becoming a cliché of himself. I'm not sorry I spent the time to see it, there were some nice shots and a nice punchy wrap up that left the viewer sort of wishing that there could be a follow up. (That may have happened in the Koontz novels, but I'm not interested enough in Koontz to find out). Not a bad effort. Worth catching for free on cable if you get the chance on a dull night.