Creature Feature Vibe in ‘Frankenstein: Day of the Beast’

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Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – If your heart flutters when you think about the drive-in days of old, with a triple feature of B-movie horror films, then writer/director Ricardo Islas delivers a nostalgic kick with “Frankenstein: Day of the Beast.” The film has its world premiere in Chicago on Sunday, November 27th, at the Portage Theater on Milwaukee Avenue.

It has all the familiar Frankenstein monster elements, but also delivers a certain style and authority that allows it to make its own mark. The acting, setting, costumes and dialogue screams drive-in movie fare, but the production gamely reaches out to retell the myth with a little sex, a lot of gore and an interesting take on the reanimation portion of the monster. There is a vague application as to the time and place of where the film is set, and the actors are very comfortable being their Midwestern selves, but this horror film has passion behind it and enough strange elements to literally chew upon.

The film opens at a remote cabin in a time and place that is rather vague. A newly minted married couple are visiting the groom’s sister and father. There is a bit of kerfuffle over the strange customs of the bride, as she goes into the woods with a prayer blanket. While there, she is attacked by a strange beast (Tim Krueger) and killed. The beast continues his reign of terror by killing the rest of the residents of the cabin.

Michelle Shields as Elizabeth in ‘Frankenstein: Day of the Beast’ Photo credit: Alpha Studios

This film then cuts to a boatload of people heading to a mysterious island. On their arrival, a priest in the party is to perform a wedding ceremony between Victor Frankenstein (Adam Stephenson) and his cousin Elizabeth (Michelle Shields). There is an urgency to the wedding, and a strangeness about it, for Frankenstein has brought a group of mercenaries to make sure the ceremony is completed. The wedding party and the hired guns then become trapped on the island by the same beast from the cabin murders, which is revealed to be a brought-back-from-the-dead creation of Victor Frankenstein. The new bride of Victor seems to be the primary target, and the truth of that targeting has implications for all concerned.

The feel of the film, and the gore, is reminiscent of the Hammer Studio films from England of the 1960s and ‘70s. The Frankenstein beast is an unstoppable force, with unbeatable strength, an appetite for flesh and an ability to bounce back from being shot and blown up. With this re-telling of Mary Shelley’s source novel (which the production acknowledges) there is more emphasis on the beast and his “powers,” with less on the subtlety that makes the novel so memorable.

What puts it into drive-in movie territory is the wooden line readings from some of the cast, the casting of Victor Frankenstein – his youthful looks are more frat boy than research scientist – and the indecision of exactly what time and place the story takes place. The filmmakers thought that “Frankenstein” is shorthand for the gothic era of the early 19th century, but there was such a strange mix of wardrobe styles and weaponry that it felt like the cast were asked to pull together something for a theme costume party.

It is the style and sincerity of the film, however, that sets it apart from other micro-budget horror epics. There are provocative and revealing touches in the film, like the symbolism of a Muslim woman getting attacked from an outside “beast,” and the colorful palette that accompanies the reanimation process, oddly like the recent film “The Tree of Life.” And the production delivers such a genuine passion, despite the problems of setting and acting, that it commands attention.

All Wrapped Up: Tim Krueger as The Beast in ‘Frankenstein: Day of the Beast’ Photo credit: Alpha Studios

One other drive-in element to the film is the use of blood to make a point. Everyone in the cast gets to participate in the plasma shower, and the copious fluid amounts almost makes it commonplace. There was also no attempt to cover the Midwestern accents of the actors or make them German or gothic or wherever the story is set. One of the mercenaries had a such a good Chicago twang in his voice that he would have been at home at a bar in Bridgeport.

Credit writer and director Ricardo Islas with honoring the Frankenstein myth with his own flair for interpreting it. The fascination with this now 200-year-old tale continues to flourish, and the reanimation of the beast in this film is no exception.

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com