Author: Damien S. Riley

Helen McCrory fans like myself were likely shocked and excited that the lovely actress was to play a female Dr. Frankenstein.

We know this only from the title however since her name is not mentioned as such. Along with the change of gender, this “incarnation” of the mythic monster film is highly protean. The things I liked best about it were: 1) The persona of a mother to the being, 2) The hideous yet credible creature, and 3) the veer away from reanimation in place of creation at a cellular level, like cloning it would seem.

You could correctly say that there is a motherly-like connection between Frankenstein, the novel monster, and his scientific creator. For that reason, this aspect is not a stretch. Still, it’s developed so well the horror is palpable and relatable to any parent. Every parent can relate with the situation in which the Dr. attempts to bring her child back to life. This film is supposedly modern so it doesn’t have the ghoulish charm of the old ones. At the same time, this scenario of the doctor as a mother to the monster speaks new volumes we could talk about. I recommend it on that aspect alone but there are other great attributes of this film.

The second thing to love about this film is the creature. It looks scary. There are shots where he’s moving where you can really believe the actor looks like that. If you’ve seen Tobe Hooper’s “Funhouse” film, you might compare the two creatures. What’s weird about it is it formed through cellular division and mutation as opposed to the Dr. digging up a corpse and reanimating it. In the tender shots with mom, the eyes are quite expressive. I have to admit I didn’t expect such a well formed creature in a BBC movie. I was wrong, it’s insanely cool looking. For the third thing, I want to share further about the angle of the film regarding cellular fusion and cloning.

Have you ever seen the “Dolly” lamb that was cloned? It’s creepy as all get up. The idea of a living thing that was born in a lab to me is terrifying. In the same breath I will say however it’s fascinating from a scientific perspective. It would have been cool to see the traditional path of these movies run its course but they made something new work. The more modern movies do that and as a result many have been made and have held the public’s full attention and praise. There is a sequence of images of amoebas and paramecium under the microscope. I loved that so much. The idea that life is relentless and will fight to live and even evolve.

In conclusion I highly recommend this film. It’s streaming now on Amazon Prime. I hope you’ll subscribe to my podcast and blog to get the latest monster movie I review in this series.

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Art mimics life and sometimes it’s so flawlessly done in film that it explains the news of the day. In this case. I’m referring to racism as portrayed in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Today we are hearing evidence of Republicans mistreating migrants. Governor Abbot had them bussed to Chicago in a defiant act against President Biden. I recall the scenes in Mockingbird where Mayella recounts for the court how she as supposedly raped by a crippled arm black man. I will say in the same paragraph however that I am not assaulting Republicanism as a group (though it is going that way dear friends. I’m astounded how low they have sunken under Trump’s dictatorship.

We find out quickly this rape could not have happened and it opens’ our eyes to the dehumanization of blacks in the 1930’s. You’d think we would have stopped this’s hurtful nonsense after all these years. Trump’s mug juts out at all of us reminding how we deserve more than another race. This is a lousy way to deal with “The Other” among us. He has grabby hands.

I think this film has replaced “A River Runs Through it” as my all time favorite. Every semester I teach entering Freshmen about respect for the “Other.” You see this perfectly embodied in the character played by Greg Peck, Atticus Finch. That’s the only comparison I will allude to regarding Republicans. If you are one, I hope you don’t get offended but rather heed the call to be better. I used to be a Republican, I shy away from that fact now.

The court scenes show a white man who has empathy for the Other in his awareness’ for the Other, who is a black man, his client, The film is charming because it paints a timely portrait of the South. The genius mind of Harper Lee has created a place on film where we all can go to address these issues. We’re all guilty of racial bias, I truly believe that. Some more than others can rise above. I can give this film no less than 10/10. Watch it, especially if you are a MAGA Republican. Let me know what you think in the comments.

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Can I call this charming? A friend who is mentally disabled is cute in a way. We have the protagonist, the monster, We se the monster in this early incarnation desiring a friend. The mad scientist has grand plans. We get to see the monster develop language. We also ss he is sort of capable of making another human happy. I’m thinking of the blind man who gives him food and shelter to heal. In this epic blockbuster horror film, we see a human undead monster and he’s still got the drives for companionship.</p>It has the usual mob trying to kill the monster. Through this exciting segment of about 1/2 way we see him as a flawed, even brain damaged human. I couldn’t help but feel sorrow for the monster. Bela Lugosi is a prefect actor for this human creature (or is it?). Some of my favorite scenes are the ones with the blind man. They are kindred spirits in that each wants a friend. I got the impression one would get watching a toddler find something shiny and becoming enraptured with it.

Putting the monster through torture is what had me glued to the screen. I’m not into torture but I find myself relating with the yearning, longing, and even lusting after a woman or otherwise partner. They are such fine and wonderful creatures those partners. I also related with the block of communication that is present throughout. Did you know the Bible teaches the Tower of Babel was why God confused language for all humankind. It tried to be higher than God so God humbled them. The monster illustrates how horrible it would be to not be able to communicate.

There are not many scenes of the actual author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. The film however does open with she and Lord Byron commenting on the lovely ghastly storm outside. We see clearly based on the title and the plot, she is to be made into a female monster, for the creature. I love the way they weaved the real life couple into this. Is raises the verisimilitude and leaves us actually wanting to see them together.

Unfortunately we don’t see much of the female. The latter portion of the film is where we see only her transformation but not much detail. She looks just plain freaky, I like that. I get from her character that she too is unable to communicate. She is quicker moving than the monster.

<p>In conclusion, this is to date one of my favorite classic series films. I really enjoy the writing, especially the writing of Byron and Shelley, The film is a delightful hodgepodge of suspenseful orchestra music and top shelf acting. The result is a mind ride to understand why we should never bring the dead back to life. This is an incredibly atmospheric class A horror film. I can give it no lower than a 10/10.

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Bunch of malarkey. Book is best. “Then the white coats were all gathered around the cot, and you couldn’t seethe  kid  anymore.  Directly  behind  him,  a  chart  hung  down.  It  showed  thequadrants of the human brain. Andy looked at this with great interest for awhile. Verrry in-der-rresting, as Arte Johnson said on Laugh-In.A bloody hand rose out of the huddle of white coats, like the hand of adrowning man. The ngers were streaked with gore and shreds of tissue hungfrom them. The hand smacked the chart, leaving a bloodstain in the shape of alarge comma. The chart rattled up on its roller with a smacking sound.” Stephen King, Firestarter

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Laboratory minimal.

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This is a machine auto generated transcript. It has not been proofread.

Thanks for tuning in and listening to Riley on Film, I am Damien Riley your ghost host.

While you’re here i hope you got your horror’s worth find out more and subscribe (only not in that order) riley on film dot com now enjoy the show  The Oblong Box from 1969: This is more than just a Vincent Price vintage horror although it is that and it has all the great stuff that he offers in those films. But more than that this film is very tawdry for 1969. i saw some nippleage i think i did yes i did a couple times. Uh the parties are like debauchery uh sexual debauchery and it’s very gory as well. Now mind you the gore in 1969 is sort of like uh kindergarten paints poured all over someone with a head wound uh and not really believable by today’s standards. But I think the folks that were in theaters back then in 1969 were open to that verisimilitude that was enough for them that allowed them to peer through the fourth wall and believe what was happening. Now i just want to say one well before i move on to the author edgar allan poe i want to say christopher lee is also in this so i don’t know how many movies there are with vincent price and christopher lee in the same film with prominent roles but in this one they are extremely well cast and it is it is it’s really like a mystery and toward the end you definitely didn’t see it coming so i’m not going to talk about it but we have the master of all horror here edgar allen poe and people have mused that he himself must have murdered someone for the ability for him to have such insight into murderers i don’t believe that’s true but they’ve also said that he was bipolar and that i would believe being a sufferer of that myself he had a dark side that he couldn’t escape now back then they didn’t have lithium and they didn’t have uh mood stabilizing drugs that people could take and be prescribed so it’s possible he was undiagnosed bipolar as anyone was who was bipolar back then and as we all recall carrie fisher recently died i can’t help but think that it was partially because of her bipolar because she turned away all her drugs eventually toward the end and she was getting electroshock therapy three times a week and i know for a fact that’s not really good for your body that’s how we kill people on the electric chair but it is a much smaller jolt and she swore by it and she liked it but you could just see her begin to really age and even in some of these star wars films that she was in uh where she was supposed to play an elder uh person princess or i guess mcqueen you can see that for her age she really shouldn’t have looked that old so the reason i’m bringing that up is because you guys are all movie fans and we’re talking about movies and so i just want you to to think about the fact that you know if edgar allan poe was untreated and somebody would rather have electroshock therapy than deal with that darkness and that mania i have a i have a feeling his was mostly on the depressive side not the manic side you come up with some pretty dark stuff and this is one of the darkest i hadn’t even read this story called the oblong box and truly remarkable story there’s so much to say about it and i would really prefer not to because as it washed over me i just enjoyed it so much and i want you to have the same experience but this is definitely one worth watching put away any expectation of cgi put away any expectation of modern filmmaking and you will see that this is quite a ride and truly enjoyable so i hope you like it and after you see it let me know what you thought on my blog i now have the comments open so feel free to go to rileyonfilm.com and leave me a comment now i will see you next time

thank you for listening to riley on film i’m your host damian reilly you can find out more and subscribe always for free at rileyfilm.com now have a great day

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This is another masterpiece by the master director Brian De Palma. BONKERS in every way. I dont want to give it away. Clearly de Palma influence the horror genre with this one, especially the mental disorder particulars.

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I’ll give it creepy and the leading lady is cute.

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You might avoid this bit.

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The Fades is a pretty awesome horror miniseries. Streaming now on Prime and elsewhere

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