Guillermo del Toro is a horror story aficionado.\u00a0 He really loves the genre and has been dreaming for decades about filming Frankenstein.\u00a0 And being a \u201cserious\u201d director, he of course wants his version to be the definitive<\/p>\n
one.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 So, this movie will probably be visually stunning.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
The only question I have is whether anyone wants to see another Frankenstein.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen several film versions of the story and many years ago I read Mary Shelley\u2019s novel.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure there\u2019s anything left to dig out of that mine.\u00a0 In a way, the modern version of Frankenstein is Blade Runner.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
Do we still want the nineteenth century guess at what genetic engineering would look like?\u00a0 In the twenty first century we kind of already have the technology to play God.\u00a0 We could make a Frankenstein\u2019s monster (or more like a Roy Batty).\u00a0 Do we still need the guy with the bolts sticking out of his neck?<\/p>\n
Well, that\u2019s the question I\u2019m asking myself.\u00a0 I remember when Kenneth Branagh directed himself as Victor Frankenstein in a 1994 version with, of all people, Robert De Niro as the monster.\u00a0 It was really awful.\u00a0 And I think that may have quenched any future appetite on my part for this story.<\/p>\n
Now maybe I\u2019m completely wrong.\u00a0 Maybe this will be a stunning production that captures something from Shelley\u2019s story that elevates the movie into a great entertainment.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be waiting for the movie to premiere on Netflix and I\u2019ll see what the critics have to say.\u00a0 But I\u2019m deeply skeptical.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 But even stories like \u201cThe Matrix\u201d and \u201cBlade Runner\u201d seem to be recycling old ideas.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to take a poet with a PhD in cybernetics or gene splicing to make the next great mythical story.\u00a0 And who knows, maybe we\u2019re tired of horror stories altogether.\u00a0 Maybe we\u2019re looking for the next great fairy tale with a hero who lives \u201chappily ever after.\u201d\u00a0 Maybe in the next story the monster doesn\u2019t hate and destroy his creator but pities and helps him instead.\u00a0 Now that would be a real curveball and might sell a hundred million tickets.\u00a0 That would be a story I\u2019d pay to see.\u00a0 We could all use a feel-good story.\u00a0 In fact. we\u2019re dying for one.<\/p>\n