Frankenstein's Army

It took quite a while for Richard Raaphorst to have his first feature length film canned but now we can all enjoy "Frankenstein's Army", which debuted at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film had its world premiere at a sold out screening of the International Rotterdam Film Festival. And at long last the audience had the chance to have a look at Raaphorst's creation(s) in full splendour. I think a lot of horror fans have been looking forward to the debut of "Frankenstein's Army"; we've been teased by some excellent trailers of his "Worst Case Scenario" and when that project got stuck in development hell, artwork and teasers for his new film surfaced.

In "Frankenstein's Army" everything's filmed from a first person perspective, that person being the soldier Sergei, who's part of a Russian squad that is slowly moving further in Germany. He has the task to document the march of Mother Russia into Germany. So yes, you've read it right: this is a found footage film. When the squadron goes further into the countryside some weird skeletons and soldiers are found. When they pick up a radio signal from some comrades the trail leads them to a church / factory and then shits starts to hit the propeller.

The first half builds up slowly towards the second. Starting off with quite some shots of running and some occasional shooting, it gets more interesting when they come up a village where things don't seem right. The part where they start to encounter the first zombots (as Richard has named his creations) almost reminded me of a mix of the video game "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" and more steampunkish elements. Zombots suddenly appear and create havoc amongst the Russians. The second half steps down a bit and offers a better look at Raaphorst's monsters. The encounter of Viktor -the creator of the monstrous nazi soldiers- provides the director to go all out with special effects in the 'laboratory'. This is a place where a gorehound's heart starts beating faster: there are some geeky references, all the monsters and gory effects are real (so almost no computer effects) and that choice pays off. The effects feel real, the zombots are brought to life in a weirdly, wicked way, most of them wearing working mechanical features that gives each of them a unique look.

Raaphorst reaps I was a bit thrown off because of this film being another one in the 'found footage' style. Even though it doesn't bring nothing new to this way of drawing the audience into the film, it is well done: you know you don't get these lame something-was-there-and-now-there-isn't kind of things but you will be treated with some in-your-face gore and great zombots. Also it was hard to get over the accents used by the actors throughout the film, that is always a hard choice to make. Raaphorst his strength is his vision, visuals and details. I expected the film to be a bit more sinister and dark because of the teasers but in the feature itself there is more focus on gore than tension. Luckily he knows his gore and all the effects are really well done. It's great to see his sketches come alive on the big screen and they work well in all their bizarre glory.

I really hope this film will give Richard Raaphorst a chance to create another feature film in which he can explore more of his directional skills outside the found footage genre and is able to provide us another look in his bizarre, creative mind.

I expected a low-rate B movie with maybe a few good scenes. I was very surprised with how well the film was put together. The story is simple: the Russian army is battling Germany during WW 2. They respond to a distress call put out by another Russian troop. When they get to the location they only find a hand full of Germans. I won't give away much of the plot except to say they that their expeditions lead them into a Nazi factory for making monsters run by none other than the monster-making maestro himself, Dr. Frankenstein. The monsters are good: kinda like more mechanized versions of those in Hellraiser, and the factory is like a weird mixture of Ed Gein meets Willy Wonka. The acting and dialog were also above average. I would overall characterize the movie as fun, not just the same rehashed Nazi experiment movie, and definitely worth a try

The only difference between this found footage film and footage that may have actually been taken by a real Russian soldier is that the real Russian soldier probably would have been able to hold the camera without shaking it and would have kept it in focus.

Enough of this found footage technique. If it brings nothing to the storyline, then it's not worth the pain of watching it. To me the filming technique was overbearing and outweighed anything the movie might have been. It is just annoying to watch. And again there is zero character depth or development, partly due to the filming technique.

Alright, the monsters are great, good enough to rate all the five stars. If you want to see good monsters, then watch it. The acting is dodgy, the plot minimal, and you just won't care who gets gored because again there is no depth to the characters. If you're plain tired of found footage, give this one a pass.

Another Nazi weird science and hand-held camera movie. So fasten your seat-belts! There's gonna to be a whole lotta shaking going on. This one follows an undisciplined and sometimes comical Russian reconnaissance team as they march, hike, and yeah, stagger and stumble thru German territory trying to get the goods on the Germans for mother Russia. As they progress, they encounter evidence that later becomes horrifying fact that the Nazis are trying to advance there cause with some seriously f!!cked-up science: the re-animation and mechanical weaponization of the dead.

This, Reader, you gotta see. Every kind of scrap, junk or part is imaginatively used in the reconstruction and re-animation of the dead. Now while horrifying, there is also no escaping the comical effect of this. This movie is only scary in the sense that "bizarre killer robots" are after you. It is not scary in traditional creepy and supernatural sense of the dead coming back to life. 2 reasons: The merging of people with metal and mechanical parts "dehumanizes" them you tend to think of them more as "machines". As well, this movie leans towards being an over-the-top dark horror comedy; especially at the end.

Normally I don't like hand-held camera movies or "jerky-cams" as I think of them. However there are exceptions and this is one of them. There is a "real-life or documentary voyeur effect" to these types of movies which is chiefly what distinguishes them (along with the jitters, of course). As well, since the camera person is a character in the movie, it always amuses me that when all hell breaks loose and everyone is scattering and running for dear life, they have to hold there ground and act like the bravest or most reckless person in the world and continue filming or else there's no movie. Sometimes the makers of this type of movie get creative and have the person drop the camera in the excitement of the moment; but note that the camera never stops working and always lands in a position where it can continue filming the action. You gotta love it. Boloxxxi.

First and foremost, I rated this a 7/10 for creature design alone! They are truly unique and remarkable, even if the movie itself falls short. The acting is sub-par and there is no real character development at all. Some of the characters were so disgustingly horrible that I was begging for them to be taken out by the zombots immediately and all but cheered the moment they were.

If you want to see some fantastic creature design, give this movie a try. My husband and I paused the movie several times just to take in the whole creature design aspect. It is entertaining enough from start to finish to warrant a viewing. It's not really thought provoking, but if you are looking for some mindless fun then give this flick a go!