FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND (1990)
Roger Corman's first director's credit since 1967's “The Trip” was an $11,500,000 sc-fi/horror mash-up starring John Hurt and Raul Julia. It's 2031 and the ultimate weapon, which was meant to be safe for humankind, produces global side-effects, including time slides and disappearances. Buchanan (Hurt), the scientist behind the project, is transported (with his talking car) to 1817 Switzerland, where he meets Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Julia), along with Lord Byron (Jason Patric) and Mary Shelley (Bridget Fonda).
With A-list actors, actual character development, a believable re-creation of the early 19th century, visual effects that still hold up, an imaginative twist on the Frankenstein legend, and a talking car much cooler than K.I.T.T. on Knight Rider, this easily ranks as the best Corman film I have ever seen. It makes me wonder how much better the man's work might have been during the '50s and '60s if he had ever had a real budget to work with. I can picture some of his more endurable low-budget fare having been made into high-quality sci-fi and horror films. “The Wasp Woman,” “The Little Shop of Horrors,” and “The Last Woman on Earth” each come to mind.
Item: When Dr. Buchanan first arrives in 1817, he finds some dead sheep with their entrails hanging out. However, the sheep clearly are breathing and the entrails are, in fact, on top of them, not hanging out from their insides.
Item: When Buchanan meets Lord Byron, in the background a car crosses a bridge—in 1817, mind you.
Item: When Dr. Frankenstein brings his dead wife Elizabeth back to life, what do you suppose he says? “She liiiiives!!!” Thanks for the cliché, Victor.
OK, so the film's not perfect, but it's much better than I expected from Roger Corman.
