''Frankenstein Unbound'' is a 1990 science fiction horror film based on

Brian Aldiss Brian Wilson Aldiss (; 18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer, artist and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for oc ...

's 1973 novel of the same name, starring

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 28 January 2017) was an English actor. Regarded as one of the finest actors of his time and known for the "most distinctive voice in Cinema of the United Kingdom, Britain", he was described by David Ly ...

Raul Julia Raúl Rafael Carlos Juliá y Arcelay (March 9, 1940 – October 24, 1994) was a Puerto Rican actor. He was known for his intense and varied roles on stage and screen. He started his career in the Public Theater before transitioning to film. He ...

Bridget Fonda Bridget Jane Fonda (born January 27, 1964) is a retired American actress, known for her roles in films such as ''The Godfather Part III'' (1990), '' Single White Female'' (1992), '' Singles'' (1992), ''Point of No Return'' (1993), '' It Could Ha ...

, Jason Patric, and Nick Brimble. The film is co-written and directed by

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he w ...

, returning to the director's chair after a hiatus of almost fifteen years. This is his final film as a director before his death in 2024. He was paid $1 million to direct. Released by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

domestically and

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

Internationally.

Plot

In 2031, Dr. Buchanan and his team work to develop the ultimate weapon, an energy beam that will completely remove whatever it is aimed at. Buchanan hopes he can create a weapon so powerful that it will end all war and have the added benefit of having no impact on the environment. Unfortunately, the prototype has unpredictable side effects, creating erratic global weather patterns and rifts in space and time that have caused some people to vanish. As he drives home from the testing facility, Buchanan himself is caught in one such rift. Buchanan and his futuristic computer-controlled car reappear in Switzerland in 1817. In a village, he meets

Victor Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein is a fictional character who first appeared as the titular main protagonist of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. He is an Italian-born Swiss scientist who, after studying chemical proces ...

. The men discuss science over dinner and it is revealed that Frankenstein's young brother has been killed. A trial is to determine the guilt or innocence of the boy's nanny, who is suspected of murder. Several villagers claim to have seen a monster in the woods and suggest this is the killer. Buchanan observes the trial and becomes interested in a young woman taking notes. She turns out to be

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley ( , ; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of science fiction# ...

, author of the Frankenstein novel. Shelley gives credence to the talk of monsters, but the judge does not. The nanny is found guilty and sentenced to die on the

gallows A gallows (or less precisely scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sa ...

. Buchanan knows the monster killed the child. He implores Frankenstein to come forward and reveal the truth, but Frankenstein refuses. Buchanan then asks Shelley for help, telling her that he is from the future. They are attracted to each other, but Mary, fearing to know too much about the future and her own destiny, chooses not to become involved. Buchanan is on his own. He drives his car to Frankenstein's workshop and finds the doctor in discussion with the monster. The monster has killed Frankenstein's fiancé, saying that if a mate was not made for him then he would deprive Frankenstein of his. Frankenstein asks Buchanan to use his knowledge of electricity to assist in resurrecting the dead woman. Buchanan instructs the monster to run cables to a weather vane on the roof. While the monster is distracted, Buchanan re-routes some of the electrical cables to begin powering up the prototype laser in his car. As the lightning strikes the tower, again and again, the battery on the laser begins to charge and the corpse on the table begins to move. At the same moment, the woman is restored to life and Buchanan's energy beam is fully charged; he fires. The castle is destroyed. But the laser opens another space-time rift, sending Buchanan, Frankenstein, and the two monsters far into the future. They land on a snowy mountain with no sign of civilization. Frankenstein and the monster both try to entice the woman to them, only to have her force Frankenstein to shoot and kill her. Enraged, the monster kills Frankenstein and trudges off into the snowstorm. Buchanan follows, hoping to kill the monster before he reaches a city and kills again. Eventually, the monster is cornered in a cave filled with computers and machines. When Buchanan enters, the machines chirp to life and a voice says "Welcome back, Dr. Buchanan." The monster tells Buchanan that the cave is the central brain for the nearby city, the last one remaining after the world has been devastated by Buchanan's ultimate weapon. Buchanan engages security devices and the monster is burned to death by lasers. Buchanan makes his way to the nearby city through the snow. As he walks, the monster's voice is heard saying that he cannot truly be killed, for now, he is "unbound."

Cast

as Joe Buchanan / The Narrator *

as Dr. Victor Frankenstein *

* Nick Brimble as

Frankenstein's monster Frankenstein's monster, commonly referred to as Frankenstein, is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' as its main antagonist. Shelley's title compares the monster's ...

* Catherine Rabett as Elizabeth Lavenza * Jason Patric as

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

Michael Hutchence Michael Kelland John Hutchence (22 January 1960 – 22 November 1997) was an Australian singer and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lead singer and lyricist of the rock band INXS from 1977 until his death in 1997. The band sold over 50 ...

Percy Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...

* Catherine Corman as Justine Moritz * Mickey Knox as General Reade * Terri Treas as The Voice of Computer

Production

Producer

Thom Mount Thomas Henderson Mount (born 26 May 1948) is an American film producer, who was formerly the President of Universal Pictures. Born in Durham, North Carolina, he studied art at Bard College where he received a BA. He received an MFA in Film an ...

approached Roger Corman with the idea to get him back into directing after a two decade absence. To get a strong script, Corman looked to known writers including

Wes Craven Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Amongst his Wes Craven filmography, prolific filmography, Craven worked primarily in the Horror film, horror genre, particularly sla ...

and

Floyd Mutrux Floyd Mutrux (born June 25, 1941) is an American stage and film director, writer, producer, and screenwriter. Career He began his work in Hollywood as an uncredited writer for ''Two-Lane Blacktop'' (1971). His career continued with '' The C ...

to craft something original before ultimately having F.X. Feeney adapt

's novel ''Frankenstein Unbound'' with input from Corman himself. Fox acquired North American rights to the film while Warner Bros. acquired International rights, in the United Kingdom, Blue Dolphin distributed the film theatrically then Warner obtained the UK home video rights to the film. Australian singer Michael Hutchence from INXS was cast in a lead role.

Reception

On the review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has a 50% approval rating based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 5.20/10.

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote "The movie ... looks fine, and the performers are mostly good. ... Mr. Brimble's Monster looks the way Alexander Godunov might look after a failed face-lift. The special effects are nicely spaced out, and the laugh lines fairly funny." It performed poorly at the box office, grossing nearly $335,000. According to Brian Aldiss he went to see the film in a cinema in Leicester Square and there were only 6 other people in the audience.

Locations

This feature was filmed in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, including in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and around Bellagio.

References

External links

* * * {{Frankenstein 1990 films 1990 horror films 1990 science fiction films 1990s American films 1990s English-language films 1990s science fiction horror films 20th Century Fox films American science fiction horror films 1990s films about time travel Films based on British horror novels Films directed by Roger Corman Films produced by Roger Corman Warner Bros. films Films scored by Carl Davis Films set in the 1810s Films set in 2031 Films set in Switzerland Films shot in Milan Frankenstein films Romantic period films English-language science fiction horror films Concorde Pictures films