Editorials
Rebirth: How Frankenstein’s Monster Stories Remain Relevant in 2024
“More original horror!” is always a curious statement to read from fellow horror fans. In the last few years, we’ve seen everything from a modern resurgence of new slashers, to subversive takes on the home invasion subgenre that once dominated the 2000s, to the slow, gradual return of fresh horror comedies. True, franchises may have a chokehold on the box office and wholly original concepts may be rare after a century of cinema, but contemporary horror always manages to reinvent itself by recycling classic storytelling frameworks and updating them with inventive twists, as horror is and will always be cyclical.
Mary Shelley’s original classic Frankenstein novel— a reflection on morality of new science and Galvanism of the time and the subsequent potential impacts on life and death— has spawned hundreds of movies, TV series, novels, stage adaptions, video games, and comics, and over two centuries later, creators are still finding new ways to modernize its central story. Or, rather, creators are still utilizing its central story as a skeleton to tell harrowing modern stories in digestible ways, particularly with three of the latest film adaptions in 2023 (plus one with a festive twist, the newly released Santastein.)
With few (if any?) male characters in the mix, Laura Moss’ Birth/Rebirth grapples with modern family structures, as two vastly different women from different walks of life find themselves as partnered mothers to a little girl who dies suddenly— the one being her actual mother and the other responsible for bringing her back to life. Despite their differences, both women represent different facets of single motherhood and modern womanhood in the 21st century, as the girl’s actual birth mother conceived her via IVF and working hours on end to support her, while the other is so clinical and unaffectionate in her approach to caring for the girl that the girl is seen as merely experiment fodder to the woman.
The latter woman seems to have little interest in birthing and raising children of her own, instead, using her reproductive system and its materials as a means to aid the reanimation of her experiments, to the point of eventual cervical damage. After her cervix gives out, both women come together to find pregnant women (and use their pregnant bodies’ plasma) to keep the little girl alive. One woman does it for love; the other does it for science. While not explicitly romantically involved, the newfound relationship between the two women with a common goal could even be perhaps considered queer-coded, depending on the viewer, which feels very Bride of Frankenstein.
‘birth/rebirth’
Birth/Rebirth is one of the only reanimation flicks to hyper-focus on the specificity of female bodies and all their complicated nuances, which it never shies away from showing to the audience, to the point of comparisons to all things Cronenberg. And as the mad scientist performs the pregnancy abortions on herself for her experiments, she always remains in control of her bodily autonomy. Nobody is objectifying or making a spectacle of her body in a sexual way, and Moss’ choice to force the viewer to really look at all the graphicness (the post-pregnancy blood) standardizes its normalcy of these procedures in everyday real women’s lives, which is seldom seen in these films. True to a Frankenstein tale, the lines of morality are blurred and complicated, as both women resort to anything to keep this reanimated girl alive, even after she exhibits signs of violence and aggression. Moss nor her script itself judges the grisly acts of these women— they leave that up to the viewer.
Released just a few years after the Black Lives Matter movement especially came into prominence, Bomani J. Story’s timely The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster puts a Black teenage girl in the driver seat of the mad scientist story— a rarity in the Frankenstein subgenre. After losing her mother and brother to gun violence, the “angry” Black girl believes death is a disease that can be cured, pissing off her racist teachers who resent her defiant worldviews. She lives with her father in the projects, where she secretly starts experimenting with Galvanism to bring her late brother back to life, but, naturally, her brother doesn’t come back the same, as they never do. Like Victor Frankenstein, Vicara (Laya DeLeon Hayes) has suffered so much loss in her life that believing death can be fixed is an understandable coping mechanism— factor in watching her community get torn apart by socioeconomic injustices like violence, drugs, and police corruption, and her so-called anger and desire to enact change feels more than justified.
Even through its contemporary lens, Angry Black Girl readdresses the core theme of the original Frankenstein story that perhaps we’re doomed to become what people say we are. After she reanimates him, Vicara’s brother stalks the neighborhood at night and gets accused of being a monster, until he eventually indeed behaves like one, and the death toll continue to rise in the neighborhood. Spiraling out of her control, Vicara’s monster ravishes his way through whatever is left of (their) family, until Vicara’s talents can bring some members back. Her family is reborn again.
‘The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster’
Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things begins in black and white in the Steampunk era, as the newly resurrected Bella (Emma Stone) awkwardly stumbles around mad scientist Godwin’s (Willem Dafoe) mansion, likely as both a visual aid for, what begins as, the metaphorical lack of color in Bella’s life and as a nod to the original Universal Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein films. Godwin, or God, had discovered Bella’s pregnant corpse after taking her own life and presumes that, since Bella herself had no desire to live, he should give her unborn baby a chance and reanimates Bella with her unborn baby’s brain. The reborn Bella learns at rapid pace and refuses to give into conventional social politeness, indulging in all things sex, desserts, and anything else that give her pleasure— even turning to sex work simply because she enjoys getting paid to have sex.
Adapted from Alasdair Gray’s 31-year-old novel of the same name, Poor Things trades scares for laughs, save for some eye-stabbing a corpse and Bella’s darkly, darkly funny fascination with the macabre. In fact, the scariest thing in the film (to the male characters surrounding her) is her unabashed sexual appetite, or her need to get “c*cked,” as she calls it, and her refusal to comply to anything they want her to do. Lanthimos recently recalled how long the film took to get made, and perhaps the long wait was a blessing in disguise, as these unapologetically raunchy desires of a female character are much more digestible for 2023 audiences than they would’ve been a few decades prior, post-Sex and the City, post-“SlutWalk,” and within the dawn of the OnlyFans era. Whereas the novel tells Bella’s story through other characters’ perspectives, Lanthimos’ film is told through hers.
But Bella’s sexuality isn’t her only desire in her journey to self-discovery: she wants to become a doctor like her father figure Godwin, just like he wanted to become a doctor after his own father. Godwin’s grotesque facial features are the result of serving as his father’s scientific experimental muse, which Godwin perceives as an honor (though the modern audience watching knows this was really abuse.) His background makes sense as to why he’s protective but proud of Bella, in spite of all her rebellion. In lesser Frankenstein adaptations, the Godwin character would fail to be nuanced and be played as more monstrous, emphasizing the “mad” in mad scientist; instead, Godwin is appalled when another character suggests that he created Bella as his own sexual toy (the joke being that, of course not, but also because he is a eunuch.)
‘Poor Things’
While the glut of Frankenstein films— stemming from Shelley’s original Victor Frankenstein himself— feature men in the “mad scientists” roles, Birth/Rebirth, Angry Black Girl, and Poor Things subvert this trope, as even the experimented-on woman Bella is becoming a doctor herself. All of these women are seeking knowledge and are smarter than their male counterparts (in the films in which men do exist, at least.) The women are looking for a sense of control over their lives, and ultimately get it, to varying degrees of success— which simultaneously feels both updated and faithful to the roots of Mary Shelley’s complicated feminist legacy.
The release timing of these films is coincidental, but the “reborn” motif they share feels particularly resonant in 2023. The entertainment industry itself is undergoing a rebirth, as it navigates post-pandemic streaming-versus-theater release consumption and its recovery after the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The massive success of Barbie has now pushed the demand even further for female-driven stories like these ones into the mainstream market. Even one of the highest grossing concert tours of 2023 was Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” tour, which, by definition, means rebirth or revival. As per usual, horror has proven itself a foreseer of all of it, with thematically relevant films like these and its own rebirth, as horror has had a huge hand with keeping box offices alive and well in these turbulent times with no signs of stopping.
Editor’s Note: Up next? Lisa Frankenstein comes to theaters on February 9, 2024!
On July 13th, 2026, the world lost one of its brightest stars.
Beloved New Zealand actor Sam Neill passed away from pneumonia after a long battle with stage 3 lymphoma. The multifaceted movie star will be remembered by mainstream audiences for his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 masterpiece Jurassic Park, as well as powerful turns in A Cry in the Dark (1988), The Piano (1993), and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), and prestige TV series The Tudors and Peaky Blinders. But horror fans know him as one of the genre’s most surprising Scream Kings.
Through a handful of memorable starring roles, Neill spent the 80s and 90s bringing life to a wide variety of characters and finding humanity in the most unusual leading roles, regardless of how heroic or villainous.
The Final Conflict (1981)
After a decade on the stage and screen in New Zealand and Australia, Neill made his international debut as Damien Thorn in Graham Baker’s The Final Conflict, the third installment of The Omen franchise. Now a 36-year-old businessman, Damien is fully aware of his devilish parentage and hell-bent on world domination. But rather than a hooved and horned monstrosity, Neill’s Antichrist is a suave businessman who leads his followers in an expensive suit and seeks to bring about the apocalypse through deceptive altruism rather than grand proclamation.
Despite his austere demeanor, the man’s true evil knows no bounds. When a prophecy foretells the second coming of Christ, known in the film as “the Nazarene,” Damien commands his followers to commit widespread infanticide, murdering all baby boys born on a specific date. He seduces a high-profile reporter while transforming her teenage son into a bloodthirsty disciple, then uses the child as a human shield. This tricky role allows Neill to demonstrate his trademark versatility, easily charming the outside world while dropping his suave mask of normalcy behind closed doors. Though certain aspects of The Final Conflict are admittedly dated, Neill’s performance feels eerily prescient. He’s mastered the heinous portrayal of a politician willing to sell his soul for power that will ultimately bring about the end of the world.
Possession (1981)
Though Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession is often remembered for Isabelle Adjani’s stunning depiction of a woman on the edge, Neill delivers an equally unhinged performance as Mark, a spy returning home from a lengthy assignment in divided Berlin. Upon discovering that his wife Anna (Adjani) wants a divorce, Mark desperately tries to hold his family together even at the expense of her sanity. Filmed the same year as The Final Conflict, Neill dives headfirst into this visceral role, managing to evoke sympathy for the distraught father who becomes ever more desperate to regain control. Inspired by his own divorce, Żuławski resists blaming either party for the separation, instead showing the chaos and heartache that comes in the wake of a family’s dissolution.
Once considered to replace Roger Moore as the next James Bond, Neill has fun with the international spy persona as Żuławski’s plot grows increasingly bizarre. But the skilled actor never lets us forget that Mark is a flawed human being struggling to keep his life from falling apart. A second character emerges in the film’s mesmerizing climax, allowing Neill to lean into full villainy with a glassy-eyed stare that chills to the bone. Now a cult classic, Adjani and Neill bounce off each other’s seething rage, creating one of the most effective cinematic duets in the history of horror.
Jurassic Park (1993)
When Steven Spielberg’s creature feature first hit theaters, Neill was by no means a household name and hardly a traditional leading man. Without the swashbuckling swagger of Harrison Ford, the mega-watt smile of Tom Cruise, or the chiselled jaw of Brad Pitt — all famous action stars of the era — Neill felt like an unconventional choice for this massive role. But he perfectly captures the essence of Grant, an aloof academic who prefers dig sites to fancy fundraisers and social events. Despite an aversion to children, the dinosaur expert finds himself tasked with saving the theme park’s youngest survivors who gradually break down his emotional walls. Grant’s transformation into a courageous caretaker is a landmark deconstruction of traditional gender norms wrapped in the guise of a rugged outdoorsman.
Neill proves to be the perfect action star, effortlessly navigating Spielberg’s stunning set pieces without losing the character’s relatable hook. But perhaps the film’s most touching moment is Neill’s childlike wonder at seeing a dinosaur for the first time. Stunned to speechlessness, he channels the audience’s wondrous joy when Grant first spies a real, live Brachiosaurus. But he seamlessly weaves this infectious awe into serious concerns about the creature’s existence, amplifying the story’s prophetic messaging. Jeff Goldblum may utter the film’s iconic warning, but the duality of Grant’s performance perfectly illustrates the scientific imperative, reminding us that just because we can doesn’t mean we should.
Neill would go on to lead Joe Johnston’s 2001 sequel Jurassic Park III, in which Grant is again tasked with saving a child. In 2022, he would appear in Colin Trevorrow’s legacy sequel Jurassic World Dominion, which merges the franchise’s two distinct eras while bringing the carnage onto mainland shores. Despite turning in strong performances, neither film is able to top the magic of Spielberg’s original or Neill’s captivating performance as the stoic leading man. But his nuanced depiction of Alan Grant inspired a generation of would-be paleontologists and quiet kids who could now see themselves as courageous academics capable of surprising strength.
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
After catapulting to worldwide fame, Neill returned to horror proper to lead John Carpenter’s mind-bending In the Mouth of Madness. We first meet John Trent (Neill) as he’s dragged, kicking and screaming, into a padded cell. An unknown stretch of time later, he recounts an unbelievable story while covered in protective crosses scrawled into his skin — and the cell’s walls — with black crayon. A private investigator, Trent has been tasked with locating Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow), a world-famous yet elusive genre author whose work has been driving his ravenous readers to disturbing acts of random violence.
A love letter to fans of horror fiction, we delight in watching Trent explore literary easter eggs that lead him down jarring rabbit holes. A late-night road trip takes Trent and Linda Styles (Julie Carmen), an editor for Cane’s publishing house, to a tiny New England hamlet teeming with darkness. While investigating an ominous cathedral on the outskirts of town, Trent realizes that he’s somehow been transported into the author’s interdimensional story and become its unwitting protagonist.
Neill serves as a skeptical everyman and the audience’s conduit through this bizarre tale of literary monsters that find a way to burst through the page. An often overlooked Carpenter film, In the Mouth of Madness spirals into insanity, but Neill keeps us grounded throughout each outlandish twist. A shocking conclusion leaves us gaping at our screens and contemplating our own relationship with horror fiction. After all, does free will truly exist? Or, like Trent, are we merely pawns in someone else’s monstrous creation?
Event Horizon (1997)
One of the scariest movies ever set in space, Paul W.S. Anderson’s Event Horizon builds upon the heroic image Neill established for himself in Jurassic Park. Dr. William Weir (Neill) is a physicist temporarily joining the crew of the Lewis and Clark to assist in their latest rescue mission. Seven years after vanishing without a trace, a spaceship called the Event Horizon has suddenly reappeared near Neptune’s orbit. As the creator of a top-secret gravity drive designed to facilitate faster-than-light travel, Dr. Weir has been sent to explore the ship and find out what happened to its missing crew.
Still haunted by his late wife’s suicide, Dr. Weir is a sympathetic figure, particularly in comparison to the harsh Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) who commands the crew of the Lewis and Clark. But Weir’s desperation to return to the infamous ship hides a sinister secret that leads his fellow astronauts to the threshold of hell. Neill’s talent for playing the everyman pays off in spades as the formerly sympathetic widower transforms into a disciple of this frightening dimension. Resembling a long-lost cenobite, Weir claws out his own eyes and prepares to drag the crew into a world consumed with sadistic pain.
Daybreakers (2009)
Neill returns to his Omen roots in Michael and Peter Spierig’s action-packed film as a secretly sinister businessman. But rather than the Antichrist, Charles Bromley (Neill) is a proud vampire convinced of the species’ superiority. With human blood in short supply, Bromley Marks Corp. is working on a synthetic substitute to prevent the human race from impending extinction. While hematologists perfect the formula, Bromley oversees disturbing fields of humans chained to massive machines that systematically harvest their blood.
Neill chills in this sinister role with vampiric yellow eyes, a pale complexion, and subtle fangs. But more upsetting is the fact that he honestly doesn’t believe he’s wrong. Once diagnosed with cancer, Bromley was delighted to find that vampirism would totally reverse his illness and grant him the gift of eternal life. He begged his daughter Alison (Isabel Lucas) to turn alongside him, but she has rejected her father’s controversial choice and is now hunted by his bloodthirsty goons. In a heartbreaking moment of clarity, Bromley brings his daughter to the brink of death, then turns away in disgust when she will not embrace his undead lifestyle.
Daybreakers is a surprisingly thrilling exploration of survival and sustainability. Similar to a plot Damien Thorn would hatch, Bromley’s ultimate plan is to placate the vampire population with synthetic blood while allowing the human population to replenish itself. With a larger stock, he plans to sell authentic humans at a premium, hunting these poor souls to season the meat. Bromley rejects a cure that would reverse the vampiric disease, choosing to enrich himself over saving the world. The strangely captivating villain’s end is a cathartic nightmare and fitting punishment for a wealthy man who places himself above everyone else.
In the Mouth of Madness
While the world may remember Neill for his signature role as a gruff but compassionate paleontologist going head to head with a raging T-Rex, horror fans may picture the versatile actor maniacally rocking back and forth in a filthy Berlin apartment, commanding a boardroom of corporate vampires, disappearing into the darkness of a haunted spaceship, sermonizing to satanists, or giggling over popcorn in a deserted movie theater. Or perhaps you have another favorite role in the beloved actor’s stellar career. But whether he was playing a hero or villain, Neill brought undeniable humanity to every role, redefining our idea of masculinity and the very nature of goodness vs. evil. By bringing such disparate characters to life, Neill challenged audiences with a variety of complex roles, asking us to examine the humanity of each character no matter how flawed or virtuous.
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