Movies
[Review] ‘Frankenstein’ Lives Again in Low-Budget Glory
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is one of my all-time favorite novels, which is a good thing when you consider the massive amount of film adaptations that continue to be released, year after year. The latest in this long line of Frankenstein movies, however, is an unexpected low-budget gem helmed by Candyman director Bernard Rose. Rarely have we seen the Modern Prometheus translated so earnestly on the big screen.
Frankenstein takes place in modern times, following Xavier Samuel as Adam, a flawed artificial life-form created by Doctors Mary and Viktor Frankenstein (Carrie-Anne Moss and Danny Houston) in a secret research facility. When his creators reluctantly decide to euthanize him due to uncontrollable side effects, Adam manages to escape the facility, and must attempt to survive the cruelty of human society while living as a deformed outcast.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” was certainly the motto behind adapting this classic tale to modern day, as only superficial details have been updated in Rose’s retelling, although the movie now focuses almost exclusively on the monster’s side of the story, and not his creators’. Shelley’s storytelling proves to be just as powerful in a contemporary metropolis as it is in gothic castles, and Bernard uses that to his advantage with his directing, playing with our expectations and transforming this familiar story into a thrilling character piece.
There is a certain lack of polish present in the picture due to the low-budget nature of the production, but Frankenstein more than makes up for it with a phenomenal cast and well-written characters. Xavier Samuel does a great job of incarnating an innocent, childlike soul that is slowly being corrupted, and Moss and Houston are brilliantly cast as godlike parental figures, whose presence is felt even when they’re absent from the screen. Mary’s relationship with Adam manages to be both creepy and compelling at all times, resulting in some of the best moments in the film, not to mention Adam’s interaction with Tony Todd as a down-on-his-luck blind homeless man that decides to help this monster on his journey.
While some might complain that the lack of lavish set-pieces or gothic imagery makes the film feel small and simplistic, that was possibly Bernard’s smartest move. Emphasis on spectacle over story has ruined many adaptations of Shelley’s work in the past, like last year’s ill-fated Victor Frankenstein, or even the dreadful I, Frankenstein. The scope here is certainly not as big as in some previous versions, but the story is still deep enough to stand on its own. The only gripe I have is the monster’s rather uninteresting design, although it is justified within the movie.
Xavier Samuels may not be the next Boris Karloff, but Frankenstein is certainly one of the best attempts at bringing the story to life from a new point of view without sacrificing any of the original themes. We may still see better adaptations in the future, but hopefully they’ll learn from Bernard Rose and give up on trying to turn one of the best works of horror fiction into soulless action movies. If you’re a fan of the original story or just in the mood for some stellar storytelling, give this one a shot.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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