MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN MATURE CUT

Introduction:

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a 1994 science fiction horror film directed by Kenneth Branagh, starring Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter. The film is considered the most faithful film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel “Frankenstein”. In the film, Frankenstein brings his fiancee Elizabeth back to life. In the book, this does not happen at all. This caused criticism, but I think that such changes are perfectly acceptable in a film adaptation.
I have always been a big fan of the film. Especially because when I was a child I always played with a pinball machine that came out with the film.
When I was watching the film again after a while, however, I noticed some negative things. Kenneth Branagh’s acting is exaggerated and the film had some ridiculous moments. As I removed these scenes, the film is now a bit tighter, more serious and the story progresses quickly. I also changed the soundtrack in some places to make the moments of Elisabeth and Victor more emotional.
My goal was NOT to make a version that is as close as possible to the book, but to make the film as good as possible. That’s why I didn’t take the original novel into account when editing.

As German is my mother tongue I have made a German audio track in addition to the English version. It’s not included in the MKV but can be downloaded as a separate AC3 file.

Important notes:

Special thanks go to the YouTuber Mercuziopianist. With his permission, I used his piano solo “The Wedding Night, Frankenstein OST”, for a scene in which Elisabeth plays the piano.

Prior Changes:

• I removed most of Kenneth Branagh’s overacting.
• Removed Victor’s Childhood. This includes his mother’s death. Although these scenes explain his later motives, most of them were exaggerated and therefore couldn’t be fixed. Moreover, they unnecessarily prolonged the film.
• Elisabeth is not Victor’s sister. I’ve always found it awkward that Victor marries his sister, especially in the scenes in which he talks about his sister becoming his wife.
• I used Patrick Doyle’s piece “The Wedding Night” as a theme for Victor and Elisabeth. I think this makes their scenes together more emotional and easy to remember.
• Removed Victor’s and Elisabeth’s dance after he revived her. I’ve always thought this scene was kind of strange and awkward.

Detailed changes:

Beginning:

• removed the opening prologue. The film starts directly in the arctic sea.
• removed Victor’s childhood.
• removed the silly scene in which a lightning bolt strikes next to Victor and Elisabeth.

The Ball:

• removed some of Victor’s and Elisabeth’s dialogue in which they say they are siblings.
• inserted Patrick Doyle’s piece “I Won’t If You Won’t”.

Frankenstein’s Laboratory:

• removed a scene in which Frankenstein resurrects a frog.
• removed a scene in which Elisabeth runs through Ingolstadt crying.
• I have cut/trimmed some scenes of the creation of Frankenstein’s creature. Especially because Branagh acted over the top here again.

Victor’s and Elisabeth’s reunion:

• I changed the song which Elisabeth plays on the piano. I used the piano solo “The Wedding Night, Frankenstein OST” from the YouTuber Mercuziopianist. In my opinion this song fits much better. I also use this theme or a variation of it in most of Victor’s and Elisabeth’s romantic scenes.
• after Elisabeth stops playing the piano, I used Patrick Doyles piece “The Wedding Night”.

In the mountains:

• I have removed the scenes in which Victor climbs the summit. These scenes weren’t too realistic.
• changed the dialogue between Victor and his creature. The creature doesn’t want a wife in my edit, it just asks for a companion. This creates a higher level of drama in later scenes in which the creature hands over Justine’s body to Frankenstein. This shock has a stronger effect on him because he wasn’t expecting a woman, and certainly not Justine.

Wedding Night:

• removed some of Victor’s and Elisabeth’s dialogue in which they talk about being siblings.

Elisabeth’s resurrection:

• trimmed some of the scenes of Elisabeth’s resurrection.
• removed Victor’s and Elisabeth’s dance after he revived her.
• trimmed the dialogue between Victor, Elisabeth and the creature.

Ending:

• removed some of the dialogue between the captain and his crew.
• used a part of Patrick Doyles piece “What’s Out There?”
• changed the ending of the film. In my edit the captain doesn’t say he’s going to sail back. Instead, he leaves this open and turns away from the crew. The film shows the madness that arises when you push the limits of science further and further, not learning from mistakes. I therefore found it important to consistently pursue this approach to the end. A happy ending would have had a negative impact on the film’s message.

There are for sure many more little changes, but these were the significant ones!

Final Version & Format:

The final runtime for the movie is 107 minutes (102 min without end credits).

1080p High Quality MKV (20,0gb)
Video: H.264 at 25-30mbps VBR
Audio: - English 5.1 DTS, 5.1 Dolby Digital, Stereo
Extra: Chapter markers

German 5.1 Dolby Digital (AC3) audio track separately available as a download.

Feel free to tell me about any mistakes, I will take a look and try to improve.

Blu-Ray-Cover:

Because links to my films were shared again, I decided to take the films offline. Sorry guys

MMP (ManiacMovieProductions)