Another Frankenstein?

Guillermo del Toro is a horror story aficionado.  He really loves the genre and has been dreaming for decades about filming Frankenstein.  And being a “serious” director, he of course wants his version to be the definitive

one.  Making the picture for Netflix means there will be a lot of cash available for sets, makeup, special effects and all the other expensive aspects of modern moviemaking.  So, this movie will probably be visually stunning.  And since del Toro has been around for a while and made several popular and critically acclaimed films with fantastical themes there is a good chance that his Frankenstein will have many good qualities.

The only question I have is whether anyone wants to see another Frankenstein.  I’ve seen several film versions of the story and many years ago I read Mary Shelley’s novel.  I’m not sure there’s anything left to dig out of that mine.  In a way, the modern version of Frankenstein is Blade Runner.  Man playing God and making men after his own image and then treating them badly is the story of Eldon Tyrell creating the replicants and then one of them; Roy Batty hunting him down and then killing his creator for making him a lesser being.

Do we still want the nineteenth century guess at what genetic engineering would look like?  In the twenty first century we kind of already have the technology to play God.  We could make a Frankenstein’s monster (or more like a Roy Batty).  Do we still need the guy with the bolts sticking out of his neck?

Well, that’s the question I’m asking myself.  I remember when Kenneth Branagh directed himself as Victor Frankenstein in a 1994 version with, of all people, Robert De Niro as the monster.  It was really awful.  And I think that may have quenched any future appetite on my part for this story.

Now maybe I’m completely wrong.  Maybe this will be a stunning production that captures something from Shelley’s story that elevates the movie into a great entertainment.  I’ll be waiting for the movie to premiere on Netflix and I’ll see what the critics have to say.  But I’m deeply skeptical.

I think the future of fantasy and horror will require new stories that speak to us in this age of artificial intelligence and genetic engineering.  But even stories like “The Matrix” and “Blade Runner” seem to be recycling old ideas.  It’s going to take a poet with a PhD in cybernetics or gene splicing to make the next great mythical story.  And who knows, maybe we’re tired of horror stories altogether.  Maybe we’re looking for the next great fairy tale with a hero who lives “happily ever after.”  Maybe in the next story the monster doesn’t hate and destroy his creator but pities and helps him instead.  Now that would be a real curveball and might sell a hundred million tickets.  That would be a story I’d pay to see.  We could all use a feel-good story.  In fact. we’re dying for one.