Comic-Con 2012: FRANKENSTEIN’S ARMY Looks Awesome

While most of what I end up covering at Comic-Con is a known property or something that was at least on my radar, I'm most excited when I hear about something new. Such is the case with Frankenstein's Army, a film from director Richard Raaphorst that concerns a group of Russian soldiers who discover a secret lab during WWII that contains one of Hitler's last ditch experiments: an army of super-soldiers built using the journal of Victor Frankenstein himself.

Raaphorst was unfortunately delayed (he is in the Netherlands), but I got to sit down with special effects supervisor Rogier Samuels, a veteran of the LOTR films and the upcoming The Hobbit, who showed me some of the designs for the titular army. And let me tell you - there are some kick ass monsters in this movie. Picture Bioshock's Big Daddy mixed with the cenobites from Hellraiser and you'll have a good idea of what to expect when foes like Propellerhead, Mosquito and Crypt Monster hit the screen. Unfortunately they're not letting anyone release images just yet, but Samuels did show me a promotional action figure that I can share with you.

As for the film itself, Samuels says we can expect around 25-30 "soldiers," all with unique designs that will hopefully yield a full action figure line. He also stressed that most of the FX in the film are practical (yay!), as Raaphorst prefers to do as much in camera as possible. The tone of the film is action/horror, and will hopefully be a fine addition to the WWII horror sub-genre along with Deathwatch and The Devil's Rock. Dark Sky plans to have the film in festivals this fall (Fantastic Fest, pretty please?) so hopefully you'll be seeing more of these monsters soon.