''Frankenstein's Army'' is a 2013
found footage horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
directed by
Richard Raaphorst, written by Chris W. Mitchell and Miguel Tejada-Flores, and starring
Karel Roden,
Joshua Sasse,
Luke Newberry
Luke Newberry is an English actor. He is known for his Leading actor, leading role in the drama television series ''In the Flesh (TV series), In the Flesh'' (2013–2014), which earned him a British Academy Television Award nomination.
Early l ...
,
Alexander Mercury,
Robert Gwilym, Andrei Zayats, Mark Stevenson and Hon Ping Tang. An
international co-production
A co-production is a joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint vent ...
of the United States, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands, the film is set on the
Eastern Front of World War II, as seen from the point of view of a
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
team. In the film, Soviet troops invading Germany encounter undead mechanical soldiers created by a mad scientist descended from
Victor Frankenstein.
Plot
During the closing days of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, a Soviet reconnaissance team consisting of Novikov, Sergei, Vassili, Alexei, Ivan, Sacha, and propagandist videographer Dmitri are on a mission to destroy a German sniper nest. After completing the objective, the squad receives a Soviet distress call that repeats without any response to their queries; at the same time, they lose radio contact with high command. Although the soldiers are skeptical of the presence of Soviet forces in the area, the team leader Novikov orders them to investigate. Meanwhile, Dmitri interviews the soldiers and documents the mission under orders to create a Soviet propaganda film featuring the heroic exploits of the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
.
As they draw closer to the designated coordinates, Dmitri takes an interest in, and films, several odd occurrences, such as unexplained dead
Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
, a burnt convent full of massacred nuns, and strange machinery. When the soldiers arrive at their destination, they find an abandoned church where they accidentally activate a 'zombot' - a reanimated corpse with mechanical implants fused onto its body. The zombot kills Novikov by disemboweling him before being killed by the rest of the men. Following this, Sergei takes charge as the new commander and though Vassili challenges his authority, the rest of the squad sides with Sergei.
The soldiers see an elderly caretaker enter the church and ambush him. He is interrogated by Dmitri, who asks for the location of the stranded Soviet soldiers they heard on the radio. The caretaker insists that the village is abandoned, with everyone killed or scared off by the creatures created by "The Doctor", but Vassili becomes impatient and cuts off his finger. Coerced by the torture, the caretaker agrees to lead them to the source of the Soviet distress call, but instead leads them into a zombot trap where Ivan is mortally wounded. The squad manages to escape, and back at the church they encounter a group of German survivors - elderly Fritz, young boy Hans, and nurse Eva - that had been hiding from the zombots. Vassili suggests killing them, but Eva convinces the Russians to spare her and her fellow survivors by offering to help the wounded Ivan. When she is unable to save him and he dies of his injuries, Vassili attacks her and knocks her unconscious. Suddenly, Alexei is ambushed and killed by a mosquito like zombot as more enter the church and close in on the group.
The survivors manage to escape into the church's catacombs, where Sergei discovers that Dmitri has been deceiving the squad by using a
radio jammer to both block contact with high command and transmit the fake distress call they received. Dmitri reveals that he has a secret mission from the Soviet government to capture or kill the Nazi scientist who created the zombots, and to document their mission in case they cannot capture him. Furious that they were deceived and led unprepared into this mission, Sergei and Vassili threaten to kill Dmitri, but he asserts his authority by revealing that he is a Captain in the Red Army, outranking both of them, and threatens their families with retribution if they disobey his orders. As Dmitri leads the group deeper into the
catacombs
Catacombs are man-made underground passages primarily used for religious purposes, particularly for burial. Any chamber used as a burial place is considered a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire.
Etym ...
, they encounter increasingly bizarre aberrations and eventually find a chute which goes deeper into the factory. Sergei and Vassili force Hans to go down the chute to investigate and the boy is quickly killed by a zombot which then climbs up the chute and attacks the group; though they manage to destroy it, Fritz is killed in the struggle by having a piece of the zombot’s body jammed in his head. Sergei, Vassili, and Sacha then stage a mutiny against Dmitri and throw him and his film equipment down the chute.
Unable to climb back up, Dmitri goes deeper into the facility, eventually being discovered and chased by a multitude of zombots. While trying to escape, he encounters, and is knocked out by Ivan, who has been converted into a zombot. When Dmitri regains consciousness, he finds himself taken prisoner by the caretaker, who reveals himself to be Dr. Viktor Frankenstein, a deranged descendant of the original
Victor Frankenstein, and creator of the zombots. The doctor gives Dmitri a tour of his facility, explaining how he created the zombots based on his grandfather's work, and how he went rogue from his Nazi superiors. Along the way, Dmitri sees Hans, converted into a zombot, and Sergei and Vassili, both captured, with the latter partially dismembered. Dmitri and Frankenstein then hear distant artillery fire, which Dmitri reveals is the approaching Red Army. Dmitri attempts to recruit Frankenstein on behalf of the Soviet government, but instead, Frankenstein proposes an experiment that he believes will end the war: fusing together one half each of a Soviet and a Nazi brain. To this end, he lobotomizes a kidnapped Nazi soldier, and then Sergei, who swears revenge on Dmitri before Frankenstein begins operating on him; during the surgery, Frankenstein is assisted by Eva, who has also been turned into a zombot. Frankenstein removes half of Sergei's brain and grafts the removed half of the Nazi soldier's brain into Sergei's head and then reanimates him with his generator. Frankenstein restrains Dmitri onto a table to begin experimenting on him, but the Red Army's artillery suddenly begins bombarding the factory. Frankenstein quickly gathers his documents and prepares to flee, but Sacha, who managed to evade capture, appears from behind and shoots him dead. Dmitri orders Sacha to free him, but Sacha ignores him, instead removing Frankenstein's head and taking it with him as proof that he succeeded in his mission, along with Dmitri's camera. Sacha flees the facility just as Sergei's body comes to life and kills Dmitri.
The "document" then ends with a photo of a newly promoted Sacha standing next to
Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
.
Cast
*
Karel Roden as Dr. Viktor Frankenstein
*
Alexander Mercury as Dmitri
*
Joshua Sasse as Sergei
* Andrei Zayats as Vassili
* Hon Ping Tang as Ivan, "Ivan Zombot"
* Mark Stevenson as Alexei
*
Luke Newberry
Luke Newberry is an English actor. He is known for his Leading actor, leading role in the drama television series ''In the Flesh (TV series), In the Flesh'' (2013–2014), which earned him a British Academy Television Award nomination.
Early l ...
as Sacha
*
Robert Gwilym as Novikov
* Cristina Catalina as Eva, "Nurse Zombot"
* Zdenek Barinka as Hans, "Pod Zombot"
* Jan de Lukowicz as Fritz
* Klaus Lucas as Dieter, The Dying Nazi Officer
Production
Stories of
Frankenstein's monster
Frankenstein's monster, commonly referred to as Frankenstein, is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' as its main antagonist. Shelley's title compares the monster's ...
disturbed director Richard Raaphorst as a child. When he was thinking of ideas for a monster film, he instantly went back to the Frankenstein mythology, which he extended to World War II. Raaphorst said he was drawn the idea of an army of Frankensteins in World War II specifically because the idea was "insane". Raaphorst had worked on a similar film titled ''
Worst Case Scenario'' but ''Frankenstein's Army'' is unrelated to it.
Principal photography began on March 5, 2012 at
Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary (; , formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It is located at the confluence of the Ohře and Teplá (river), Teplá ri ...
in Czechia.
Although the film used
CGI, most of the effects were practical; for example, stuntmen were set on fire. The practical effects, inspired by
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, composer, and actor. Most commonly associated with horror film, horror, action film, action, and science fiction film, science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, he is ...
's
''The Thing'',
necessitated what Raaphorst described as long, complicated single takes. He said it was worth it in the end, though he experienced doubt during shooting when he became ill.
[
]
Release
''Frankenstein's Army'' premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...
on January 26, 2013. It was released in the United States on July 26, 2013. MPI Media Group
MPI Media Group is an American producer, distributor and licensor of theatrical film and home entertainment. MPI's subsidiaries include MPI Pictures, MPI Home Video, Gorgon Video, and the horror film distributor Dark Sky Films. The company is ...
and Dark Sky released it on home video on September 10, 2013.
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...
, ''Frankenstein's Army'' holds an approval rating of 56% of 25 critics, and an average rating of 5.47/10. Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
rated it 49 out of 100 based on nine reviews.
Scott Foundas of '' Variety'' wrote that the film is "short on plot and long on ingeniously gruesome creature designs and practical special effects that hark back to the industrious 1980s schlockfests churned out by the likes of Frank Henenlotter and Stuart Gordon
Stuart Alan Gordon (August 11, 1947 – March 24, 2020) was an American Filmmaking, filmmaker, theatre director, screenwriter, and playwright. Initially recognized for his provocative and frequently controversial work in experimental theatre, Go ...
." Foundas also compared the film's "junkyard chic" to the steampunk
Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and Applied arts, aesthetics inspired by, but not limited to, 19th-century Industrial Revolution, industrial steam engine, steam-powered machinery. Steampun ...
films of Shinya Tsukamoto
is a Japanese filmmaker and actor. With a considerable cult following both domestically and abroad, Tsukamoto is best known for his body horror/Japanese cyberpunk, cyberpunk film ''Tetsuo: The Iron Man'' (1989), which is considered the defining ...
.[ John DeFore of '']The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' wrote that the film's monsters and gory special effects will appeal to horror fans, but it should have focused more on black humor and satire to appeal to broader midnight movie audiences.[ Andy Webster of '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' described the monsters as steampunk cyborgs and wrote, "Narrative depth may be in short supply, but the energy, invention and humor are bracing."
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of ''The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' rated it C− and called it "a ludicrous World War II horror flick bogged down by its found-footage gimmick" that only works near the end when the film plays up the "imaginatively grotesque monsters". Jason Jenkins of Dread Central
Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...
rated it 3 out of 5 stars and called it "a fun, furious, goofy and gory good time" for forgiving horror fans. Lauren Taylor of ''Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting is an American independent multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news website specializing in information services that covered various horror media. The company expanded into other media including podcast ...
'' rated it 1.5 out of 5 stars and said that the visuals and effects did not make up for the lack of a plot and unnecessary "found footage" style. Bill Gibron of ''PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
'' called it "an amazing steampunk splatter fest" whose visual imagery makes up for its narrative faults.
Director Richard Raaphorst accused Capcom
is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...
's '' Resident Evil Village'' of plagiarism in 2021 for the design of the monster Sturm, a walking corpse attached to a plane propeller which bears a similarity to a monster featured in ''Frankenstein's Army''.
See also
* List of films featuring Frankenstein's monster
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frankenstein's Army
2013 films
2010s monster movies
American action horror films
American robot films
American zombie films
Czech action horror films
Films about cyborgs
Dieselpunk
Dutch action films
Dutch horror films
Films set in 1945
Films set in Germany
Films shot in the Czech Republic
Found footage films
Frankenstein films
Nazi zombie films
Steampunk films
2013 science fiction films
American science fiction action films
Czech science fiction action films
American science fiction horror films
Horror war films
English-language Czech films
English-language Dutch films
American World War II films
Czech World War II films
Dutch World War II films
Eastern Front of World War II films
Films about the Soviet Union in the Stalin era
2010s exploitation films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films
English-language science fiction horror films