The Frankenstein Theory

OK right from the get go I have to say I was biased by an issue that plagues a lot of media nowadays - the worship of youth, and the unreal way in which it is portrayed so often. In this movie we have a bunch of twenty-something kids masquerading as adults, one of whom we are supposed to believe is a college professor with a PhD. We really need to stop pandering to 'young adults' who wanna pretend they're actually adults, but that's an entirely different rant. Problem is, this pseudo- real world of the kids who made this flick runs thru the fabric of the whole movie. But I soldiered on, and did my best to suspend my "this is really stupid" reflex. I probably should have listened to that first reflex, because the movie never really took off. It's a pseudo- documentary style, but the script is pretty weak and formulaic, and there are no solid actors in the bunch; no one with on screen charisma to draw you in. The scares are few, and not very scary, honestly. I'm not sure how I keep getting drawn into these independent, handi-cam shot, "found footage" films that all end up looking like a college art project (and maybe are.) I guess I keep hoping to stumble across some gem that will be original, not stupid, and genuinely spooky, like "The Blair Witch Project" or "Paranormal Activity," but I guess I'll have to keep looking, because this wasn't it.

The Frankenstein Theory is far from a masterpiece but I didn't find it nearly as bad as some have made it out to be.

It IS a total copy of "Blair Witch Project" with just the location changed, but that being said it's a reasonable recreation. I was never on the edge of my seat but the movie accomplished an important goal - it kept me interested enough to make me watch until the end.

The Frankenstein Theory also does a decent job (albeit slowly) of ramping up the tension until it climaxes in the last 10 minutes or so of the film.

There's nothing original here but as basic entertainment it's really not that bad. 5 out of 10.

I have researched the novel and taught Frankenstein at the university level for a number of years. I have also read the novel at least fifteen times, so I regard this film as an intertextual work rather than a stand-alone work, and that probably makes a huge difference. As far as I know, no successful film adaptations of the novel exists. Kenneth Branagh's "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" is interesting, but ultimately it is a howler of a B movie thanks largely to Branagh's decision to make Victor Frankenstein a wholly admirable character. "The Frankenstein Theory" illuminates the novel just as much, or more, than Branagh's film.

The film is a sequel to the novel. At the end of the novel, the "creature" jumps off a ship near the North Pole and bounds over the ice, having promised that he will build a funeral pyre and kill himself in the Arctic wastes. But does he? That's the question that drives the story of the film.

The writer/director obviously knew the novel as well as its biographical background. Jonathan reflects the monomaniacal determination of Victor Frankenstein. His backstory--expulsion from Oxford--also refers to the biography of Mary Shelley's husband, Percy. References to Percy Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" and to Mozart's Requiem--a commissioned work that ultimately became the composer's own requiem--create some clever textual layering. Percy Shelley presaged his own death, as does Jonathan and his crew in the act of documenting their pursuit of their own killer. Some of the tension of the frame story of the novel is captured, too: Victor Frankenstein has been rescued by Robert Walton, a captain with a hired crew bound for the North Pole (which had not yet been discovered). The film crew in "The Frankestein Theory" are analogous to Walton's nearly mutinous crew.

The premise of documentation is also meaningful in relation to the novel. Like many works of Gothic fiction, the novel is presented as an epistolary narrative--a documentation of "true" events. It is composed of some letters by Walton and a transcript of the story that Victor Frankenstein tells to Walton. At least one previous IMDb reviewer claimed that this entire film is a rip-off of "The Blair Witch Project," and, while I see the similarity, I think this misses the point. "The Blair Witch Project" and many other contemporary horror films (e.g., "The Ring" and "Paranormal Activity") foreground the act of documentation--a conceit they owe to Gothic literature. This film is the only one I know that actually acknowledges and plays knowingly with that debt.

Let's not stop there. "The Frankenstein Theory" plays with a couple other visual genres as well--the mockumentary (especially "The Incident at Loch Ness") and reality television shows based on wilderness survival. It also offers a delightful homage to "Jaws." The guide, Carl, played by an uncanny double for Viggo Mortensen, delivers a comic drunken story that parallels the terrific sailor's tale spun by Anthony Quinn in Spielberg's film.

Finally, let's face it...the Frankenstein story has never been truly terrifying in any of its manifestations. The novel is certainly creepy, but it's mainly a novel of ideas. This film should be credited for combining brainy intertextuality, comedy, and at least a few mild thrills. It's certainly not the scariest movie I've ever seen, but that's not the point. It IS the scariest media representation of the Frankenstein myth I've seen, with the possible exception of Blade Runner--another brainy, intertextual film.

It's not a masterpiece by any means, and I probably won't watch it many more times, but I enjoyed the movie. I went in with no expectations and was pleasantly surprised. The snowy outdoors areas they were in were creepy and in a way are more creepy than the woods. The writing and pacing needs work. The Frankenstein Theory feels like a ghostly image of a really good movie when you watch it... parts of the movie are good, some under-baked, some forgettable, and the movie itself feels like a ghostly image. You can see how good it potentially could be. I don't really disagree with the other reviewers that pan the movie or the ones that like it. If you are amenable to movies where a group of people are out on their own (like this movie and Blair Witch Project), then you'll probably be more receptive.

The Frankenstein Theory is another horror film made in the style of a faux documentary. Basically, a film crew follows a Professor around while he tries to redeem himself after being fired from his job. I know I say this a lot, but this movie started out extremely slow. Probably one of the slowest found footage horrors I've ever seen all the way through. I can't even really critique what happened in the first hour because I'm pretty sure my brain shut off. It starts to finally pick up when they're out camping in the snow and even then, it's really the last 15 minutes or so that are interesting. The ending was a little creepy, but I don't know if it's worth watching an hour of film that's boring, just to get to a few minutes of entertainment. I would definitely wait till this movie is available on Redbox or streaming through Netflix. But I don't suggest renting it at full price on VOD or you will be majorly disappointed.

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