Guillermo del Toro was seven years old when he first saw ‘Frankenstein’ starring Boris Karloff as the creature. It was his epiphany, vowing to follow his messiah in creating a ‘sacred horror’ of a world. It was spawned by his fear-based religion and Mexican rooted dark imagination. He felt compelled to make his own cinematic version of the gothic horror novel written by an eighteen-year-old English author Mary Shelley.
Cinema would provide him the altar where he would breathe life into fictional monsters he called ‘patron saints of imperfection’. Even the painstaking process of applying prosthetics and make-up on his actors was a ‘sacrament’ to him. He would declare his disavowal of Catholicism later in life, though his films remain saturated with investigations of the human soul trapped in his magnificently constructed corridors of the underworld. Religious symbols and iconography that abound in meticulously crafted signposts of his traumatic early life have become a staple in his films.
Del Toro delves deeply into the supernatural as his own way of journeying back to his childhood’s otherworldly beliefs. Extreme penance for fear of death and the afterlife gave him nightmares, which would later find an antidote in gobbling up gore from horror classics. A descent to imaginary hell fuelled by his exposure to comics and films would nurture his fantasies and nourish his own morbid creativity.
Del Toro identifies himself with mostly bewildered characters from his films. This brings to the fore his lifelong affinity with Dr. Victor Frankenstein, together with the dynamics behind father-son relationship which he co-opted to suit his narrative. By stealing the power of creation from God, Victor embodies Prometheus, thus the parodic element infused in Shelley’s tale. Where del Toro takes a detour from the book is his version of the creature representing a new creation with superior abilities and intelligence. It seems that del Toro wanted to break from the typical mold of the sub-human ‘monstrous’ creature assembled from different body parts, by giving him an exceptional brain that started off as parroting the name ‘Victor’ incessantly, then by some stroke of magic was able to peruse classical literature in large volumes. His exceptionally absorptive brain combined with a delicate heart and electrically charged soul can be very tempestuous and sentimental exuding moralizing tendencies.
What was supposed to have been a freak of science, the creature from the past has evolved into a more complex specimen who hungers for affection and self-identity. On top of that, the new creature has been endowed with rock star looks and superhero qualities of strength and indestructibility which is quite a stretch from the more mysterious lurking large-headed figure from the original. Though he inherited the clumsiness and dim-wit expressions, they don’t synch with his articulateness.
From the beginning of his career, del Toro always aimed to elevate the horror genre into gothic metaphysics, away from the typical jump-scares of the slasher trend. From all those years working on his craft under the shadow of legendary predecessors, the idea of making Frankenstein has been gestating in his brain. The conceptual progression must have been a process of reconstructing the iconic monster into an amalgamation of prosthetics and faun-like movements, perhaps unwittingly inspired from previous creatures and monsters of his past films.
A paradoxical combination of brawn strength and effeminate gestures with butterfingers are on display throughout the movie. This adaptation must have been well-intentioned for a beast who yearns a little patting on the head to evoke sympathy. Between the two, the egotistical Frankenstein is vilified more because of the pitiable antics by his affection deprived creature. The moral compass swings to the creature’s favour after all his lamentation about being abandoned and betrayed by his mean creator.
Del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’ pivots from the novel, putting more weight on the tenuous bond between the creator and the creature. He stamps his own thoughts about parallel strained relationships between father and son, parlaying his version of the story by making this unwanted creature articulate some wisdom to his creator about the pain and anguish of being alone in the world.
Humanizing the creature propagates the Promethean cycle of tension between creator and creature, riding on a simplistic analogy that if the latter was allowed to have a companion capable of birthing, the same kind of rift and conflict between father and child would persist.
Del Toro pontificates about Victor’s irresponsible ‘fathering’ of his surgically assembled ‘son’. The complexity of Victor’s character or lack thereof has reduced him to being pejoratively called ‘monster’ in the film. Playing around with the jargon, del Toro extends the word of condemnation through the mouth of Victor’s love interest, Elizabeth, as well as his brother William, both denouncing his irascible reaction to the creature’s inadequacy. ‘You are The Monster.’ This overt simplification and judgment of character is a shove down the viewer’s throat as to who the real villain is and to root for the simpatico-looking creature who swiftly turns into a learned man, desperate to become Victor’s protege. Never mind the rage that could turn him into an avenging killing machine. He is the anointed one by Guillermo as the more humane and touchingly forgiving than his creator and the rest of his ‘counterparts’.
Despite all the modern pyrotechnics, special effects, intricate period costume and design, and all other computer-generated embellishment that surpass most Frankenstein movies, the treatment of the story with its significant changes betrays intention to do the same. A bizarre display of immortality by blowing oneself up with dynamite is a spoof of Prometheus that is over the top.
No amount of fireworks could compensate a mediocre performance from its protagonist. And a skewed plot that deviated from an already weak structured original story could not be redeemed by superfluous production and technical excellence. It can get all the recognition it deserves from award giving bodies that value grandiosity sans the screenplay’s lack of merit. All the buzz surrounding the remake only add glitz to sunken eyes of devotees. They’ll be cheering at the ceremony and pray for the butterfingered recipient to not drop the hardware. That would be ‘sacrilegious’ for the big guy. ####