Gods And Monsters

For some odd reason, early horror-film directors have recently come into fashion again, but for their odd tastes, not their odd films.

In Shadow Of The Vampire, John Malkovich's Murnau directs a real human vampire in Nosferatu. In Gods And Monsters, Ian McKellen plays Frankenstein director James Whale.

Set in the film-maker's sunset years, it's basically an extended tease about how long, and in what manner, the once-great man will take to get into the pants of his handsome hunk of a poolboy played by Brendan Fraser (then little known).

McKellen gives him a certain faded, fastidious, not over-lecherous attractiveness, but the picture of Hollywood in its golden twilight is less than flattering (or accurate).

Embraced by the gay community, the film did well, but much of it is conjecture and all of it is, well, vampirical.

Most watched News videos