In the 2004 Hallmark miniseries Frankenstein, directed by Kevin Connor, Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Alec Newman) becomes consumed by the pursuit of science and the mysteries of life and death at a young age. Years later, at university, he becomes obsessed with reanimating life, and, against the warnings of his mentor, Professor Waldman (William Hurt), and the devotion of his fiancée, Elizabeth (Julie Delpy), Victor isolates himself in experimentation. Driven by grief over his mother’s death, Victor assembles a body from the remains of the dead and succeeds in bringing it to life through a lightning storm. Horrified by his creation (Luke Goss), Victor flees, leaving the newly formed Creature alone and disoriented in a hostile world.
The Creature roams the land and secretly befriends a nearby poor family. He experiences brief hope of acceptance by silently doing chores for the family, only to be violently rejected when they see his horrendous visage. Desperate for belonging, the Creature returns to Victor, but tragedy strikes when the Creature inadvertently kills Victor’s younger brother, William (Daniel Williams), and frames their housekeeper, Justine (Monika Hilmerová). Enraged by Victor’s abandonment, the Creature demands that Victor create for him a companion, but he refuses, and the Creature goes on a killing spree of Victor’s closest friends.
“Driven by grief over his mother’s death, Victor assembles a body from the remains of the dead and succeeds in bringing it to life through a lightning storm.”
As I review the stories of Frankenstein’s monster, each film explores varying levels of the creature’s hideousness, violence, and Victor Frankenstein’s guilt. This Hallmark version is very much a Hallmark version of the classic tale. As a Hallmark movie, Frankenstein tells a beautiful love story between Victor and Elizabeth, which effectively fuels Victor’s rage to destroy his Creature once and for all. The performances are never over-the-top, and William Hurt as the ship’s captain anchors the cast. It’s as schmaltzy as you’d expect it to be.
Victor is, for the most part, the good guy who made a very bad mistake in creating the creature in the first place. The Creature is not exactly hideous-looking. He’s kind of a stud, with light scarring and white makeup to avoid disturbing Luke Goss’s good looks. It’s just hard to see him as a monster, and by making him handsome, it takes away some of the tragic nature of his existence. Kevin Connor fixes this by turning the Creature into a vengeful killing machine.
Ultimately, Kevin Connor’s version of Frankenstein leans in the dramatic direction. The “monster” aspects are toned down, leaving us with a vengeful creature looking to exact revenge on his “father” for abandoning him. For fans of melodrama, the Hallmark adaptation of Frankenstein is a perfect fit.
"…as schmaltzy as you’d expect it to be."
