Director's Cut: Birth of Frankenstein

 

Birth of Frankenstein - Director's Cut

Genre: Horror/Sci-Fi

Director: J.A. Bayona

Writer: D.R. Cobb

Based on characters created by Mary Shelley

Cast: Dan Stevens, Edgar Ramirez, Imogen Poots, Jeffrey Wright, John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush

Plot: Victor Frankenstein (Dan Stevens), a gifted but arrogant student, sits across from his mentor, Dr. Pretorius (Geoffrey Rush), in the dim office of the university science wing. Victor outlines his radical theory - that life could be artificially created by reanimating dead tissue with electricity. Pretorius, both intrigued and uneasy, warns Victor of the dangers. He suggests Victor keep his ambitions hidden, as such talk could ruin both their careers. But the glint in Victor’s eye betrays his growing obsession.

Defiant and undeterred, Victor enlists Igor (Jeffrey Wright), a former protégé of Pretorius now working as a low-level researcher. One moonless night, they sneak into a graveyard to exhume a body, but the shriek of a night watchman sends them running. The university, hearing of the scandal, expels Victor. Still, he sees the failure as a lesson - not a deterrent.

Now working from an abandoned clock tower outside town, Victor and Igor perfect their methods. They rob graves under cover of fog, dismembering cadavers and selecting parts with surgical precision. When they run out of usable brains, Victor sends Igor to infiltrate Pretorius’ private lab and steal one of his experimental cerebral specimens. The plan goes awry - Igor accidentally drops the jar, destroying the brain. Pressed for time, Victor reluctantly settles on a criminal brain they’d already stolen.

Victor's fiancée, Elizabeth (Imogen Poots), begins to suspect something is wrong. He's grown pale, erratic, and secretive, rarely emerging from the tower. She visits Dr. Pretorius, who hesitates but finally admits Victor’s insane goal: to create a man from nothing but spare parts. Fearing Victor has gone too far, Elizabeth insists they visit the lab immediately. Pretorius agrees, half-curious to see if Victor has succeeded.

As lightning crackles outside, Elizabeth and Pretorius enter the clock tower. Victor, wild-eyed, welcomes them. He beckons them closer as he and Igor prepare the final test. High above, gears and coils hum to life. Thunder echoes as electrical currents surge into the stitched-together corpse on the table. After a long moment, the creature’s hand spasms. Elizabeth gasps. Frankenstein's creation (Edgar Ramirez) opens his eyes.

Victor helps the creature sit up. Despite its monstrous patchwork body, there’s a childlike confusion behind its eyes. Pretorius marvels at the feat, declaring it a miracle. But Igor, descending the stairwell with fresh bandages, trips and drops several beakers. The crash startles the creature, whose fear mutates into rage. It lashes out, smashing instruments, tearing through equipment. Victor and Igor subdue it with chains, dragging it into a locked back chamber.

The trio argues bitterly. Pretorius demands the creature be destroyed before it harms anyone. Victor defends his creation, insisting it needs time to learn. As tensions rise, a scream pierces the air. They burst into the chamber to find Igor’s lifeless body twisted on the floor, his neck broken. The creature growls in a corner, blood on its hands. When it lunges, Victor and Pretorius slam the door shut, bolting it from outside.

Sickened by Igor’s death and his own hubris, Victor finally agrees the creature must die. He prepares a lethal compound and gives the syringe to Pretorius. With trembling hands, Victor unlocks the chamber. The creature attacks him instantly. As they struggle, Pretorius plunges the syringe into the creature’s back. It thrashes violently, then collapses. Victor, drained and trembling, falls unconscious beside it.

Elizabeth and Victor's father, Baron Frankenstein (John Lithgow), arrive at the lab the next morning. Seeing Victor weak but alive, they bring him home to recover. Victor, haunted by what happened, insists Pretorius destroy the creature’s body. Pretorius promises he will handle it. But as the doctor begins to dissect the lifeless body, the creature’s eyes snap open. It springs to life, hurling Pretorius into a wall, and crashes through the tower’s wall into the night.

The creature wanders through farmland, disoriented. By a misty lake, it finds a girl picking flowers. She offers one to the creature, who accepts it gently. They sit and toss petals into the water. When the girl runs out of flowers, the creature, fascinated, lifts her and tosses her into the lake. She does not float. She drowns. The creature stares, confused, then runs into the forest, horrified at what he has done.

Back at the estate, preparations for Victor and Elizabeth’s wedding are underway. As Elizabeth tries on her dress, a shadow moves across her window. The creature appears in her room. She screams. Servants rush in, but the creature is gone. Panic spreads through the town when the drowned girl’s father carries her body into the square. He tells the townsfolk of the monster that killed her. They grab torches and weapons.

Victor, hoping to find the creature before the mob does, searches the forest. The creature finds him first. It knocks him unconscious and drags him to an abandoned barn. As the townspeople close in, torches in hand, they spot movement inside and set the barn ablaze. Inside, Victor wakes, coughing from the smoke. The creature crouches beside him. Victor begs forgiveness - for locking it up, for fearing it. He pleads for his life.

The creature stares at Victor, then backs away into the flames. Victor smashes through a side wall and escapes. Outside, the townspeople watch as the barn burns through the night. In the morning, they sift through the ash and charred wood. They find no trace of the creature.

Later, at the Frankenstein estate, Baron Frankenstein raises a toast at Victor and Elizabeth’s wedding. Guests cheer, unaware of the horrors that nearly destroyed the family. But Victor glances toward the distant hillside. There, half-shrouded in fog, a lone figure watches the celebration in silence before vanishing into the trees.