Movie Review: Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein (2019)

Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein (2019) directed by Daniel Gray Longino

This mockumentary depicts David Harbour (of Stranger Things fame and Hellboy infamy) as he searches to understand his acting father, David Harbour Jr. (also played by David Harbour, who is called "David Harbour III"). Young David has found some old tapes in his mom's attic, tapes of a made-for-TV play called "Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein." Old David is clearly based on Orson Welles, with the oversized ego and the desperate late-career advertising gigs that finance the play. The play has Doctor Frankenstein trying to get financing for his experiments while he pretends to be the monster he created, so that he can convince the financier of his success (the actual monster died before the play started). So the play naturally mirrors the plight of Old David trying to get the made-for-TV play into production.

The play makes no sense, even as a satire of an ego-driven drama. It has really cheap production values meant to make fun of 1970s television, even including the fake sponsors. The mockumentary has Harbour recreating his father's office and interviewing the actors and others from the play, hoping to get insight into his father. The overall show is meant as a comedy and the premise is creative. It would be fun if it skewered the pretentiousness of art house cinema. The execution just isn't funny. Harbour does a passable Welles imitation but it's not enough to carry the rest of the show, which is just bad. It fires at so many targets but fails to take aim, too often missing the funniness by a mile. This was painful to watch. Even the poster (see above) is lazy.

Not recommended.

Currently (July 2019) streaming on Netflix.