Movie Preview: 'Mary Shelley's Frankenstein'

Is Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein destined to become a classic? It sure looked like one in the first trailer, a teaser that erupted in gothic images that were, well, pretty classic. In a lightning-laced montage, there were roiling clouds, looming shadows, cavernous corridors, men looking aghast, women screaming in horror, Helena Bonham Carter wearing a tight Victorian bodice, and a bare-chested Branagh flailing around the lab as he brings the creature to life. Indeed, the only thing we didn’t see was the creature in all its glory. In the tradition of monster movies from Jaws to Wolf, TriStar hadn’t revealed Robert De Niro in full makeup. Instead, we got fleeting glimpses: an awakening eye, a groping hand, a lunging silhouette. That changed a bit last weekend when TriStar unveiled a new, longer trailer that not only incorporates dialogue (”It’s alive!”) but gives a bit more exposure to the hulking, bald, cadaverous monster, who’s shown for an instant in a few shots. Not enough, you say? Then you may just have to wait until Nov. 4, when Frankenstein roars to life in darkened theaters.