User reviews

The film deals about the Detectives O'Conner(Parker Posey, Superman returns) and Sloan(Adam Goldberg, The Salton sea)are investigating grisly killings by a macabre serial-killer mutilating the victims. Also, a tough policeman(Michael Madsen, Free Willy)named Harker(homage to Jonathan Harker-Dracula) does inquiry on the horrific events. Meantime, she finds a mysterious man named Deucalion(Vincent Perez,Fanfan LaTulipe) who warns her about a megalomaniac Doctor(Thomas Kretschman, The pianist)named Victor Helios. Doctor Helios is actually Dr. Frankestein(originally created by Mary Shelley) still alive along with his sweetheart(Ivana Milicevic).

This television movie displays tension, mystery, thriller and eerie scenes when the murders and tortures take place. The film takes accent as the suspense as the terror. The plot for this TV picture was initially adapted by famous terror novelist Dean Koontz(Demon seed, Watchers, Phantoms) and attempted as a television series. Koontz was hired as writing credits and executive producer along with Martin Scorsese, but economic and plot disputes among Cable Network and Koontz, made both left the project, for that reason the screenplay gets flaws and gaps , furthermore,the movie final conclusion is ¨deja vu¨. The picture contains a creepy musical score fitting to the horror film by Norman Corbeil and Angelo Baladamenti, plus , a gloomy and sinister cinematography with frightening atmosphere by Daniel Pearl. The motion picture is professionally directed by Marcus Nispel, director of the much better ¨The Texas chainsaw massacre¨ and usually video-clips filmmaker and occasionally director, being his last film, ¨The pathfinder¨, also with dark and shady scenarios, as habitual in all his movies.

The cinematography, editing, art direction are all pretty good on this, especially for a TV movie. It is rather one-note, though. Subdued colors, rain, smoke, darkness, grungy sets. Take a bit of the idea of Frankenstein, set it in the modern day, and cross it with a bit of Se7en, and there it is.

The acting I didn't particularly care for. I've liked Posey, Goldberg, and Madsen in other things, but not here. Didn't care for Helios or the Monster either.

As a pilot, this isn't too bad. As a stand-alone movie (since the series was not greenlighted), it doesn't work very well. We don't learn very much about any of the characters. Parker Posey's character has a young autistic brother she has to take care of (or has to have a nanny take care of for her), who serves no purpose whatsoever.

I guess the brother's role would have been fleshed out in the series, but since it wasn't to be, they could have cut him out. Madsen's character has something big going on, but it isn't wrapped up at the end at all. Helios' project(s?) are not wrapped up, and neither are the monster's. The only storyline that has any closure is that of The Surgeon. Perhaps if there is a DVD commentary it will shed some light on in what direction the series would have gone.

I don't think these kinds of movies should be judged by the same standards as others. Compared to a full budgeted, generally more free, Hollywood movie, this movie lacks somewhat. Compared to something like The Langoliers, it's spectacular. Judge it on its own merits and it's certainly not a waste of time, the performances all around are excellent, stand-outs from Adam Goldberg and Micheal Madsen in my opinion, and it's got a plot that doesn't suck as well as some genuine twists. I'd say the production values are the best drawing points though, as this has the appearance of a big-budget, cinematic blockbuster, while most come off as cheesy and campy. There are worse ways to spend a couple of hours.

Let me get this straight to begin with: FRANKENSTEIN is a horrible reinterpretation of the classic Mary Shelley novel, which attempts to modernise the story in a pre-flooding New Orleans. Everything about this production screams cliché: there's a murky, depressing visual style that constantly uses David Fincher's SE7EN as its source material (isn't that so late '90s?) and a storyline that ends up going absolutely nowhere. The reason? This was the ill-conceived pilot of a television series that was never made, so don't go in expecting any kind of plot resolution or tying up of loose ends.

The tired story sees a couple of lame detectives (Parker Posey and Adam Goldberg, possibly the most uninteresting cops I've seen in any movie) going after a killer leaving a string of bizarre deaths in his wake. Along the way, they come across Vincent Perez as a strangely scarred and hooded figure, and there are no prizes for guessing who he's supposed to be. There's also some pointless stuff involving ruthless scientist Victor Helios, played by Thomas Kretschmann. He's Frankenstein, but despite taking up a great deal of screen time he never actually gets involved in the main storyline.

Yeah, the film really is that muddled and disjointed: the detectives never catch up with Frankenstein, and we never even learn how he's still alive in the modern day. Talk about a con. Instead, the thrust of the plot eventually turns out to involve Michael Madsen, playing a fellow detective with a few secrets of his own. But there's really nothing to keep you watching: no interesting set-pieces, no special effects to speak of, no drama, no tension, not one bit of suspense. Director Marcus Nispel's work feels adrift and aimless outside of his preferred genre (remakes), and Dean Koontz wisely took his name off the thing. You can hardly blame him.

In a dark New Orleans atmosphere, witty detectives Parker Posey (Carson) and Adam Goldberg are hunting a killer who rips organs from the victims. Their investigation starts in the public library where a security guard has had his heart ripped out. The investigation leads Carson down a grim road where she learns that the victims are all abnormal creations of Dr. Victor Helios, an uber-creepy doctor with a penchant for "perfection."

Evidently, Helios improved on the physical stamina and endurance of humans (his creations can survive great falls, have bigger hearts, and more calcium in the bones making them "cement-like"). However, Helios fails to perfect the mental stability of these persons. It turns out, nearly half the people we meet are his "children."

As we learn just how crazy everyone is and as one particularly charitable Helios-man throws Carson clue after clue, we find out who the killer is and spend 30 minutes chasing him around. In the meanwhile, Helios drowns the wife he created (an inexplicable method for a physician - one can only presume demonstrating the depth of his insanity) -- only to reinvigorate her with new life and a new personality. The big climax of the film is when the Helios-man-serial-killer faces off with the Helios-man-clue-giver. Of course, the latter wins.

The film scores well on visuals, displaying much of the sculpture, old mansions, and architecture for which New Orleans is known for. It also has the usual good performances by Goldberg and Posey. Unfortunately, everyone else simply acts overtly spooky with little personality beyond general creepiness. For horror movie fans, this will disappoint. Even more damning, the film has a cliff-hanger ending leaving huge room for a sequel - but why?

5/10

Detective Carson O'Conner (Parker Poisey) and her partner Detective Michael Sloane (Adam Goldberg) are investigating murders of a serial-killer that mutilates and removes the internal organs of the victims. When they meet the mysterious and macabre Deucalion (Vincent Perez), they are informed that Dr. Frankenstein is alive with a legion of followers, using the name of Dr. Victor Helios (Thomas Kretschmann).

I liked this contemporary version of the character of Frankenstein. The story recalls "X-Files", having the same style of cinematography and music score. It seems to be a pilot of a TV series, inclusive there is no ending of the story but a great hook for the sequel. Anyway, it is a good entertainment, very underrated in IMDb. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Frankenstein"

The detectives, judges, doctors, (you name them), they are all getting younger each year. Hollywood is getting more unbelievable all the time. It's a shame. What we have here is a teenage looking female detective on the hunt for one of Frankenstein's monsters. The usual here-and-there pursuit takes place; all done in the usual low budget nowhere places. Helios (Frankenstein) has a beautiful wife who he tries to make better when he gets the urge, or needs to do so. Then the first creation/monster of Helios arrives, but he is wanting to help the detectives get the man who created him; but the original creation, unfortunately, is not used enough. All in all, this movie was not worthy of making, unless betters actors as detectives were chosen.

I saw the movie and learned that it was dropped after just the one premier. If this was picked up again soon it could still make a good streaming series.

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein is an abandoned TV pilot that was deftly edited into a feature, and marketed thus. It absolutely kills me that the networks never picked it up, because it's a super imaginative, stylish beast of a story with an unbelievable ensemble of genre players and the direction of Marcus Nispel, a veteran of slick horror and fantasy. Oh well. If you can wrestle up a DVD like I did, or catch it on cable, it's good watching. It takes place nearly two hundred years after Mary Shelley's story, and we see that time has radically changed Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. The Dr., now called Victor Helios (the excellently moody Thomas Kretschmann) has preserved his youth through dark science, as well as that of his wife Erika (the stunning Ivana Milicivec), whom he has more twisted plans for, never giving his need for bizarre experimentation a rest. Meanwhile his creature, now a roaming Demi-human named Deucalion (Vincent Perez), hunts the good Doctor down, for revenge and possibly more. Their presence catches the attention of Detective Carson O'Connor (Parker Posey, demonstrating how well she fits into pretty much any genre), and her partner (Adam Goldberg). Meanwhile another, less idealistic detective named Harker (Michael Madsen oozes sinister malice) enters the fold with his own sick intentions. The plot takes care and attention or you will be lost; this isn't classic Frankenstein, it's dark and esoteric new spin with its own ideas, some of which are delightfully surreal and akin to artists like David Cronenberg and Guillermo Del Toro. It's got a distinct, ambient lighting scheme as well that sets the tone just south of conventional and gives it an eerie atmosphere almost like The Crow or Dark City. It's really a shame that no one saw the potential with this one to allow it to blossom into either a show or a franchise. At least this one got made though, and it's really worth checking out.

This film, while having impressive production credits and a decent cast, lacks in several key areas. With a staff such as this I was expecting at least slightly more than I got. I noticed several amateurish audio glitches that would not exist in a film with higher production values. The main characters were given passable characterization, but then other characters (Parker's brother comes to mind) were simply glossed over and seemed to show that the story had potential and lots of ideas but for whatever reason did not make the final cut. I question the utilization of Michael Madsen in a role he did not seem suited for, nor did he seem particularly excited to be playing. The poor pacing of the "climactic" chase and the "ending" itself play out amateurishly as well. Everything in the last 20 minutes reeked of either an extended series pilot or foreshadowing of a sequel. I also see that before the film even played on USA that a number of people voted it up to 10. These folks must be huge fans of Parker Posey (which I am) or simply have no concept of mediocre. I rate this film a 3/10. If Frankenstein was not in the public domain after all these years this film would have no business existing. It completely lacks subtlety and interest, but it does have blood, which apparently excites people who must have been weaned on television dramas their whole lives. If that is you, give this one a whirl, it may be your cup of tea. I, on the other hand, was disappointed. I give this one slightly more credit than the absolute butchered and dumbed-down remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre the director also put his name on. Personally I would of credited both to Alan Smithee or his counterpart and been done with them.

When a New Orleans detective finds a series of strange mutilations and deaths to be the cause of the fanatical doctor and his creations trying to continue their work, she teams up with a sympathetic work to stop him before his rampage spreads throughout the city.

This was a pretty disappointing and not all that worthwhile effort that had a few potentially intriguing moments about it. One of the better elements here was the use of the novel to make the new story come around, as it manages to make a lot of the same elements together here in a modern-day take that feels like a true connection between the two, which is quite unique. As well, there's a lot more action to be found in the later half here with several different encounters with the creatures and the victims, a nice shoot-out in a dank factory and some actual energy that makes for an overall enjoyable time here. It's all too late, though, since the first half of this is all pretty much a lame police investigation that isn't in the slightest bit interesting as there's nothing that comes of it as all we do is stumble upon the bodies after- the-fact and there's nothing of interest there when it's not shown. Even then there's not a lot going on with the story until the revelation of the increased organ-count that brings about the experimental genetics angle that carries the story onward, and more so for the fact that, as it's a pilot for a never-filmed TV series there's just way too many hanging story lines that aren't explained the lack of excitement in this section is hammered home even further.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language and a mild sex scene.

This is a Frankenstein sequel. Most of the time Frankenstein sequels are good. But this one is not. In this movie the monsters is the hero and Doctor Frankenstein is the bad guy. I don't think I care for that to mush. This one doctor Frankenstein and the monster live into modern times. The monster meet a female cop. And there are both trying to stop the evil doctor Frankenstein. The book and older movies. Doctor Frankenstein is good guy. And the monster is the bad guy. So I real don't care for it. It not very scary. Bad story line. Bad acting. Skip it. This is pooh pooh. Don't wast your money. Do wast your time. Do not see this movie.

Does no one care that this movie just ENDS half way through the plot? Was it suppose to be a mini-series? I guess it would be a cool concept for a movie if the ideas hadn't been so over-developed, but as a TV series? please. We already had like TEN years of the X-files, i think that's enough. As for the cinematography, i thought it was beautifully shot. A very pretty movie. For that, and that alone, I give it 3 stars. Good job, Marsuc Nispel. At least someone wasn't asleep at the wheel.

As for the acting: Adam Goldberg didn't have enough lines. Parker Posey had too many, and Michael Madsen could have been way creepier... we've all seen Reservoir Dog's and we know what he's capable of.

All in all, my only advice in watching this movie would be to do it in black and white if you can, it somehow makes it more bearable.

This was to be the first episode of a Dean Koontz-written series which, unfortunately, never was made and instead became a series of novels. Having owned a copy of the novel, I think it was a pity the series never happened. AS scripted, it's more a police procedural than a horror story, with tendrils of horror. This time, Frankenstein is called Helios and he's still searching for the perfect creature but now has a network of his creations, some living almost normal lives but still tied to him. The arrival in New Orleans of his original creation, now called Deucalion, and a series of gruesome murders bring together the creature and the police detective investigating. The tone is dark but compelling, the characters equally so. Helios is handsome, cold, and prepared to sacrifice even the wife he loves (and created) when she proves imperfect.

The acting is good, the premise intriguing. Unfortunately, it stops just when things gets really interesting and the promise of answers to questions in the form of the next movie never materializes. It's too bad the series never was made because if it held to the precepts of the pilot and the novel, it would've been great.

This movie was viewed as a rental DVD and no remuneration was involved in the writing of this review.

What does a protruding name as Martin Scorsese as a simple executive producer, it mean that about to see a major production stature of such prolific name, wrong this is a TV movie that meaning goes straight to streaming, no theaters, it's a small production that had wrong idea to put Scorsese as if it were the director, easy to catch the unwary.

They use a workaround premise, whereby the first one Frankenstein Deucalion (Vincent Perez) he was made two hundred years old at Europe, now his arrival at America he pursuit his undying creator overachiever Dr. Victor Helius (Thomas Kretschmann), that continues making those monster in scientific top grade, including re-working in order to improvement of these being whom didn't work out at first creation, meanwhile Dr. Kretschmann scattered many them that sadly entered in process of mental breakdown ends up committed suicide.

Your goal is replace all human beings for these monster created a laboratory whereof had an asset, they had at least two hundred years, two hearts and high degree of endurance, thus they could override the human being with plenty way, this picture has a gloomy atmosphere which this kind had, however misconstrued, the ending leads us to believe that it was a pilot for a possible series, when Detective Carson and Deucalion made a deal to struggles against the evil Dr. Victor Helius , stays explicit such statement.

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First watch: 2023 / Source: DVD / How many: 1 / Rating: 6.

okay. so it isn't that bad. it has all a lover of Gothic sightseeing can long for: the colours, the indie-looking actress, the support act is not exceedingly hilarious and milicevic is stunning. but it's bad. bad in a sense you can't ever get any sort of genuine like for any of the characters, not even harker. madsen's voice is state-of-the-art and ever creepy but you can't put a film together based on some good pretty details. vincent perez is worse than the overall movie. he couldn't be phonier and more inappropriate in the incarnation of "his first". all the missing bits aren't a justification for some considerably wrong choices of clichés: the hooded perez, the sick librarian (it could be any other middle-aged female for that matter) throwing up while some nasty lines are jerked unskillfully and the yucky matchmaker nanny. despite what's read before, i need to point out the best thing in this movies lies beneath the intriguing character of the priest. i only hope the sequel keeps track of that sort of exquisite type of idea.