Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein Review

July 18, 2019 at 3:28am
By Jason Stettner

Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein is a Netflix Original special that is showcased in the style of a mockumentary. It’s basically a one man show from David Harbour as he plays himself, and his father. The latter being presented through lost footage from a televised stage play. The idea of the video is rather interesting in the concept, but I’m not sure the execution really delivered the vision.

It’s supposed to be comedic, but the type of comedy feels as though it just drags. I had a couple chuckles about certain elements, but nothing too wild. I really wasn’t too entertained by this, and I believe it’ll only hit right with a very niche crowd. It’s also rather short, they could have taken the concept further as being a more gripping journey through this material.

It lazily showcased some detective type work as opposed to making this seem like an obsessive dive into the documentary side of it. It’s mostly just the televised play, which was kind of interesting in its take on this character. It is however very abrupt, random and just all over the place. That aspect is expected though, joke wise.

The acting is definitely excellent here, I really didn’t have any issues with the performances. The sort of silly stilted acting in a mix against serious actors was fun.

There was potential to maybe make this an actual play show, that might have been fun to see. They went all out in terms of the visuals here. You get some historic looking footage, a mix of aspect ratios and that haunting old school mix against modern documentary shots.

The Conclusion

Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein is alright, for a particular type of audience. It’s rather short, could have been taken further. I say it’s short in that it doesn’t bring a very enticing documentary element. I get that it’s mocking it, but going serious with that side of the experience could have been really gripping.

It teeters on wanting to go into the insane, but stands away from it. The visuals were solid, the acting was on point. I just generally didn’t think the execution was all that interesting as I wasn’t into this. I didn’t find it very entertaining, and I was really looking forward to this. I expected either laughs, or an intriguing descent into absolute madness. David Harbour can certainly carry this type of thing, there’s potential if this was explored further.

Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein Review at Home with Streamed Viewing
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Rating Overall: 5.0