Director Kenneth Branagh's interpretation of Mary Shelley's classic horror novel stars Robert DeNiro as a terrifying monster created in an obsessive attempt to defeat death and stretch the limits of medicine in the early 19th century. With the use of flashback, a dying Dr. Viktor Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh) divulges a tale of gruesome terror to a sea captain (Aidan Quinn): As a medical student, the rebellious Frankenstein elaborates on the work of a brilliant scientist (John Cleese), successfully bringing to life a "man" assembled from the body parts of corpses. Upon realizing the destructive consequences of his experiment, Dr. Frankenstein abandons the creature and attempts to return to a normal life with his medical partner, Henry (Tom Hulce), and his fiancée (and adopted sister), Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter). In the meantime, the nameless creature struggles with loneliness and rejection from society until he sets out to track down his creator in search of one of two things: a bride to keep him company or revenge. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) was produced by Francis Ford Coppola, who previously directed and produced monster-drama Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). ~ Lisa Kropiewnicki, Rovi
Ian Holm - Victor's Father; Richard Briers - Grandfather; Robert Hardy - Professor Krempe; Cherie Lunghi - Victor's Mother; Celia Imrie - Mrs. Moritz; Trevyn McDowell - Justine; Alfred Bell - Landlord; Richard Clifford - Minister; Susan Field - Frau Brach; Robert Hines - Ship's Crew #11; Gerard Horan - Claude; Lonnie James - Rough Woman; Edward Jewesbury - City Official; Peter Jonfield - Rough Man; Alex Lowe - Shop's Crew #8; Siobhan Redmond - Midwife; Joanna Roth - Marie; Jimmy Yuill - Grigori; Jenny Galloway - Vendor's Wife; Mark Inman - Mansion Staff #3; David Kennedy - Ship's Crew #4; Shaun Prendergast - Ship's Crew #2; Priscilla John; Mark Hadfield - Felix; Chris Barnes - Ship's Crew #1; Tommy Wright - Ship's Crew #3; Hugh Bonneville - Schiller; Paul Gregory - Ship's Crew #5
Credit
Martin Childs - Art Director, Desmond Crowe - Art Director, John Fenner - Art Director, David Barron - Associate Producer, Priscilla John - Casting, Kenneth Branagh - Co-producer, David Parfitt - Co-producer, James Acheson - Costume Designer, Christopher Newman - First Assistant Director, Kenneth Branagh - Director, Andrew Marcus - Editor, Fred Fuchs - Executive Producer, Alan Shapiro - Executive Producer, Patrick Doyle - Composer (Music Score), Paul Engelen - Makeup, Carol Hemming - Makeup, Daniel Parker - Makeup Special Effects, Tim Harvey - Production Designer, Roger Pratt - Cinematographer, Francis Ford Coppola - Producer, Jim V. Hart - Producer, John Patrick Veitch - Producer, Richard Conway - Special Effects, Ivan Sharrock - Sound/Sound Designer, Frank Darabont - Screenwriter, Steph Lady - Screenwriter, Mary Shelley - Book Author
Loosely based on the 1994 film of the same name and on the classic novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for the Super Nintendo puts you in the role of the misunderstood creature. Equipped with a staff and bolts of electricity, you must lumber through six levels of play, beating to a pulp or frying anyone who gets in your way.
As the Frankenstein Monster you are not malicious. However, you just can't seem to go anywhere without being attacked by villagers, leeches, soldiers, dogs, giant spiders, sailors, polar bears and bats. You must also dodge a variety of traps, such as falling chandeliers and chunks of ice. Your only goal in life is to come to terms with your manufactured existence (you were formed from the body parts of various dead people) and your obsessed creator, who happens to be on your tail.
The story unfolds using a "story teller" feature, which is another way of saying the game has cinematic intermissions which are integral to the gameplay and the plot. In addition to using pure brute strength and electrical power, you must also use a dash of brain power to get through each level. Hidden items, secret levers, hidden clues, secret pathways and other strategic points are all germane to the action. During your lonely quest, you will traverse a dark and foreboding crypt, the cholera-infested streets of Ingolstadt, the frozen tundra of the Arctic, a creepy swamp and the Frankenstein House.
~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide
Roots & Influences
This game is based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the Kenneth Branaugh film from 1994. The film, in turn, was based on Frankenstein, a novel published by Mary Shelley in 1816.
~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide
Review: Overall
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein the video game, much like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein the movie, came and went with very little fanfare. Most horror fans with a taste for updated classics applauded both efforts, but critics and the general public alike simply yawned. I'll save the movie review for another time, but I will suggest that you watch the film prior to playing the game. Not only will it give you a frame of reference for the storyline, thereby enhancing your enjoyment of the game and increasing your empathy with the creature, it's a lot of fun to watch.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a lavishly produced game created using a relatively large budget. Though no voices were used, the characters were created using rotoscoped animations of real actors. The levels, which are quite large, are colorful yet darkly moody. A wide variety of movie-like locations and graphic effects such as fire and fog help create this atmosphere. The music doesn't rank with the music in Super Castlevania IV, but it is large-sounding and hauntingly appropriate to the action, helping give the game an epic feel. The sound effects are also high quality. The moans of the dying, the creaking wheels of rolling wagons, the swiping of the staff: these sounds among others are almost hyper-realistic.
Those who have seen the film will remember Robert DeNiro's competent (if uneven) performance as the monster, especially the scars and the limp. In the game you can't quite make out the facial scars, so the creature looks too much like Fester from The Addams Family. However, the limp is faithfully recreated. Also, the creature's coat looks a lot like the one worn in the film.
This is an above average game, but limping around as the Frankenstein Monster may not be everyone's idea of a good time. The staff-wielding action can get redundant, and some may prefer portraying a more overtly heroic character with more abilities, such as a Superman or a Spider-Man. Others will appreciate the gothic horror settings and the fact that you must combine brain with brawn. If you align yourself more with the latter than the former, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of this game. It's not exactly perfect, but it's much better than Bram Stoker's Dracula, also for the SNES.
~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide
Review: Enjoyment
The Frankenstein Monster's weapon is limited, but this is a fun game nonetheless.
~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide
Review: Graphics
Some areas of the levels could use some touching up, but for the most part, everything, especially the assortment of monstrous creatures, looks very good.
~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide
Review: Sound
The sound effects and music are larger than life.
~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide
Review: Replay Value
This game is tricky to beat. Once you do, you may not be in a hurry to try it again. Also, because of the character you portray, the action is rather cumbersome.
~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide
Review: Documentation
The instruction manual doesn't say much about the items.
~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide
Production Credits
SONY IMAGESOFT Executive Producer: Rich Robinson; Senior Producer: Mary Ann Norris; Associate Producer: David Poe; Testing Team: Bruce Cochrane, C.J. Connoy, Jose Cruz, Jody Kelsey, Andre Leighton, Seth Luisi, Tobin Russell, Kurt Schwengel, Andrew Stein; BITS Design: Dave Stalker, Tim Hale, Jacqueline M. Jomain, Alan Barton, Steve Howard, Laurence McDonald, Chris Kyriacou; Programming: Alan Barton, Steve Howard, Sean Conran, Shahid Ahmad, John Connors, Alan Troth, Chris Guyler, Steve Howard; Art: Jacqueline M. Jomain, Ryhs Cadle; Graphics: Laurence McDonald, Carl Cropley; Creature Image Retouching: Herman Serrano; Rotoscope Character Cataloging: Lesley Roberts; Sound and Music: Ronnie Shahmoon, Shahid Ahmad, Dylan "Dog" Beale; Quality Assurance: Jason Brown, Jared Taylor, Bits Corp. Testing Team; Art Supervision: Laurence McDonald; Technical Overview: James Cox; Producer: Tim Hale; Senior Producer: Gary Sheinwald; Executive Producer: Foo Katan
I busied myself to think of a story, which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror. One to make the reader dread to look around, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart.
The film begins in the year 1794. Captain Robert Walton leads a daring expedition to reach the North Pole. While their ship is trapped in the ice of the Arctic Sea, Walton and his men discover a man traveling across the Arctic on his own. In the distance, a loud moaning can be heard. When the man sees how obsessed Walton is with reaching the North Pole he asks, "Do you share my madness?" The man then reveals that his name is Victor Frankenstein and begins his tale.
The film flashes back to Victor's childhood in Geneva as the son of the wealthy Baron and Caroline Frankenstein. At one point in his childhood Victor's parents adopted Elizabeth, who would become the love of Victor's life.
Years later Victor's mother dies giving birth to his brother William. Sometime before going off to the university at Ingolstadt, a grief-stricken Victor vows on his mother's grave that he will find a way to conquer death. On the night of his graduation Victor and Elizabeth promised to wed when Victor returns from his studies.
At university, Victor's previous studies with the works of alchemists such as Paracelsus, Albertus Magnus, and Cornelius Agrippa make him unpopular with certain professors. However he finds a friend in Henry Clerval and a mentor in Professor Waldman. Victor comes to believe that the only way to cheat death is to create life. At this point Professor Waldman tells Victor not to follow through with his theory; he tested it once, but he ended his experiments because they resulted in an "abomination."
While performing vaccinations, Professor Waldman is murdered by a patient who thinks the doctors are trying to poison him. After Waldman was buried, Victor breaks into Waldman's laboratory, takes Waldman's notes on the experiments, and starts using them to work on his own creation.
Victor spends months in his apartment working on creating a living, breathing creature. Using dead body parts from various sources, including Waldman's own brain & the body of the murderer, he begins piecing a creature together. Victor is so obsessed with his work that not even a cholera outbreak tears him from it. Late one night Victor finally gives his creation life, but he recoils from it in horror and renounces his experiments.
That night the creature escapes Victor's apartment, running off to the wilderness. He spends months hiding in the woods, living in an unwitting family's barn. As time progresses the creature learns to read and speak. Eventually the creature tries to win the family's love, but his efforts are in vain. Through the journal the creature finds in the coat that he took from Victor's apartment he learns of the circumstances of his creation and that Frankenstein is responsible. He then burns down the family's abandoned cottage and heads to Geneva, vowing revenge on his creator.
Victor, who believes his creation destroyed, returns to Geneva with the intent of marrying Elizabeth. He finds there that his little brother William has been murdered. Justine Moritz, a servant of the Frankenstein household, is framed for the crime and hanged. That night Victor is approached by his creation, who tells him to meet him on the mountain. Realizing that the creature murdered his brother, Victor goes with the intent on destroying his creation, but is no match for his enhanced speed and strength.
Rather than killing his creator, the creature insists instead that Victor make him a bride. If he does this, then he promises to quit humanity forever with Victor never having to see him ever again. To ensure the safety of the rest of his family, Victor begins gathering the tools he used to create life, but when the creature insists he use Justine's body to make the bride, Victor breaks his promise. Enraged, the creature once more vows revenge, saying, "If you deny me my wedding night, I will be with you on yours!"
Victor and Elizabeth are married. En route to their honeymoon, Victor and Elizabeth are flanked by body guards. Meanwhile Victor's father dies while the creature watches over him. That night Victor takes every precaution to defend his new family, but the creature finds them anyway and gains access to Elizabeth's room. He uses his hand to prevent her crying out, then despite her pleas he kills her by ripping out her heart as Victor searches the house, just before Victor comes back to find the monster holding Elizabeth's heart, saying, "I keep my promises!". He tosses Elizabeth's body off the bed, her head slams into a nearby table, and her hair is set aflame by the candles there. The creature flees out the window amidst gunfire. Victor frantically extinguishes the fire.
Victor races home to bring Elizabeth back to life. Repulsed by what he intends to do, Henry tries to stop him. Victor argues that his father would have done the same for his mother. After Henry tells him that Baron Frankenstein is dead, Victor believes there is nothing left to lose. "Nothing but your soul," Henry replies.
After a gruesome operation that involved stitching Elizabeth's head back together and to Justine's body, Victor succeeds in giving, "Elizabeth" life. At this point the creature enters the room, thinking that this bride is for him. The two begin fighting over her, when "Elizabeth," horrified by her hideous appearance, burns herself alive, setting fire to the whole mansion.
The story returns to the Arctic Circle. Victor tells Walton that he has been pursuing his creation for months with the intent of killing him. Soon after relating his story, Victor succumbs to pneumonia and dies. After a word with his crew, Walton hears a noise coming from the room he left Frankenstein's body in. There they find the creature, weeping over his creator's dead body. They take Frankenstein's body and prepare a funeral pyre for him. The ceremony is interrupted when the ice around the ship begins to crack. The creature takes the torch and finishes the ceremony, burning himself alive with his creator's body. Walton, having seen the result of Frankenstein's obsession, puts his own aside and orders the ship to return home.
Baron Frankenstein (Ian Holm) - Victor Frankenstein's father.
Professor Waldman (John Cleese) - Frankenstein's tutor and colleague who shares his interest in creating life. His brain is later used for the creature.
Captain Robert Walton (Aidan Quinn) - The commander of the ship which picks up Frankenstein in the Arctic Circle.
Justine Moritz (Trevyn McDowell) - A worker in the Frankenstein household who is close friends with Elizabeth.
Mrs. Moritz (Celia Imrie) - The head servant in the household who often fights with Justine.
Caroline Frankenstein (Cherie Lunghi) - Victor's mother who dies during birth of his younger brother, William.
William Frankenstein (Ryan Smith) - Victor's younger brother.
Release
Box office
The film did disappointing business upon its U.S. theatrical release, grossing only $22 million, but did well in global markets where it grossed $90 million.[3][4]
Critical reception
Critical reviews for Frankenstein were mixed. The film currently holds a 44% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[5]
Roger Ebert gave the film two and a half stars out of four, writing: "I admired the scenes with De Niro [as the Creature] so much I'm tempted to give Mary Shelley's Frankenstein a favorable verdict. But it's a near miss. The Creature is on target, but the rest of the film is so frantic, so manic, it doesn't pause to be sure its effects are registered."[6]Janet Maslin wrote, "Branagh is in over his head. He displays neither the technical finesse to handle a big, visually ambitious film nor the insight to develop a stirring new version of this story. Instead, this is a bland, no-fault Frankenstein for the '90s, short on villainy but loaded with the tragically misunderstood. Even the Creature (Robert De Niro), an esthetically challenged loner with a father who rejected him, would make a dandy guest on any daytime television talk show."[7]
Conversely, James Berardinelli of Reelviews.net gave the film three out of four stars, writing: "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein may not be the definitive version of the 1818 novel, and the director likely attempted more than is practical for a two-hour film, but overambition is preferable to the alternative, especially if it results — as in this case — in something more substantial than Hollywood's typical, fitfully entertaining fluff."[8]
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