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I, Frankenstein is more than a remake

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The newly released Gothic action-thriller, I, Frankenstein, revisits the story originally told in Mary Shelley’s groundbreaking 1818 novel, where the character was first introduced. Only now, 200 years have passed and Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, symbolically named Adam, lives on and finds himself in the middle of a violent war between demons and gargoyles. A war over the souls of humankind.

From the creators of the largely successful Underworld series, this film pulls a few pages from the old playbook with gripping fight scenes between fantastical creatures, high-flying CGI action, and a plethora of underlying real-life messages.

“This is the story of how Frankenstein’s monster begins to earn his humanity,” said director Stuart Beattie. “He has to figure out who he is, what he is, and why he is.”

Aaron Eckhart (Adam) makes for a surprisingly convincing Frankenstein that is far removed from the clunking, grumbling, bolt-headed monster of horror movies past. He instead embodies a very human-like shell of a man searching for a soul, a purpose, and a mate. And maybe a little vengeance to boot.

Unknown to Adam, the truth of his creation is key to the future of humankind.

The leader of the demon horde, Prince Naberius (Bill Nighy), is hell-bent on uncovering the answers to Adam’s creation so that he can replicate the process and create an army of duplicates to aid him in his quest for world domination.

He enlists the help of with an ambitious electrophysiologist, Dr. Terra Wade (Yvonne Strahovski), who without knowing Naberius’ true motives, helps play into his plan.

A benevolent group of angel-like gargoyles, led by Queen Leonore (Miranda Otto), make it their mission to stop Naberius and save the human race; Adam, having no sense of belonging or loyalty to either faction, must decide how to align himself, and in doing so, begins to discover his purpose.

I, Frankenstein is the brainchild of African American screenwriter, graphic novelist, actor, and executive producer Kevin Grevioux who surprisingly did not get his start on the Hollywood scene.

After graduating from Howard University with a degree in microbiology and studying genetic engineering in graduate school, Grevioux then decided to revisit what had always been of interest to him, beginning at a young age.

“My background is that I always liked science fiction and monster movies as a child, but you have to figure out how you are going to make a living doing that,” said Grevioux. “So what you really do, is you sublimate that desire by doing something more socially acceptable, which was getting into real science, so that’s what I did.”

“When you think about it, all real science is speculative before it’s proven to be true. The adage says, ‘Today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s technology,’ so really, what I ended up doing was coming full circle in terms of what I’ve always liked,” Grevioux explained.  “So, when I got to a point where I realized that hard science wasn’t for me anymore, I decided to make the break and I came out to Hollywood, and here we are.”

In an industry not easily penetrated, Grevioux found success as an actor staring in such films as: Planet of the Apes, The Hulk, Men in Black II, Batman Forever, The Mask and a number of others. Grevioux co-wrote, co-created, and starred in the Underworld franchise, which was his first produced writing credit.

The ever-impressive Grevioux also found work on the comic book scene with both Marvel and DC Comics, writing such characters as Spider-Man, Blade, Thor, Iron Man, Batman, Superman and more, and established an independent creator-owned comic book/graphic novel company called Darkstorm Studios, under which he created I, Frankenstein.

Grevioux stars in the film as Dekar, the right-hand man to evil Prince Naberius.

“I always write a part for myself in everything I write,” said Grevioux.  “As a creator, and as someone wearing all of these hats, I think you need to generate your own work. Being a filmmaker is difficult. It’s hard to break in, and if you don’t create your own work, you are waiting for someone else to put you in their movie, and that is the kiss of death for anyone in any field.”

Admitting that he sometimes pulls from his own personal experiences to leave subliminal messages in his work, Grevioux explained the significance of Adam’s struggle with self-identity.

“When you are considered different, you have your perception of yourself and then other people’s perception of you. So the underlying message in the film was… Is Adam a man, is he a monster, or is he both?” he continues. “Looking at my own life as a Black man, a lot of the time we find ourselves in the same position. At one time even we weren’t considered human. But, you have to fight other people’s perceptions of you and with that comes responsibility and also a way to work within a world that you never made. So that’s one of the metaphors that Frankenstein presents for me.”

I, Frankenstein provides the excitement and fantasy you come to expect with a sci-fi action-thriller and ties in messages of morality, religion, personal identity and conscience that make a centuries-old tale relevant to today’s reality.

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