Remakes or re-imaginings of the classic Universal monster movies have not gone well in recent years, and Victor Frankenstein looked to me like a bomb ready to burst.  Imagine my surprise when, seeing it anyway, I found it to be sharp, edgy and funny.  It doesn’t always work, but much of it does, and I think it’s definitely a worthwhile film to see if you like these monster mash-ups.

Paul McGuigan’s film’s twist is that it tells the tale from the perspective of a hunchbacked assistant, Igor (Daniel Radcliffe).  This may seem odd because Igor was Fritz (Dwight Frye) in the first Frankenstein of the 1930s Universal movies, and neither Igor, nor the shepherd Ygor, are in Mary Shelley’s novel.  Ygor the non-hunchbacked vengeful shepherd was played brilliantly by Bela Lugosi in Son of Frankenstein and Ghost of Frankenstein — but that character is not present in this film.  The eponymous doctor — known as Henry in the Universal classics but is Victor in Shelley’s seminal novel — is portrayed by James McAvoy as a manic genius who essentially forces the equally brilliant Igor to help him in his quest to create life.

Important questions about life, mortality, science and religion are asked, although the film never slows down enough to answer them. The pace is frenetic, which works in its favor, and the spectacle usually takes a back seat to the narrative.  It’s a hybrid film, part horror, part comedy, part science-fiction, part drama and all fascinating to watch. Radcliffe is fine, McAvoy is excellent and Andrew Scott is best of all as a police inspector who makes it his business to stop the mad doctor.

While the story works on several levels it is most valuable as a cautionary tale about obsession.  Frankenstein and Inspector Turpin are both obsessed to the point of madness; Igor is able, with help from the lovely Lorelei (Jessica Brown Findlay) to regulate his own mania with real-life constraints.  And there’s a monster.  This is a fun movie, especially for fans of the oeuvre.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  2 December 2015.