We had HBO when I was a kid, and a television with cable in the basement... and kids love basements. Time makes no sense in a basement. It's a totally different world down there and, with HBO and that whole latchkey thing, you could be down there into the early hours of the morning watching wonderful trash.
And this is really wonderful trash.
I mean, it IS a Roger Corman film, and those are known for being cheap B-movie fair of the most entertaining quality. Far better than Troma trash that never really seems to have actual talent.
But, this, well, it was 1990 and it had John Hurt, Raul Julia, Bridget Fonda, and Jason Patrick in it and that already felt like it was seriously pushing the boundaries of what qualifies as a Corman movie. Those are names anyone would be thrilled to cast.
And it looked good, OK, it looked a little 90s B, but there are certainly a lot of movies that look worse than this.
It was Frankenstein cast as kind of science-fiction more than horror, black holes and all, and that alone, is intriguing. I mean, when it was written it kind of walked that line and Frankenstein Unbound does a decent job of walking that line as well.
It's part traditional Frankenstein and part alternate reality post apocalyptic Frankenstein with a wild enough plot to keep the viewer entertained no matter how absurd it feels to write that, let alone read it.
It was 1990, honestly it SHOULD have received more of a showing than simply catching it on HBO late one Saturday when USA's Up All Night was showing something absolutely pathetic. It should have been a little more prime time, it is certainly good enough to carry that weight.
