And now the report on this movie that I'm dying to see, if for nothing else the black and white recreation of the Bride of Frankenstein lab. Wowzers, that'll be cool. We'll see if they can make a film that will hold up to that scene. I have my fingers crossed!
Hey, Harry! After reading your wish list for films you're scouting, I send out an order to the SHEILD directorate and scoured Hollywood, using only the most high-tech Jim Steranko surveillance devices of course, and came back with some info. Here, for your reading pleasure, is some fun facts about GODS AND MONSTERS.
CONCEPT: Film great, director James Whale (FRANKENSTEIN, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN) lives in his autumn years on his estate, and becomes sexually attracted to his lawn man, seducing him by asking him to pose naked for some portraits.
THE SKINNY: The association of Clive Barker (as some sort of producer) to this project makes perfect sense--classic horror, with interesting characters and unsettling results. Well-written, but this effort feels a bit alienating to a mainstream audience which will find its mix of homo-eroticism and horror bizarre.
IN DETAIL: James Whale has retired from the film business, and spends his days home on his estate. Hiring a man to tend his lawn, he becomes attracted to the guy and befriends him. At first, the lawn man is excited by his new acquaintance--the lawn man is a blue collar sort, and knows nothing of film. Whale is educated and urbane, and the lawn man becomes quite proud of his famous buddy. Whale then asks the lawn man to pose for a painting that Whale wants to create, and slowly coerces him into taking his clothes off and posing nude. The lawn man is at first repulsed by Whale, but then things become more complex (aw, you didn't think I was going to reveal the WHOLE plot, didja?).
The story progresses slowly, and is interspersed with glimpses of Whale's tortured soul. A dream sequence casts Whale as the Frankenstein Monster's bride, carried in the creature's arms like a young maiden. These dream sequences promise to be visually arresting, and eerie in their surreal insight into the Whale character. Whale is portrayed as a tortured soul, a character who struggles and is constantly rejected due to his homosexuality.
All in all, this is a script that will either be an interesting curiosity that's worth a look when it's shown in February, or an uneven clunker that will become a footnote. At least, that's my opinion...
