With a title like Frances Stein, I think it goes without saying that I expected this independent feature film to be a gender-swapped version of the iconic Frankenstein story. I ended up being surprised, however, when I discovered that this movie actually falls into the mad scientist subgenre of film. This subgenre, along with horror hosting, is starting to become a long forgotten medium – which is why I think the two often embrace each-other so frequently online. I can’t tell you the last time I watched a film like this, so I was more than happy to give it a watch and review. Here’s my thoughts.
Frances Stein is written, directed and stars P.J. Woodside, who has previously produced a number of short horror films and 2011’s The Creepy Doll. Other cast-members appearing alongside Woodside include Scott Cummings, Cody Rogers, Jessica Leonard, Ruby Sayard Kelly, Felicia Stewart, Vivien Worthen-Powell and Steve Hudgins. In Frances Stein, a brilliant yet a little touched in the mind scientist loses everything while pushing forward with her latest experiment as it appears to make a break through. She then goes underground to continue her research while may theorize that her secret project has more validity than they assumed. Now, everyone wants to get their hands on it – for the money and the privilege, but Frances has a completely different use for the machine…
I struggle to find a starting point with my actual review because in all honestly Frances Stein was split right down the middle for me, right in the category of average entertainment. I don’t have an opinion either way – I can’t bash it, I can’t give it too much praise. So, I guess, let me start with what I did enjoy… I loved that Frances Stein felt like an older indie movie from the 90’s, minus the use of current cell phones. The movie is a great reminder of how movies in its genre used to be made, how they felt, during their heyday. I love that the people who made this movie took risks and did something outside of the realm of popularity and those risks appeared to have paid off. I enjoyed most of the camera work and I enjoyed flawless lighting. I especially enjoyed that there are a multitude of plot twists in Frances Stein, particularly near the end, that will keep you on your toes and guessing throughout your viewing.
Unfortunately, this title did nothing for me after that. I think there just wasn’t enough horror and science fiction to go around. I think Frances Stein would be more accurately classified as a crime-drama. It had really slow moments that saw me hitting the fast forward button several times. I was definitely left wanting more. Props to P.J. Woodside for making a mad scientist flick that has a female at the controls, but other than that… It just wasn’t my cup of tea. Final Score: 5 out of 10.
