Saturday, March 16, 2013

Review - The Frankenstein Theory (2013)


Starring Kris Lemche, Joe Egender and Christine Lakin.
Directed by Andrew Weiner.

Andrew Weiner makes his directorial debut in this low budget sci-fi horror. The movie is a twist to the Frankenstein story. We see Professor John Venkemheim (Kris Lemche) leads a documentary film crew as he sets out to prove his theory that Mary Shelley's classic book was indeed fact. The crew head out to the Artic Circle in search, and to their horror, start disappearing one by one.

The movie is shot in found footage style (for most parts) but doesn't fully take advantage of the style. The found-footage style has been an aid in the horror genre for providing further thrills and scares but in this movie, it didn't add to it at all. For starters, I think they waited too long to show us the monster. Throughout the film we hear the monster's growling and grunts and then at the end, that is when we get to see it. Not in great detail though as I didn't even see the monster's face properly.


By introducing the monster at the end instead of flashes throughout, the film failed to build any tension and provide any scares. There were not enough creepy footage shots at all so this felt like a horror stalemate. The premise is interesting but the movie's script and dialogue was not nearly as interesting as I wanted it to be. I even found the actor playing the camera man to be annoying at times with his dialogue. One positive aspect of this film is that the cinematography looks good; the snowy scenery and settings were well done but that's just about it.

I thought the last scene was kinda funny but overall The Frankenstein Theory was disappointing. I was hoping it'd be as thrilling as Trollhunter, but much more thought needed to go into this one.

Rating: 3/10



Movies Also Watched:

Rachel Getting Married (2008)
A divine film experience. A funny and emotional look at family life, with Anne Hathaway at her best. - 8.5/10

Fallen (1998)
A creepy cop thriller with an interesting premise. Could have used a stronger script though. - 7.5/10

A Perfect World (1993)
You hardly go wrong with a Clint Eastwood film. Butch and Philip's on screen chemistry was lovely. - 8.5/10

This is England (2006)
A well directed semi-autobiography with a lot of heart, a great soundtrack and a solid lead performance in Thomas Turgoose. - 9/10

Finding Neverland (2004)
Imaginative, fun and touching story. - 9/10

A Man For All Seasons (1966)
A powerful, well written and well acted historical drama. Paul Scofield was superb. - 9.5/10

Rashomon (1950)
Four contradicting stories but each so interesting and insightful. Rashomon highlights human nature and morality in the most clever way. - 10/10

Chariots of Fire (1981)
I can't believe this snoozefest won best picture. The story was just not interesting, much less the characters. - 4/10

3 comments:

  1. I didn't have high hopes for this after seeing the trailer but I was still looking forward to it. I thought there might be a small chance that it could be good. I'll probably still try to watch it because I'll watch almost anything Frankenstein related but it sucks that it didn't turn out better.

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    Replies
    1. Same here. Was kinda hoping it'd even be as interesting as Trollhunter but unfortunately not.

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  2. Never heard of this, but I guess there's a reason for that. Premise sounds cool. Too bad the movie isn't.

    Yeah, Troll Hunter was pretty solid.

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