Frankenstein vs. the Mummy

I stumbled upon "Frankenstein vs The Mummy" in 2019, and hadn't even heard about it up until now. Granted with a title such as this, I can't really claim to have held any hopes up particularly high for the chance of being in for a grand movie experience here. But still, the movie does have two very iconic horror characters in it, and that was more than sufficient to make me give the movie a chance.

The script and storyline in "Frankenstein vs The Mummy" was straight forward, which at least counted for something. But at the same time it was so horribly simplified that it offered nothing for the audience, it didn't require the audience to do any thinking or participation of any kind. You just shut down, sit back and watch the movie as it unfolds on the screen.

The effects in the movie were adequate and actually were on the better end of the mediocre movie special effects scale - if there is such a thing. By that I mean that there are monster movies out there with far, far worse special effects than what was present on the screen in "Frankenstein vs The Mummy". The mummy was actually quite decent to look at, whereas the Frankenstein golem was sort of not all that great, especially because his torso and arms were ordinary skin colored, whereas his face had a sick yellow hue, it just didn't look natural and looked so askew that it stole focus from everything else. That was just bad in terms of monster make-up.

Now, as for the acting, well let's just say that you will not be in for any award winning performances here. But given the concept of the movie, then you know aforehand what you are getting yourself into. Mind you, I am not saying that the actors and actresses here were bad; I am merely saying that it was adequate performances taking into consideration the script and material they had to work with.

Take heed, as the movie is branded as 'horror'. Well, it might rightfully be so by default because of the mummy and Frankenstein's golem, but the movie wasn't particularly scary. It felt more like a movie that tried to embrace multiple genres all at once but failing to do so with grace and good execution. Don't sit down to watch this movie if you expect a proper horror movie.

I sat through the entire movie, and found it to be adequate entertainment for sure. However, it is hardly a movie that will find its way back to my movie system for a second viewing, because the movie just doesn't have the contents to support multiple viewings.

The mummy of a cursed pharaoh and a reanimated corpse terrorize a medical university. Only an Egyptologist and a college professor, the deranged Dr. Frankenstein, may be able to stop the creatures before it's too late.

First off, I really despised the actor who played Dr. Frankenstein. He seemed like he was supposed to be charming, but he came off as being an ignoramus and a complete tool. Oh, and the poor script of philosophy jibber-jabber. Whoever wrote the "philosophy of medicine" speech is not very knowledgeable on philosophy.

Tal Zimerman dismisses this film as a "clunker", though the makeup of Damien Leone is rightly praised. Zimerman is right. The film is a clunker, bland, and not particularly memorable. The makeup is above average in quality, though, and hopefully someone notices. But the good-looking bad guys are not enough reason to watch this.

-Frankenstein Vs. The Mummy (2015) movie review: -Frankenstein Vs. The Mummy is a modern telling of the classic story my Mary Shelley which is just how it sounds. There's Frankenstein's monster. And there's a mummy. And they fight.

-A few problems with this overall Syfy original quality film right off the bat: The monster is not called Frankenstein. The story is not modern. And once you get those two wrong, you have a generic vs movie that makes Freddy Vs. Jason look good.

-The story is poorly adapted to modern times, and therefor lacks any sort of motivation. Things just happen for the sake of happening. And nothing that happens is any sort or believable.

-The pace is sloppy, jumping unevenly between making Frankenstein's monster to awakening a mummy, and then 45 minutes of mummy to 45 minutes of freaking Frankenstein's monster. Also trying to fit a love story between Victor Frankenstein and the girl who knows things about mummies drags the film even more. Also, we get to finally see Frankenstein's monster fight the mummy! Literally 9 minutes before the end INCLUDING credits. And they fight for about as long as the Dinobots from Transformers 4 do, about 2 minutes.

-The acting is meh. They try, with little success, to act.

-The characters are all inconsistent and lack motivation. And Frankenstein's monster should not have a character change to a dislikable jerk when his brain kicks in or whatever, but he does. So nobody in the film is likable or is available to root for.

-The music is all the same and not good.

-I will go ahead and give a shout-out to a few elements that make the film not garbage: The makeup and effect were noticeable. There was not a lot-to-no CGI in the film, meaning everything was makeup and practical effects, which were over-the-top but impressive. -The film had a few moments that I did not expect either. I was like 'Woah!' or 'Oh, I hope it ends like this!' Problem is it literally ruined every good moment with a bad follow-up.

-It is not so bad it is good, it is just bad, and the modern update kills any chances of it being entertainingly cheesy. So without any further adieu, Frankenstein Vs. The Mummy is not worth seeing. Ever.

Maybe the intent was to make a modern-day equivalent of some of those Universal Monsters crossover movies from way back in the 30s and 40s, but it feels more like Damien Leone making an Asylum film, sadly. I think it's better than the handful of Asylum releases I've seen, but that doesn't mean I'd go so far as to call it good.

Also, anyone who feels Terrifier 2 is too long will have whatever the opposite of a field day is with Frankenstein vs. The Mummy. Some of those Universal movies were 60 to 70 minutes long, and this one should've taken inspiration from that aspect of them.

At least the Mummy looked kind of cool. We could use a good gory/modern-day full-horror take on the Mummy one of these days.

Was drawn into seeing 'Frankenstein vs. The Mummy' with a cool poster/cover, a very intriguing if not creative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

From the title, one would understandably think that 'Frankenstein vs. The Mummy' would be an affectionate homage to the Universal and Hammer House of Horror films, have a lot of fondness for them mostly and there are a lot of classics. That cannot be said for 'Frankenstein vs. The Mummy' and an affectionate homage or a well-made and well-put-together film it is not. As has been said already, the title is very misleading, the two monsters are mostly apart and their one "battle", or one scene together, is far too brief and neither creepy or exciting. It's actually treated rather indifferently.

It's not an appealing film to look at. The limitations in budget shows throughout in almost every area, it all looks drab and hastily put together in particularly the editing and effects look like they were constructed on the small remains of the small budget having been neglected. The two monsters, especially the lumbering Frankenstein monster, are not that creepy and their scenes individually are not suspenseful or that atmospheric at all.

None of the rest of the characters engage or endear, with the lead character frustratingly characterised as a complete idiot. The acting is weak at best, with Max Rhyser and Ashton Leigh lacking charisma, Boomer Tibbs reduced to pantomime and Brandon deSpain and Constantin Tripes failing to bring menace to the titular characters. Stefanie Merola comes off least badly, at least having some allure and spots of charm.

The script is a cheesy, awkward and limp mess and the story takes too long to get going and never properly comes to life. Suspense and creepiness are nowhere in sight and some of it is insultingly ridiculous.

Only one other thing, the other being Merola's allure, redeems the film from an irredeemable film to a very bad one and that is the make-up. It looked as though a lot of effort went into it, looking like most of the budget was dedicated to it in fact, and provides some eeriness. Sad that it deserved a much better film.

All in all, very bad with a misleading title. 2/10 Bethany Cox