For day two of "MONSTER-MONTH" we turn to Roger Corman's FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND, an adaptation of Brian Aldiss' book of the same name.
In his novel FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND, Brian Aldiss’ creature is the same as that of Mary Shelley’s tome. A hideous creature breathed to life figuratively by the good Doctor. When it came time for Roger Corman’s SFX team to create this Monster, they threw in a few extra pounds of ugly.
A ginger! Yes, a ginger Frankenstein. Why not? Half-bald, with cranial ridges of both bone and metal, flesh that appears stretched over too-sharp cheek bones on a skull that is much wider than seems necessary all sitting on top of a neck that looks like a gnarly tree-trunk and piercing green eyes that seem to have an eternal 40 yard stare--he makes for one hard to look at dude.
The Corman version is one of the more freaky Frankenstein’s ever put on film!
The basics for the story are this:
An inventor named Buccanhan invents a weapon in the future that could signal the end of humanity. After a mishap, he and his Futuristic car, which has with it a computer, television and machine gun, are transported into an alternate universe of the early 1800s. He ends up in Switzerland at this time and runs into Victor Frankenstein and Mary Shelly.
The lesson of the book is replayed, only doubly.
Entertaining for performances by John Hurt, Raul Julia, Nick Brimble, Jason Patrick and Bridget Fonda, and the B-movie stylings of Mr. Corman, it’s worth a look.
FIVE FRANKENSTEIN FUN FACTS:
- Frankenstein Unbound (1990) was Roger Corman’s first directing assignment since 1971.
- The title of this film refers to both Mary Shelley’s novel and to Percy Shelley’s lyrical drama “Prometheus Unbound”.
- Typical of Corman’s reputation for speed, this film was shot in only seven weeks.
- Michael Hutchence of INXS made a rare acting appearance in this film as Percy Byshee Shelley.
- John Hurt was paid more for his role in this film than in any of his previous movies.
Reviews of the book…
and film…
And here is the film (nearly complete?):
And now, a pair of Halloween panties:
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