I, Frankenstein

In 1795, Dr. Victor Frankenstein creates a monster by patching together parts of corpses and reanimating them. Horrified by his creation, he tries to destroy it. He chases it to the Arctic, but succumbs to the weather. When the monster returns home, it's attacked by demons, but then rescued by the gargoyles Ophir and Keziah. They bring it before the gargoyle queen Leonore and their commander Gideon. Leonore explains that they were created by the Archangel Michael to battle demons on Earth and protect humanity. They name the creature "Adam" and invite him to join them, but he declines and departs after being given heavy, baton-like weapons to protect himself, as more demons will come after him. The weapons allow him to "descend" demons (destroying their bodies and trapping their souls in Hell) as they have the symbol of the Gargoyle Order carved on them.

For centuries Adam lives apart from society, hiding from the demons. In the modern day he returns, and confronts one of the demons. While Adam is summoned by the gargoyles once more, the demon Helek reports that Adam is alive to his leader, the demon-prince Naberius. Naberius has disguised himself as billionaire businessman Charles Wessex, and employed scientists Terra Wade and Carl Avery to conduct experiments to try to reanimate corpses. He sends a group of demons led by his most formidable warrior, Zuriel, to attack the gargoyles' cathedral and capture Adam so he can unlock the secret to resurrecting the dead.

In the attack, many demons are slain, but 16 gargoyles, including Ophir and Keziah, are "ascended" (returned to and trapped in Heaven) while Leonore is captured and brought to an abandoned theater. Gideon is instructed to bring Adam as a trade for Leonore. However Adam escapes during the attack, and interrogates a demon who also tells him they want the gargoyles to trade him for Leonore. Without Adam, Gideon offers to trade Leonore for Victor Frankenstein's journal, which was taken off of Adam's body the night they found him. Adam follows the demons to the Wessex Institute, where he learns that Naberius plans to recreate Frankenstein's experiment and use thousands of reanimated corpses as hosts for souls of the descended demons. The demons will be able to return from Hell if they have soulless bodies to possess. Adam retrieves the journal, escapes, and later he tracks down Terra. They're attacked by Zuriel, but Adam manages to "descend" him.

Adam warns the remaining gargoyles of Naberius' plan, agreeing to give them the journal if they get him and Terra to safety. Leonore agrees, but tells Gideon to kill him after he retrieves the journal. After a violent fight, Adam is forced to "ascend" Gideon and then decides to burn Frankenstein's journal and destroy its secrets before the gargoyles come after him. Adam evades them, leading them to the Wessex Institute where they join battle with Naberius' demons, descending Naberius's right-hand man Dekar early in the fight. While the battle progresses, Adam ventures into the Institute to rescue Terra, who had been kidnapped by Naberius and forced to reanimate dead bodies. Naberius overpowers Adam and tries to have one of the demon spirits possess him, but it doesn't work since it turns out that Adam does have a soul. In the end Adam descends Naberius.

• Aaron Eckhart as Adam Frankenstein, a superhuman creature created by Dr. Frankenstein
• Bill Nighy as Naberius, a demon prince who poses as Charles Wessex, head of the scientific Wessex Institute
• Yvonne Strahovski as Dr. Terra Wade, a world-renowned electrophysiologist employed by Naberius to research reanimation of dead matter
• Miranda Otto as Queen Leonore, the gargoyle queen
• Jai Courtney as Gideon, leader of the gargoyle army
• Socratis Otto as Zuriel, Naberius' most formidable warrior
• Kevin Grevioux as Dekar, a high-ranking demon who serves as the head of security at the Wessex Institute
• Goran D. Kleut as Rekem, a demon serving under Naberius who tries to capture Adam
• Steve Mouzakis as Helek, a demon serving under Naberius
• Mahesh Jadu as Ophir, a gargoyle
• Caitlin Stasey as Keziah, a gargoyle
• Chris Pang as Levi, a gargoyle
• Deniz Akdeniz as Barachel, a gargoyle
• Nicholas Bell as Dr. Carl Avery, a scientist working with Dr. Wade
• Bruce Spence as Molokai, the demonic doctor overseeing the corpses
• Aden Young as Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a scientist and Adam's creator

One key issue is whether Adam was a monster or a man. That was partly reflected in the choices different characters made throughout the movie to refer to Adam as either him or it. At one point, Dr. Wade delivered the key line, "You're only a monster if you behave like one."

The director has said Adam earned a soul when he burned the journal, selflessly giving up his chance at a mate in order to save mankind. He said when he talked to audiences, they understood that Adam had earned a soul over the course of the movie, but different people had different ideas about what specific thing caused him to earn a soul.

At first Queen Leonore had hoped that Adam would gain a soul. But near the end of the movie, when he refused to help the gargoyles fight the demons, the director says Queen Leonore decided Adam would never gain a soul, and that's why she ordered Gideon to kill him. At that point, everyone was against him, which is similar to the sort of isolation from the original Frankenstein story.

The director said the archangels sent Adam to the gargoyles, in response to Queen Leonore asking them for help. He says that a lot in life, when you get what you need/hoped for, you don't recognize it.[4]

Kevin Grevioux of Underworld sold the original screenplay to Lakeshore Entertainment in 2010.[5][6][7] It is based on his Darkstorm Studios digital graphic novel of the same name.[8][9] Lakeshore, an independent Los Angeles production company which also produced the Underworld films, brought Stuart Beattie on board to re-write and direct in early 2011.[10] In November 2011, it was confirmed that filming would take place in Melbourne and that Australia's Hopscotch Features would co-produce the film with Lakeshore.[11]

When the demons descend into hell, they left holes in the ground. More powerful demons left larger holes, and Prince Naberius's hole swallowed the entire building. The movie's visual effects budget was $6 million.[4]

It was announced on October 7, 2011 that Aaron Eckhart would play the lead role.[12] Eckhart described his character thus: "Frankenstein is an intelligent, evolved man, and that’s how he is portrayed in this movie, for sure."[13] In November 2011, Yvonne Strahovski was cast as the female lead, a scientist working to reanimate the dead, while Miranda Otto was cast as the queen of the gargoyles.[14] Bill Nighy plays the film's villain, whom he described as a "Nasty piece of work; one of the angels descended with Satan."[15] Eckhart and Otto trained for three months with martial arts experts Ron Balicki and Diana Lee Inosanto in the Filipino martial art of Kali for their fight scenes.

Principal photography began on February 27, 2012,[16] based at Docklands Studios Melbourne.[17] Filming occurred in Victoria, Australia over a period of ten weeks, with multiple scenes being filmed at Ormond College.[17] The film created over 500 jobs for cast and crew.[17]

The North American release was originally set for February 22, 2013,[18] and later moved to September 13, 2013.[19] In April 2013 the release date was pushed back again,[20] and saw its world premiere in Buenos Aires on January 20, 2014, after which it was released in 23 countries between January 22 and January 24. It was released in a further nine countries between January 29 and January 31.[21] In February 2013, it was announced the film would be released in 3D.[22] On September 17, 2013, it was announced that the film would be digitally re-mastered and released in the IMAX format.[23]

Much doubt has been cast over a sequel due to the film's lackluster box office performance, though Kevin Grevioux, creator of the graphic novel and the Underworld film series, had earlier expressed interest in making more I, Frankenstein films along with an Underworld crossover film. He stated in a pre-release interview that, in an early draft of his screenplay, Kate Beckinsale would have made a post-credits cameo appearance as Selene and that there would have been Underworld Easter eggs, but none of this was used.[30]

• List of films featuring Frankenstein's monster

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