Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller in Danny Boyle's Frankenstein

Frankenstein's Army...Oh Yeah!

Richard Raaphorst, the conceptual artist behind Worst Case Scenario (the zombie-Nazi mash up), is the brainchild behind the forthcoming Frankenstein's Army film...and yes, it does my fan-boy heart a whole lot o' good on this Valentine's Day.

Here's the official description: "Toward the end of World War II, Russian soldiers pushing into eastern Germany stumble across a secret Nazi lab, one that has unearthed and begun experimenting with the journal of one Dr. Victor Frankenstein. The scientists have used the legendary Frankenstein's work to assemble an army of supersoldiers stitched together from the body parts of their fallen comrades – a desperate Hitler's last ghastly ploy to escape defeat."

Friday Freak Out: Suspiria

Why did it take me so long to see this movie? Suspiria is the closest thing to a nightmare on screen I've ever experienced.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon

Being a late entry to Universal's classic line-up of monster, the Creature doesn't always get his due. Today at Monster Awareness Month, Mark West gives his take on this classic:

"...[the Creature], for me, is the highpoint of Universal horror icons. "

Holy Monster Awareness Month!

Yes, February 2011 has been deemed Monster Awareness month by the good people at Beyond Fiction, and the monsters have their own blog.

I was lucky enough to talk about Frankenstein (1931) today:

Aside from the central conceit about a young doctor experimenting with the power to bring life to dead tissue, the film bears little resemblance to the book. There are no lengthy discussions between the creator and his creation. Karloff’s “monster” speaks no words. It is only through a series of grunts and gestures that Boris Karloff brings life to the role. Colin Clive creates the quintessential “mad doctor” as Henry (rather than Victor) Frankenstein. The scene of the unholy act isn’t an attic apartment in the city of Ingolstadt—no, it is a ruined tower, a true mad scientist’s lab loaded with electrical equipment and buzzing machinery, lost in dark and gloomy mountains of some strange England/Germany hybrid countryside. Henry employs a hunched, leering assistant (Fritz, played by Dwight Frye), the prototypical Igor. All of these deviations from the novel will serve as popular monster movie tropes for years after Frankenstein, and hint at the power of the film’s popularity today.

(click to read the rest of my essay, and be aware of monsters, dear readers)