Frankenstein 90

I think for the user comment posted , than the poster doesn't understand , that this is a comedy , an homage like Mel's Brooks "Young Frankenstein" , an it's a good French comedy , i saw it a long time ago , at 84' , and i remembered the enjoyable moment i have . And Jean Rochefort was superb , like always , not to mention the gorgeous female creature . I have to say that i am a big Frankenstein's fan , i watched for the first time the classic Whale - Karloff movie at the age of four , since then i looked all the versions filmed , even the Edison' film , of course all the Universals , the Hammers , the mexicans movies , the B versions , the most bizarre movies with the

"Frankenstein" title ever made , or with the man made monster or human in her plot , like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" , an this "Frankenstein 90" film , has a good and respectable place , between all this films.

This is another film I was barely aware of before I acquired it (unfortunately, it cuts off before the end credits have finished rolling!) on the strength of the theme and credentials – director Jessua having already dabbled in the genre with TRAITEMENT DE CHOC (1973), LES CHIENS (1979) and PARADIS POUR TOUS (1982). I also did not expect it to be a spoof of the famous tale (since its makers were typically associated with sober stuff), but the result proved nonetheless thought-provoking and quite satisfactory. Incidentally, it was to be among the last works of scriptwriter Paul Gegauff (best-known for his long-time collaboration with the late great Claude Chabrol) prior to being murdered – by his own wife! – on Christmas Eve '83.

Anyway, while not as broadly comic as Mel Brooks' popular YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974), there are still some definite laugh-out-loud moments here – the funniest being the aftermath of a car accident (with the monster himself behind the wheel!). Besides, this is the only Frankenstein movie where you will see the creature – played here by singer Eddy Mitchell – donning jeans and shades…and he even goes to watch one of his own cinematic adventures (in which he is incarnated by one Maurice Tarloff)! In the same quirky vein, we get the monster repeatedly embarrassing its master – Jean Rochefort – by killing a cop-turned-procurer/blackmailer (merely by a slap in the face) and, for his mate, he takes the initiative to kidnap (and hang in deep-freeze) a trio of exotic dancers the doctor had indicated as prospective 'donors'; for the monster, he had previously worn a mask in order to steal the requisite body parts – from his own workplace – and had even been forced to knock-out his fiancée Elizabeth, now a scientist herself! For the record, the latter is played by Fiona Gelin, daughter of actor Daniel and half-sister of the recently-deceased Maria Schneider!

Incidentally, as per the Mary Shelley source novel, we get two creatures for the price of one: a prototype (i.e. ugly-looking) male – who learns to talk instantly but then, in something of a clichéd situation, has to be told what love is! – and a gorgeous statuesque female (Dutch Herma Vos, another singer curiously enough) but who, this time around, bears no visible marks of her patched-up nature! As in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935), too, the latter takes an instant liking to her creator rather than her intended (there is also a nod to the 1931 original's inadvertent child murder in the similarly playful maid's death here). With Elizabeth getting a more central role than usual, and though she had been shaken by the monster's attempted rape of her, the couples eventually swap partners (echoing the afore-mentioned YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN)! The creatures actually engage in a fight atop the Frankenstein castle (though the events largely take place in Paris, we revert to Geneva for the finale) which ends pretty much in a draw.

Other notable assets are the interesting cavernous sets for the main lab (with the reconstructed bodies covered by a golden tin foil) and a surprisingly buoyant score by Armando Trovajoli. During the latter stages, however, the film seems to bite off more than it can chew – after a veritable siege at the Frankenstein house, the monster and Elizabeth escape across the ice (it seems that, after being neglected for so many years, every new interpretation has to incorporate this sprawling chilly landscape!)…only for him to re-emerge an entrepreneur (surrounded by all the modern commodities and with the ability to speak in several languages!), with scientist now reduced to a mere employee, and the mass-produced creatures (amusingly made-up to look like the David Bowie alter ego Ziggy Stardust!) already resenting their lot and sowing the seeds of rebellion!

Alain Jessua's French production, 'Frankenstein 90' (1984), is a solid, entertaining, original and odd take on the Frankenstein tale, particularly the Universal film classics 'Frankenstein' and 'Bride of Frankenstein'. Part comedy-spoof, part light drama, this is essential viewing for horror fans and Frankenstein completists.

Imagine Mel Brooks' 'Young Frankenstein' but in color and with a whopping dollop of nudity and graphic, rampaging sexual appetites. In fact, the quest to satisfy the monster's carnal curiosity is the focal point of the film. More than likely, American horror fanatics have never seen anything quite like this. French pop star Eddy Mitchell stars as 'Frank' (the monster), and the film boasts two extremely sexy female leads that do not disappoint. Fiona Gelin (as Elizabeth) is simply stunning. >

Horror comedies rarely work, in my opinion. Either the humor is unsuccessful or the horror is. Or both. In this case, there is a good combination, although ultimately there is more humor than horror.

The setting is modern day (1984) France and (what we find out) is a descendent of the Frankenstein family is continuing to work on the same old experiments. However this time around he is more successful and the "creation" is rather civilized (wearing jeans and a sweatshirt for much of the film) for the most part although he does have some anger management problems.

The humor is not heavy handed and in my opinion that helps it work better.

A good example of a funny bit early on is when the doctor, stealing an arm from a laboratory, accidentally drops it while climbing over the fence only to have it picked up by a dog. This results in a brief struggle for the arm. Not hilarious, but funny. There is a lot of that in the film.

This is a more down to earth version of Frankenstein. It is without the drama and grandiose aspects many of them have. It addresses, in some manner, the real problems that might come up if one had assembled a human/creature from dead body parts.

Some of the humor is a bit dark, naturally, and there are some genuinely atmospheric moments in the form of a dream sequences.

I'm sort of surprised this film doesn't have a greater cult following, although maybe it does and I'm just not aware of it. Maybe it will now since Anchor Bay has just released a nice looking DVD of the film.

For fans of the bizarre and humorous, I suggest checking this one out.

It is worth comparing this film, in a way, to the other comedy film based around the Frankenstein story - Young Frankenstein. I enjoy that film very much but this one has a different feel to it. It has some darker moments, thematically, and some darker comedy. Simply put, this one is French and the other is a Mel Brooks film made in his prime.

Alain Jessua took a wrong turn from this movie onwards.All he did before was perfectly acceptable ("Les Chiens" "Armaguedon" and even highly commendable ("Traitement de Choc" ) Alain Jessua is one of of the rare French directors who has broached the fantasy and horror genre.In "Traitement de Choc" he tackled the absorbing subject of the fountain of youth :as it happens, the migrant workers used as "material" to rejuvenate the wealthy bourgeois ;there was something of Mary Shelley there;then in his overlooked 1981 "Le Paradis Pour Tous" ,a shrink sold a treatment-to-be-happy to his patient ,no matter if they lost their personality in the process ;this time again,Jessua showed that Man must not change Man as God or the Big Bang made him.

All that just shows how Jessua was the ideal French director to update the myth of Frankenstein.So it may have been,but if so it signally fails in his purpose .Perhaps Jessua's worst film ,this "90" version (what a stupid title!)cheapens Shelley's work with a screenplay which is a real hodgepodge that's completely unwatchable next to the director's best works.By and large , Jean Rochefort is a very reliable actor,but he is inefficient here.But if he is bad ,pop singer Eddy Mitchell is worse ,which tends to prove that singers are rarely good actors (with notable exceptions of course :Frank Sinatra;Charles Aznavour): his performance as the creature is a disaster ,but he is not the sole responsible : it's an absurd thing to make the creature speak as you and me ,to take "it" to the pictures to watch Whale's "Frankenstein" .At least ,for a very short while ,while these black and white pictures from 1931 are on the screen ,we are back in the world of true cinema.