This week's Victor Frankenstein, starring James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe, draws inspiration directly from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's novel, but twists it from a straight horror tale into an action movie dressed up in period clothing. It's a refreshing approach to a venerable subject, and gives new life to the classic story of a mad scientist and his attempts to create life, in part by reinventing a character known as a troll-like sidekick (Igor) into a handsome would-be accomplice (Igor, as portrayed by Radcliffe).
It's not the first time that a traditional tale of terror has been modified into a wholly different kind of movie. Let's take a brief look at key moments in the history of horror remakes and their often bizarre modifications.
Dracula Untold (2014)
Vlad the Impaler (Luke Evans) is reimagined as a peace-loving family man, a retired warrior who becomes a vampire only to save his wife, son and fellow villagers from their oppressive ruler. Though the movie retains some dark imagery, the thrust of the story makes it a full-blooded action-adventure.
Piranha 3D (2010)
Joe Dante's 1978 original may have been a bold-faced rip-off of Jaws, but it was smart and clever, with more than a few genuine jolts to go along with its generally lighthearted tone. Alexandre Aja's remake amped up the explicit bloodshed and gave the humor a mean-spirited edge, turning the movie into a brash enterprise that reveled in its ridiculous excesses.
Mary Reilly (1996)
Julia Roberts starred as the titular character in a new version of the Jekyll and Hyde story. This adaptation of Valerie Martin's novel, inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's original story, revolves around a housemaid (Roberts) who is both drawn to and repelled by the doctor (John Malkovich) who transforms into a monster, setting it apart from previous movies.
Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Claude Rains -- or his voice, to be more accurate -- set a very high standard for the invisible character back in the 1930s. John Carpenter's version mixed low comedy with drama and tension; leading man Chevy Chase handled the hijinks fine, though the dramatic requirements exceeded his grasp.
The Bride (1985)
While the 1935 original was centered on Frankenstein and his monster, and didn't introduce his prospective bride until the concluding moments, this version starts from that point and imagines that Doctor Frankenstein (Sting) liked his first female creation (Jennifer Beals) so much he kept her for himself, tossing the Monster out to fend for himself.
An American Werewolf in London (1982)
The bright comic stylings of John Landis fused with ghoulish makeup and terrific performances by David Naughton and Jenny Agutter to produce a horror-comedy masterpiece that exceeded all previous Wolfman movies, which tended toward the straightforward and dramatic.
