The Filmic 5: Apologies, Mary Edition
Your Weekly Film Superlatives By Critic and Film Scholar Jack Hanley
I. Film I Am NOT Loving This Week: FRANKENSTEIN (Dir. Guillermo del Toro)
It pains me to confess to being wildly underwhelmed by this adaptation…while I adored the lead performances and production design (Oscar is at his unhinged best), del Toro’s RADICAL deviations from the literary source material prove a disastrous over-correction that only serves to undercut the tragic consequences of Victor’s moral negligence- the Creature’s omitted “crimes” mirror his creator’s own crimes against nature, reinforcing the thematic examinations of what happens when gods or men create life irresponsibly and then abandon it.
The novel’s terrible (and often comically absurdist) passive-aggressive cycle of violence and vengeance is framed by BOTH creator and creation sharing toxic culpability…all lost by del Toro’s recent reductive preoccupation with framing his “monsters” as all-noble and his humans as “all-monster”. I ADORE the toxic duet of guilt and dependency twixt “father” and “son” as presented by Shelley- a wicked meditation on mutual obsession, moral co-dependence, and escalating passive aggression…I LIKE my Creature jealously murdering brothers and wives, framing the help for murder, taunting through windows, and endlessly refusing to be ghosted or ignored…you know, kinda like what WE do…
I embrace revisionism when done in intellectual service to the zeitgeist or geopolitical moment- when it has something RADICAL to say (see 2022’s Pinocchio); however, neither here is being served by the artistic choice to deviate from a work of art that needs no such sentimentalist reductiveness. I wanted to love this so badly- but possibly among del Toro’s weakest outings.
Apologies, Mary.
** 1/2 out of *****
II. Loss I Am Heartbroken Over This Week
I was heartbroken to learn that the legendary poster artist Drew Struzan—whose brush gave STAR WARS, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, BLADE RUNNER, and BACK TO THE FUTURE their immortal faces—has died at 78. For Gen X'ers like me, you can be assured that Drew's artistry most likely behind almost all of your favorite childhood movie poster memories.
Struzan didn’t merely make "posters"—he conjured cultural mythology. Lucas, Spielberg, Darabont, del Toro- they ALL lined up for that iconic alchemy. INDIANA JONES, E.T., THE GOONIES, SHAWSHANK, HARRY POTTER—Drew's loving pen transcended mere marketing...he etched the films he worked on into our collective imaginations. Take a moment to marvel and enjoy these MARVELOUS alternate mock-ups he submitted for BACK TO THE FUTURE. Thank you, Drew- Goonies never say die.
III. Trailer That Shook Me To The Core This Week
I'd been hearing the buzz out of Sundance about a new documentary taking the circuit by storm- THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR employs a series of police cam footage clips to stitch together a quiet, devastating anatomy of a brutal killing.
Winner of the Documentary Directing Award at Sundance 2025, director Geeta Gandbhir—longtime editor, first-time filmmaker—understood she’d made something unnervingly singular. She first encountered the story not as a filmmaker, but as a community member in mourning—learning of the murder of Ajike “AJ” Shantrell Owens, a 35-year-old Black mother of four shot by her white neighbor, Susan Lorincz, on June 2, 2023.
I knew the resulting documentary would be painful...what I was not prepared for was to discover via the trailer that this disgusting event took place in the town I grew up in, graduated from High School in, and ultimately left- Ocala, Florida. I've not yet mustered the courage to watch this film...but I know I (and every American) should. Streaming now on Netflix.
IV. Essential Film Essay I'm Loving This Week
Award-winning filmmaker and film historian Jim Hemphill examines the legendary moment that Boris Karloff and James Whale teamed up to create an iconic cinematic monster whose influence would be felt in Hollywood for nearly a century to come. CLICK HERE to learn how 1931's FRANKENSTEIN helped invent the modern studio horror movie.
V. Your Filmic Moment Of Zen
Jack Hanley is a film scholar, podcaster, and critic based in Boulder, CO. He is a programmer with the Chicago Underground Film Festival, Slamdance's Indies Awards, and the Boulder International Film Festival. He is one-half of Blindspotting: A Film Discovery Podcast and the founder of the Reel Horrors Short Film Festival. Find him at Kinophilia on Medium and at HanleyOnFilm.com