Patchwork Proves There’s Still A Way To Make Original Frankenstein Movies – Screen Rant

Universal could learn from Patchwork, a subversive take on the Frankenstein narrative with a female perspective and a touch of black humor.

2015'sPatchwork,from Tyler MacIntyre,is a smaller horror film that creatively reinvented the Frankenstein narrative and proved there are still ways to say something new with an old idea. MacIntyre, who would go on to direct the equally subversive horrorTragedy Girls, presents a story where a crazed and obsessive scientist creates a twisted hybrid out of three young women. Patchwork begins as a standard Frankenstein story, but then quickly becomes something more challenging, right down to the point of view it adopts.

Mary Shelleys original novelis over 200 years old and its become the source for many Frankenstein film adaptationsof the classic horror monster. Many of these cinematic adaptations, especially the ones that came from Universal, stuck fairly close to Shelleys story. Now that Universal has started to bring back its classic monsters theres been speculation over what to do with Frankensteins Monster and if it has the same appeal and versatility as Universals other creatures.

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The ideas and themes that were used in Patchwork provide a strong blueprint on the places a new Frankensteins Monster movie could go. What made Patchwork such an unusual take on Frankenstein is that its heavily immersed in a female perspective. This, of course, was done in Bride of Frankenstein, but Patchwork allows the three personalities of the stitched-together girls to still be intact. In turn, theyre forced to reconcile not only with their new body but that its shared by multiple personalities.Ittransforms Patchwork into a cutting commentary on gender dynamics and female empowerment as the three women must put aside their differences and get vengeance on the surgeon that turned them into a monster. Still,Patchworks story is about Frankensteins Monster trying to find and kill its creator, which is truer to the source text than the more modern narrative where the creator strives to protect its misunderstood creation.

Another major asset that helped Patchwork stand out is that its an effective blend between horror and comedy with a very wry sense of humor. Patchwork is hardly the first adaptation to find humor in the Frankenstein narrativewith Frankenhooker and Young Frankenstein beingnotable examples that did it well, but they both skewed more toward the comedy. Universal may be apprehensive to let too much comedy into the successful reboots of their horror-centric Dark Universe, but Patchworks approach is a testament to how a little humor can go quite far. It ultimately all comes down to if the humor serves the tone and the characters, which can come much more naturally if the upcoming film focuses on the loss of identity thats felt by Frankensteins Monster.

Its this level of simultaneous faithfulness and deconstructionof the very themes of Shelleys original story thats necessary for a new Frankenstein movie to succeed. Its exactly the same kind of ambitious strategy that was taken by Leigh Whannells Invisible Man. Every Frankensteins Monster story has capitalized on the grotesque nature of the creature, but the mental anguish and sense of unity and empowerment thats created in Patchwork is the right angle for the future of Frankenstein.

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Daniel Kurland is a freelance writer, comedian, and critic, who lives in the cultural mosaic that is Brooklyn, New York. Daniels work can be read on ScreenRant, Splitsider, Bloody Disgusting, Den of Geek, and across the Internet. He recently completed work on a noir anthology graphic novel titled, "Sylvia Plaths The Bell Noir: A Rag of Bizarre Noir and Hard Boiled Tales" and hes currently toiling away on his first novel.Daniel knows that "Psycho II" is better than the original, that the finale of "How I Met Your Mother" doesnt deserve the hate that it receives, and that Garth Ennis run of "Animal Man" may be the best superhero story of all time. Hes a fan of white grape juice and appreciates a good Fuji apple.The owls are not what they seem.

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Patchwork Proves There's Still A Way To Make Original Frankenstein Movies - Screen Rant