(Freddie Fox), who agrees to se- cretly finance the culmination of Victor’s dream: a “man” in- tended as the re-creation of his deceased brother Henry. Yet Finnegan may have ulterior motives; and Igor’s debut in high society has rekindled his long- unfulfilled relationship with Lorelei, causing no end of Frankensteinian frustration... A resounding box office thud, VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN stands as exactly the sort of film long- time Hammer fans were hoping the recently-revived studio would create. (As it turned out, Ham- mer scarcely did better in 2015 with a dismal sequel to their one Stateside hit, THE WOMAN IN BLACK, which coincidentally toplined Radcliffe.) While the Universal classics are given their just due (not least of all with a temporarily hunchbacked Igor and the existence of a Henry Frankenstein), it’s the Hammer series that dominates both in visual cues (particularly in the case of FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED) and character development (the zeal for pure science and the blessing of Frankenstein himself drive the assistants of REVENGE, EVIL and MONSTER FROM HELL to abandon medical ethics, if only temporarily) while the film is far more about the creator than the Monster (the Golem-esque appa- rition played by Spencer Wild- ing appears only during the climax of the film and speaks nary a word, but remains one of the most impressive creatures ever created in the name of Shelley). Yet McGuigan’s film remains its own animal through- out. Only now have the normal day-to-day business dealings of the city streets become a magi- cal wonderland in the eyes of Igor. Only now has Frankenstein quite reasonably considered Igor his greatest creation. Igor’s
Daniel Radcliffe as Igor, the good doctor’s assistant.
gratitude, amazement and even- tual disillusionment (as provided by the understandably con- cerned Lorelei) spring naturally from Radcliffe’s performance; and while Victor’s disgust at the equally-impassioned Turpin’s religious proclamations comes effortlessly, not even he can handle the dressing-down he receives from his own father (Charles Dance in a devastating cameo) because his family means more to him than he’s willing to admit out loud. The impassioned theatrics of the cast, coupled with sumptuous art direction super- vised by Grant Armstrong, en- hance a special treat for all aficionados of literate, classical horror.
The Fox Blu-ray of VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN (which includes a Digital HD feature download option) accompanies a flawless and richly colorful 2.39:1 trans- fer with the original English-lan- guage soundtrack served up in
DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio. 5.1 tracks in Spanish, French and descriptive English audio for the visually impaired are also pro- vided. Optional subtitles in all of the above languages are duly supplied. Extras include produc- tion galleries, a seven-part “Making Of” and nearly 14m worth of deleted scenes. The latter include an early sequence detailing the future Igor’s friend- ship with Lorelei and his love for books; additional detective work on the part of Turpin; and most significantly, the missing “baby” scene hinted at in the theatrical trailer (also included). Here, Vic- tor restores a dead infant to life to further impress Finnegan, only to agree that the result of his success must be immediately killed in order to preserve secrecy, much to the shock and distress of Igor: it’s quite likely the scene was deleted because it brought the wrong sort of intensity to preview audiences.
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