{2jtab: Movie Review}

Frankenstein's Army - Blu-ray Review

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4 stars

We all know that Frankenstein’s sickness can’t be cured.  To paraphrase the spritely grotesque Frankenstein’s Army, that sickness must be cut out…with the nastiest of dirty blades.  But what if Dr. Viktor Frankenstein (Karel Roden) and his sickness lived during the waning days of WW II?  Being the intelligent mind that he is, could he pick a side to support?  What if he found fault with The Nazis and The Communists and The Capitalists?  He would, of course, create his own army from fallen soldiers and broken weapons…and rightly so.  Waste not, want not, right?

Welcome to Frankenstein’s Army.

Boy, I so love it when a newcomer shows up and totally rocks the “big boys” of the film world with a debut that is, at once, more fresh and more creative than anything they’ve done or released in at least a decade.  Writer/director Richard Raaphorst, may you NEVER change.  Frankenstein’s Army, his debut, is one hell of a wild ride through World War II by way of some gritty punk rock revisionist horror.  Hollywood should take note.

When a tattered band of Soviet soldiers, led by Sergei (Joshua Sasse), enter Frankenstein’s funhouse-like factory in a small German village, a monstrous collection of human-made creations attack them.  It is one unlucky soldier’s job to record the onslaught and try to convince the demented Frankenstein to join the Soviets; his secret mission unknown to the rest of the group.

While the movie follows the found-footage concept that seems to saturate the horror market these days, Frankenstein’s Army and its non-stop gonzo energy is engaging to the last minute.  Full of monsters made of latex, rags, and discarded era-appropriate weapons, Raaphorst’s gore-fest is the perfect example of creativity on a meager budget.  The result is complete celluloid bravado that absolutely rocks.

Cinematographer Bart Beekman fills the screen with 16mm film color flares, splices that are never smooth, and lots of cuts straight to black.  Everything feels authentic – including the healthy smattering of gore thrown at the screen – and the practical effects go a lot farther in our imaginations than $100 million in CGI effects.  So what if the filmmakers aren’t exactly era-accurate with the filming of the movie?!  It’s a fantasy creature feature that puts Frankenstein in Nazi Germany for God’s sake!  To nitpick over the color or synched sound is simply ridiculous.

Appropriate for this type of horror, the tension found in Frankenstein’s Army builds BEFORE the splatterhouse mayhem takes over.  This is a key element because when the war-torn screen gets crazy with gore and with creatures that are, at once, disturbing and intriguing you can’t help but become unnerved.  You don’t care for any of the characters but – as this is a war-set film full of soldiers following orders – it seems suitable.

At its heart, Frankenstein’s Army is a mad scientist film that, while cynical, has a valid point in suggesting that the only solution to war is putting unlike minds together.  And, quite literally, it takes its message to heart.  The army that Frankenstein has assembled is one part German, one part Russian, and one part American.  Raaphorst’s stitched together grindhouse-like satire is for the gorehound in us all.

I’ll leave it at this: Frankenstein’s Army is great camp.

{2jtab: Film Details}

Frankenstein's Army - Blu-ray ReviewMPAA Rating: R for bloody violence and grisly images, and language.
Runtime: 84 mins.
Director
: Richard Raaphorst
Writer: Chris W. Mitchell, Richard Raaphorst
Cast: Karel Roden, Joshua Sasse, Robert Gwilym
Genre
: Action | Horror | Sci-Fi
Tagline: Frankenstein's Army
Memorable Movie Quote: "Only the Nazis could think of something like this"
Distributor:
MPI Media Group
Official Site: www.frankensteinsarmy.com
Release Date: July 26, 2013
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
September 10, 2013

Synopsis: Toward the end of World War II, Russian soldiers pushing into eastern Germany stumble across a secret Nazi lab, one that has unearthed and begun experimenting with the journal of one Dr. Victor Frankenstein. The scientists have used the legendary Frankenstein's work to assemble an army of super-soldiers stitched together from the body parts of their fallen comrades -- a desperate Hitler's last ghastly ploy to escape defeat.

{2jtab: Blu-ray Review}

Frankenstein's Army - Blu-ray Review

Component Grades
Movie

Blu-ray Disc
4 stars

3 stars



Blu-ray Experience
3.5 stars

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - September 10, 2013
Screen Formats: 1.78:1
Subtitles
: English SDH, Spanish
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; English: LPCM 2.0
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Region Encoding: A

Dark Sky Films brings Frankenstein’s creations to life with a riveting 1080p transfer with MPEG-4 AVC encode.  While the digitally shot film has been “treated” to look era-authentic, there’s no denying that the transfer – with its deep and inky blacks and sharp eye for details – is as good as it gets.  Colors are bright and accurate.  The film has been digitally altered to look every bit of a 16mm film stock.  The grain that is there is there to serve a purpose; the same can be said of any of its other deficiencies.  There are two audio options here, the default lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix and an uncompressed Linear PCM 2.0 stereo mix-down.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • None

Special Features:

There isn’t a lot of bonus material here.  Disappointing I know, but what we do get is an excellent making of documentary that gives us a good mix of behind the scenes footage, interviews with the cast and crew, and an overview of the special effects feats accomplished on a limited budget.  There is also a very quick look at the film’s principle monsters and a trailer for the film.

  • Making Of (32 min)
  • Creature Spots (1 min)
  • Trailer

{2jtab: Trailer}

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