Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

by Kenneth Branagh, Frank Darabont

Featuring portrayals of the chilling, macabre, grotesque, bizarre, and terrifying, an anthology of forty-one gothic tales includes modern and ancient stories, retellings of familiar classics and famous legends, and entries by a range of authors covering several centuries. Original. IP.

Genres: Horror, Victor Frankenstein, Media Tie In, Classics, Science Fiction

192 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1994

About the author

Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh is an Emmy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated Northern Irish actor and film director.

Reviews

[Anna Bowling]

This is a re-read for me, my second time reading this book, having never seen the film. Will I? Probably at some point but the reason I came back to this was for the photographs as much as the script. We hear much about the monster, but what of the man who made him, and why? Beauty and horror can indeed marry , as they do here, to great effect. Will definitely be back again.

[Mike Meathook]

I'll give this book one thing, the monster is infinitely more interesting than any of the Frankenstein's Monsters in any movie. intelligent, singularly driven, and devious. but this book is boooooooooooring. way to bury the lead, Ms. Shelly. I don't care about family drama, I came for a monster made from dead people. it's like all the monster stuff is just an afterthought. and if I never see the words "wretch(ed)" or "creature" again, it may be too soon.

[N]

Kenneth Branagh's "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" was one of the formative films I saw growing up. Now as a middle aged millennial- I recently watched this film again because I am going to teach "Frankenstein" to my high schoolers- and in comparison with the more glamorous and glossy Guillermo Del Toro version, Branagh's version is the closest in spirit with Shelley's novel.

Starring Robert De Niro in an empathic, terrifying characterization as The Creature; Branagh as the shirtless, over the top, narcissistic Frankenstein, Helena Bonham Carter as the cerebral doomed Elizabeth.

Tom Hulce, Aidan Quinn, Ian Holm, Richard Briers and John Cleese round out the cast as Clerval, Walton, Frankenstein's father; and Frankenstein's mentor- it is an operatic, frenetic film with gorgeous costumes designed by James Acheson ("Dangerous Liasons"); a classical-esque score to die for conducted by Patrick Doyle, and a mad scientist's lab that also seems to be part sex dungeon.

The only thing I disliked about Branagh's version is how Elizabeth’s body is defiled 4 times. it is enough that when she dies, Mr De Niro’s Creature rips her heart out of her chest. He holds it up beating to show Frankenstein and Claude.

Secondly, he desecrates her body by throwing her on top of a fiery candle.

Next, Mr Branagh does the abominable: he brings her back to death using poor Justine’s body. So Victor has now completely disrespected the bodies of the two women who loved him.

Finally- after Elizabeth is a shell of who she was, she discovers she doesn’t want this life damn it! She burns herself, ending in a gruesome, fiery second death.

I enjoyed that most of the characters from Shelley's novel were intact: especially the doomed, beautiful Justine, (Trevyn McDowell) who suffers the second most horrific death in the film by a lynch mob throwing her off a high scaffold.

This is a beautiful book, complete with the sometimes cheesy script by Frank Darabont and Steph Lady; and production stills both in glorious color and black and white.

It's a companion to a film that did not meet its budget's expectations, underwhelmed at the box office, and became forgotten because of the real life affair that happened between Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter leading to his divorce from Emma Thompson. It's a tougher book to find- and if you do, it's so pretty to look at.

4 stars for how Branagh, Lady and Darabont changed Shelley’s ending and for the 4 times Helena Bonham Carter is desecrated.

[Alison L]

I didn't exactly read this. I listened to Kenneth Branach read a version of this, but I couldn't find it on Goodreads.

[Hind jrab]

كنت قد قلت لاحدهم ذات يوم أن "البشر يزهدون بأحلامهم حين تغدو واقعا "
فلك أن تتخيل أن حلمك الذي سعيت جاهدا لتصل إليه غدا مسخا يهدد حياتك وحياة أحبائك !!!
.يشبهني ذاك المسخ الذي خلقه فرانكشتاين .. في بحثي عن الخلاص الذي لا أهتدي اليه سبيلا .
ذرفت الدموع أثنار قرائي للرواية
بكيت على فرانكشتاين لان حلمه المجنون هو ما تسبب في دمار عالمه عن بكرة أبيه
وبكيت على المسخ إذ تعمقت معاناته وتشبثت بتلابيب روحي . أتدرك معنى أن تكون منبوذا في هذا العالم لا أحد
يريدك . أتدرك ذاك الكم الهائل من الوجع المتكدس في روح عاشت وحيدة وستموت وحيدة !!
أحيانا على اﻻحلام أن تظل أحلاما . إذ أنها بتحويلها الى واقع لن تدمرنا فقط بل ستحل لعنتها على من نحب وربما على الحلم بحد ذاته .
مات فرانكشتاين لكنه حلمه لم يمت . أتراها حظيت روحه بالسلام أم لا ؟ وددت للحظة أن يكون أمامي لاسأله فلا احد قادر على اجابة هذا السؤال سواه .

[Gloria]

This book was all about touching what one should not touch. No Hollywood involved. Very thought provoking . Given Mary Shelley's background and that she was a female writer and the time in which she lived, this was a very bold step in concocting this story. Good read!