1998 Directed by Bill Condon
It's 1957, and James Whale's heyday as the director of "Frankenstein," "Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Invisible Man" is long behind him. Retired and a semi-recluse, he lives his days accompanied only by images from his past. When his dour housekeeper, Hannah, hires a handsome young gardener, the flamboyant director and simple yard man develop an unlikely friendship, which will change them forever.
Ian McKellen Brendan Fraser Lynn Redgrave Lolita Davidovich David Dukes Kevin J. O'Connor Mark Kiely Jack Plotnick Rosalind Ayres Jack Betts Matt McKenzie Todd Babcock Cornelia Hayes O'Herlihy Brandon Kleyla Pamela Salem Michael O'Hagan David Millbern Amir Aboulela Marlon Braccia Jesse Long Owen Masterson Lisa Vastine Kent George Martin Ferrero David Fabrizio Jesse James Lisa Darr Paul Michael Sandberg Judson Mills Show All…
Clive Barker David Forrest Beau Rogers Stephen P. Jarchow Sam Irvin Valorie Massalas Spencer Proffer
Debra-Lee Davidson Tarra D. Day Cyndra Dunn Rita L. Green Jerry Macaluso Nina Minster Cindy Nakadaira Scott Tebeau Cass McClure Mike Smithson Roy Knyrim
Боги и монстры, Dioses y Monstruos, Deuses e Monstros, 众神与恶魔, 魂断梦工场, 神与魔, 众神与野兽, Demoni e dei, Dioses y monstruos, Ni Dieux Ni Démons, Bohové a monstra, אלים ומפלצות, Érzelmek tengerében, Богове и чудовища, Боги та монстри, 갓 앤 몬스터, ゴッド・アンド・モンスター, Bogowie i potwory
Germany12
USAR
Netherlands6
South Korea18
France
Netherlands6
Netherlands6
France
Germany
Netherlands
South Korea
USA
I want an app on my phone that clips scenes from this movie but it uses Siri as an input. Like “the part where ian mckellan is talkin about his boyfriend from the trenches splayed out on some barbed wire for a week and they cut to Brendan Frazier doing some “ain’t that how it be” Aw shucks face” and then the phone just gives it to me and I can send it to people
Acts as both a critique of the Hollywood system and a study of the trauma and danger that lies within open homosexuality. It’s incredibly rare - hell, I can’t think of another American queer film - that is written, directed, and stars an actual gay person, so it’s surprisingly refreshing that there’s one from the 90s. Ian McKellen delivers his finest performance as the retired classic director James Whale, showcasing a stunning amalgamation of the emotional intensities and delicacies that come with age and sexuality. While this may seem like a shock, and it could be a personal matter, but I doubt I’ve ever seen homosexuality portrayed this well on film with regard to the mentality and mannerisms of this character, making Gods and Monsters as special as it is.
Ian McKellan stars as James Whale in Bill Condon’s period drama covering the (semi-fictionalised) last days of the iconic director, with Brendan Fraser and Lynn Redgrave making up the supporting cast.
It’s lovingly crafted by Condon, and in bringing Christopher Bram’s book to the big screen uses speculative elements to shed light on Whale’s life and career. Both he and McKellan are openly gay, so the subject provides a chance for them to openly explore themes of sexuality that weren’t too common in mainstream film even in 1998.
The film paints Whale as a very complicated figure, and doesn’t try to go the easy route of sentimentality, but even so there was something about this that didn’t quite work for…
I hadn’t watched this movie since I was really young. Given how my film taste has evolved and my obsessions have deepened (especially with my knowledge of Hollywood’s Golden Age) I wasn’t sure how I would respond to this film now. But during the movie night with friends that I watched this for I was really taken by the prickly emotional terrain, tremendous lead performances, and how it approached its themes. Watching an older gay man (I feel audiences don’t get many depictions of older queer folks in mainstream cinema that feel so well-rounded and complex) wrestle with yearning for a past he can’t return to, facing his mortality in the wake of a stroke, and being confronted by both…
A film with Sir Ian McKellen,
A director's story that's worth tellin'.
Any appraiser,
Sees peak Brendan Fraser,
And definitely approves what he's sellin'.
Don’t you love being famous?
From all the polarizing famous figures of Hollywood industry that should provide enough of material filled with spicy polemics to be addressed in a biopic feature, director James Whale was really the least I could ever thought of earning one, specially still back at the 90s. Which serves to prove the intents behind Gods and Monsters really come from a place that it isn’t just banking on a controversial persona’s personal life.
Rather, comes from a real intent of admiration by writer/director Bill Condon, that by adapting Father of Frankenstein by Christopher Bram brings enough of rich content to illustrate both the fascinating person that was James Whale, and share light over his legacy and…
A absorbing biography about the final days of james whale, the film director of Frankenstein. This is an emotional, interesting psychological film that is a study about the mind of a dying man. The strength comes from the chemistry and friendship between Ian mckellens character and brendan Frasers character, both give engaging, strong performances. James whale came from dudley in the west Midlands, the same area of England that I live in. I always see a memorial statue near the cinema there.
A movie about old movies and gay. Yeah you deserved an Oscar. Bravo.
What a strange movie Gods and Monsters is to blur reality in such a haunting and sharp way. No matter how much the audience is privy to the main character as a forward “dirty old man” much like Brendan Fraser’s character we feel for him and oddly intrigued by him.
Sir Ian McKellen’s performance exhibits the eccentricity and deviant charm of James Whale to perfection in British classism, vulnerability, and quick cleverness to the point of manipulation. And can we talk about Brendan Fraser’s jackpot of excellent casting. That hi-top. Those abs. Brendan Fraser posing naked in a gas mask is an image I wasn’t expecting to…
Can we all just agree Brendan's Fraser is a treasure?
His and Sir Ian McKellen chemistry is just perfect and touching. The direction and script is pretty good as well, bringing some really interesting stuff ideas about the hole Frankenstein monster and its modern background, courtesy of James Whale and his traumas.
It has its flaws - there's a conflict between Whales and the cast of Frankenstein that I don't feel fully gets explained. It can sometimes feel a bit too soapy and melodramatic. And for those who subscribe to the ethos of "Show, don't tell" would find this almost Unbearable.
Nevertheless, this is a great biopic that doesn't really follow the formula to the tea, which helps it make it somewhat refreshing.
Anchored by a breathtaking leading performance from Ian McKellen and stellar supporting turns from Brendan Fraser and Lynn Redgrave, Bill Condon's Gods and Monsters is a tale of withdrawal, repressed desires and one man's disposal from public consciousness as a consequence of Hollywood politics: McKellen portrays Frankenstein director James Whale, whose directorial career found its finale when studio executives blamed him for the failure of a movie that was taken from his hands in the editing room. Or was it his homosexuality, which he chose not to conceal, that heralded the decline of his career toward the later 1930s?
In 1957, Whale now lives a solitary existence in his house, troubled by declining health, alone with his sexual fantasies and…
There are no Monsters here...
-James Whale
Not sure why it took me so long to finally watch this film. I've always admired James Whale and consider his Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man to be the Crown Jewels of the over 60 films that comprise Universal Monsters during the 3 decades it dominated the horror genre with The Old Dark House not far behind. Of course he directed other genres with the most notable probably being the musical Show Boat, but like a certain fan in Gods and Monsters, it's his horror films that I find captivating.
Based on the book Father of Frankenstein by Christopher Bram, the film tells the semi-fictionalized story of the later life…
