Brought to life on the workbench of Victor Frankenstein, the Creature demonstrated superhuman intelligence and learning abilities immediately. Perhaps its most striking features is its yellow skin and strange eyes.The Shelley-Wollstoncroft Papers conclude with it being sighted on the Arctic wastes, heading northwards, presumably to self-destruction.
Fifty years later, the seas are ruled by the enigmatic 'Captain Nemo' who commands a self-manufactured vessel of astonishing capacity and power. He supplies revolutionaries, destroys warships, and broods over the rotting carcass of Grenville's Revenge.
Aronnax does not really supply much information but what he looks like beyond that he is tall, pale, and symmetrically constructed: he does note however that his eyes are unusually far apart.
Professor Aronnax's account ends with the professors escape from captivity; Nemo is assumed to have been destroyed in the Maelstrom whirlpools off the Norwegian coast. (The Mysterious Island appears to explain Nemo's origin and provide his concrete death, but is riddled with inconsistencies when compared to Aronnax's account. The most telling being that The Mysterious Island occurs in 1865 to 1867, while Aronnax definitively dates the Maelstrom event to June 2 1868! The Mysterious Island is disinformation. How much did the Creature pay Verne?)
In the 1890's, a tall , thin man calling himself 'Doctor Nikola' appears and there are reports of strange and terrible experiments and bizarre schemes in pursuit of a Tibetan process of raising the dead. Nikola is slender, 'perfectly formed' with strange eyes and 'white, toad-coloured skin' He has a pet black cat he calls Apollyon ( 'The Destroyer', also known classicly as Abaddon)
Twenty years later, a tall, 'yellow-complected' man with strange eyes, and commanding ever stranger scientific breakthroughs is revealed by the detective work of a Burmese police commissioner.
Calling himself 'Doctor Fu Manchu': a sobriquet as unrealistic as 'O'Irish' or 'MacScotsman' he masquerades as a vaudeville Chinaman with pigtail, lisp and inscrutable expressions. Fu Manchu mugs for the metaphorical camera, but the Clouseau-like Denis Nayland Smith can never see the joke, and swallows the masquerade hook, line and sinker. He is accompanied at all times by a creature described as a small black marmoset called Peko. This in itself is strange because Peko is the name of an Estonian god of brewing and crops.
At around this time, a dope-fiend by the name of Costigan reports a wild narrative involving a skeletal figure known as 'Old Skullface' 'Kathulos' or simply 'The Master' who was reputedly found drifting in a strange sealed sarcophagus in the Atlantic. I imagine that one of Nemo's strange, decked-over submersible dinghies could have been described as a 'sarcophagous'. Costigan's opium addiction is cured by the administration of a powerful stimulant that converts a weak and dying addict into a physical powerhouse. It does not entirely cure his mind; the climax of his account features a hallucinogenic dream centered around a Mesoamerican pyramid built deep in the heart of London.
In 1946, a tall, thin man calling himself 'Jonas Sown' claims to have 'come out of China' and to have instigated the second world war.
The trail grows cold here.
If the Sown lead is actually unconnected - and the connection is very tenuous - than the Creature perished at some point during the Second World War. He would have been around 130 years old, but we have no data on the ageing rate of artificial beings.
No trace of the Nautilus has ever been found, yet in 1963 the US Navy tracked a single-screwed submarine operating at depths and speeds no other submarine has ever reached.
In 1972, the Norwegian Navy was involved in a two week long battle with a small cigar-shaped submarine that ultimately escaped unscathed.
So where is the Creature today?
Showing posts with label Frankenstein. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frankenstein. Show all posts
"At first I thought we were in the hands of people that would understand..."
Frankenstein's Island(1981).
Who are supposed to be the barbarian survivors of a pre-historic, yet alien race.
Why do they do nothing but smoke from modified human skulls, pray to the ghost of Doctor Frankenstein, and initiate each other by stretching themselves between trees?
Why is one of the alien women not a alien woman, but a human girl, daughter of the caged and raving blood-donor?
Why are they wearing leopardskin swimwear?
Why is Frankenstein's ghost raving about the power of the thread of gold?
Why is the lab decked out with more high voltage equipment than any three mad scientist's labs -- but includes a ammo tin, spray painted pink , and whirling balanced on one corner?
This has the worst Frankenstein's Monster I have ever seen. Really. To the Stiff Servo Effect we can add the Fly Combat Combo. Or musical sound effects. Seriously, he's lurching so hard in some scenes that it looks like he's dancing to the Monster Mash.
I could go on like this for an hour.
In what world do Colonels of the American armed Forces wear baggy dark-brown jumpsuits?
In this movie's world. In this movie all cinematic normality is overturned. This film could b e a dadaist masterpiece, and may indeed be a hidden and unknown one.
The deliberate lack of action, followed by the epic brawl through the laboratory. The camera pausing part way through its exploration of writhing semi-naked female 'warriors' and their turtle-neck clad, sunglasses-wearing zombie enemy, (each of whom stand and walk as though their testicles ache unbearably), to watch the plucky terrier enter the battle, bark merrily and flee again.
"Those logs are tangible...rooted to the ground."
I'm willing to bet that the producers laid their hands on some footage of John Carradine...perhaps a minutes worth of film stock, something that was thrown out because Carradine looks like he'd died and was being animated by strings. They use the footage to put his name on the billing.
Its a transparent con, but still, the image of a hologram of John Carradine being worshipped by nearly naked dope bunnys on a far-away jungle island is strangely compelling.
The movie's refusal to be exciting, or to explain anything, is hypnotically tantalizing. Its like watching a strip tease where the dancer keeps shimmying and wiggling and discarding clothes only to reveal more layers of inexplicable raiment; the creeping madness kept in check by the banality of set and actions; the dialogue drifting in and out of sense like the rambling of a schizophrenic , or trying to read a newspaper in Cyrillic....
"Doctor Frankenstein, before he died, perfected a very startling theory which utilizes a intermediary - a human brain which is the connecting link for transnmission"
"the brain is kept alive by---low voltage?"
"its staying in an expanded threshold - a super nourished state"
Thank you Madame Exposition, everything is clear, now. But why does the One Eyed Man laugh?
"We'll be alone,all alone in this wilderness...I can't stand it...!"
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter(1966)
"We shall" Maria Frankenstein snaps, "Soon see which one of us is insane."
No one is, really. Except perhaps the lug that chose the title. This is a movie about Frankenstein's granddaughter.
When the movie opened with a sobbing Spaniard drinking from a wine bottle full of orange juice, I had high hopes: hopes that were dashed, watching a slow, and largely dull movie. A pair of murderers from Vienna are violating the human rights of local folk, deep in the Wild West, when Jesse James and his inexplicable beefcake (but fetchingly simple) sidekick cross their path.
The Igor is played weak-and-vacillating, but at the same time inexplicably murderous; the Inga is a fetching young village girl; Frankenstein herself would be a good depiction, if not for the mind control helmet.
There are only two details in this movie worth seeing:
The brightly striped anachronistic US army helmets rigged with neon-tube lightening bolts and short Jacob's Ladders that serve as re-animators and mind control helmets.
The other is the activation of the artificial brain: the addition of a vial of crystals, and it begins to pulse like a heart!
As a odd touch, the beaker that the poison is stored in is a vacuum filtration flask with a side entry port! Considering they had the budget for a rack of glassware on the other side of the lab, this is a odd choice.
The lab itself was rather boringly furnished, and the sound mixing was bad. Maria Frankenstein's main monologue was almost drowned out by a really loud rotary switch.
This is a movie which had some promise. You can see that the filmmakers were trying to stay true to the Frankenstein Film Mythos: its just to bad that they mistook tedium for realism. No mugging at the camera, careful and consistent use of accents, no gratuitous nudity*. They even minimized the creature's Stiff Servo effect. They put them into castle by making it an old mission, but missed the 'profaning sacred ground' possibilities inherent in such a locale.
I'll forgive the excessive eye-widening for emphasis.
In RenegadeMime's tautology, 'If it hadn't been a poor movie, it would have been a good one.'
*Okay, the beefcake took his shirt off more than necessary, but he did have a nice physique.
"We shall" Maria Frankenstein snaps, "Soon see which one of us is insane."
No one is, really. Except perhaps the lug that chose the title. This is a movie about Frankenstein's granddaughter.
When the movie opened with a sobbing Spaniard drinking from a wine bottle full of orange juice, I had high hopes: hopes that were dashed, watching a slow, and largely dull movie. A pair of murderers from Vienna are violating the human rights of local folk, deep in the Wild West, when Jesse James and his inexplicable beefcake (but fetchingly simple) sidekick cross their path.
There are only two details in this movie worth seeing:
The brightly striped anachronistic US army helmets rigged with neon-tube lightening bolts and short Jacob's Ladders that serve as re-animators and mind control helmets.
The other is the activation of the artificial brain: the addition of a vial of crystals, and it begins to pulse like a heart!
As a odd touch, the beaker that the poison is stored in is a vacuum filtration flask with a side entry port! Considering they had the budget for a rack of glassware on the other side of the lab, this is a odd choice.
The lab itself was rather boringly furnished, and the sound mixing was bad. Maria Frankenstein's main monologue was almost drowned out by a really loud rotary switch.
This is a movie which had some promise. You can see that the filmmakers were trying to stay true to the Frankenstein Film Mythos: its just to bad that they mistook tedium for realism. No mugging at the camera, careful and consistent use of accents, no gratuitous nudity*. They even minimized the creature's Stiff Servo effect. They put them into castle by making it an old mission, but missed the 'profaning sacred ground' possibilities inherent in such a locale.
I'll forgive the excessive eye-widening for emphasis.
In RenegadeMime's tautology, 'If it hadn't been a poor movie, it would have been a good one.'
*Okay, the beefcake took his shirt off more than necessary, but he did have a nice physique.
"... the wickedness of my promise burst upon me; I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their pest"
“. . . the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds which hardly any later friend can obtain.”
--Mary Shelley
Being slightly addicted to the Frankenstein mythos, I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy of Frankenstein(2004)* starring (to use the term loosely) William Hurt (disguised as a Old German Professor) and Donald Sutherland (pretty much as Donald Sutherland).
It was pretty close to the bottom of the barrel. They opted to ignore the cinematic Frankenstein, and adhere to the book,or at least those parts of the book you could glean from five minutes with Coles Notes.
Entirely missing the main plot of responsibility and Victor Frankenstein's general moral crappiness, they pasted in a lifeless romance and too much time significantly focusing on carvings of Christ.
Apparently they had learned nothing from watching Dracula 2000(2000)**
Also they killed two dogs on screen, a bad move when you consider how many dog lovers watch movies. Quick fact: Even Darth Vader killed no dogs onscreen.
The Creature was a tad emo, but the only person worth watching in the entire flick. Played by Luke Goss, who as played Prince Peeved from Hellboy 2. He blew Robert de Niro's Frankenstein out of the water, who was my gold standard for 'realistic' Creatures: Karloff, of course tops the list of the 'unrealistic'.
I would like to see a 'realistic' version of Frankenstein done where they didn't crib sets and scenes from half-assed Jane Austen clones.
But they again. I'd like to see a version of Frankenstein as filmed by Alfred Hitchcock, maybe on that set with the huge roof beams.
Or better yet, a version of Frankenstein where Percy Blysshe Shelley played Victor Frankenstein, and Byron the Creature; and poor overshadowed Polidori as Clerval.***
It wouldn't be true to form, but it would be damned interesting.
* Not to be confused with the other Frankenstein(2004), Frankenstein(1994), Frankenstein(2007), Frankenstein(1992), Frankenstein(1984), Frankenstein(1987), and of course, Frankenstein(1931).
EDIT: Also, Frankenstein(1910), which I managed to forget.
**Not to be confused with...oh, you get the picture.
***Under no circumstances would Mary be Elizabeth. That would be way to obvious. Professor Krempe, perhaps.
--Mary Shelley
Being slightly addicted to the Frankenstein mythos, I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy of Frankenstein(2004)* starring (to use the term loosely) William Hurt (disguised as a Old German Professor) and Donald Sutherland (pretty much as Donald Sutherland).
It was pretty close to the bottom of the barrel. They opted to ignore the cinematic Frankenstein, and adhere to the book,or at least those parts of the book you could glean from five minutes with Coles Notes.
Entirely missing the main plot of responsibility and Victor Frankenstein's general moral crappiness, they pasted in a lifeless romance and too much time significantly focusing on carvings of Christ.
Apparently they had learned nothing from watching Dracula 2000(2000)**
Also they killed two dogs on screen, a bad move when you consider how many dog lovers watch movies. Quick fact: Even Darth Vader killed no dogs onscreen.
The Creature was a tad emo, but the only person worth watching in the entire flick. Played by Luke Goss, who as played Prince Peeved from Hellboy 2. He blew Robert de Niro's Frankenstein out of the water, who was my gold standard for 'realistic' Creatures: Karloff, of course tops the list of the 'unrealistic'.
I would like to see a 'realistic' version of Frankenstein done where they didn't crib sets and scenes from half-assed Jane Austen clones.
But they again. I'd like to see a version of Frankenstein as filmed by Alfred Hitchcock, maybe on that set with the huge roof beams.
Or better yet, a version of Frankenstein where Percy Blysshe Shelley played Victor Frankenstein, and Byron the Creature; and poor overshadowed Polidori as Clerval.***
It wouldn't be true to form, but it would be damned interesting.
* Not to be confused with the other Frankenstein(2004), Frankenstein(1994), Frankenstein(2007), Frankenstein(1992), Frankenstein(1984), Frankenstein(1987), and of course, Frankenstein(1931).
EDIT: Also, Frankenstein(1910), which I managed to forget.
**Not to be confused with...oh, you get the picture.
***Under no circumstances would Mary be Elizabeth. That would be way to obvious. Professor Krempe, perhaps.
Doctor Monologue and the Unsurprisingly Sinister Dwarf
Dracula Vs Frankenstein - the Lon Chaney version - is not really any more coherent than its titular cousin. But it does feature the most useless Dracula I have ever encountered. Honestly, you could have replaced him with the Count from Sesame Street: it might have made his monologue a little more boring but not by much.
It was even stranger because he was a ringer for Dr. Furter* except without the crossdressing. Pity, crossdressing might have made the movie more entertaining.
This should be the Mega Shark Vs. Crocosaurus matchup of the sixties. Instead we get Doctor Monologue and the Nefarious Dwarf Versus the Sensible Hippies/Beatniks.
Somehow less chilling than the billing promised.
The story does continue the tradition of Dr. Frankenstein involved in irrelevant research, and I did get to watch Lon Chaney imitate the Monster from 'Daughter of Frankenstein' , rather than anything Karloff-y**, but it was too bad they left his head in the oven until it melted.
* Rocky Horror Picture Show. Did I actually have to footnote this?
**Frankenstein's Monsters hate to bend their elbows or knees. Cheap servos?
It was even stranger because he was a ringer for Dr. Furter* except without the crossdressing. Pity, crossdressing might have made the movie more entertaining.
This should be the Mega Shark Vs. Crocosaurus matchup of the sixties. Instead we get Doctor Monologue and the Nefarious Dwarf Versus the Sensible Hippies/Beatniks.
Somehow less chilling than the billing promised.
The story does continue the tradition of Dr. Frankenstein involved in irrelevant research, and I did get to watch Lon Chaney imitate the Monster from 'Daughter of Frankenstein' , rather than anything Karloff-y**, but it was too bad they left his head in the oven until it melted.
* Rocky Horror Picture Show. Did I actually have to footnote this?
**Frankenstein's Monsters hate to bend their elbows or knees. Cheap servos?
Assignment (word starting in T)
Los Monstruos del Terror, AKA Dracula vs Frankenstein AKA Assignment Terror*
is a disappointment. Audacious premise, promising opening. A good laboratory** and a lunatic plot.
Its unfortunately spoiled by being:
~Third part of a trilogy, assuming you've seen them all, which I have not;
~Wooden Acting and dialog ...but not wooden enough to be any good;
~An obsession with strapping girls into the Chair of Torment, and then spending more time monologing than tormenting. The Chair of Torment was nowhere near as cool as the Wheel of Torment in Deathstalker IV, and fades in comparison to the finest example in cinema: the Machine from Princess Bride.
This film needed way more than thirty seconds of gogo dancers to rescue it, but I did like the idea of the Book of Monsters.
*Probably should have been called Assignment Terrible.
**European film makers usually get the set details right.
is a disappointment. Audacious premise, promising opening. A good laboratory** and a lunatic plot.
Its unfortunately spoiled by being:
~Third part of a trilogy, assuming you've seen them all, which I have not;
~Wooden Acting and dialog ...but not wooden enough to be any good;
~An obsession with strapping girls into the Chair of Torment, and then spending more time monologing than tormenting. The Chair of Torment was nowhere near as cool as the Wheel of Torment in Deathstalker IV, and fades in comparison to the finest example in cinema: the Machine from Princess Bride.
" Beautiful isn't it? It took me half a lifetime to invent it. I'm sure
you've discovered my deep and abiding interest in pain. Presently I'm
writing the definitive work on the subject, so I want you to be totally
honest with me on how the machine makes you feel. This being our first
try, I'll use the lowest setting...As you know, the concept of the suction pump is centuries old. Really
that's all this is except that instead of sucking water, I'm sucking
life... I've just sucked one year of your life away. I might one day go as
high as five, but I really don't know what that would do to you. So,
let's just start with what we have. What did this do to you? Tell me.
And remember, this is for posterity so be honest. How do you feel?" -- Count Rugen
This film needed way more than thirty seconds of gogo dancers to rescue it, but I did like the idea of the Book of Monsters.
*Probably should have been called Assignment Terrible.
**European film makers usually get the set details right.
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