I, Frankenstein

0:01 On the Bechdelcast, the questions asked if movies have women in them. Are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands or do they have individualism? The patriarchy's effin' vast.

0:12 Start changing it with the Bechdelcast. Hello, Bechdelcast listeners. It's me, I, Caitlin.

0:22 And it is I, Jamie. And we are here to tell you that you have unfortunately been enlisted. In the roar of demons versus gargoyles.

0:33 Oh my gosh. And it's up to you which side you're fighting on.

0:38 Where is the battleground? Well, in an empty soundstage in like Bulgravia or something. Um, yep. Yep. Hope you're ready. Hope you're ready because Aaron Eckhart is pivoting and it's not gonna go well for him.

0:54 No.

0:55 Are you, if you were enlisting in the war of demons versus gargoyles, I forget if we talked about this in the original episode a half decade ago, who are you siding with?

1:05 I mean, the movie wants us to think that the gargoyles are the good guys. I don't really know what they stand for. gonna say i guess just sort of like protecting society question mark.

1:18 I'm going i'm going demons demons i'm going demon strictly on like vibes strictly on who i would rather be spending time with i would rather be spending with bill nighy than whining whining whining adam frankenstein and his eye party gargoyle queen honkshoe no thank you oh i i see your point okay well But also, welcome to this unlocked Patreon episode. One that people can say we still have strong feelings about to this day. It is an iconic bad movie. I, comma, conic. I, comma, conically horrible I, Frankenstein.

2:01 We're unlocking it for spooky season and we are just also, oh, welcome to iFrankenstein Nation if you're not a member of our matrion. And speaking of which, if you're not a member of our matrion, this is an unlocked episode. And you'll notice we said this was recorded in 2021. It was still during lockdown because we have a backlog of episodes.

2:26 almost 10 years worth of episodes on the Matreon. And it is always cost the same. It costs $ 5 a month for two new episodes with just Caitlin and I on a theme of ours or yours, or sometimes a collaboration choosing. And we always have a really fun time. It's a little looser, a little more fun. Uh, not that the main feed isn't fun, but you know what I mean? Yeah. It's, it's a blast. It's always cost the same. And as we always say, it's the best way to support the show. So if you're not a member, it's also just really fun. And if you're a member, you get discounts on various things like tour tickets. Caitlin, take it away.

3:06 Oh my gosh. Have you ever heard of our 10-year anniversary tour?

3:10 Hopefully. We've really been trying to make you aware.

3:13 Yes. The Whoops We Didn't Dismantle the Patriarchy tour. The celebration of us doing this podcast for 10 years. Some things to know about it. One, we are doing this tour in different legs over the course of the next year, starting with the Northeast of the U.S. So we are doing shows in mid-October. If you're listening to this right when this is released, it's next week. So if you don't already have tickets to shows in New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, State College, Pittsburgh, or Boston, grab those tickets now. Like Jamie mentioned, you get a discount if you're a Matreon. Also, Matrons, I figured out how to set up a discount for our merch selling thing for Matrons. So Matrons also get a discount on merch at the live shows. And you

4:07 also get a free button at the live shows.

4:10 It's really fun. It's a blast. And our shows, yeah, we were very psyched to go on the full country tour. But for now, if you haven't gotten tickets in the Northeast yet, we're talking... New York, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philly, Baltimore State College, as Caitlin said. We hope to see you there. And also, there's so many things to promo at the top of this. If you've pre-ordered my next book, The Tower, you can also get a second free button. You could be just really cleaning up.

4:39 Just swimming in buttons.

4:41 It's honestly, it's not even fair.

4:45 Okay. Also, just a little bit about the show. Because oftentimes when we've done live shows, it's on a specific movie. Listeners will come prepped having watched the movie themselves. This show is not like that. This show is just a celebration of, it's a reflection on the past 10 years. It's a variety show.

5:05 Yeah, it's a variety show about the last 10 years of the show and also the last 10 years of movies.

5:12 Of cinema.

5:13 Yes.

5:14 We encourage you to dress up. We will be in costume. You should be in costume as your favorite movie characters or whatever movie characters are. because we will be doing the same.

5:26 Obviously, if you're minion bounding, extra points, extra points. What are we keeping a score for? We're not sure, to be honest. But if you're minion bounding, God's light shines upon you, frankly.

5:41 Indeed. And then we'll be announcing shows for upcoming legs of the tour soon. So stay tuned for that.

5:50 And finally, we wanted to remind you, we've been posting about this as well, but we are nominated for a Signal Award, which is a podcast industry award. We're very excited. We haven't submitted for an award in years. And so it was very cool to be nominated. We're nominated in the Best TV and Film category, and there is a voted component to it. So if you have a second, it would be awesome if you could just go to the link in either the description or on our link tree, if you happen to be there already, and give us a vote. It means the world. And yeah, it was like kind of a cool way to mark the 10 year.

6:28 Absolutely. The link tree is where you will also find the links to all of our upcoming shows. So just link tree slash Bechtelcast. That's where you can find all kinds of stuff. A link to our Patreon, aka Matreon.

6:41 Yes.

6:43 Among other things.

6:45 So that's our autumn housekeeping. Thank you if you're still here. And with that, let's get into it. So as we said, this was a Lockdown era episode. So if you're hearing references to current events, that is what we are referring to. And we are also referring to one of 21st century cinema's greatest gems. Yes. You'll be hooting and hollering, I am a demon prince at the end.

7:16 Oh my gosh.

7:17 Yeah.

7:18 Enjoy.

7:18 The Bechdelcast. I'm so excited to talk about it because I have such a bizarre history with it and it's so iconic. So I guess I just think, Caitlin, thank you.

7:30 For watching this. Hey, thank you. Well, let's dive in with your history and we'll go from there. Okay.

7:38 Wait, I just really quick. Did you have fun watching it?

7:42 I did.

7:42 Yeah.

7:43 I watched it twice.

7:45 There's never been a movie you need to watch twice less.

7:48 I know. But then, well, I found it kind of hard to follow because the screenwriting is not good. So I was really confused by a lot of plot points. So watching it twice helped me because I was like, okay, I guess I sort of better understand the plot.

8:06 I so badly want to know what everyone was told this was going to be versus what it was. But okay. So, okay. So this I Frankenstein iconic bad movie, I think an underrated bad movie that will, I don't, I don't know what it's going to take to get I Frankenstein really on, on the map as like one of the best bad movies ever. In existence? Because it has every.

8:32 Yeah, I was going to say, it's not iconic as being a bad movie. It's just a movie no one's seen or knows about. But it has the potential.

8:39 But it's so... You know, it's like if you're talking about what makes... A bad movie fun. This movie has basically everything. It has like a big star thinking they're in a good movie, but they're not. There is like someone who is clearly just taking a paycheck. That being Bill Nighy.

8:59 Bad CGI.

9:01 There's just like. It takes itself so seriously.

9:04 Expository dialogue out the ass.

9:07 It clearly is setting itself up for a sequel. It thinks it's a franchise. Everything about it, it's an iconic bad movie. If you haven't seen it, it's streaming, I think, on Hulu and Amazon. You can't avoid it, and yet no one's seen it. It's such a fun bad movie. Okay, so I saw this movie in theaters two times. What?

9:32 Jamie.

9:35 The first time was in 3D. This was really, well, this is fun because it has to do with a mutual friend of ours. So this movie came out while I, it came out in early 2014? Yeah, it came out in January 2014. I was still in college and I was working at Improv Boston with Jake McDowell and then we would hang out every night after work, and we would smoke weed and go to a drive-thru. And when we learned about iFrankenstein, yeah, Jake and I really just were like, we have to see this. It seems... so bad like we have to go and so we went to the theater in downtown boston we went to like a midnight showing on a thursday night the night it came.

10:25 Out wow the the amc the like boston common amc we paid.

10:29 Like $ 20 to yeah to see this movie in 3D there was like no one there so we were really loud which is like always a fun moment when you don't need to be quiet in a movie theater love it and it's just so it was exactly what we wanted and it was the same I think this was like the year after we had kind of like, we made a habit of going to bad movies together. It was just like a fun friendship, whatever. But we had like done the same thing with Ashton Kutcher's jobs. And that was like another iconically bad movie that we loved. And, but I Frankenstein, this movie is fun to watch alone, but it's like so fun to watch in a group because.

11:10 It's just more like we Frankenstein.

11:14 Exactly. It's a community builder. It's so, this movie is so funny it's the best like I just it just brings back so many good memories and I feel like I do I mean I guess to speak to your point of like it was helpful to watch it twice I find something newly makes no sense about this movie every time I've watched it and I've probably seen it like 15 times I've seen this movie so much Wow.

11:40 So that is why I love iFrankenstein. So this was your first time seeing it? Yeah.

11:46 Okay, now I don't know.

11:47 Have I made you watch it before?

11:50 You hadn't made me watch it, but I remember when it came out, and I thought I had a memory of seeing this, but when I watched it to prep for this episode, none of it was familiar, and it might just be that I have seen Constantine Van Helsing Underworld and many all the episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer which is like it's all in the same genre this movie is trying to be a lot of things so I was like yeah I've seen I Frankenstein and then I was like wait I don't know that I have So I think I thought this movie was Constantine or something, which is that Keanu Reeves movie.

12:25 Was Constantine bad?

12:27 I think it wasn't necessarily good, but I think it was maybe better produced than I, Frankenstein, but only because most movies are better produced than I, Frankenstein.

12:37 Oh, this movie.

12:39 IDK.

12:40 I remember, I think that most, even though no one saw it, and this movie was like a huge flop, and.

12:47 I don't know.

12:47 I mean, where is Aaron Eckhart at this? I'm not like this certainly didn't kill his career, but it was a big swing and definitely nobody saw it and it sucked and it has 5% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is wild.

13:01 What?

13:03 It has... One of the lowest.

13:05 Oh, my.

13:05 Yeah. I mean, he's still working. He's great. I guess he was in the Romanovs. But this was, I think, one of his last big starring roles for a while, which is funny, but probably not for him yet.

13:24 Well, he also wasn't that much of a leading man before this either, because even though he was in The Dark Knight, he was like, one of the villains, and he was in Erin Brockovich, but is, like, her on-again, off-again boyfriend.

13:37 Outside of Batman, I mainly knew him as the guy from Thank You for Smoking, which I haven't seen in a long time.

13:43 Yeah.

13:44 Same. I own it on DVD, but I've only watched it once. But, yeah, I think other than that, he hasn't had that many leading roles. So I think he probably thought, like, I, Frankenstein was going to be his big breakout, like, star making thing. And it wasn't at all.

14:00 It's so funny too. Cause like early 2014, I feel like is like when the, like making something gritty for kind of no reason is at its like cinematic peak where like, I guess Aaron Eckhart happened to be involved in the largest franchise where it actually like worked pretty well. We're like making like, We're making Batman gritty was such an effective, successful tactic. But then it was like movies were just trying to do that for literally anything, including Frankenstein, which was gritty.

14:33 Which is already gritty.

14:34 But then there were.

14:35 I just.

14:36 love that this movie acknowledges the frankenstein lore for like 30 seconds and they're like so demons and gargoyles like we'll get into we'll get into it but there i just wanted to really quickly shout out one of my favorite because it was like this movie was barely talked about but there was a really good um headline in the onion that came out when this movie did that i feel like just wraps up every great thing about this movie um and it goes like this Aaron Eckhart likes to make one Frankenstein movie for them, one Frankenstein movie for himself. I think it's very funny. Yeah. I feel, I mean, it's Aaron Eckhart. I also think firmly kind of falls into one of my favorite types of actor, which is like, Hot guy who is a character actor,

15:24 but people sometimes don't think he's a character actor because he's too hot. I'm thinking also Brendan Fraser goes in this category where it's like everyone's like, no, he's a leading man. But then when he's a leading man, they're like, I don't like this.

15:37 Anyways.

15:40 Anyways. I like Aaron Eckhart.

15:43 Yeah.

15:43 This movie is... I think that history will remember this as one of his most... I mean, he's, like, giving it 110%.

15:49 He's trying way too hard, and it's tragic.

15:53 He's kind of just doing Christian Bale Batman voice for this. Like, he's just.

15:57 A lot, yeah. I'm Frankenstein.

16:01 I'm mysterious. There's... I am not human, nor gargoyle, nor demon. I am like none other. I wrote down all my favorite lines. Descend in pain, demon. You're just like, shut up. It's so corny. And it gets like... I mean, maybe it's, I know Aaron Eckhart like made a choice and then just kind of roll with it. But reading his lines that are already bad in a goofy Christian Bale as Batman impression does kind of make them worse.

16:37 Well, there's also like Bill Nighy at one point after he like, we'll get to it, but he turns into his like demon form. And the first line he says is like, I am a demon prince. And then he pauses for a while, and then he's like, and here's why that's relevant. But for a while, you just think he's announcing himself as a demon prince, and it's like, yeah, we know. We've known the whole fucking time.

17:02 Bill Nighy fully doesn't know where he is. He doesn't know what's going on. Bill Nighy... It's so, and this is also, like, I mean, talk about, like, an iconic character actor, Bill Nighy, one of my favorites of all time, who has done some of, like, my favorite character performances. He was great. If you haven't seen this year's Emma that came out with Anya Taylor-Joy of the Vovich, I recommend it. It's such a fun, lighthearted, like, great movie to watch if you need a pickup.

17:37 He's great in Detective Pikachu.

17:39 Oh, my God. Mewtwo. Bill Nighy knows how to give a line read. So everything, I mean, I don't blame any of the performers in this movie. Jai Courtney is in this movie. Like it's just so.

17:58 Oh, he plays Gideon. Okay.

17:59 Yeah. Jai Courtney. He's like a generally buff guy. He's in Jack Reacher. He was in the Divergent series. He is in, oh, I guess he was in Suicide Squad. Didn't see that. He's, he's a guy that's in things. Okay. Who is, I think, kind of like maybe looks like a lot of hot guys. And so you're like, who?

18:21 But he's also in this. I don't blame anyone for being in this movie. And actually, if you're in this movie.

18:29 More power to you.

18:30 You're amazing. And I hope you got paid a lot of money. Yeah, it's so unclear. Like I just, based on Bill Nighy's performance, I'm like, I don't know if the script was like completed or not when he was doing his scenes, but he's like, I am a demon prince. And then other times he's like, Frankenstein, so good of you to come. Like what? Descend in pain, demon.

18:55 Incredible. Well, should I do the recap? Which is like one of the longer recaps I've written because again, the story is confusing and there's like, exposition that gets revealed over the course of the story but like not in a way that is dealt out well.

19:10 I honestly i mean for all this is we intentionally because we knew we were doing a really heavy episode at the beginning of this month we wanted to do a really light episode for the end of this month there's not like a ton of discussion to be had perhaps not so i feel like this is a recap heavy episode yeah yeah i'm very excited for how you are going to recap this.

19:41 Okay, so we begin. It is 1795. A monster, our hero, I come. Frankenstein himself, was created by Victor Frankenstein.

19:55 Yeah.

19:56 He tries to get rid of his monster, but he survives, comes back, and kills Victor's, his wife.

20:04 His wife.

20:05 And then Frankenstein, the doctor, or the scientist, or whatever- dies trying to chase after the monster.

20:13 Right but i frankenstein is impervious to the cold so right yes it's fine.

20:18 He's immortal and he doesn't feel cold.

20:20 And then it pivots really abruptly.

20:24 Suddenly he's like i guess he's well he says something like i buried him in his family's cemetery which is more than he deserves so now he's in a cemetery burying victor frankenstein And some demons show up and they're like, hey, monster, we've been looking for you. Our boss, Nabarius, or whatever his name is.

20:44 Prince Nabarius.

20:46 Nabarius wants to talk to you. But a few gargoyles show up and they fight off the demons themselves. And then the gargoyles turn into hot people.

20:58 The gargoyles are so sexy. And they're all dressed like kind of like Greek... Like gladiators? Yeah. They're kind of dressed like gladiators.

21:12 Except for Queen Leonore, who is.

21:16 She's giving us full eye party realness. Like, she.

21:21 Yeah, she's kind of dressed like an elf from the Lord of the Rings. And that actor was in Lord of the Rings as Eowyn.

21:28 Yes, Miranda Otto. Yeah. She's like, and I, again, I'm just like, they got so many like well-regarded, talented people to be in this movie. And it's like, did everyone go bankrupt at once? Like what happened? What happened?

21:42 Hard to say.

21:43 She does her best.

21:43 She does her best.

21:44 I think it is so funny that between 1795 and 2014, she does not get a new outfit. Yes. It's the same outfit.

21:53 It's the same one. So the gargoyles take the monster to their leader, Queen Leonore. And she's like, hey, maybe you're not just a monster. Even though you don't have a soul, maybe you do have feelings. So she names him... Adam, which I guess is like a biblical reference.

22:17 Get it? Get it? Yeah, the gargoyles are fully... They're so Christian. They live in an abandoned, question mark, church. A big issue with this movie is that you have no idea where you are.

22:31 What city are they in? They don't... Where are they?

22:34 Well, we're... Whatever city they're in, there's no people there, except for at a techno club in one scene.

22:41 Which, why does he go there? Like, why would Adam the Frankenstein monster just waltz into a club where demons, I don't know.

22:52 It took me until my second viewing for it to, like, really, like, my seeing this movie for the second time in theaters, I was like, wait a second. Like, I knew, I'm like, I have no idea where we are, but, like, part of like a big theme is like the gargoyles are protecting the humans, but like, where are the humans? And also are, do the humans, if they're there, do they not see that they're like buildings are being destroyed every day by gargoyles and demons, but it doesn't seem to, the humans don't seem to be like, aware of or actively participate the gargoyles are just kind of fighting on behalf of the humans but it's unclear why that alliance exists too like right i guess like the this church

23:34 where the gargoyles live is in the middle of a square but no one lives there okay just checking and it's.

23:40 In some it's somewhere in europe probably Sure. It might be London because a lot of the characters have British accents, but we don't know.

23:49 Even though they're all Australian. Almost every actor in this movie is Australian except for Aaron Eckhart and Bill Nighy.

23:57 Wow.

23:57 Like it's a very Australian heavy movie.

24:01 Interesting.

24:02 I have no idea.

24:04 Well, so Queen Leonore is like, hey, I'm going to name you Adam. And we're like, but his name is I Frankenstein. But sure, Adam.

24:13 Sure.

24:13 Yeah. And it turns out that this dark demon prince, Nibirius, wants Adam for something we don't know what yet. There's also a book that the gargoyles took off of Victor Frankenstein's body as he was being buried. And they're like, Leonore, what about this book? And she's like, it must never fall into the wrong hands. Lock it away in a safe.

24:38 Why does she care? Oh, because she doesn't want the demons to get it because then they'll make their Frankenstein army?

24:46 But we don't know that and we don't know that she knows that or would be able to come to that conclusion for at least 45 minutes into the movie.

24:56 Why are the gargoyles so obsessed with protecting humans when there's no humans around is a question that is quite honestly never fully answered.

25:08 I can't say. Okay. So the gargoyles want Adam on their side in this war to protect humans that appear to not be in the world. But Adam is like, no thanks. I'm a lone wolf and I don't need anybody.

25:28 And then one of the most amazing sequences of all time. Sorry.

25:34 You mean when he goes into the woods?

25:36 The montage. Yes. So he goes into the woods from 1795 to 2013. Right. But there's that amazing shot that I just like the first time I saw it, I laugh. I laugh every time where it's like a bunch of voiceover. But then it's just a shot of Aaron Eckhart on top of a mountain, winking around nunchucks. They're just like nobody.

26:01 They're just like pipes. Cause they're like, you should have weapons. Take some of our weapons. So he picks these two, just like steel pipes or something. And they're like, those pipes, those weapons are bad.

26:12 Don't choose those. They're blunt and heavy. And he's like, no, I, They're like me. They're ugly and strong. And that's what I am like.

26:20 They're not like the other weapons.

26:23 Like he just whips them around. He uses them like nunchucks. Right. But yeah, they're not necessarily nunchucks. But I just, that scene, just like he's just passing, he's just glazing over. He's in the woods for 200 years. Yeah.

26:38 Doing what?

26:39 Whipping around these pipes. Doing what? I don't know. I have no idea. Everyone in this movie is also immortal. Yes.

26:48 He must also... I think he learns to read at some point because he's able to read the book later. So maybe he spends a lot of time teaching himself to read. Who can say?

26:57 I would have loved to see that. Although I do love to see him whip around nunchucks for no reason. It's just... It's so ridiculous. So yeah, all of a sudden it's 2013. Yes. Basically he.

27:10 He decides for no reason whatsoever. Yeah. That he has hidden long enough and that he is now going to hunt those who have been hunting him, even though it doesn't really seem like people have been hunting him for those 200 years or at.

27:25 We don't it seems like someone like the demons show up at the end of the 200 years and he gets into a fight with the demons which is one of okay one of the best conventions of this movie is when a fight is about to happen but then they can't afford to show you the fight so it just cuts to really far away and you just see like he's like i had to kill the demons or whatever like they came for me and it cuts to like a wide shot of the forest and then it's like a college student photoshop some flames coming out of the forest right because and that's the battle.

27:55 Right, because when a demon descends into hell after it's been killed, there's a red burst of light that goes downward. And then when a gargoyle ascends to heaven, there's a blue stream of light. Anyway.

28:11 I also, this was my first, I did not watch the cartoon Gargoyles. So for me, Gargoyles being creatures of heaven was a weird mental shift to make. I was like, Gargoyles versus demons, like which, aren't they both mean? But in this one, Gargoyles are like angels. They're angels from heaven.

28:31 Yeah, because in the show Gargoyles, and I haven't seen it in decades now, but it's not as though they were these like, heavenly righteous creatures in that show but in yeah in this mythology of gargoyles they were created by the archangel michael or something like that they are like these like heavenly kind.

28:51 Of like why not just make them angels then like they're yeah they're treated like angels like angels versus demons that's i mean that's a book but like There's a whole book about it. There's a well-established precedent for angels versus demons.

29:07 You mean like the whole religion of Christianity?

29:10 But it's just so weird because it's like the gargoyles do represent Christianity. They live in like a dusty old church where no one goes because there's no people. But like... But, like, they're super Christian, but they're... I know that they're gargoyles on the church. It was just confusing for me. I was like, the only gargoyle I'm familiar with is, like, the Jason Alexander gargoyle in Hunchback of Notre Dame.

29:36 Yeah, I guess.

29:37 I wouldn't call him an angel.

29:39 Maybe there's something about gargoyles that I just don't know about. I don't really know anything about the history of gargoyles as like iconography or anything like that. So I'd have to do some reading about it.

29:53 One thing that I kind of always forget about this is that it is based on a graphic novel by a black screenwriter and a black comic book writer. Kevin, and we had to look this up, Kevin Grievous. And you're not going to believe why he chose that last name. He's a goth. No, so especially because we are very aware that, I mean, a lot of the movies that we have covered on the show, as well as movies at large, are not... Written by black or non-white screenwriters at all. Of all the things that I love about I, Frankenstein, this is one of them. The great Kevin Grievous. So he's also in the movie as Dakar, a high-ranking demon who is like the head of security for Bill Nighy.

30:46 And he has, like, this amazing voice. And he's always, like, telling Bill Nighy, like, Naberius, this is happening. And then Bill Nighy just kind of.

30:55 Oh, that guy. Okay, yes.

30:57 So he's, like... He is I, Frankenstein, where he... He didn't write the screenplay, but he and the director collaborated on the story. The graphic novel was his. I'm kind of curious to read the graphic novel, because I could see this being fun as a graphic novel, but it just, like, definitely does not... It's, like... It just definitely... I'm willing to put the blame on Stuart Beattie, who is the director and wrote the screenplay. Anyways, so yeah, Kevin's in it and he wrote it and he also co-created the Underworld film. So this resembling Underworld is definitely not a mistake.

31:34 It's one of the creators.

31:37 So the fact that he's a Black creator of these properties that have been adapted to films in a genre that is historically... very white, especially for really mainstream things.

31:47 Yeah, the fantasy. I mean, all of the genres this movie is trying to be.

31:53 Horror, I guess. Fantasy superhero movie, question mark. But yeah, these genres, and it feels like fantasy especially, have been, again, historically super white, particularly your mainstream fantasy movies. So it's awesome that he's been able to break into the mainstream fantasy realm as a Black creator. Yeah. And I hope he's getting the recognition he deserves.

32:24 I have some quick, just fun facts about Kevin Grievous, because the more I learned about him, I was like, wow, what a fascinating character. Story.

32:34 Lay it on me.

32:35 Kevin Grievous.

32:36 Okay.

32:37 So he went to Howard University, has a degree in microbiology with minors in chemistry and psychology. Whoa. Then he goes to grad school and he's working towards a master's. in genetic engineering. He's literally a genius. And then during grad school, he started taking screenwriting classes and he dropped out of grad school to move to LA and become a screenwriter. And then he started getting all this work and he is like an actor and he's a writer.

33:12 I want to make sure I'm getting his writing credits. Correct. Um, But he's been in movies aside from I, Frankenstein. He has been on Star Trek. He was in Hulk.

33:27 Which one?

33:27 The Edward Norton one. Oh, no, wait, the Eric Bana one.

33:36 Oh, right.

33:37 The Ang Lee one.

33:38 It is wild how there are so many. There's too many Hulks. Because there's an Eric Bana one, there's the Edward Norton one, and then there's the Mark Ruffalo ones.

33:47 And I'm just like, am I supposed to care about any of these? I don't know. But back to Kevin Grievous. So he is heavily involved in the Underworld franchise. He has a number of story by credits in the Underworld franchise. He also acts. He's been collaborating. And so it seems like I, Frankenstein is a comic book that he wrote that then was like, I mean, he's already in Hollywood, baby.

34:13 He's wheeling and dealing with.

34:15 He's a Kevin of all trades.

34:17 He's grievous for crying out loud. So, Kevin Grievous, kind of a legend in this hyper-specific genre. So, shouts out to Kevin Grievous. This is my favorite fantasy movie I've ever seen. So yeah, Underworld was Grievous's... So I'm reading from Wikipedia. Grievous's first produced writing credit. He came up with the original concept and premise and then wrote the screenplay with a collaborator. So he is the Underworld franchise.

34:50 You're welcome.

34:51 Wow.

34:52 I'm also seeing here... I honestly have not seen the Underworld movies, but I'm seeing here on... Wikipedia.org. Grievous based Underworld on his experiences with interracial dating and the tension it often causes. And that he also pulled on his background in science and brought his knowledge of science to the world of vampires and werewolves. So... Wow. That's grievous for you.

35:19 So Underworld is like allegorical for interracial dating?

35:24 It sounds, yeah, I guess so.

35:26 I'll have to rewatch those movies.

35:28 Have you seen them?

35:29 I've seen the first one, but I don't remember it very well. Oh, okay.

35:32 So I know nothing about it. I'm like, I just remember being like, I wish I was a goth, but this movie would probably scare me. But Bill Nighy is also in it. So I think that Bill Nighy and Kevin Grievous are just like buds, most likely. Yeah.

35:51 Best friends.

35:51 Also, Danny McBride wrote the screenplay for Underworld.

35:55 What?

35:55 Did you know?

35:56 No.

35:57 What a wild franchise. Random. McBride. Everyone's fascinating. Oh, wait, not that Danny McBride. Wait. Well, someone named Danny McBride.

36:11 But not the eastbound and down Danny McBride?

36:14 No, this is Daniel Flynn McBride. Daniel Flynn McBride is an American stuntman and screenwriter. Best combo I've ever heard.

36:22 Wow.

36:23 A lot of people in the Underworld franchise are wearing many hats, it seems. Yeah.

36:29 People have requested that we do it. We should cover Underworld sometime.

36:33 It's a grievous original. And a Danny McBride original. But not that one.

36:36 But not that one. So Adam decides to leave the woods and travel to some European city. He gets a haircut and suddenly he's way hotter. And it's now present day. Then we meet Mr. Wessex, a.k.a. Bill Nighy. He is overseeing reanimation science experiments in his lab.

37:06 Full villain, glass of tea, behind a glass wall. Like, you got everything.

37:13 And one of the two major scientists is Dr. Tara Wade, who we'll talk more about later.

37:21 Woman in STEM.

37:22 That's true. So Wessex is overseeing these experiments to try to bring corpses back to life. We don't know why. But then there's this big reveal that he is also Prince Nibirius, the demon who has been looking for Frankenstein's monster for centuries. And then you sort of find out why.

37:42 Also, sometimes it's I just feel for I love Bill Nye. He's so much. I just want to protect him at all costs. But it is kind of funny that like in post, sometimes I think when it's maybe not like reading in this because sometimes he's like he's supposed to be kind of switching between being like. science guy and prince nabirius but then sometimes when he's being prince nabirius they just kind of put an echo effect on his voice like it's just like i i am a demon demon prince you're just like oh i guess that's his evil voice.

38:13 His eyes will like flash red.

38:15 I will never forget the first, okay, because the CGI in this movie, I feel like, I mean, and again, it's like not the fault of the people doing it. It's clearly a budget issue.

38:24 Yeah.

38:25 But it is just, it is so bad. And, At the end, when Bill Nighy turns into a demon, we've already seen so many bad human to demon transformations, but it still just makes my blood run cold. It's the worst thing I've ever seen in my whole life.

38:44 It's so. Gross well because some of it's practical like some of it is him in makeup and you're just like like why did he this movie had.

38:55 A 65 million dollar budget so even the things that look cheap about this movie is still kind of confusing you have to think maybe they just like blew through a ton of money in pre-production and then have like three dollars for post-production and But I don't even know. It seems like there's shots that are missing. Maybe the script changed. There seems to be shots and possibly scenes that are missing. They can't afford to do all the battles they clearly want to do. The battles they have are really confusing to watch. Like, I don't know what happened.

39:30 There needs to be, like, I have to, like, put everything aside and really talk to some people.

39:38 Okay, so then we kind of find out why Nibirius has been looking for Frankenstein this whole time, the monster the whole time, which is that He wants to figure out how to create life from corpses, but we still don't know exactly why or what he plans to do with that yet. Then the gargoyles find Adam again, and they all look the exact same, wearing the same clothes.

40:05 and they're like are you gonna help us fight this war yet and he's like no i don't give a shit about gargoyles or humans or demons i'm my own man except he's not a man even.

40:20 Except he's and he also like he flip-flops so much and it's sometimes there's story logic for it and other times he's just like I'm bored. I'm with the gargoyles now. And then he'll get to the gargoyles and be like, I'm not with you. And I'm like, but you just said you were. Like, Adam, what are you talking about?

40:41 There's a lot of inconsistency with Queen Leonor as well. And we'll talk about her.

40:46 Yeah, Adam and Queen Leonor specifically, I feel like are the two characters that have the most time dedicated to their arc. And also their arc makes sense the least sense it is so inconsistent like yeah sometimes Queen Leonore is like really I think I mean tropey in either direction but like she's switching between tropes like sometimes she's really you know very maternal towards Adam and then other times she's extremely cold and cruel and like evil ruler type towards I'm like and and every time like what is motivating any of this behavior I don't know.

41:25 Yeah because there's that one part where like At the beginning when she meets him, she's like, you're human. I see potential for you to have a soul. Maybe you're more human than you think. I have to protect you. I'll give you a name. And then later in the movie, she's telling her gargoyle friends to be like, destroy him.

41:42 So she wants him dead. But then later she's like, I have to save him. So it's just like, it's never make a choice. Okay.

41:50 What if you made every choice?

41:54 Okay, so I think we're about 30 minutes into the movie now. A bunch of demons attack the Gargoyle Cathedral and they capture Queen Leonore. And with her gone, the next highest ranking Gargoyle, Gideon, takes Victor Frankenstein's journal that had been locked in the vault. It contains these step-by-step instructions on how to reanimate a corpse and how to create an iFrankenstein.

42:20 Right. Also some pretty incredible fake science in this, too, because there's like that scene at the beginning where Tara and her, I don't know, her lab friend... yeah they're like running that experiment on the dead gigantic rat where like first of all it's horrible to watch but since the rat is clearly fake i'm able to suspend my disbelief but just like the fake science in that scene is so like she goes double it i said double it and then And then the guy is like, that'll kill it. And she's like, it's already dead. Like, I guess that's technically true, but that's so dramatic. Like the, I just, it sounds so, I had to Google her job title to make sure that it wasn't a completely made up job. Oh, electrophysiologist turns out a real thing.

43:15 Is that real?

43:16 I learned. Okay. Yes. But I don't think that they just go around screaming, double it in regards to electricity.

43:23 Electrocuting rats specifically um yeah so gideon gives the journal to the demons in order to save the queen and then we find out that nabirius is so obsessed with frankenstein's monster and with reanimation in general because he's trying to figure out how to bring back fallen demons and And now that he has this journal, he has information on how to do that. But there's still a piece of the puzzle that is missing and we don't have yet.

43:56 We'll get to that in a moment. But Adam follows the demons and discovers this huge room full of corpses that apparently Niberius intends to reanimate. But there's still a missing piece of the puzzle that we'll get to.

44:11 Okay.

44:11 Okay.

44:13 And now it's like we're too far in the movie for us to still have this many missing pieces to the puzzle. It's a big issue.

44:20 And then Tara, Dr. Wade, she's working for him. She's doing all these experiments for Nibirius, but she doesn't know that he is a demon overlord because he looks like Bill Nighy. But I also didn't know that she wasn't... It took me way too long into the movie for me to be like, oh, she's not like an evil...

44:40 She's not like one of the bad guys. She's just carrying out his bidding unknowingly.

44:45 She's working for the devil, but it's kind of presented like she's a working. She's just like a working stiff. She's like a nine to fiver. Yeah. But it's also I think that that's also confusing because he's surrounded by people who look like they're in the Matrix. And then it's just like her and this other guy. Like it seems like they're his only employees who are not like demons.

45:04 So what?

45:05 How does she not notice that her boss is pure evil? Like, look at any of the signs.

45:11 How did she, how long has she been working there? Again, a huge glass lab office building where we don't see any other people. One of my favorite exchanges in the movie is when, well, we're about to get to I, Frankenstein meeting Tara, the woman in STEM. which is one of the most incredible entrances of all time. This is another scene in iFrankenstein I absolutely love because iFrankenstein just needs to go into her lab. It's an empty building.

45:43 There's so many ways he could get into the building, into the room, but he chooses... I'm like, that's where the $ 65 million went, Kevin. He bursts through a full window from the ceiling. He crashes into it. It's so unnecessary. Yeah. And he scares them. And then they're like, we're scared of you. And he's like, why? You just burst through a fucking glass window. Of course they're scared. They work for the dead. Like, they're scared. I don't know.

46:18 He leaves that scene by also jumping through a different window and just, like, bursting the glass there. Also, okay. There's so many doors. Back to Dr. Wade somehow not noticing that she's working for the most evil being alive.

46:34 Like.

46:34 He's having her reanimate corpses.

46:37 Her character is so underrated because it's like, if you even take that further of like, where does she live? Like she lives in this human-less place. Like, does she have any friends? Does she know anyone other than Bill Nighy and this one other man? Like, does she know a woman? Does she know a woman? is a question I had. I don't know that we did. I don't know.

47:00 There's police in this world, and one gets killed, and that's fun to watch. But there's police, but we don't know who they're supposed to be policing or who they work for because no one lives here. But Tara is so confused. I mean, I at least appreciate that she is the audience leader And I hate the lazy writing trope of like introducing a female character strictly to ask questions about what's going on. I hate that shit. But in this movie, you actually kind of really do need someone to be asking those questions because you just don't know what's going on. And so like you're saying, she realizes or she doesn't know she's working for the devil, even though she's clearly doing the devil's bidding. But whatever. Like,

47:43 but then I love that scene where they're walking through. It's I think that every time they're walking down like an alleyway, it's the same alleyway. But you're not supposed to think that. But it's definitely the same one every time. where she's like, what is going on here? And he's like, there's a war, a war people don't know about, a war between gargoyles and demons. I think your boss is a demon named Prince Niberius. And she just like keeps following him. I feel like I would be so like, I hope you get the help you need, but I don't feel safe right now. Like, you know, like it's just, Like, you can't just be like... It's just the most ridiculous paragraph.

48:29 And Aaron Eckhart is playing it so serious. I don't know. I appreciate... What is the actor's name? Ivan Strahovski? Strahovski? Ivan Strahovski. I think she does as much as she possibly can. She plays it at least like, what are you talking about? Which... Would be the way to play it.

48:52 She doesn't believe him at first. She's like, you know, here's the thing. I don't believe in demons. And then, conveniently, right then, a demon shows up. And then there's this big battle between it and... Yeah. Oh, shit. And then the demon and Adam fight. And then afterwards, she still is like, I don't know what I saw. I'm not sure if I believe you or not. And it's like, what do you think just happened?

49:15 Pick one. It's so good I mean and in that scene like she also classic trope she does not really get to participate in any battles at all she's very mainly sidelined I at least there's a few like in terms of how the female characters are treated. There's a few, at least I have for this movie. Cause it is the worst movie of all time. At least she kind of like at the end outsmarts the demon where she's like, no, I need, I need it alive. I need I Frankenstein.

49:49 And so she like tricks him. She's able to get them out of a situation with her knowledge and Which I'm like, okay, that's something. The movie still makes no sense.

50:03 And she does grab the book from getting incinerated. She sure does. So that's something. But then this is where we kind of figure out the final piece of the puzzle. So basically, Adam steals the journal back and then kidnaps Tara because women be getting kidnapped. Because he, I guess, needs help making sense of who he is and why he is. And then another demon shows up to deliver some more, kind of the final bit of exposition, which is that they want to reanimate the human bodies that Bill Nighy has been storing in his lab because the fallen demons... can possess the bodies because a dead body doesn't have a soul and a demon can only possess something that doesn't have a soul. And because Adam doesn't

50:55 have a soul, that's why he's relevant or something. Or they want the book to figure out how to read. It's a whole, it barely makes sense.

51:04 It's so absurd that they make this a reveal and don't just tell you this like half an hour ago. Because as a viewer, you're like, okay, like it's still kind of too much exposition. We were like, I kind of get it. But why would you tell me this like 20 minutes before the movie is over? Also, because we are clearly like, we're supposed to be like shipping Dr.

51:29 Tara Wade and I Frankenstein and they meet pretty late in the movie. And then he kidnaps her.

51:35 It's like halfway through.

51:37 Like, yeah. And this movie is my favorite kind of movie. It's exactly an hour and a half long.

51:42 Mercifully.

51:43 But yeah, they meet kind of too late. And then the writing is bad. So you're never like, they should kiss. I'd never feel like they should kiss. But the movie really definitely feels like they should kiss.

51:55 It very much wants you to feel that. Because the next thing that happens is that after Adam kills this demon, they go back to Adam's studio apartment where he's literally.

52:08 His filthy, no light bulbs studio apartment. At what point in the story did he sign a lease?

52:19 You see a scene in kind of the montage where he is arriving in the nondescript European city where he like, I think the idea is that he's squatting in like an abandoned building. Cause you see him kind of like break down a door and like move in.

52:34 Okay. I do remember that. That makes me feel a little bit better. Cause I'm just like, there's also like landlords in this.

52:41 Right. Like for who, how much is he trying to assimilate into like human society?

52:49 And how much of a point is there in doing that? and immediately scares people because they're like who is this why is he so serious right.

52:59 Because he's got scars all over his face we're meant to think that he's ugly even though it's aaron eckhart who is handsome yeah but okay the final little reveal bit of information that we get i guess might explain some of this where so okay they go back to his apartment she patches him up he takes off his shirt.

53:21 She's like, Ooh, la la. Cause he's got like a six pack. My other favorite part of this movie is that at this point he described, he tells her that he is eight different corpses sewn together. And it's like, really? Because we're all of those corpses, just clones of Aaron Eckhart, because you look like it's just one person with a lot of scar tissue. Like if it was really eight different corpses, like wouldn't there be different skin colors and like sizes of the different body parts and things like that.

53:53 But that is not the case.

53:56 You would think. But yeah, no, that's just something that like I think you're just supposed to be like, oh, like she seems to be this like. kind of generally has the hots for him, which physically, not a problem, but he did just kidnap her, and I do take umbrage with that. This movie defies analysis.

54:21 We should just stop here.

54:23 Boldly spits in the face. I'm just like, you know what? You win, iFrankenstein. I don't know which way is up. So yeah, she's immediately in love with him, but you know.

54:36 Yeah, she sees his six pack and she's like, oh my gosh, who's that? And then we find out that the reason Adam kidnapped her is because Victor Frankenstein had promised his monster a his wife, but did not deliver on that promise. So it's implied that Adam is hoping that Tara will like, make him a wife or, like, reanimate a wife for him. And this information is given to us as if this is something that Adam has wanted his whole life. All he wants is a partner, and this is, like, what he's always wanted. But we're finding this out 50 minutes into the movie.

55:22 He never says this. And also, it also, like, directly... contradicts what we know about him because every other second he's like i want to be alone i'm a loner but then apparently he doesn't want to be alone but he never says that someone just tells him that that's what he thinks and he's like yeah obviously.

55:46 Also how does she deduce that information like is it written in the book i don't know how she figures that out It's so confusing.

55:54 There's no way it's in the book, right? Also, while all of this was happening, and it makes sense that you didn't mention it, there was like some gargoyles that were in love, but then they died.

56:06 Oh, yeah. Yes, yes, yes.

56:09 It literally doesn't matter. There's two gargoyles. They were like warriors for the queen.

56:15 Ophir and Kezia?

56:19 Yes.

56:19 Or something like that?

56:20 Ophir dies and then Kezia at the last second with her last gasp of breath is like, actually, I was in love with him. And you're like, what? And then she dies. You're like, well, I guess I don't care. I guess they were together a lot. what and then she's just like also it wasn't allowed for us to date I'm like well I didn't know that.

56:40 Right there's there's just not enough world building I guess there's too much exposition and also not enough like people.

56:48 Are like giving exposition about their character and their world and their life like with their dying breath and then you're just like well I guess that's that like by the way I was in love by the way gargoyle love is forbidden she just disappears you're just like Oh, it's so confusing. Why are they not allowed to date?

57:11 I don't. There's no reason given.

57:16 But they're going to date in heaven.

57:18 In heaven.

57:18 Which is why Aaron Eckhart's going to save her life, but then she's like, no, gargoyles aren't allowed to date, so I'm going to go date him in heaven. Because we were in love, by the way. And then she dies.

57:29 You know how the main thing we know about heaven is that that's where People go to date each other?

57:35 Yeah, if you're forbidden from dating. It's like Jack and Rose. It wasn't going to work out.

57:43 So she has to fall asleep and have a dream?

57:46 Oh, my God. we simply don't have time but i just always think that that's so funny like yeah they just all of that it happens in two minutes if you lose that scene if you just if an editor trips and falls and loses those two characters it doesn't matter.

58:02 Um okay so we found out that adam has wanted a his wife this whole time apparently um So then Adam goes back to the gargoyles and tells Queen Leonor about Nibirius's plan. And she's like, all right, we'll help you. But then she tells Gideon to destroy Adam and the journal, knowing that if Nibirius, what is his name? Nibirius?

58:32 Prince Nibirius.

58:34 Nibirius. gets his hands on it, it will mean the death of all gargoyles and all of humankind. So she's Tara has been kidnapped again by Nibirius.

58:55 She barely gets to catch her breath after that first kidnapping. Is it not that she is literally walking away from her first kidnapping when she is then kidnapped a second time Correct. By Prince Nibirius, who is also her employer.

59:11 Can you imagine in one night getting kidnapped by Frankenstein's monster and then a demon prince?

59:17 I am a demon prince. And then also finding out that you've known a demon prince for like years.

59:23 He signs your paychecks.

59:25 And I like that they like use her... I don't like the other scientist as bait where he calls her. He's like, get to the office. And then he's standing behind like this wall of water for literally no reason.

59:38 What was that?

59:39 I think that was the front of their office building. I don't even know. Like I was, that scene is always really disorienting. Cause I'm like, where is he? Is that because the effects are so bad in this movie that you're like, maybe that's magic, but it's literally just a fancy office installment. And then she's kidnapped again. And then you're like, who is this guy? It's so confusing.

59:59 Right. Are we supposed to care that he dies? I don't know.

1:00:02 And at this point we're like, wait, gargoyles can't date each other?

1:00:08 Why?

1:00:08 But they can have sex in heaven? Okay, so Nibirius is like, all right, gotcha, gotcha, Dr. Wade. It's time to start reanimating all my characters. corpses which he has like tens of thousands of just like stored away and.

1:00:24 It's also like it's so not a sure thing that he's going to find this journal so which makes his level of preparation baffling but it maybe could answer the question of where are all the people in this town they're all dead he's already dead.

1:00:42 He's got a subterranean layer that goes down what looks like miles and miles underground, and that's where he's storing all the corpses.

1:00:50 That shot always reminds me of the shot in Monsters Incorporated when you're like, it zooms out, you know, they're like hanging on one door, and then it zooms out and there's a ton of doors. So imagine instead of doors, it was just like corpses. Like, it's like that. That is exactly what it is. It's the same shot.

1:01:08 They're all like hanging, like they're all kind of suspended from... some like bars above them and they're like kind of spaced apart, like six feet apart.

1:01:17 Timely. It's exactly the same shot as the Monsters Incorporated Doris, except it's the most horrifying thing you've ever seen in your life. And it's also clearly the same corpse photoshopped 5,000 times. There's zero diversity in the corpses because it's the same man 5,000 times. You're like, okay, so we believe that there was 5,000 of the same person who used to live here, but then they were killed. And now they're going to be a demon army.

1:01:49 Yeah. So then we see a scene where Adam destroys the journal in, like, a trash can fire. Yeah. And then he leads the gargoyles to, like, the demon headquarters to wherever Bill Nighy's office is. And then Adam battles Nibirius, who... summons the demons from hell to possess the corpses that are currently being reanimated. And then one demon tries to possess Adam, which you think he might be able to do because Adam doesn't have a soul as it's been established.

1:02:31 He's also got like a pentagram in blood on his forehead at this point. That's a whole thing that just happens.

1:02:40 Right.

1:02:40 Kind of just to remind you that Prince Nuberius is a demon prince, even though he literally just said, I am a demon prince.

1:02:47 I am a demon prince.

1:02:50 But like, if you didn't if you happen to be peeing during that line you're then reminded with the bloody pentagram on his head oh i love this movie.

1:03:03 So a demon tries to inhabit and possess adam's body but he can't because twist adam has a soul now and i guess it's because he's fallen in love with tara or because he's decided to like join the good side of this battle i.

1:03:22 Don't or maybe he had one the whole time like we genuinely don't we don't really have a reason to believe that he didn't have one at the beginning other than he said i don't have one true maybe he just had one the whole time we don't know you never know no one cares and involved with the movie apparently no.

1:03:42 But he has a soul, and he kills Nibirius.

1:03:46 He stabs him in his sexy devil abs. Also, to note, like, I'm sure Bill Nighy is, like, shredded, but it's very jarring for his whole, all of his skin to burn off, and all that's, like, left beneath his skin is, like, shredded abs. It all happens so quickly. And then he's sliced in his shredded devil abs.

1:04:10 In the shape of the, like, holy gargoyle symbol. But, okay, first of all, I'm not as confident that Bill Nighy is shredded.

1:04:18 Yeah. I'm like, well, he's like in his like 70s or possibly 70s when this movie was shot. But it is kind of alarming to be like, wait, that was Bill Nighy a second ago. Why is it like this like CGI sexy, but the scariest person I've ever seen? Like, I'm also curious about how for those scenes. At what point is Bill Nighy like. All right, bring in my body double. Or do you think he's like a pro that's like, no, I want to be here. Frankenstein, so nice of you to come. Like, you know, so many good lines.

1:04:54 He's in every shot, even the ones he's not supposed to be in. Yeah, he's there. Just off screen.

1:05:03 I love Bill Nighy.

1:05:04 He's incredible.

1:05:05 Do you remember during Detective Pikachu where he got really into Pokemon Go? Like, he cares. Yeah. But if I were doing iFrankenstein, I wouldn't be like, I would be like, okay, I bring you my body double, you know? Anyways.

1:05:18 He's also a great villain in the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

1:05:22 Yes.

1:05:22 Let me just say that.

1:05:23 He's amazing.

1:05:24 I hope he doesn't turn out to be a horrible person because every time we've been like, I love XYZ actor, then they've always been terrible villains.

1:05:31 Except for you know who.

1:05:34 Except for Alfred Molina.

1:05:36 Our king.

1:05:36 It's true. But there's been like episodes. There was like an episode where I was like, I think Kevin Spacey's awesome. And then like.

1:05:42 Oh, really?

1:05:43 Three months later, the news broke about Kevin Spacey. And I was like, oh, fuck.

1:05:46 Oh, dear.

1:05:47 I can never like a man ever again.

1:05:49 Well, I think, yeah, we learned our lesson there. We've grown. Anyway.

1:05:53 Okay. So the lab implodes. And then Queen Leonore saves Adam and Tara from this implosion. And then Tara is like, Adam, where's the journal? And he's like, I don't need it anymore. And she's like, well, what about how I was going to make you a wife? And he's like, you're my wife now. Now, that doesn't exactly happen in the movie, but it is heavily implied.

1:06:19 That's a good summary, essentially.

1:06:21 She is going to be his wife now.

1:06:25 But it's also like she professionally really could have used that journal.

1:06:30 That's true.

1:06:30 It seems like. It seems like her professional fortunes, Nibirius aside, that would have been very professionally useful to her. She seemed invested in what she was doing, even though it was the devil's science. But also.

1:06:47 So that implies... that pseudoscience that was developed in the late 18th century was more advanced than science that they were doing in the lab in present day. Like, how useful was that book for her? Like, surely they'd figured the same stuff out and beyond in the 200 plus years?

1:07:10 I mean, I don't know, because the only science we saw her do was double it. So... She could very possibly need all the help she could get.

1:07:21 Maybe she's terrible at her job. I don't know.

1:07:25 It's like her and her lab partner don't seem to agree on anything. But yeah, who knows? The fake science in this movie is so over the top, like nonsense. Also, everything they read, it's like there are some drawings, but it's mostly a journal of like. I Frankenstein is mean. I don't know how helpful that is. Some iconic quotes that we didn't hit in the recap really quick.

1:07:49 Oh, please.

1:07:50 A lot of great VO from I Frankenstein.

1:07:53 I thought it was the end, but it was actually just the beginning.

1:07:58 Which you're like... Okay, that is what you were saying in the first half of that sentence. Trusting others is a mistake you only make once. That's when he's walking through the death club or whatever it is.

1:08:14 Oh, sure.

1:08:14 I mean, the closing line, I, descender of the demon horde, I, my father's son. oh Frankenstein that's.

1:08:22 Great wow we're like that's the name of the movie.

1:08:24 You're like and then and then it's so clearly like come back next year for the sequel and it's like it's not coming uh but my favorite fuck up in this movie I think it's a fuck up if it's on purpose I am completely baffled but there's one of the demons I think he's like a pretty prevalent demon unless he just happened unless everyone in a leather coat looks the same to me but he comes up a few times He comes to Prince Nibirius to tell them that I, Frankenstein, he's wounded him. But it seems like an editor put in two shots and was supposed to take one out and choose one and then just left both of them because he walks in he says i think i wounded it and then he turns to the left and says i think it's wounded do you see

1:09:11 he says the same exact line two times I just, I think that that was an editing mistake that made it. I think I will, I will send you the clip. I think I wounded it.

1:09:22 Oh my gosh.

1:09:23 I think it's wounded. I'm like, yeah, he can hear you. Like he was right there. Uh, it's, it's so good. Well, what do we got in terms of feminism here? We got a woman in STEM.

1:09:37 Yeah, we got, and I thought because I didn't know that she doesn't know she's working for a demon. Um, I thought she was in on it at first, and then I was prepared to be like, oh, it's another example of the demonization, literally, of a woman in STEM.

1:09:54 No, no, no.

1:09:54 Because we've seen that a lot in various movies where oftentimes if there is a woman in STEM character, she is working on the wrong side. But that's not the case. She's just too oblivious to know that she's working for a demon.

1:10:10 Right. No, she's a woman in STEM. I don't think we can really speak to how good she is at her job because all she says is double it. Double it! He's already dead. I'm like, this doesn't sound very professional. But, you know, she's clearly pretty high up in her field at this company where two people work. So she's the better of two people. I appreciate the woman in STEM visibility.

1:10:36 Her character's not well thought out, but I'm like, I guess that this is one of those things where like the movie is so bad that you're like, I can't even really say that the writers of this story are particularly bad at writing women because they just seem to like not be good at writing anybody. Nobody's motivation in this movie makes sense. There's still, I think we've already kind of gone over a lot of the tropes of like, she's instantly in love with her captor because he's kind of hot, that kind of thing. She's repeatedly kidnapped. She doesn't engage in combat, even though she does some things that are helpful and like, there's some like asterisk, like she's not completely robbed of agency, but she's mostly robbed

1:11:13 of agency. And she, she has no idea.

1:11:15 She is made necessary to the story because of her just kind of position as being like the head scientist.

1:11:23 Right.

1:11:23 But as soon as she meets Adam, yeah, it's like, well, she's attracted to him and he's attracted to her. I guess there's like shortly after they meet, And he goes to Queen Leonore. He's like, well, things are different for me now. I have someone with me. I have someone to protect. So he sees.

1:11:42 It's like they never really confirmed that that was a thing. So when he is suddenly like, you are my monster wife now. Like. she should have a say in that. Also, they need to have a discussion about, like, there's whole movies about this. Like, there's... If we're talking about a movie Miranda Otto was in, he is immortal, she is not.

1:12:01 Right.

1:12:02 That's something to discuss. But maybe they were going to talk about it in the second movie.

1:12:06 I don't know. Never got made. The sequel... Us, Frankenstein.

1:12:11 We, Frankensteins. I would love to see the treatment. I feel like for sure there was a treatment for the second one because they're like, this is going to pop off. If the name Jai Courtney means anything to you, he's been in a bunch of movies. He's in this as a gargoyle named Gideon who says something expositional about his character with his dying breath and then goes to heaven.

1:12:34 It doesn't really matter. It's not relevant to the story. Queen Leonore... what uh she is okay so i'll say good things first okay she is clearly in charge of the gargoyles she.

1:12:49 Is their queen she's a woman in charge.

1:12:51 I think a lesser movie would it's weird to say but i frankenstein I think a lesser movie would be like, where's the king? What happened to your husband? You know, like that. There's really not a lot made of like, no, this is a matriarchal society. And we're made to believe, you know, they're all immortal except for when they're killed by demons. So they're not immortal, but they can't date. Also, she can't, there can't be, she can't have a spouse.

1:13:18 Gargoyles can't date.

1:13:20 That's true.

1:13:20 So she's a woman in charge. She seems pretty respected. Yeah. By her fellow gargoyles. She has one outfit.

1:13:28 She's the only one who.

1:13:30 She's not materialistic.

1:13:32 She's the only one who has a direct link to the angels in heaven. True. So she's very important. She's very powerful in that regard.

1:13:43 I mean, we don't stand royalty structures, but in terms of the person in charge, okay, the gargoyles are a matriarchal system. Even though she is constantly being kind of like nagged and batted about by her gargoyle gladiators, it's a lot of scenes where Jai Courtney is like, you don't make any sense. You care too much about I Frankenstein.

1:14:07 And like, is he wrong? But she's, and then she'll say something weird. Her motivation changes constantly. She also says like this weird, it kind of sounds pro-lifey where she's like, all life is sacred. And I'm like, Ooh, that feels like a threatening Midwestern billboard. Uh, the, the, I don't know.

1:14:27 She also gets kidnapped.

1:14:28 She does get kidnapped.

1:14:29 She gets kidnapped and she has to be saved. But then she also goes to battle. Yeah.

1:14:33 But she doesn't really fight. She's just kind of there. And her gargoyle form is also really hard to look at.

1:14:42 It has boobs.

1:14:43 It does.

1:14:44 Because we have to gender.

1:14:46 I think some gargoyles are fairly gendered, but just the rendering of it is disgusting. Yeah. It looks so smooth. It's just gross. Yeah. And I hate looking at it. It's gross. Yeah, I was kind of unclear. The battle scenes are so chaotic that maybe you're supposed to think she's fighting, but you don't actually see her fighting, but she's there. So I don't know. And then there's Kezia, who famously reveals a large amount of useless information with her dying breath. So there's really not anything there other than...

1:15:25 a lot of reaction shots in the scene where I Frankenstein's choosing pipes as a weapon. And it at least means that gender wise, the gargoyles don't discriminate on who can fight in battle.

1:15:38 That's true.

1:15:39 I was like, she's a warrior. She dies in battle. Like, so I think again, a lesser movie maybe might not do that, but this is a matriarchal society and, And also there seems to be like, even though in the wide shot in the battles, it seems like there's 400 gargoyles, there's actually like maybe 14. So you really can't be like saying a certain like gargoyle can't fight. The army is very small.

1:16:05 There's only like five who we actually see. They're like human faces. And it's more diverse than I thought they would be.

1:16:14 Sure. And.

1:16:15 It seems like while there are women gargoyles, there seem to be only male demons. So they are not living in a... Commentary. Yeah, right?

1:16:27 Demons? Patriarchy.

1:16:29 Yeah.

1:16:29 Gargoyles? Matriarchy.

1:16:31 Matriarchy.

1:16:32 So that's why gargoyles are good.

1:16:36 But the only thing we know about Kezia, Kezia, whatever her name is, is that she had this forbidden love with Ophir. So the only thing we know about her is like her love of a man. All we know.

1:16:48 Is that they have stood near each other in several scenes. Right.

1:16:52 Does he love her? We don't know.

1:16:54 Right.

1:16:54 And then, yeah, she dies a half hour into the movie, which is better than Mrs. Frankenstein, who dies before we even meet her. Because she gets killed by our title character.

1:17:06 I think it is kind of funny, too, because it's like this is a very, like, I don't think it's... There are women in large roles. This is like a pro-nobody story, right? I wouldn't argue that it's a feminist text. But I think especially for the Frankenstein property, it just kind of hits a little different because it's like... are you really going to do Mary Shelley like that? One of the most iconic female horror writers of all time.

1:17:34 And then you're just going to show up with Aaron Eckhart in a trench coat and at one point a hoodie, such as on the poster for the movie.

1:17:44 His outfit's so bad. He's wearing dad jeans, a hoodie, some long overcoat. But he's so sexy. I also think he's wearing black eyeshadow for most of the movie.

1:17:57 He definitely is wearing it, yeah. I was thinking about this on this viewing. I'm like, damn, that's a lot of time in the makeup chair for this movie. I will say the demon practical effects I thought looked really gross and really cool and reminded me of older horror movies and also kind of reminded me of the live-action Power Rangers show. It was like that caliber of practical effect where it has like... you know, they have like scary, like 500 skinny teeth and like, they're like, ah, you'll never get like, it reminded me of power Rangers villains, which is not a compliment, I guess, to a $ 65 million movie. But, um, but that's what it reminded me of.

1:18:42 And I liked that.

1:18:43 Sure.

1:18:44 You have to watch this movie. There are incredible, perfect movies that I love that I've seen less than this movie just because Frankenstein is so fun to watch. It's so fun to watch.

1:18:59 It is fun. I did. And I do want to watch it as a group because I've only seen it, obviously, by myself in isolation and quarantine.

1:19:07 Once... Once... Once we're allowed out of the room, this would be such a fun, even in like a, like a backyard projector situation. I Frankenstein is just, it's a great movie to watch with your friends because you don't really need to pay attention, but if you do, there's infinite rewards. It's just like all over the place. Yeah. Yeah.

1:19:35 I don't think so.

1:19:36 I honestly wasn't paying attention.

1:19:37 Me either, but I don't think so.

1:19:39 Unless Kezia and Leonor talk to each other about something other than Adam Frankenstein, which seems kind of unlikely. They talk to each other, but I'm almost certain it's about Adam I. Frankenstein. There was talk of a sequel that the second the movie came out and got 5% on Rotten Tomatoes, they were like, nope. But I, Frankenstein, and Underworld were possibly supposed to have a crossover movie. And there was an early draft of the screenplay where Kate Beckinsale would have had a credit scene in I, Frankenstein, which I wish they would have kept because that would have been so funny if Kate Beckinsale was just randomly in it for two seconds at the end. Yeah. wow this movie is here's the not that i like live

1:20:26 and die by rotten tomatoes but this is just a fun sentence general consensus sentence loud incoherent and listless i frankenstein is a remarkably dull fantasy adventure that fails to generate excitement or interest that's so mean uh but not wrong show me the lie So yeah, the movie is really bad, but you gotta watch it. It's not a feminist text, but I wouldn't say it's not not a feminist text. It's just, it's barely text.

1:20:56 Yeah, it's not contemptuous of women, but it also does not know how to include them in any way that is interesting or nuanced or not just like incredibly tropey. I mean, like the two battle scenes that Tara is adjacent to, yeah, she's just... For the whole climactic battle between Adam and Prince Nebarius, she's literally lying on the floor.

1:21:23 She could get up. and like get away like do something but she's literally just lying there for like 10.

1:21:31 Minutes yeah it's so it is so it reminds me of kirsten dunst at the end of spider-man 2 yeah where at least they had the good sense to like make it impossible for.

1:21:41 Her to move i guess she's restrained.

1:21:43 Because then plot wise it makes sense yeah she's restrained no yeah.

1:21:47 But tara's just lying there She's not injured. She's not restrained.

1:21:51 She's not injured.

1:21:51 She's just lying on the floor.

1:21:53 She's just... I feel like she's maybe like... Much like I Frankenstein is like, I don't think I want to be involved in whatever's going on here.

1:22:01 I think.

1:22:02 Like, I Frankenstein at the beginning, when... Cause the gargoyles are really aggro about being like, you have to be on our side. You're already involved. And he's like, I'm kind of not. So I'm going to go to the woods for 200 years. And it's like, well, like, you know, it's not like Tara is really involved. Like she could just kind of be like, I quit my job. Right.

1:22:25 Maybe I'll go work at the like death metal bar or whatever. Like that seems to be the only other place you can work. in this whole place but um or move she should probably just move like they have to get out of there it seems like a bad situation yeah this movie rocks i love it so much it's.

1:22:46 How many nipples would you give it i would give it i.

1:22:49 Would give it 10 stone nipples i would give it 10 rock hard gargoyle nipples.

1:22:57 Okay. What about demon nipples? How many demon nipples?

1:23:00 I would give it in terms of demon nipples. I would probably give it one demon nipple because if we're being real, um, you know, I, I think that there's a lot of surface level work done of like, there's a woman in charge. There's a woman in STEM. There's some agency going on, but the whole thing is just so incoherent. And there's so many tropes on top of everything that it's like, you can't, you can't like, what can you say? Yeah. I don't know. Ten stone nipples, one demon nipple.

1:23:28 I'd give it one eye Frankenstein nipple. Also, are his two different nipples from two different corpses? Probably.

1:23:36 Probably. And does he have a penis?

1:23:42 Did Victor Frankenstein give him, or does he just have a little lump down there?

1:23:48 A sex lump?

1:23:49 Yeah.

1:23:50 I don't know. I guess if you're talking logistics, I guess that there would not be an evolutionary purpose to do that. I guess it would come down to whether Victor Frankenstein was... wanted i frankenstein to have pleasure that's true right because it's like not like i don't think that he would be able to reproduce or can he be dead and all he has a soul we.

1:24:11 Need the sequel we need it we need.

1:24:14 A sequel i would i would love to because it sounds like it was like plotted out i would love for kevin or stewart b i just just leak it i want to know Yeah, this movie actually did not totally, I mean, it made, it failed, but it made back its budget internationally. Okay. And then it made about $ 10 million on top of it. So, you know, obviously they're not going to do more, but they, but they, but they didn't, movies have done worse. Sure. Movies have made less dollars. But it is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. And I just love it. I wish I could see it in theaters again. Seeing it in 3D also, this is kind of unrelated because I doubt that this version was preserved. But the 3D version was

1:24:59 also really cheap and bad and hurt my head to watch.

1:25:04 I'd imagine so. I hate watching movies in 3D. The last thing I'll say about this movie is that it's yet another movie kind of about fathers and sons where like Adam has.

1:25:16 These like issues.

1:25:18 Like he's like my daddy, Victor Frankenstein. And what did it all mean? And then at the end, uh, Nibirius is like, welcome my son. You are now my demon spawn. He's like, no, I'm not. I'm Adam. Right.

1:25:32 I'm like, I'm like Nibirius doesn't want a son. Does he?

1:25:38 Maybe that's what he's wanted this whole time. Maybe that's why he's obsessed with iFrankenstein. Maybe.

1:25:44 I don't, I mean, I don't know. Yeah, maybe that's why he only allows men into the demons. He's just like shopping around for a son.

1:25:52 I mean, we find out 50 minutes into the movie that Adam has wanted a wife this whole time, so maybe Nabarius has wanted a son this whole time.

1:26:02 It's not out of the realm of possibility. Ultimately, you just have to drop everything and watch this movie right now. It's just, like, it will just improve your day. It's so fun.

1:26:13 Yeah. Enjoy. And there you have it, listeners, our Unlocked iFrankenstein episode from the Matreon. Once again, the Patreon, aka Matreon, is the best way to support the show, so you can do that at patreon.com slash Bechtelcast. Speaking of links, just a reminder to visit our link tree for tickets to our upcoming shows, as well as the link to vote for us for the Listener Choice Award for the Signal Awards. Thank you so much for listening, and we hope to see you at one of our upcoming live shows soon.

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