Rent The Frankenstein Theory (2013)
2.5 of 5 from 58 ratings
1h 23min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- What if the most chilling novel of all time was actually based on a true account of a horrific experiment gone awry? When he is suspended from his university job for his outlandish ideas, Professor John Venkenheim leads a documentary film crew to the rim of the Arctic Circle in a desperate effort to vindicate his academic reputation. His theory: Mary Shelley's ghastly story, "Frankenstein" is, in fact, a work of non-fiction disguised as fantasy. In the vast, frozen wilderness, Venkenheim and his team search for the legendary monster, a creature mired in mystery and drenched in blood. What they find is an unspeakable truth more terrifying than any fiction... a nightmare from which there is no waking.
- Actors:
- Kris Lemche, Joe Egender, Timothy V. Murphy, Eric Zuckerman, Brian Henderson, Christine Lakin, Roger W. Morrissey, Heather Stephens, Leland White
- Directors:
- Andrew Weiner
- Producers:
- Gary Bryman, Caleb Kramer, Andrew Weiner
- Writers:
- Vlady Pildysh, Andrew Weiner
- Studio:
- Anchor Bay
- Genres:
- Horror
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 16/06/2014
- Run Time:
- 83 minutes
- Languages:
- English Dolby Digital 2.0, English DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1
- Subtitles:
- None
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
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Reviews (1) of The Frankenstein Theory
Not what you might expect ... - The Frankenstein Theory review by NP
I'm not sure the phrase 'you've been had' is quite as apt as it is with this film. And rarely has it been so enjoyable to be on the receiving end of such a big tease. Director and co-writer Andrew Weiner has assembled a fine cast and crew to helm this found-footage extravaganza which takes in extensive location filming in Canada, although the end credits state filming in Alaska. Another little tease?
We spend much time with a group of filmmakers eager to capture the sight of the legendary Frankenstein Monster, rumoured to be hiding in the showy wastes. It's wonderful to believe the poor Creature has indeed made a home for himself far from humankind and is relatively happy. Entrepreneur Jonathan Venkenheim (Kris Lemche) isn't interested in the Monster's contentment; he wants to make a name for himself. The crew he gathers around him are caught up in his dreams, but become increasingly - and understandably - despondent. All are very well cast and share many moments of amusing camaraderie - or not.
So good is their company, that I almost forgot what I watched this for, and it's just as well because we have to wait an inordinately long time before we set eyes on the furious focus of Venkenheim's obsession. You may feel cheated by the outcome, or you may thoroughly enjoy this venture. I did.
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Critic review
The Frankenstein Theory review by Alyse Garner - Cinema Paradiso
Another found footage style horror film that follows a fictional documentary crew as they go in search of the “real” Frankenstein’s monster. The premise, that the ancestor of some historical or literary based academic (his subject preference doesn’t matter as he’s been argued out of any college or intellectual post he could find) created a monstrous and murderous killer out of body parts and corpses and it was this story that inspired Mary Shelly to write one of the greatest horror stories in the English language.
Surprisingly Frankenstein Theory doesn’t quite live up to the bar set by Shelly over a century ago.
Jonathan Venkenheim (Kris Lemche) tasks a documentary crew, headed by the rather naive but fundamentally good-hearted director Vicky (Heather Stephens) to accompany him to the vast and frozen planes of Alaska in search of the monster he claims his ancestor, Johann Venkenheim, created and abandoned 150 years ago. What follows is little more than a rehash of 1990’s Blair Witch Project where a bunch of scared by determined young people sit around campfires and discuss monsters whilst in the background creepy shadows and unexplained noises build the atmosphere.
Queue a lot of shaky hand cam and characters running and dropping the film making equipment and you have the next seventy or so minutes of the Frankenstein Theory – top it off with a handful of gory but not quite on screen deaths and that’s your lot.
Beyond the predictability of the narrative the film builds atmosphere quite well, the characters, though a little trite, are all performed well by the respective actors and I was marginally entertained from start to finish but, as the ever expanding found footage genre goes, the Frankenstein Theory will never hold the longevity of its namesake.