''I, Frankenstein'' is a 2014 American

science fantasy Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientif ...

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

written and directed by Stuart Beattie, based on the digital-only graphic novel by

Kevin Grevioux Kevin Grevioux (; born September 9, 1962) is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and comic book writer. He is best known for his role as Raze in the ''Underworld'' film series, which he co-created, as well as his voicework in the cartoon ...

. An international co-production between the United States and Australia, the film was produced by

Tom Rosenberg Tom B. Rosenberg (1947/1948) is an American film producer, co-founder of Beacon Pictures; and founder and chairman of Lakeshore Entertainment. He is a recipient of the 2004 Academy Award for Best Picture for the film '' Million Dollar Baby''. ...

Gary Lucchesi Gary Lucchesi (born January 4, 1955 in San Francisco, California) is an American film producer who is President of Lakeshore Entertainment and past President of The Producers Guild of America. Career Lucchesi began his career at The William M ...

, Richard Wright, Andrew Mason and

Sidney Kimmel Sidney J. Kimmel (born January 16, 1928) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and film producer. He is ranked number 2141 in the ''Forbes'' list of the richest people alive in 2021.Aaron Eckhart Aaron Edward Eckhart (born March 12, 1968) is an American actor. Born in Cupertino, California, Eckhart moved to the United Kingdom at an early age. He began his acting career by performing in school plays, before moving to Australia for his h ...

Bill Nighy William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with ''The Illuminatus! Trilogy, The Illuminatu ...

Yvonne Strahovski Yvonne Jaqueline Strzechowski (born 30 July 1982), known professionally as Yvonne Strahovski (), is an Australian actress. Primarily noted for her roles in dramatic television, she has received numerous awards and nominations, including two Pri ...

Miranda Otto Miranda Otto (born 16 December 1967) is an Australian actress. She is the daughter of actors Barry and Lindsay Otto and the paternal half-sister of actress Gracie Otto. Otto began her acting career in 1986 at age 18 and appeared in a variety of ...

and

Jai Courtney Jai Courtney (; born 15 March 1986) is an Australian actor. He started his career with small roles in films and television series before being cast as Charlie in the action film '' Jack Reacher'' (2012). He has gone on to star in '' A Good Day t ...

. The film tells the story of Adam, Frankenstein's monster, who embarks on a dangerous journey to stop evil demons and their ruthless leader from taking over the world. The film was released on January 24, 2014, in the United States and on March 20, 2014 in Australia. The film received negative reception and was a

box-office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

, grossing $76 million worldwide against a production budget of $65 million.

Plot

In 1795, Doctor

Victor Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein is a fictional character and the main protagonist and title character in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''.. He is an Italians, Italian-Swiss scientist (born in Naples, Italy ...

creates a monster by putting together parts of corpses and reanimating them. Horrified by his creation, Frankenstein tries to destroy it, but the monster survives and murders his wife

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

. Frankenstein chases it to the Arctic, but he succumbs to the cold weather. When the monster returns home to bury Frankenstein, it is attacked by

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...

s, but is then rescued by two

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry walls ...

s, Ophir and Keziah. They bring it to a cathedral, where the monster meets the gargoyle queen Leonore and her second-in-command Gideon. Leonore explains that they were created by the

Archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

to battle demons on Earth and protect humanity. She names the creature "Adam" and invites him to join them, but he declines and chooses to depart. He is given baton-like weapons to protect himself, as more demons will come after him. The weapons allow him to "descend" demons (destroying their bodies and trapping their souls in

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

) as they have the symbol of the Gargoyle Order carved on them. For the next two hundred years, Adam lives apart from society, killing any demon that pursues him and hiding from them. Deciding to rejoin society in the modern-day, Adam looks for and confronts a group of demons. During the fight, a police officer is accidentally killed. This causes Adam to be summoned by the gargoyles once more and they decide to imprison him as punishment. A demon Helek, who survived Adam's attack, reports to his leader, the demon prince

Naberius The demon Naberius was first mentioned by Johann Weyer in 1583. He is supposedly the most valiant Marquess of Hell, and has nineteen legions of demons under his command. He makes men cunning in all arts (and sciences, according to most authors), ...

, that Adam is alive. Naberius has disguised himself as billionaire businessman Charles Wessex and employs

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

s Terra Wade and Carl Avery to conduct experiments to try to reanimate corpses. He sends a group of demons led by his most formidable warrior, Zuriel, to attack the gargoyles' cathedral and capture Adam so he can unlock the secret to resurrecting the dead. In the attack, many demons are slain and 16 gargoyles, including Ophir and Keziah, are "ascended" (returned to and trapped in

Heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

), but Zuriel sneaks in and captures Leonore and takes her to an abandoned theater. Adam interrogates a demon who tells him that they lured the gargoyles out in order to capture Leonore so they can force the gargoyles to trade Adam for her. Gideon is instructed to trade Adam to them, however, Adam escapes after the attack. Without Adam, Gideon instead offers to trade Frankenstein's journal for Leonore, which was found on Doctor

's body on the night they found him. At the theater, Gideon gives Zuriel the journal and Leonore is spared. Adam follows Zuriel to the Wessex Institute, where he discovers thousands of corpses underground and learns that Naberius plans to recreate Frankenstein's experiment by reanimating the corpses and using them as hosts for the descended demons so he can rebuild his armies and destroy humanity. Adam retrieves the journal from Terra and escapes the demons. He later tracks down Terra and asks for her help. The two are then attacked by Zuriel, where Adam fights him and manages to descend him. Adam warns the remaining gargoyles of Naberius' plan, agreeing to give them the journal if they get him and Terra to safety. Leonore agrees and when Adam leaves, she secretly sends Gideon to kill him after he retrieves the journal. After a violent fight, Adam ascends Gideon and then decides to burn Frankenstein's journal and destroy its secrets before the gargoyles come after him. Luring them out of the cathedral, Adam leads them to the Wessex Institute, where they descend Naberius's right-hand man Dekar and then battle more demons. In the ensuing battle, Adam goes into the institute to rescue Terra, who had been kidnapped by Naberius and forced to begin the process of reanimating the corpses. Naberius overpowers Adam and tries to have one of the demon spirits possess him, but it doesn't work because Adam has developed a soul of his own. Adam carves the Gargoyle Order symbol on Naberius, descending him to Hell. The institute collapses and falls into an abyss, where all the demons and all the possessed corpses are destroyed and Naberius' plan is thwarted. Leonore rescues Adam and Terra from falling into the abyss as well and they return to the cathedral. Leonore forgives Adam for Gideon's death and Adam bids farewell to Terra. In the ending scene, Adam narrates that he will continue defending the world from demons as he declares himself “Frankenstein.”

Cast

Aaron Eckhart Aaron Edward Eckhart (born March 12, 1968) is an American actor. Born in Cupertino, California, Eckhart moved to the United Kingdom at an early age. He began his acting career by performing in school plays, before moving to Australia for his h ...

as Adam Frankenstein, a superhuman creature created by Dr. Frankenstein *

, a demon prince who poses as Charles Wessex, head of the scientific Wessex Institute *

as Dr. Terra Wade, a world-renowned

electrophysiologist Electrophysiology (from Greek , ''ēlektron'', "amber" etymology of "electron"">Electron#Etymology">etymology of "electron" , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , ''-logia'') is the branch of physiology that studies the electrical properties of bi ...

employed by Naberius to research reanimation of dead matter *

as Queen Leonore, the gargoyle queen *

as Gideon, leader of the gargoyle army *

Socratis Otto Socratis Otto is an Australian film, theatre and television actor. He is best known for his roles in television series '' Young Lions'' as Justin Carmody, '' Home and Away'' as Robert Robertson, and ''Wentworth'' as Maxine Conway. Early life ...

as Zuriel, Naberius' most formidable warrior *

as Dekar, a high-ranking demon who serves as the head of security at the Wessex Institute * Goran D. Kleut as Rekem, a demon serving under Naberius who tries to capture Adam * Steve Mouzakis as Helek, a demon serving under Naberius * Mahesh Jadu as Ophir, a gargoyle *

Caitlin Stasey Caitlin Jean Stasey (born 1 May 1990) is an Australian actress and singer. She is known for her role as Rachel Kinski in ''Neighbours''. Previously she played Francesca Thomas in '' The Sleepover Club'', although her breakthrough movie role ca ...

as Keziah, a gargoyle *

Chris Pang Christopher Pang (born 29 December 1984) is an Australian actor and producer. He is best known for his role as Colin Khoo in ''Crazy Rich Asians'' (2018) and Lee Takkam in '' Tomorrow, When the War Began'' (2010). Early life Pang was born in ...

as Levi, a gargoyle *

Deniz Akdeniz Deniz Akdeniz (born 16 May 1990) is a Turkish Australian actor from Melbourne, Australia. He was nominated for the "Award for Best Actor" at the 2010 Inside Film Awards, for his role of "Homer" in the Australian box office hit ''Tomorrow, When t ...

as Barachel, a gargoyle *

Nicholas Bell Nicholas Bell (born 15 August 1958) is an English actor who has worked in Australia for more than 20 years. He works regularly with the Melbourne Theatre Company as well as with all the major television broadcasters in Australia, most notably th ...

as Dr. Carl Avery, a scientist working with Dr. Wade *

Bruce Spence Bruce Spence (born 17 September 1945) is a New Zealand–Australian actor. Spence has amassed over 100 film and television credits and has also acted in theatre. Biography Spence won an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1971 comedy ...

as Molokai, the demonic doctor overseeing the corpses *

Aden Young Aden Young (born 30 November 1971) is a Canadian-Australian actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Daniel Holden in the SundanceTV drama '' Rectify'', for which he was twice nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Acto ...

as Dr.

, a scientist and Adam's creator

Production

of ''

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...

'' sold the original screenplay to

Lakeshore Entertainment Lakeshore Entertainment Group, LLC is an American independent film production, finance, and former international sales and distribution company founded in 1994 by Tom Rosenberg and Ted Tannebaum (1933–2002). Lakeshore Entertainment is headquart ...

in 2010. It is based on his Darkstorm Studios digital graphic novel of the same name. Lakeshore, an independent

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

production company which also produced the ''Underworld'' films, brought Stuart Beattie on board to re-write and direct in early 2011. In November 2011, it was confirmed that filming would take place in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and that Australia's Hopscotch Features would co-produce the film with Lakeshore. The movie's visual effects budget was $6 million.The director's commentary on the DVD. It was announced on October 7, 2011 that

would play the lead role. Eckhart described his character thus: "Frankenstein is an intelligent, evolved man, and that’s how he is portrayed in this movie, for sure." In November 2011,

was cast as the female lead, a scientist working to reanimate the dead, while

was cast as the queen of the gargoyles.

plays the film's villain, whom he described as a "Nasty piece of work; one of the angels descended with

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

." Eckhart and Otto trained for three months with martial arts experts

Ron Balicki Ron Balicki (born September 2, 1963) is an American actor and stuntman for various films and television series. He is also a well known martial arts practitioner, teacher and author. He is a student and the son-in-law of Dan Inosanto. Biograph ...

and Diana Lee Inosanto in the Filipino martial art of

Kali Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hinduism, Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In t ...

for their fight scenes.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began on February 27, 2012, based at

Docklands Studios Melbourne Docklands Studios Melbourne is a major film and television production complex located in Melbourne’s redeveloped Docklands precinct. The site is approximately from Melbourne’s Central Business District. The complex opened in 2004 and its ...

. Filming occurred in

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

over a period of ten weeks, with multiple scenes being filmed at

Ormond College Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne located in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is home to around 350 undergraduates, 90 graduates and 35 professorial and academic residents. H ...

. The film created over 500 jobs for cast and crew.

Release

The North American release was originally set for February 22, 2013, and later moved to September 13, 2013. In April 2013 the release date was pushed back again, and saw its world premiere in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

on January 20, 2014, after which it was released in 23 countries between January 22 and January 24. It was released in a further nine countries between January 29 and January 31. In February 2013, it was announced the film would be released in 3D. On September 17, 2013, it was announced that the film would be digitally re-mastered and released in the

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

format.

Home media

''I, Frankenstein'' was released on DVD and Blu-ray on May 13, 2014.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, it has a 5% approval rating based on 104 reviews, with an average rating of 3.24/10. The site's general consensus is: "Loud, incoherent, and dramatically listless, ''I, Frankenstein'' is a remarkably dull fantasy adventure that fails to generate much excitement or interest in its characters." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film holds a score of 30 out of 100, based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film a grade "B" on scale of A to F. Mike McCahill of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' gave the film 2 stars and ''

Total Film ''Total Film'' is a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly and a summer issue is added every year since issue 91, 2004, which is published between July and August issue) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched ...

'' also gave it 2 stars.

Box office

In the United States and Canada, the film was released in a total of 2,763 theaters of which 3D and

comprised 95% of the total theaters. It earned $8.6 million in its opening weekend, which was below expectations. About 65% of the grosses came from 3D showings. It had a successful opening in Russia with $6.3 million from 1,846 screens. At the end of its theatrical run, the film grossed a total of $19 million in North America and $57 million elsewhere, for a worldwide total of $76.8 million surpassing its $65 million budget.

Potential sequels and ''Underworld'' crossover

Much doubt has been cast over a sequel due to the film's lackluster box office performance, though

, creator of the graphic novel and the ''Underworld'' film series, had earlier expressed interest in making more ''I, Frankenstein'' films along with an ''Underworld'' crossover film. He stated in a pre-release interview that, in an early draft of his screenplay,

Kate Beckinsale Kathrin Romany Beckinsale (born 26 July 1973) is an English actress and model. After some minor television roles, her film debut was ''Much Ado About Nothing'' (1993) while a student at the University of Oxford. She appeared in British costume ...

would have made a post-credits cameo appearance as Selene and that there would have been ''Underworld''

Easter eggs Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tra ...

, but none of this was used.

References

External links

* * * * * {{Portal bar, Film, United States, Speculative fiction/Horror, Australia 2014 films 2014 3D films 2014 science fiction action films 2010s monster movies American science fantasy films American science fiction action films American science fiction thriller films Australian action adventure films Australian fantasy films Australian science fiction action films Australian science fiction thriller films Demons in film Films based on American comics Films directed by Stuart Beattie Films produced by Gary Lucchesi Films produced by Sidney Kimmel Films produced by Tom Rosenberg Films scored by Reinhold Heil Films scored by Johnny Klimek Films with screenplays by Stuart Beattie Films shot in Melbourne Frankenstein films Gargoyles in popular culture IMAX films Lakeshore Entertainment films Sidney Kimmel Entertainment films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films