Simon Read [Celluloid 05.05.16] horror



I don't think I've ever reviewed a short before, but this one is worthy of special attention.


Back in 1994, filmmaker Scooter McCrae wrote and directed Shatter Dead, an allegorical, micro-budget zombie film in which the living dead are presented as essentially confused and disenfranchised wanderers, as opposed to flesh-hungry monsters. It's a rough little film, shot on video, full of ideas and arresting imagery (it won a Best Independent Film award at the 1995 Fantafestival), it's undone only in part by an extremely limited budget and some amateurish acting, yet for me it stands as a highly creative and influential work in the world of underground video and horror.


In 1999, McCrae started on his follow-up, the sleazy, violent and downright bizarre cyberpunk thriller Sixteen Tongues. With this work, McCrae would explore the effects of overstimulation in a highly sexualised, technocratic culture; one drenched in pornographic imagery and on the brink of social collapse. Sixteen Tongues is a very difficult watch; it's full of creative concepts and interesting characters, but casts such a grim worldview and is populated by characters so unpleasant and disaffected that it's simply exhausting to sit down and take it all in.



McCrae's films seem characterised by an otherworldly, uncompromisingly transgressive quality which for many is an instant turn-off (there are also the low budgets) but for me they are something special; these are raw and absolutely original films - representative of what underground cinema is all about. Once one emerges from McCrae's world, things don't quite look the same.


Naturally then, it was with some excitement that I read last year that McCrae was putting together a segment for an anthology film called Betamax, and that his addition would be called Saint Frankenstein. Unfortunately that project has not yet come together as planned, but having finished his film, McCrae has decided to present it as a standalone short, and it's genuinely very good. So, history lesson over - let's talk about Saint Frankenstein.


Saint Frankenstein is a 17 minute two-hander starring Melanie Gaydos and Tina Krause. It takes place in a dingy hotel room where a confident and flirtatious prostitute named Carla (Krause) visits an unusual client (Gaydos), receiving far more than she bargained for in the process. What starts off as a curious conversation piece featuring a hypnotic monologue from Gaydos - playing a brutally scarred and surgically disfigured Frankenstein's monster - shifts part way through into an almost comic book-style romp. In blending literary references with fantasy, historical fiction, pseudo-erotic body-horror, and religious imagery, this is a film that is difficult to categorise, but suffice it to say, it's very unusual, and a lot of fun.


In terms of quality of craftsmanship it's important to note straight away that Saint Frankenstein is a big step forward from McCrae's previous work. The film looks terrific, the work of a real professional. The way in which it is shot, the creative design elements and the performances all come together very well here, and yet, crucially, it contains the personal touch inherent in all of McCrae's work.


The design and effects work by Dan Ouellette, Brian Spears and Pete Gerner is genuinely startling. Gaydos is a model and actress born with ectodermal dysplasia, a genetic condition which gives her an unusual, rather striking appearance, and in playing the character of 'Shelley' (an appropriate pseudonym if ever there was one) she is required to wear layers of prosthetic scars, including an autopsy scar down the middle of her chest, and stapled laceration running across the middle of her head - it's really pretty savage. Gaydos's performance is magnetic and downright eerie. Her character is presented initially as somewhat shy and withdrawn, but once introductions are made Shelley offers a remarkable soliloquy describing the events following the original Frankenstein story, and it's at once compelling, chilling, and oddly heartbreaking. Although her voice is dubbed, Gaydos's slow, deliberate movements express the pain and melancholy of her character rather beautifully. Shelley's voice is provided by Archana Rajan, whose steady, controlled even tones manage to project a benign, almost playful quality, while at the same time feeling vaguely sinister and menacing. The film is worth seeing simply for this fantastic scene alone.


If shorts can contain a second act, then Saint Frankenstein's unexpected shift in tone at around the halfway mark would certainly qualify. I won't say much for fear of spoiling the story, but following Shelley's strange confession, a reveal - quite literal - spurs things into action, and we're faced with a confrontation which leads to a skillfully choreographed scene of violent action. Although no stranger to shooting action, it is again apparent that McCrae has pulled out the stops here, and in terms of nuts-and-bolts direction, the denouement of Saint Frankenstein is well ahead of the rough-and-ready style of his previous films.


The film features an original score, and this warrants mention as it's composed by the legendary Italian maestro Fabio Frizzi (Zombie Flesh Eaters, City of the Living Dead). Frizzi's haunting synth melody perfectly captures the mood of the film, and it's hard to imagine these images having the same impact without his atmospheric, dreamy score.


The most satisfying element of the film for me is that it retains the hallmarks of a Scooter McCrae film (tension, unease, violence, strange and unpleasant sexual imagery, unapologetic and rampant weirdness) while building on his previous work, offering something altogether more sophisticated. If there were any complaint I could level at this work, it might be that it doesn't approach the same social issues which so concern McCrae's feature work. Shatter Dead, it can been argued, reflects the divide between rich and poor, quick fix cultism, and the desire for eternal youth and beauty which preoccupies western culture. Sixteen Tongues remains relevant today, prescient in its depiction of a world in which characters must use their credit cards to switch off ubiquitous screens projecting an endless loop of pornography, violence and religious propaganda, a concept well ahead of its time and one that's been borrowed in years since by other sci-fi dystopia, including Charlie Brooker's "Black Mirror." Saint Frankenstein, to its credit, is a simpler film, a brief glimpse of an alternative vision of a classic story, or as McCrae puts it, "The first chapter in an ongoing project dedicated to a modern rethink of the entire Frankenstein mythos."


If a sequel or feature adaptation is in the works - and here's hoping that it is - we can be sure McCrae will infuse it with his typically heavyweight ideas, and if he commits to the same level of skill and care in direction as evident in Saint Frankenstein then we're in for a real treat.


I've had the pleasure of trading emails with McCrae over the last few weeks, and he has generously agreed to an interview for this site, to discuss both Saint Frankenstein and his previous films. A superbly erudite and imaginative guy, it's sure to be a fascinating read, so keep your eyes open.


Saint Frankenstein is now available to rent or buy and it is well worth the price of admission.

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ChrisR (6 years ago) Reply

Awesome and insightful review of an underground hero!

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