Monday, 6 August 2012
Saturday, 16 June 2012
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
Ram Jaane Hindi Full Movie
Ram Jaane - Bollywood Movie - Directed By : Rajiv Mehra Starring : Juhi Chawla, Shahrukh Khan,
Mithun Chakraborty, Mandakini. Synopsis : Abandoned at a very young
age, an unnamed child requests a priest to make him aware about his
name, religion, and parentage. The priest answers "Ram Jaane" (God
knows). The child accepts Ram Jaane as his name. Due to his
circumstances he is forced to steal and accepts this as his way of
life. He grows up to be a thief, a criminal, and ultimately a gangster.
He is in love with his childhood sweetheart, Bela, and believes that
she too loves him. When other gangsters decide to take-over the
building in which Bela lives, Ram decides to oppose them, to impress
Bela. Ram wishes to marry Bela. Ram antagonizes the gangsters and
ultimately finds out that Bela dislikes him and wants to marry some
other man. Is Bela not in love with Ram?
Mujrim Hindi Full Movie
Mujrim is a Dramatic conflict of mother and son - a child who became a
criminal protecting his mother from rape and his journey from the slums
to the rich mansions opposed all the time by his mother.
Monday, 11 June 2012
Hum Hindi Full Movie
Hum is a voice raised by Tiger - Amitabh Bachchan against Bhaktawar - Danny Denzongpa
who is a criminal mastermind. Its a action packed drama about corrupt
police officers, crime rings and workers unions.Bhaktawar is a criminal
mastermind, and his most active territory is the dockyard. He
constantly gets irritated by the dockyard's union leader, Tiger only
tolerates him, because Tiger's father - Deepak Shirke is his bodyguard.
During a confrontation between Tiger and Bhaktawar. Bhaktawar is
reportedly killed, and Tiger has to run for his life, this time from
the police, even abandoning his love Jumalina Gonsalves - Kimi Katkar. Years later, Tiger surfaces as a bespectacled mild-mannered man, with two younger brothers - Rajnikant & Govinda,
one of whom is a police inspector. Soon the past catches up with Tiger
(or Shekhar as he calls himself now), and he must now come to terms
with it, and avoid being arrested by his brother.
Pardes Hindi Full Movie
Synopsis: Today PARDES still touches Indians across the world with its
moving story. Kishorilal, a billionaire American NRI, deputes his
nephew Arjun (Shah Rukh Khan)
to get an Indian bride for his American-Indian son Rajiv (Apoorva
Agnihotri). Ganga (Mahima Chaudhary), the beautiful daughter of
Krishorilal's old friend is chosen as the bride-to-be. However when
Ganga visits her fiance Rajiv in America, she realises the cultural
differences that divide them but refuses to change her Indian values.
Arjun, the catalyst, joins her struggle. He helps her to come back to
India and soon the two wonder whether they are made for each other...
Chamatkar Hindi Full Movie
Sunder Srivastava is a young graduate whose main ambition in life is to
fulfill his father's dream of starting a school. He has no funds to
execute his plans. Sunder's friend, Prem promises him a decent well
paying job in Dubai. Hence, Sunder reaches Mumbai nin search of Prem.
However, Prem ditches Sunder and uses his money for self benefit.
Moreover, Sunder gets cheated by few thugs. Ultimately, Sunder arrives
near an old Christian cemetery. Sitting on an old grave, Sunder
expresses his frustration and strikes the tombstone in helplessness,
but immediately apologizes to the deceased. This amuses the ghost of
Amar Kumar alias Marco. Marco was the biggest hooligan around 20 years
back. His own men kill him. Marco understands that only he can help
Sunder to settle the scores with his enemies because Sunder is a very
kind -- hearted man. Will Sunder support Marco to take the revenge or
will the fear of ghosts force Sunder to step back?
Jo Bole So Nihal Hindi Full Movie
Nihaal Singh (Sunny Deol)
is police constable who does his job with complete honesty. Romeo
(Kamaal Khan) is a terrorist who moves from country to country to
spread his venom. Circumstances bring the two together in such a way
that Nihaal Singh, unknowingly, helps Romeo escape. This leads to his
image being tarnished and he being labelled as a traitor. Nihaal is
suspended from his job and humiliated. Meanwhile, Romeo spreads his
wings in New York to kill the US President. Since the only person who
knows what the terror menace looks like is Nihaal Singh, he is
recruited by the FBI to help them catch hold of Romeo. He agrees to
help them and is guided by two bilingual FBI agents. But Nihaal has one
condition -- after nabbing Romeo he will take him back to his hometown
to clear his name and restore his former glory, lost because of Romeo.
Bolo Raam Hindi Full Movie
Bolo Raam' is a fast paced and gripping thriller and murder mystery.
Raam is charged with the murder of his mother, Archana. Whereas, on the
other hand Raam falls into a state of shock, after his mother's death
and becomes silent, refusing to talk or react to anything. Later, the
investigating officer, Indrajeet Singh Rathi is puzzled and frustrated
as he is unable to make Raam speak. He consults a psychiatrist, Dr. Ns.
Negi to determine the cause of aam's state of mind and the reason
behind his silence. The movie progresses when, Indrajeet Singh Rathi
the investigating officer, interrogates various personalities for the
case, questioning Raam. Every possible motive of murdering the mother
was explored. Also, Raam's neighbors, Sub-Inspector Sajid Khan, his
daughter Juhi and son Sameer are summoned by Rathi for further
interrogation. Will Raam's silence solve the puzzle?
Baabarr (2009) Official full movie Hindi Full Movie
'Baabarr' A 12-year-old boy picks up a country-made gun and shoots a man in cold blood! His eyes are devoid of any emotion. His heart exhibits no remorse. After shooting the man in broad daylight, this 12-year-old boy walks the streets of Amanganj, with a gun in one hand. Everyone present in the market watches this young lad walk with no fear... The fear in fact had translated from him into everyone's heart there. He had made a mark... The boy who started from the streets of Amanganj had crossed every barrier of crime. For the 10 years that followed, he traumatized one and all. His reign of fear terrorized everyone in the state, right from the common man to the government. He was Baabarr (Soham). In May 2004,when this reign of fear knew no bounds, the government summoned a man to put an end to all of this, an encounter specialist, S.P. Dwivedi (Mithun Chakraborty). The order was simple, arrest Baabarr or kill him. On the job, S.P. Dwivedi realizes that there is more to it than what meets the eye. It is not only an individual called Baabarr, but there exists a cartel that is impossible to penetrate! Baabarr,in fact, feeds on the very people that want him dead. S.P. Dwivedi realizes that there is no straight strategy around this. So he along with his associate, Daroga Chaturvedi (Om Puri), set out to nab the one man who is untouchable today. These two will do anything under the purview of the law or even beyond it, to get this criminal. And in order to succeed, they would need to involve a dreaded adversary of Baabarr called Tabrez (Sushant Singh). What follows is an edge-of-the-seat crime drama, packed with action, shot at realistic locations of Lucknow. The grungy look of the city's by-lanes and skyline of UP add to the character of the film. This thrilling film is intricately layered and looks not only into the life of a criminal but attempts to peep into the concept of 'crime' and areas where crime is bred and nurtured. A parallel world that co-exists with ours, a world our society dreads, where corruption excels, which the politicians exploit and where the honest succumb.
Trinetra Hindi Full Movie
Watch Action Hero & Bollywood Superstar Mithun Chakraborty& Dharmendra in Trinetra - 1991 - Full Length Hindi Action Movie.
Vendor: Captain Movies. Synopsis: Raja is an aspiring singer and gets a
chance to sing in Dubai through Mr. Singhania. He informs his pregnant
wife, Seema, and they look forward to a more prosperous life. Before
that could happen, Raja finds out that Singhania is going to use him to
carry drugs in his suitcase, he objects to this, and is brutally killed
in the presence of his wife. His wife flees the assailants, and gives
birth to a baby boy near the temple of Bhagwan Shri Shankar and names
the boy Shiva. Unmarried and childless Maria Fernandes sees the child
and an apparently dead Seema, and takes the child. But Seems is still
alive, and is angered at being separated from her son. She swears to
avenge Raja's death, and sets about to kill the assailants one by one.
She manages to kill one of them, but before she could proceed on with
her gruesome task, she is arrested by the police and sentenced to jail
for several years. To watch more Full length Bollywood Movies, Songs
and Music videos SUBSCRIBE
Chandaal Hindi Full Movie
Chandaal is a bollywood action movie. When someone fights for the truth
he has to fight not only again the society but also against the system.
The honest police officer, Indrajeet commences a fight against the
thugs of the society. As the truth is supported by very few, he has to
face consequences by death of his family. Over that he is consider as
culprit for their murders and sentenced to prisonment .After realizing
from jail by the support of his lady love who is a press reporter he
announce a struggle against the real culprits. Will he be succeeding in
taking the revenge?
Sunday, 10 June 2012
Death Race 2 Summary
DVD cover
Death Race 2 (formerly Death Race: Frankenstein Lives) is a 2010 American science fiction action film directed by Dutch filmmaker Roel Reiné, written by Tony Giglio and Paul W. S. Anderson, and starring Luke Goss, Ving Rhames, Tanit Phoenix, Danny Trejo and Sean Bean. Death Race 2 is a direct-to-DVD prequel to the 2008 film Death Race, which, although marketed as a remake of the 1975 film Death Race 2000 (based on Ib Melchior's short story "The Racer"), has been described as a prequel, making Death Race 2 a prequel to both films.
The film explores the origins of the first "Frankenstein" car driver, Carl "Luke" Lucas (Luke Goss), who died in a race at the beginning of the first film, from Luke's beginning as a bank robber until his death in Death Race.
Plot
In 2012, private corporations own and manage the prison systems. Getaway driver Carl "Luke" Lucas (Luke Goss) is arrested after a robbery for his crime boss Markus Kane (Sean Bean) goes wrong. As his accomplices are robbing the bank, two police officers casually enter the building. Luke tells his accomplices to abort, but they refuse; Luke intervenes, resulting in the death of one of the three accomplices. Luke shoots and kills one of the officers and dumps off his accomplices in order to fulfill Markus's wishes. In doing so, Luke is eventually captured by the police following a high-speed chase and sentenced to serve time on Terminal Island.Terminal Island is a prison under the control of The Weyland Corporation, which hosts Death Match, a televised pay-per-view competition where two dangerous convicts are chosen and then forced to fight to the death or submission. The prisoners are given access to weapons or defense items to use during the fight by stepping on a marked plate in the arena. Luke meets the men who eventually become his pit crew in the Death Race: Lists (Frederick Koehler), who annoys him by over-analyzing everything, Goldberg (Danny Trejo), and Rocco (Joe Vaz). The host of Death Match is September Jones (Lauren Cohan), a former Miss Universe who lost her crown due to allegations of having a sexual relationship with all of its judges. She now works for The Weyland Corporation to create profit from the pay per view subscribers of Death Match. When a convict tries to stab Lists (because of his nature and weakness, as he was convicted only of swindling), Luke takes it upon himself to defend him.
Luke is later approached in the showers by September, who proposes that he fight. When he refuses, she makes sexual advances towards him, which he pretends to go for before refusing. In retaliation, September chooses Lists to fight in a Death Match with the convict who tried to stab him earlier. Luke confronts her while Lists is running for his life during the event, pleading to let him fight in place of Lists. She refuses to help and he jumps over a barbed fence to fight for Lists. He is joined by Katrina Banks (Tanit Phoenix), a woman convict who is serving as a ring girl with other female convicts. She hits the convict with a round number sign made of metal. A riot breaks out during the fight between Luke and the convict because of racial tension, sparked because Luke is white and the other convict is black. The convicts break down the fence to get in, and some of the rapists attack and attempt to rape female convicts. Katrina defends herself and helps other women, who are then evacuated. When the riot control guards come, Luke surrenders. Markus, worried that Luke will trade info on his crimes for immunity, discovers his location at Terminal Island while watching Death Match. Afterward, Luke is well received when he sees Katrina and inquires about her well-being after the fight.
Markus puts a bounty of $1 million on Luke's head and convinces some of the prisoners to kill him. Meanwhile, September comes up with a plan to boost their profits by converting the Death Match into a "Death Race", where the contestants will have to race over days to win each match. The person who manages to win five such matches will be released from prison. Luke joins the race, during which other prisoners try to kill him to earn Markus's bounty. Luke's car crashes and everybody is led to believe that he is dead. In reality, he survives with extensive scarring to his face and body. September then convinces him to rejoin a new race as the masked "Frankenstein" by threatening both him and Katrina. Meanwhile, Luke's new Triad friends (he earned their trust by saving the Triad 14K during a race) manage to kill Markus in revenge, and Lists kills Rocco in the shower house for rigging Luke's car. Frankenstein then kills September by running her over with his car during a race, leaving some fates (such as Katrina's) unresolved.
Cast
Racers
- Luke Goss as Carl "Luke" Lucas / Frankenstein. Goss replaced David Carradine, who portrayed Frankenstein in Death Race 2000 and Death Race (the latter through a cameo voice-over). Lucas' car is driven by Jensen Ames in Death Race.
- Robin Shou as 14K, a tenth-generation Triad member, who was sent to business school and holds a degree from MIT. He is the only racer other than Frankenstein to appear in both films.
- Deobia Oparei as Big Bill, one of Luke's rivals. His car is driven by Machine Gun Joe in "Death Race".
- Hennie Bosman as Xander Grady. His car is driven by Pachenko in Death Race.
- Sean Higgs as Hill Billy. His car is driven by Siad in Death Race.
- Warrick Grier as Calin. His car is driven by Carson in Death Race.
- Chase Armitage as Apache. His car is driven by Riggins in Death Race.
- Michael Solomon as The Sheik. His car is driven by Travis Colt in Death Race.
- Traian Milenov as Scarface. His car is driven by Hector Grimm in Death Race.
] Other cast
- Tanit Phoenix as Katrina Banks, Luke's navigator and love interest.
- Lauren Cohan as September Jones, Death Race's hostess/executive producer, formerly of Death Match. She is a former Miss Universe who lost her crown due to allegations of having a sexual relationship with all of its judges.
- Fred Koehler as Lists, one of Luke's pit crew and a compulsive data collector.
- Ving Rhames as Weyland, head of Weyland International.
- Danny Trejo as Goldberg, a loyal member of Luke's pit crew.
- Sean Bean as Markus Kane, Luke's former crime boss.
- Patrick Lyster as Medford Parks, Terminal Island Penitentiary's warden.
- Joe Vaz as Rocco, a member of Luke's pit crew.
- Danny Keogh as Dr. Klein
Cars
The cars in the film are real vehicles that have been heavily-modified with armor plating, machine guns and defensive weapons.- Frankenstein's Monster - A five-speed manual Fifth-generation Ford Mustang armed with dual M134 Miniguns for offense, and a smoke screen, napalm, and oil slick for defense, as well as a 6-inch-thick (150 mm) detachable steel plate on the rear bumper called "The Tombstone."
- Porsche 911 - A five-speed manual vehicle with a stock 2.7L six-cylinder engine, driven by the Chinese convict 14K, enforced with dual World War II German MG-42 belt-fed general purpose machine guns, four hood-mounted missiles, and four missiles on the roof.
- Dodge Ram - Big Bill's five-speed automatic truck with a 5.7L V8 Hemi engine, armed with a cowcatcher, four hood-mounted Browning M1919s, two side-mounted Vulcan cannons, and Russian RPG-7s.
- 1967 Buick Riviera GS (serial # 494877H903903)- Xander Grady's turbo three-speed automatic with a 430C.I. V8 engine. The Riviera is enforced with German MG-34s, Uzis, and PPSH-41 submachine guns.
- BMW E32 - Hill Billy's four-speed automatic with a six-cylinder engine. The BMW is enforced with an M134 and bullet-resistant steel.
- Pontiac Trans Am - Calin's three-speed automatic with a 350HO V8 engine with a M134 aiming backwards for defense, and a .50 caliber turret on top of his car which is operated by his navigator.
- 1972 "Boattail" Buick Riviera - Apache's three-speed automatic with a 430C.I. V8 "Nail Head" engine. The Boattail is enforced with German MG-34s, two Uzis, and two PPSH-41 submachine guns.
- Jaguar XJS - The Sheik's four-speed automatic with a V12 engine. The Jaguar is enforced with bullet-resistant steel and 50-caliber M2 machine guns.
- Chrysler 300 C - Scarface's five-speed automatic with a 345C.I. V8 engine. The Chrysler is enforced with three FN MAG-58s, a missile and oil slick.
- Australian Ford Falcons (EF and EL models) and Ford Crown Victorias - Driven by police.
Production
On November 13, 2009, casting began for the prequel. On December 7, 2009, it was announced that Roel Reiné would direct the film. On January 5, 2010, Luke Goss was announced for the leading role as Carl "Luke" Lucas, who becomes "Frankenstein".Principal photography began on February 13, 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa. The film was shot in various locations in and around the central city of Cape Town, including the Castle of Good Hope, Robin Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned during the Apartheid years) and an abandoned cement factory near the poor townships outside Cape Town.
Release
The film was released direct-to-DVD on January 18, 2011. A trailer was released on October 3, 2010Death Race Summary
Death Race is a 2008 American science fiction action film produced, written, and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and starring Jason Statham. Though referred to as a remake of the 1975 film Death Race 2000 (based on Ib Melchior's short story "The Racer") in reviews and marketing materials, director Paul W.S. Anderson stated in an interview and the DVD commentary that he thought of the film as a prequel. A remake had been in development since 2002, though production was delayed by disapproval of early screenplays then placed in turnaround following a dispute between Paramount Pictures and the producer duo Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner. Death Race was acquired by Universal Studios, and Anderson re-joined the project to write and direct. Filming began in Montreal in August 2007, and the completed project was released on August 22, 2008.
A direct-to-DVD prequel to the film, Death Race 2, was released on October 31, 2010.
Plot
In 2012, the economy of the United States collapses. Unemployment and crime rates skyrocket, and the sharp increase of convicted criminals leads to the privatization of prisons for profit. For pay-per-view entertainment, a modern gladiator game called “Death Race” is invented at the Terminal Island penitentiary using the prisoners as players. At the end of one race, a masked driver named Frankenstein (David Carradine) is nearing the finish line against his only surviving competitor, rival Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson). His navigator, Case (Natalie Martinez), reports that his defensive weapons are malfunctioning, and is ordered to eject from the car shortly before Joe blows it up. Six months later, Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) is sent to Terminal Island after being framed for his wife’s murder. The warden, Hennessey (Joan Allen), informs Ames that – unknown to the public and other racers – Frankenstein is dead, but as he was so wildly popular, she wants to keep his legend alive for the ratings. She coerces Ames to clandestinely assume the persona; Ames would only need to win one race to earn his freedom and take back his daughter since Frankenstein won four, and by wearing Frankenstein's mask, only few people will know he's not really Frankenstein. His maintenance crew, Coach (Ian McShane), Gunner (Jacob Vargas), and Lists (Frederick Koehler) are among those who know this and quickly acquaint Ames with his competition.On the first day, Ames meets Case, who also knows he’s not the real Frankenstein. Ames has a rough first go, coming in last place, and three racers are eliminated. His defensive weapons also mysteriously malfunctioned, just like last time. Ames pieces together that one of the racers, Pachenko (Max Ryan), was the one who stabbed his wife at the behest of Hennessey so she could recruit him as Frank’s replacement for huge profits. During the second stage, Ames forces Case to admit that she has been sabotaging Frankenstein’s car on the orders of Hennessey in exchange for her release papers. Case was never meant to kill Frank or Ames, just stop them from winning so Frankenstein could remain in Death Race. Ames then breaks Pachenko's neck and temporarily teams up with Machine Gun Joe to destroy massive 18-wheel tankers (express train) with many weapons that kills the other competitors to boost the ratings even higher. This tips Joe off to Frank’s real identity, and afterward they have a talk.
Hennessey, aware that Ames knows her angle, tries to maintain the ruse of granting him freedom but asks him to consider staying on permanently as Frankenstein. As a precaution, she has an explosive planted under his car before the start of the third round, knowing she can replace Ames as she used him to replace Frankenstein. The stage begins, and Hennessey manipulates the track in Joe’s favor from her control room. Right when Joe appears victorious, they both escape through a damaged wall discovered by examining footage of another racer's demise; Hennessey unsuccessfully tries to activate the bomb, which was removed by Coach and the rest of the maintenance team. Hennessey then sends attack helicopters after Ames and Joe, who make it past the bridge that connects the island to the mainland and split up, and the helicopters follow Ames under Hennessey's orders. Case offers herself as bait in the Frankenstein costume and mask to repay the old Frank, and because she’d already been given her release papers. She is captured while the two men escape on a freight train.
Later, Hennessey is given an anonymous gift for her record-breaking ratings; it turns out to be the bomb she originally meant for Ames, with a note saying; "WARMEST REGARDS, YOUR MONSTER!". At that moment, Coach remotely detonates the bomb and proceeds to break the fourth wall by looking into the camera and saying "I love this game". The explosion kills Hennesey and Ulrich. Six months afterward, Joe, Ames, and his daughter are shown living honestly in Mexico where Case joins them. Ames then reflects on how no one could love his daughter more than he does, and that she is his chance at something else, which to him is "all that really matters".
Cast
- Jason Statham as Jensen Ames, a falsely-convicted prisoner coerced to drive in the arena, taking the name "Frankenstein" from the man who came before him.
- Joan Allen as Hennessey, the sadistic prison warden.
- Tyrese Gibson as Joseph Mason (a.k.a. Machine Gun Joe), a sociopathic racer who looks to use Death Race as a means to escape from prison. He alone uses male navigators, because his navigators are killed so often that when he used women the ratings would fall due to squeamish audiences.
- Ian McShane as Coach, Frankenstein's loyal head mechanic and a voluntary inmate.
- Natalie Martinez as Case, Frankenstein's navigator.
- Max Ryan as Pachenko, a rival driver Ames clashes with several times (who also killed Ames' wife and framed him for it).
- Jason Clarke as Ulrich, Hennessey's right hand man.
- Frederick Koehler as Lists, another member of Frankenstein's pit crew and a compulsive data collector.
- Jacob Vargas as Gunner, Frankenstein's car repairman.
- Justin Mader as Travis Colt, a disgraced ex-NASCAR driver seeking to rebuild his career by winning the race.
- Robert LaSardo as Hector Grimm (a.k.a. The Grim Reaper), a certified psychopath driving in the race who loves and worships Hennessey (believing her to be the avatar of the Hindu god of death).
- Robin Shou as 14K, a tenth-generation Triad member, sent to business school, held a degree from MIT.
- David Carradine as Frankenstein, the most popular driver in the history of Death Race. (cameo voice-over, reprising role in original 1975 film Death Race 2000) He has crashed so many times that he has to wear a mask to cover his disfigurements.
Cars
 |
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- Frankenstein's Monster- A modified, 5th Generation Ford Mustang with dual M134s, napalm, smokescreen and oil slick for defense, along with a rear mounted detachable steel plate called the Tombstone.
- Dodge Ram Machine Gun Joe's truck, armed with a cowcatcher, 4 hood-mounted Browning M1919, 2 side-mounted Vulcan cannons and Russian RPG-7s on the roof.
- Porsche 911- Driven by the Chinese convict 14K. With 2 WW2 German MG-42 belt-fed general purpose machine guns and 4 hood-mounted missiles with 4 on the roof.
- Pachenko's Chop Top- A 1966 Buick Rivera Chop Top armed with 4 German hood-mounted MG-34s and 2 internal PPSh-41 submachine guns also with 2 Uzis mounted in the grille.
- Pontiac Trans Am- Carson's Car. Has a M134 aiming backwards for defense and a .50 caliber turret on top of his car which is operated by his navigator.
- Buick Rivera "Boat tail" - Riggins' car. Caltrops for Defense and twin Browning M1919 machine guns in the passenger side windscreen.
- Jaguar XJS British sports car driven by Travis with 2 .50 cal M2 Browning machine guns.
- Chrysler 300C- driven by Grimm armed with 3 hood-mounted FN MAG58s with no stocks and a missile on the passenger side roof and an oil slick for defense.
- BMW E32- Siad's car. Armed with a single M134.
- The Dreadnaught - 18 wheel tankers modified by Hennessy into armored vehicles with 10 Road Train trailers, 50 caliber Browning heavy machine guns, flame thrower, rocket launchers, spikes on the wheel hubs, bulldozer blade, chained caltrops and a M1A1 tank turret.
- 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS - Custom muscle car driven by Case at the end of the film.
Production
In March 2005, following the success of Alien vs. Predator, director Paul W.S. Anderson revealed that he was directing a remake of Death Race 2000 (1975) entitled Death Race 3000 at Paramount Pictures based on a script by J. F. Lawton. The remake would be produced by the producer pair Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner. Anderson described the remake as a riff on the first film. "It's not a straight remake at all. The first movie was an across-America race. This will be an around-the-world race. And it's set further in the future, so the cars are even more futuristic. So you've got cars with rockets, machine guns, force fields; cars that can split apart and re-form, a bit like Transformers. Cars that become invisible," the director explained. Comingsoon.net reported that "Paul saw his film almost as a prequel if anything; almost the genesis of the Death Race," though the film is referred to primarily as a remake in reviews and marketing materials. by barbara scottTwo years later, Roger Corman, the producer of Death Race 2000, elaborated that he had an option agreement with producer Tom Cruise, and that Cruise would portray the lead role. The director said that Cruise had not been happy with the first two screenplays and that a third one was underway. In June 2006, producer Jeremy Bolt reported that Anderson would direct the remake of Death Race 2000 after completing Resident Evil: Extinction (2007). The producer described the remake's new tone: "We've basically taken the idea of reality television and extended it twenty years. So it's definitely a comment on society, and particularly reality television, but it is not as much a parody or a satire as the original. It's more straight." The following August, Paramount ended its relationship with Cruise/Wagner Productions, and Death Race was placed in turnaround. According to reports, when the project was discovered available, Universal Studios acquired it. Cruise and Wagner resumed their roles as producers, and Anderson returned to write and direct the film.
In April 2007, actor Jason Statham entered negotiations to star in Death Race, with production slated to begin in late summer or early fall. Anderson described that Death Race would take place in a prison, and that the film would be "super-violent" like its predecessor. "It has little echoes of the original – a lot of people get run down, but rather than having the points system, which had no pay off anyway, it's a pure race. It's more like Gladiator, with the last person standing – or driving, winning," explained the director.Filming on Death Race began in Montreal in August 2007.
Release and reception
The film was originally scheduled for release on September 26, 2008, but was moved to August 22, 2008.Critical reception
The film has received generally mixed reviews from critics. It currently holds a 43% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a rating of 41 out of 100 on Metacritic.Robert Koehler of Variety called Death Race "as hard as metal and just as dumb" and criticized it for removing the humor of Death Race 2000.] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film half a star (out of four), calling it "an assault on all the senses, including common."Keith Phipps of the A.V. Club said the film is "ideal for those who want to watch a bunch of cars blow each other up, without having to think about it all that much." Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle called Death Race "one of the most boring drags of all time."
Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle called the film "an ill-advised and severely wussified remake." Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News gave the film one and a half stars (out of four), calling it "junk" and saying that "the chases are pretty cool, but there's absolutely nothing else to see." A positive review came from Nathan Lee of The New York Times, who said that "the movie is legitimately greasy, authentically nasty, with a good old-fashioned sense of laying waste to everything in sight."James Berardinelli of ReelViews awarded Death Race a score of two and a half stars (out of four), saying that it's "weak when it comes to things like plot, character, and acting, but it's very good at provoking visceral reactions."
] Box office
The film grossed $75,677,515, of which $36,316,032 was from North America.Home media
The DVD and Blu-ray were released in the United States on December 21, 2008. There was also an unrated edition released. The Blu-ray version of the movie features a Digital Copy of the film. In the DVD commentary, Anderson further elaborates on his thought of the movie as a prequel more than a remake.Music
The score to Death Race was composed by Paul Haslinger who recorded the string portion of his score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Sony Scoring Stage.The soundtrack was released on August 19, 2008.
Prequel
Main article: Death Race 2
A prequel to the film, Death Race 2, went through production in South Africa.The film, directed by Roel Reiné, stars Luke Goss, Ving Rhames, Sean Bean, and Danny Trejo.It was released direct-to-DVD.
Frankenstein Theme of Lies and Deceit
Frankenstein Theme of Lies and Deceit
Deception
in the form of secrecy is one of Victor’s fatal flaws. His inability to
share his secret about the monster brings the destruction of those he
loves. Further, this loss of family and friends causes Victor to lose
his attachment to the world. Secrecy ultimately brings about his
inability to save himself.
Questions About Lies and Deceit
- Would Justine’s situation have had a different outcome if Victor had been willing to give up his secrecy? If so, is Victor morally at fault for her death?
- A first person narrative has a way of concealing as it tells, and telling as it hides. What, if anything, is hidden by this first person narrative? What is revealed?
- Why does Elizabeth consent to marry Victor even though he is keeping a secret from her? Does she die because of his secret, or would she be fated to die, anyway?
- When Victor tries to tell a magistrate about the monster, no one believes him. Hmmm…What might this imply? Can Victor really be held responsible for keeping his secret if no one would believe him anyway?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Victor’s duplicitous nature is the cause of his downfall.
Frankenstein Theme of Sacrifice
Frankenstein Theme of Sacrifice
In Frankenstein,
self-sacrifice is a god-like characteristic. It becomes the only way
that Victor, our tragic, fallen hero, is able to redeem himself at the
end of the text. Yet his self-sacrifice also includes the sacrifice of
those he loves. It seems more an act of inhumane, self-absorbed,
injustice than it does an act of love for humanity. Victor’s fears
overwhelm his reasoning, and he chooses to be a hero in his own mind
rather than preserving the lives of those he loves. In his mind, he is
acting for the good of society when he destroys the companion he is
making for the monster, but in doing so, he is sacrificing the lives of
his family as well as himself.
Questions About Sacrifice
- Is Victor sacrificing himself or his family when he chooses to destroy the monster?
- When Victor destroys the monster’s mate instead of finishing it, is he truly enacting a self-sacrifice, or is he using self-sacrifice as an excuse to exact revenge on the monster for killing William and making Victor feel so guilty?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Victor’s
desire to destroy the monster, although in part based on his fears of
the new monster’s free will, is equally motivated by a selfish desire
for revenge against the monster for killing his brother, William
Frankenstein Theme of Language and Communication
Frankenstein Theme of Language and Communication
Frankenstein
is full of questions of communication and language. The story itself is
built as a story within a story within a story. Letters form the frame
for personal narratives. Communication itself is a point of
questioning. Language is how we name the world. Yet the monster has no
name. He does not fit into the world. There is no way to make sense of
him, so he doesn’t get a label. We can’t name him "hero" or "villain",
and likewise Victor can’t name him at all. Victor’s name, on the other
hand, is highly ironic. He is anything but a victor. Yet his name
firmly establishes him in certain traditions. The name is an allusion
to Paradise Lost, aligning him with the figure of God "The
Victor". Additionally, the monster’s coming into being is transformed
once he acquires a language. He is angered into criminal acts because
of language, but he also comes to understand his good nature because of
it. Language advances his capacities for both good and evil. One does
not negate the other. Language at once gives and takes away his
humanity.
Questions About Language and Communication
- How does the first person narrative affect the way we understand what happens to Victor and with whom we sympathize?
- In what ways are the specific books that the monster reads influential in forming his identity and concept of self?
- What is the possible significance of Victor’s name? How does understanding the meaning behind his name affect the way we read this story?
- What function does Safie play in terms of the development of communication in this novel? We knew she was there for something.
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Acquiring
language not only gives the monster a sense of his own humanity, but it
forces him to come to terms with his alienation from society as well.
Language possesses the same good and evil duality that the monster does
himself.
The namelessness of the monster establishes him as that which cannot be named, and therefore, that which cannot be understood. His namelessness is the reason that he is alienated, rather than his ugliness.
The namelessness of the monster establishes him as that which cannot be named, and therefore, that which cannot be understood. His namelessness is the reason that he is alienated, rather than his ugliness.
Frankenstein Theme of Exploration
Frankenstein Theme of Exploration
Exploration
of the physical world serves as a metaphor for intellectual inquiry and
discovery. Exploration is portrayed as dangerous and threatening to
life, rather than as something simply good and uplifting for humanity.
There is a general fear that certain knowledge may be too extensive or
dangerous; it may, Frankenstein seems to say, bring about the destruction of humanity.
Questions About Exploration
- Someone said that exploration in Frankenstein is a metaphor for the scientific method. True, or not so true? And, of course, how so?
- After Victor dies, Walton gives up on his exploration and returns to England. What’s up with that?
- What is the distinction between exploration and obsession? Why might these two things have such different outcomes? According to Frankenstein, can a person be committed to an endeavor without being obsessed?
- How does the Industrial Revolution effect the tone of this book in regards to scientific exploration?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Walton’s
desire for geographic exploration has the same potential for
catastrophic results as Victor’s studies in alchemy and science.
Shelley’s warning, therefore, extends far further than to purely
scientific fields.
Frankenstein Theme of Revenge
Frankenstein Theme of Revenge
In Frankenstein,
revenge becomes the solution for both Victor and his monster. While
these two characters relentlessly pursue revenge against each other,
they stand in contrast to other characters that take up the more
Christian virtue of turning the other cheek. Yet it is revenge that
ultimately gives both Victor and the monster a continued connection to
the world they are destroying for themselves, and it gives them a
continued link to each other. Revenge becomes a distorted way of
forming a human bond with another person.
Questions About Revenge
- How does revenge create tragedy in Frankenstein?
- Who starts the revenge cycle, the monster, or Victor? Does it matter who started it? Who finishes it?
- How does revenge give both the monster and Victor a purpose in life?
- Near his death, Victor asks Walton to continue the quest for revenge against the monster. Does Walton honor this request in any way? Why or why not?
- So, the story ends with the monster declaring he’s going to do die. But we never actually see that happen. What is the effect of this?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Although
revenge forms a very destructive type of bond between the monster and
Victor, it ultimately becomes their shared link to humanity and gives
them a reason to live.
Victor’s desire for revenge for William’s death is ultimately what brings about the deaths of Henry, Elizabeth, and his father. Victor is therefore morally responsible for these tragic events.
Victor’s desire for revenge for William’s death is ultimately what brings about the deaths of Henry, Elizabeth, and his father. Victor is therefore morally responsible for these tragic events.
Frankenstein Theme of Appearances
Frankenstein Theme of Appearances
In Frankenstein,
beauty is considered a virtue of the good, while deformity and ugliness
are automatically associated with evil. Because of this stigma, the
monster’s outward defects prevent him from gaining acceptance into a
social sphere – even though he is full of compassion and goodness on
the inside. Even the monster’s attempts to befriend a blind man fail
because social stigma against ugliness is so deeply rooted here. This
dichotomy of beauty and ugliness as related to good and evil stems from
the book’s Romantic influences.
Questions About Appearances
- Shelley devotes some text to describing the beauty of the natural world. What does this have to do with the monster’s ugliness? Is he necessarily unnatural because he was created by man? Is he unnatural for some other reason?
- The monster believes it is his ugliness that keeps him alienated from society. Is he simply a hideous dude, or does he do anything else to alienate himself? Does he murder because he’s ugly, or because he’s ostracized? Or is he ostracized because he murders? Is he simply fated to be scorned or could he change his life’s destiny if he chose to do so?
- Why do you think goodness is linked to outer beauty and evilness linked to ugliness? How does this relate to the time period in which this book was written? Is this notion limited to the time period?
- How does Elizabeth fit into the attractive/ugly, good/evil paradigm? What about the fact that, even though she is supposed to be fair and beautiful, she is murdered on her wedding night? What does that say about justice?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
The monster is innately evil, but chooses to blame his evildoings on society.
The monster is not innately evil. He becomes evil only after society treats him like he is because his outward appearance is terrifying.
The monster is not innately evil. He becomes evil only after society treats him like he is because his outward appearance is terrifying.
Frankenstein Theme of Science
Frankenstein Theme of Science
Frankenstein
is in one sense the literary manifestation of an entire population’s
fear of scientific advancement. It serves both as a reflection of
present times and a warning for the future. In another sense, Shelley
doesn’t condemn science itself, but rather the abuse and misuse of it
by ignorant or irresponsible individuals. Either way, Frankenstein would warn us to proceed with caution as we continue to discover and to create.
Questions About Science
- How is alchemy portrayed in Frankenstein? What if we consider Victor’s natural philosophy professor? What if we consider the work Victor does in building a monster?
- What’s the difference, in this book, anyway, between "alchemy" and "science"? Does Victor see them as the same thing? Is this the real problem here, that he’s calling it "science" when it is clearly not? Or is what he does science after all?
- What is it about science that is terrifying enough to merit a cautionary tale about obsessively pushing the boundaries of that field?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Victor considers his creation to be an act of science, while the rest of society deems it unnatural and evil. In fact, Frankenstein argues that there is no difference between the two.
Frankenstein Theme of Life, Consciousness, and Existence
Frankenstein Theme of Life, Consciousness, and Existence
As
Victor is the creator of his monster, this plot instantly recalls the
much broader implications of the human condition and the relationship
between man and God. The relationship between Victor and the monster
raises many questions as to the meaning of humanity and existence. If
the monster is a modern Adam, then it becomes clear that man is alone
in a universe with an indifferent God, that the world brings disaster
even to the gentle and good. Men are not born evil, yet are made evil
by the precondition of the world makes people evil. If the monster is
the fallen angel of Paradise Lost, and if Victor is the
self-sacrificing Christ, then the text asks a whole different
collection of questions. In this scenario, evil stops being evil. The
monster instead is someone with whom we sympathize and whom we
understand. Further, creations have fee will, and that the scope of
that free will exceed the bounds of the creator’s imagination. This
makes the act of creation an inherently risky and even dangerous act,
for the creator but also the entire human race. From here, we must
question who is the real hero and who is the villain when we consider
the monster in relation to Victor.
Questions About Life, Consciousness, and Existence
- In what ways is Victor like God? In what ways is he not?
- Does Victor have a responsibility to the monster beyond giving it life? Does every creator have a responsibility to what he creates?
- In what ways is the monster simply a part of Victor? In what ways is the monster a distinct entity with free agency?
- Does the monster have free will? What does that mean, anyway?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Responsibility for the monster’s unhappiness lies solely on Victor’s shoulders.
In Frankenstein, Adam and Satan metaphors work together to create in the monster a character that possesses complex qualities of both good and evil.
In Frankenstein, Adam and Satan metaphors work together to create in the monster a character that possesses complex qualities of both good and evil.
Frankenstein Theme of Family
Frankenstein Theme of Family
In Frankenstein,
family becomes the counterpart to loneliness, which in turn is the
primary impetus for evil. Family is seen as a solution to the
destruction that the monster imposes on Victor. He wants a companion, a
mate, a person to create for him some anchor in the social world.
Further complicating the issue of family are the deaths of parents and
children that occur so frequently throughout the book. With all these
children dying, the symbolic suggestion is that the future is
threatened. In the case of Frankenstein, it is threatened by
the new world that Shelley envisions. When the text is taken in the
context of its history (the rapid scientific changes occurring during
the Industrial Revolution), these symbolic deaths of the past and
future gain significance.
Questions About Family
- What is the significance of the peasant family in relation to the rest of the story?
- Why is it important that Walton is writing letters to his sister? Would the action have held different significance if he were writing to his wife or a friend? (Think about the other sister figures in this text, as well as the other wife or lover figures.)
- William’s death foreshadows further tragedy in the book. But does it also have meaning in the sense that William is Victor’s brother? Why is it the brother that’s the first to go?
- This might help with the above question. Then again it might not. Does the monster want to take on a brother role, or a son role, or some other kind of role relative to his creator?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Victor’s
mother’s death is the impetus for his creating the monster. Because
such an event was beyond his control, Victor is morally exonerated from
responsibility for the tragedy that follows.
Walton’s need for a friend mirror’s the need the monster has for a mate. Indeed, the relationships that Shelley portrays are blind to the sex of the characters, dependent on function and not on gender.
Walton’s need for a friend mirror’s the need the monster has for a mate. Indeed, the relationships that Shelley portrays are blind to the sex of the characters, dependent on function and not on gender.
Frankenstein Summary
The story begins with Captain Robert Walton sailing to the North Pole in the 18th century. Unfortunately, the boat gets stuck in impassible ice hundreds of miles from land. With nothing else to do, he writes letters to his sister back in England. He’s pretty boring, as far as we can tell. He tells his sister that he wants a male friend to keep him company.
Soon, Walton’s despair is interrupted by the sight of – a man! On the ice! Riding a dog-sled! The man boards the ship, and it seems as if Walton’s wish for a friend has come true. But this new guy Victor? Kind of nuts.
Victor recounts his life story to Walton as he rests aboard the ship. Victor started out like any normal kid in Geneva. His parents adopted a girl named Elizabeth for him to marry when he was older. (That won’t be weird.) In the normal progression of things, Victor gets older and goes off to college to study natural philosophy and chemistry. He also renews his interest in alchemy. In about two years (which, by the way, is one third of a Ph.D. in the U.S.), he figures out how to bring a body made of human corpse pieces to life. Afterwards, he is horrified by his own creation (no…really?) and falls ill. Lucky for him, his friend, Henry, nurses him back to health.
Back in Geneva, Victor’s younger brother, William, is murdered. The Frankenstein family servant, Justine, is accused of killing him. Victor magically intuits that it is the monster that killed William and that Justine is innocent. Thinking no one would believe the "my monster did it" excuse, Victor is afraid to even propose his theory. Even when poor Justine is executed.
Victor,
in grief, goes on a trip to the Swiss Alps for some much-needed rest
and relaxation. All too conveniently, he runs into the monster, who
confesses to the crime. The monster tells a sad and moving story about
how he has been alienated from the world (being a corpse-parts
conglomeration can do that to you), and how he killed the boy out of
revenge. In short, he’s pissed off that his maker created him to be
alone and miserable. He tells a story about a family of cottagers who
gave him hope that he would find compassion, but how even they drove
him away. He lost his last chance to connect with society. The monster
asks Victor to create for him a female companion as monstrous as he.
After much persuading, Victor agrees. At this point, the story is being
told by the monster, as told by Victor, as told by Walton.
Victor leaves to make a new monster. He drops off Henry in Scotland while he goes to an island in the Orkneys to work. When he is almost finished, he destroys the second monster, believing he has been tricked by the first monster and that the two will bring destruction to humanity rather than love each other harmlessly. The monster sees him do this and swears revenge…again. Adding insult to injury, Victor throws the pieces of she-monster into the sea. When Victor lands on a shore among Irish people, they accuse him of murdering Henry, who has been found dead. Victor falls ill again. His father comes to visit. When he recovers, he is acquitted with the help of a sympathetic magistrate.
Victor
returns to Geneva and prepares to marry Elizabeth before remembering
the monster's promise to be with him on his wedding night. Victor
thinks the monster is threatening him, but the night he and
Elizabeth are married, the monster kills the bride instead. This death
causes Victor's father to pass away from grief (as he just lost a
daughter-in-law and a daughter).
Victor is as alone as the
monster, and now, as bent on revenge. We can’t really tell the two of
them apart anymore except that the monster is taller. And he has some
funny-looking joints. Victor chases the monster over all imaginable
terrain until he is ragged and near death. That’s about the time he
gets to Walton’s ship. After telling his story, Victor dies. The
monster comes aboard the ship, and Walton discovers him crying over the
dead body of Victor. He has nothing more to live for, he says, so he
goes off to die.
Frankenstein Preface Summary
Percy Bysshe Shelley, the author’s husband, actually wrote the preface. Mary Shelley signed it. Which is so NOT plagiarism.
It was rainy and kind of creepy the summer Shelley and her husband were vacationing in the Swiss Alps, so they told German ghost stories to pass the time.
They decided to have a ghost-story contest, and this novel began then.
There’s some name dropping of Dr. Darwin. Not the famous one, but his grandpa, who was a less noteworthy science geek.
Frankenstein Letter 1 Summary
Captain Robert Walton of England is on an expedition to the North Pole. He writes a series of letters to his sister, Margaret to pass the time, and, you know, keep in touch.
Walton has some goals: see new places, walk where no man has walked before, etc.
Frankenstein Letter 2 Summary
Walton tells his sister that he has no friends. He won’t be friends with the men on the ship, either, because they are, um, not as awesome as he. We think we know why he has no friends.
Walton is lonely. No one could possibly understand him because he’s special and more sensitive than the other men. English majors would probably call him a Romantic figure.
Frankenstein Letter 3 Summary
The ship sets sail.
Walton is overly confident in his outlook for the trip. Since things are going well, something bad is probably going to happen soon.
Frankenstein Letter 4 Summary
Something bad happens! The ship is stuck in sheets of ice in the ocean.
The crew sees a giant figure in the distance going across the ice on a "sledge," whatever that is. We’re thinking "dog sled."
The next day the ship crew finds another man on yet another sledge. Unfortunately for said man, all but one of his dogs are dead. This man also looks like he has one foot and possibly half a leg in the grave.
So the crew brings the new guy on board the ship, rubs his body with brandy, and gets him drunk to warm him up. This was back before they knew about alcohol, and how it actually lowers your body temperature.
Walton wants the new guy all to himself to be the friend he’s dreamed of having, which is weirdly possessive.
At the end of this letter, he tells his sister that the man is going to tell his story the next day.
Frankenstein Chapter 1 Summary
The new guy’s name is Victor Frankenstein. He’s just about on his deathbed from starvation, exhaustion, and illness.
Even though he’s half-dead, he still likes to talk, a lot. Instead of just saying, "Hey, my name is Victor. I created a monster, and now I’m trying to kill him because he killed everyone I know," he has to start with the beginning of his childhood:
"To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born" style. Get ready.
He’s got parents. They are named Alphonse and Caroline.
Then there is Elizabeth. Elizabeth Lavenza. Mary Shelley couldn’t really make up her mind about how she became part of Victor’s family, but we’re guessing you are probably reading the 1831 edition of this novel, so we’ll say she was adopted from some Italian family by Caroline when Victor was all of five-years-old.
Victor’s parents thought it would be a good idea to adopt a girl to be Victor’s future wife.
Lucky for Victor, Elizabeth is hot. So Elizabeth comes back to Geneva to live with Victor’s family.
Victor is pretty much accepting of this fate. In general, if something is fate, Victor is ready to give in to it. And, as you are about to see, he seems to think an awful lot of things are fate.
Frankenstein Chapter 2 Summary
Unlike Walton, Victor has friends. Two of them. Or at least, he did during his childhood. First, there is Elizabeth. Victor also has a friend named Henry Clerval.
Victor describes his idyllic childhood, but don’t worry: less happy things are coming. Begin use of historical present.
As a brooding teenager, Victor develops an interest in science. Especially interesting to him is the old, not to mention discredited, field of alchemy.
He talks a lot about some guy named Albertus Magnus, who was a real scientist, by the way.
Victor realizes that science is very powerful, but possibly also destructive, when he sees a tree get struck by lightning. Hmm!
Frankenstein Chapter 3 Summary
Elizabeth catches scarlet fever. She would have died if their mother has not nursed her back to health. Elizabeth recovers, but Caroline catches the illness and dies herself. Really bad things begin here.
On her deathbed, she tells Victor and Elizabeth she wants them to get married.
A few weeks later, Victor goes away to study at a university called Ingolstadt. He’s only seventeen.
Once he gets there, he finds a place to live and starts chatting up professors. Some guy named M. Krempe teaches natural philosophy and basically discredits alchemy entirely, to Victor’s dismay. Imagine studying all through high school only to get to college and have your teachers tell you that everything you know is wrong and stupid.
Luckily, Victor meets a nice chemistry professor named Waldman and decides to study science. The real kind.
Frankenstein Chapter 4 Summary
Victor becomes a huge nerd. He doesn’t make friends. He doesn’t write home, not even to his hot sister/future wife, Elizabeth.
On the plus side, Victor’s studies advance rapidly, which tends to happen when you’re in self-prescribed social exile. Soon, he has mastered everything there possibly is to know in the world.
He becomes obsessed with the way some things are alive and others…aren’t really. He wants to figure out how to make non-living things into living ones.
From a psychological perspective, this probably has something to do with the fact that Victor’s mother just died. This is not a healthy alternative to counseling.
Victor studies anatomy to learn about how bodies live and die.
He decides he wants to make a new race of creatures, and in his spare time he starts assembling pieces of corpses. No one mentions this, but it probably smells really bad at his place.
Further, no one seems too worried about where Victor is getting all the pieces of corpses to sew together. Are we the only curious ones?
Obsession becomes Victor’s middle name.
Frankenstein Chapter 5 Summary
On a dark and stormy night… no seriously, that’s in the book. Anyway, on a foreboding night, Victor brings the stitched up corpse pieces to life.
Victor is on the brink of the achievement of a lifetime. He has visions of a Nobel Prize in Potentially Evil and Highly Suspect Late-Night Doings. He has created a superior race of people. He is going to win fame and adoration and, oh wait. No! The monster is huge and not exactly aesthetically pleasing.
Victor is roughly thinking, "uh-oh."
But wait, you say. What’s so bad about this monster? Does he club baby seals or throw soda cans in the trash instead of recycling them? Did he hit someone’s mother? Nope. Nope. Nope. He’s just ugly. That’s it.
And frankly, who did Victor expect from a pile of corpse parts, Brad Pitt? And isn’t beauty supposed to be on the inside? But in this story, beautiful = good, ugly = evil. Got it? Take it up with Shelley. Or societal ideals of the 1800s.
The monster leans over Victor and smiles at him. Oh, the horror.
But Victor has just had a nightmare about Elizabeth and his mother’s corpses (think foreshadowing), so when he sees the ugly smile, he runs out of his house and spends the night in his courtyard.
The next morning, Victor goes for a walk. He can’t seem to be able to stand being in the same room as someone who is ugly.
In town, in one of many remarkably convenient coincidences in this book, Victor runs into his dear old buddy Henry near the town inn. Henry has come to study at Ingolstadt. It’s the thing to do.
Don’t worry – Henry is attractive. So it’s okay for Victor to be friends with him.
Victor immediately falls ill with a fever, and Henry nurses him back to health over a number of months. Illnesses lasted a long time back then because they didn’t have things like penicillin or hygiene.
When Victor recovers, Henry gives him some letters from Elizabeth.
Frankenstein Chapter 6 Summary
Elizabeth is worried about Victor’s illness. We are reminded that Victor has at least one good thing going for him right now.
She also nags Victor to write home. Eventually, he does.
She also tells him about a girl named Justine who has come to live with their family (as a servant) in Geneva after her own mother’s death.
Victor finally recovers…several months after the shock of seeing something ugly.
Henry and Victor both start studying "Oriental" languages in school. Victor tries to avoid all the science people. They think he is being modest, but he can’t stand to look at them or talk to them because they remind him of the huge mistake he has made.
He decides to return to Geneva. Before he does, he and Henry go for a walk in nature and appreciate how beautiful it is. Perhaps we would even call it sublime. Hmm! Nature is beautiful…there’s something unnatural about the ugly creature…
Frankenstein Chapter 7 Summary
Back at school, Victor gets a letter from Dad. It seems that someone has murdered his little brother, William. He leaves for Geneva immediately.
Victor arrives too late – the gates of the city have been closed for the night.
Victor lurks around the woods near where his brother was killed.
He sees the monster he created for a moment and it occurs to him that, since the monster isn’t attractive, he probably committed the murder. No one else has seen this monster or knows anything about it.
At home the next day (the gates have been opened by now), Victor finds out that Justine has been accused of the murder because she has a picture of Caroline in her pocket – the same picture William had with him right before he died.
Victor and Elizabeth are the only ones who think Justine is innocent. Well, Justine, too.
But coward that he is, Victor won’t tell anyone why. He’s afraid to be labeled a crazy person.
Frankenstein Chapter 8 Summary
Shocking! Justine confesses even though she is innocent so that she won’t go to Hell.
Elizabeth and Victor still believe in her innocence, although no one else does. Again, except for Justine.
Justine is executed.
Victor feels stupid. And guilty. His secret has now caused two people he loves to die.
Frankenstein Chapter 9 Summary
Victor continues to feel 1) stupid and 2) guilty. He mopes around, contemplating suicide.
His father takes the family to Belrive to try to put the past behind them.
Victor goes off by himself to the valley of Chamounix and feels momentary happiness due to how beautiful it is (again with the beautiful nature bit – pay attention), but the feeling passes.
Frankenstein Chapter 10 Summary
Victor feels awful. Then it rains.
He goes up to the top of Montanvert to see the views, since pretty things have a way of cheering him up.
Instead he sees the monster.
Victor threatens to essentially kick the monster's butt, but the monster looks like The Rock.
The monster, despite everything, invites Victor to come to a cave to talk with him by a fire. FIRE. Look out for that Prometheus reference.
The monster talks eloquently, so Victor consents to listen to the his life story. We know what you’re thinking. Uh-oh – are we in for another "Chapter One: I am Born?" No. This guy is a lot more interesting than Victor.
Frankenstein Chapter 11 Summary
The monster relates how he slowly learned about the world through his senses. He also discovered both the benefits of fire (warmth) and its drawbacks (that burning sensation).
Begin use of historical present.
At first, the monster attempts to get food by going into a hut, but the inhabitants scream in fear and run out. The same thing happens to him every time he goes into a village, or actually, any dwelling of people anywhere.
The monster realizes that everyone is prejudiced against him because he is ugly.
Finally, he finds a small hovel near a cottage and settles in there, watching the family, which consists of a blind old man, and two younger people.
Frankenstein Chapter 12 Summary
The monster stays in the hovel all winter. He kind of grows fond of the family he is watching. In fact, he really cares about them.
At first, he steals food from them, but when he realizes they are poor, he stops and finds food in the woods instead. He also does work at night, like clearing snow or gathering them firewood, just to help them out.
Why? Because he’s a genuine, nice guy. Seriously. The monster is one of the kindest, most helpful people we see in this book.
He learns that the two younger people are named Felix and Agatha. The monster also realizes they can talk, and he listens to them until he learns their language.
The monster thinks they are beautiful, and he gets really upset when he looks at his reflection in a pond and remembers how hideous he is. Poor guy. It’s really not his fault he’s ugly.
He feels increasingly isolated, especially when he sees that everyone around him seems to have someone.
Frankenstein Chapter 13 Summary
Because the monster is all sensitive and stuff, he starts to realize that Felix is totally sad, too.
Soon, a hot, foreign woman arrives at the cottage. Felix perks up. So does everyone else.
The woman, Safie, doesn’t speak the language that the rest of the cottage people do, so they teach it to her. The monster eagerly eavesdrops on her lessons and learns the language, too. He also learns to read.
He learns about history from the book Ruins of Empires that Felix uses to teach Safie.
The monster’s increasing literacy and knowledge is both good and bad; it brings him an understanding of the world he’s in, but it reminds him that he can’t really participate in the world. He’s ugly and different, and now he really knows it. And he’s alone, and he really knows that, too.
Frankenstein Chapter 14 Summary
The monster eavesdrops on the family all the time. Now that he understands what they’re saying, he puts together their story, which in many ways is like what has happened to Victor’s family.
Safie’s Turkish father was accused wrongly of a crime, much like Justine, and sentenced to death. Safie wanted to marry a European man because Turkish men treat women too much like property, a supposed product of them being Muslim, and her Christian mother taught her that that was a raw deal. Luckily, she met Felix when he was visiting her father in prison, and they fell in love.
Agatha, Felix, and the blind old man (named De Lacey) were at one time respected and rich Parisians. Felix plotted to help Safie’s father escape from prison, but he was discovered, and the family was exiled sans all their money.
Safie’s father tried to force her to move to Constantinople, but she escaped to Felix.
These stories give the monster hope that Felix and De Lacey will be compassionate towards him, since they too have suffered injustice. Not only is the monster kind, but he seems to have quite a sophisticated understanding of the human psyche.
Frankenstein Chapter 15 Summary
(We are still inside the monster’s story to Victor.)
The monster finds books and clothes in the woods one night while he is foraging for food. The most important book for him is Paradise Lost, which the monster mistakenly reads as history instead of fiction. How would he know? He sympathizes with Satan’s character. Interesting.
Since the monster can read, he also finds some of Victor’s journal entries in the pockets of the clothes he initially took from Victor. He discovers that Victor was totally grossed out by him and hated that he had brought the monster to life. This stings considerably.
The monster decides that his last hope for social acceptance lies with the cottagers. Since De Lacey is blind and the younger people often leave him alone during the day, the monster hopes that he can gain De Lacey’s trust and acceptance and in turn be trusted by Felix, Agatha, and Safie.
Soon, the monster gets his opportunity. He approaches De Lacey, who is kind and cordial to him. As bad luck would have it, the others return too soon, and Felix drives the monster away.
When the monster comes back, the family has moved out.
Frankenstein Chapter 16 Summary
Seeing as everyone hates him for no fair reason, the monster swears revenge on all people, particularly that jerk who created him only to live miserably, ugly, and alone.
Still, he shows his compassion by rescuing a little girl who slips into a stream and almost drowns. He’s a hero, see?
But when the man accompanying the girl sees the rescue, he assumes the monster is attacking the girl and shoots him. Not the nicest way to say "thank you."
The monster hides out in the woods, nursing his wounded shoulder. Things are not going so well for him.
In another occurrence of astounding coincidence, the monster makes it to Geneva and runs into William Frankenstein, Victor’s younger brother.
Apparently shallowness runs in the family, because William reacts much the same way Victor did, calling the monster ugly and wretched.
The monster is about to let this go when William threatens that his father is Alphonse Frankenstein. Bad call. Enraged upon realizing that William is related to his creator, the monster strangles him with his bare hands.
Afterwards, he takes the picture of Caroline from William’s dead hands and puts it in Justine’s pocket. We told you he was clever.
It is after this explanation that the monster asks for Victor to help him out by creating for him a mate so he won’t be alone.
We probably would have buttered up Victor differently than confessing to murdering his brother. Just a thought.
Frankenstein Chapter 17 Summary
Victor refuses the monster’s request.
The monster’s pretty smart though, and he changes tactics by saying that Victor owes him a mate. It is his duty as creator. (Think God, Adam, and Eve.) He says it will make him less evil because it is loneliness that has made him such a grumpy jerk/murderer.
The monster promises to take his new mate to a South American jungle and hide away from people for the rest of their lives. Sounds fair.
Victor bends like a wet noodle. He agrees, convinced by the monster’s smooth rhetoric. The monster is thrilled. He’s going to have his own girlfriend.
Still, he doesn’t exactly trust Victor-the-Dead-Beat-Dad. So he vows to follow Victor to check in on his progress. He says he’ll know when the work is done, which is just a little creepy and ominous.
Frankenstein Chapter 18 Summary
Victor procrastinates.
Finally he decides to go off to England to work on his project.
Before he goes, his father notices that Victor seems pretty upset. Only he thinks it’s because Victor doesn’t want to marry his hot sister Elizabeth anymore. In Victor’s defense, she is
adopted.No, Victor is down for the marriage. But first he’s gotta make a second monster.
Victor arranges with his father to leave for two years. Henry goes with him. Uh-oh.
Frankenstein Chapter 19 Summary
Victor can’t really work with Henry and the monster breathing down his neck, so he leaves Henry with an acquaintance in Scotland. Victor then rushes off to Orkneys, where he can work on his lady monster in solitude. Still, this guy has a tough time getting himself to work. He worries that he might just be making another destructive monster who wants to kill even more people.Victor spends all his time alone with his half-finished monster and a guilty conscience. We still don’t know where he gets the body parts and stuff to make the second creation.
Frankenstein Chapter 20 Summary
All Victor really does is work in his little, abandoned shack. He has all the time in the world to think.
He has the sudden realization that the new monster will have free will. This complicates things. Even if monster #1 agrees to be peaceful, monster #2 might be furiously angry at being made so hideous. She might hate monster #1. Mrs. Monster might very well go on a killing rampage, and then whose fault would that be? It would be Victor’s. At least he thinks so.
AND what if they had monster babies? The thought is too terrible for Victor to even consider.
In the middle of his work, with the monster watching through the window, Victor destroys everything. He thinks he’s done a good thing. Maybe he has. But he has broken his promise.
The monster vows to exact revenge on Victor, promising in a very scary way to be with him on his wedding night.
Unfortunately, one of Victor’s main flaws is his obsession with himself. He assumes that the monster intends to kill him on his wedding night, ignoring the much more obvious threat to Elizabeth, despite the fact that the monster has made a habit of killing people Victor loves.
We call this frustrating. English majors calls it "dramatic irony."
The next night, Victor gets a letter from Henry. It basically says, "What’s taking so long? Let’s go already."
Victor rows out into the ocean, taking the she-monster remains with him and dumping them into the water.
After deciding NOT to perish at sea, Victor lands in a nearby town, where instead of being treated hospitably, the people accuse him of committing a murder that happened there the night before. This is fitting, since he did sort of just commit a murder. And dump the body into the water.
Frankenstein Chapter 21 Summary
So, things get worse from there. The town magistrate, Mr. Kirwin, makes Victor look at the body to see if he has some reaction to it.
Very sadly, the dead guy is Henry. So Victor is accused of murdering Henry, who really got murdered because Victor destroyed the monster’s potential wife.
We also almost forgot how attractive Henry is. So Shelley reminds us.
Victor falls ill and stays that way for two months.
Recovered, he finds himself in prison. Not the best way to wake up from a feverish illness.
Mr. Kirwin is now inexplicably more compassionate towards Victor than before his illness.
Further, to Victor’s surprise, his father comes to see him.
The court ends up finding Victor innocent of Henry’s death. Something about circumstantial evidence and shameless authorial manipulation of the plot.
The point is, he can now return to Geneva with his father.
Frankenstein Chapter 22 Summary
Victor stops to rest in Paris and recover his strength.
He gets a letter from Elizabeth, asking him if he is in love with someone else. Nope, not the last time he checked.
He thinks about the monster’s threats, still so painfully oblivious to the monster’s true intent. He decides to get on with the marriage and fight the monster, win or lose, to be free of him one way or the other.
Back in Geneva, he tells Elizabeth that he has a terrible secret. He can’t tell her until after they are married. This is never a good sign.
Elizabeth, however, is unfazed.
So they get married and go off to a family cottage in pretty much the middle of nowhere.\
Frankenstein Chapter 23 Summary
The newlyweds go for a walk around at their cottage. Only Victor has more than wedding night jitters. He is just oozing fear about the monster’s arrival.
Inside the cottage, he sends Elizabeth to bed so he can search the house for the monster. This is not how a wedding night is supposed to go down.
Big mistake. He hears Elizabeth scream. It suddenly hits Victor what we’ve all know for chapters now: the monster didn’t want to kill him. He wanted, and got, Elizabeth.
The body count has now reached four.
Poor Victor really hates himself at this point. He goes home to Geneva to tell his father the sad news, and the man drops dead from grief.
The body count has now reached five.
Victor is alone and miserable. Just like the monster he created.
He goes to a magistrate to try and tell him about the monster and Elizabeth’s death, but the magistrate doesn’t believe him.
Since Victor has nothing left to live for, he decides to spend the rest of his life hunting down the monster and attempting to kill him.
Frankenstein Chapter 24 Summary
The Great Pursuit begins. The monster leaves a trail of clues for Victor to follow, but never allows his creator to get close enough to catch him.
During his chase, Victor meets Walton. We’re back to the story in a story now, where Victor is on the boat with that sensitive, superior guy who writes letters to his sister. Remember?
Victor asks Walton to keep up after the monster after Victor dies.
After that, Victor’s narrative ends.
Walton, for some bizarre reason, believes all of Victor’s lunatic ravings. He wishes he had known Victor when he was normal, too, because he thinks he would have made a good friend.
The crew asks Walton if they can head home already, because with the sub-zero temperatures and the stuck-in-the-ice situation, morale has gotten unbearably low.
Victor berates them for giving up, and they are momentarily moved to agree with him.
But two days later, they ask again, and Walton is all "Fine. We can go home."
When the ship is about to return to England, Victor dies. Just like that.
A few days pass.
Walton hears strange noises coming from the room where Victor’s body is. He finds the monster crying over Victor’s body. Exclamation point.
Walton is surprised. The monster is still ugly, especially when he’s crying.
Walton’s pretty nice to the monster, though.
The monster concludes that now that his maker is dead, he has no more life purpose such as killing Victor’s friends or leaving Victor puzzling clues or stalking Victor from afar.
Now that he has nothing left, the monster decides to build a funeral pyre for himself on a mountaintop and die. He leaves the ship and disappears into the dark.
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