Mary Shelley is responsible for creating one of the most iconic stories in horror – Frankenstein. The novel tells the disturbing tale of the obsessive Doctor Frankenstein, a young man who becomes infatuated with reanimating the dead. After achieving the impossible, he finds himself haunted and tormented by the ‘monster’ that he has created. It’s a truly brilliant story, and one that has been committed to celluloid on several occasions, but whilst we all know the book, few know anything about it’s creator. In A Nightmare Wakes, writer and director Nora Unkel offers her own spin on the mother of monstrous masculinity.
Not a straight-forward biopic that one might expect, A Nightmare Wakes does include all the trappings of a period piece biopic, whilst adding a thick veil of psychological thrills. Playing out across a number of years, A Nightmare Wakes joins Mary Shelley whilst she was still Mary Wollstonecraft and the mistress of Percy Shelley. The pair shared a house with Mary’s step-sister and the three were regular guests at the parties of Lord Byron. At one of these parties, Byron laid down the gauntlet for his attendees to dream up a terrifying tale. Soon after, inspiration hits, and Mary becomes all consumed with birthing her nightmarish novel whilst at the same time traversing issues of failed motherhood.
Instead of portraying Shelley as a revolutionary writer, a woman whose horrific words ran rings around her male counterparts, the film opts to show her as a stereotypical hysterical woman. She’s either manic because she wants Percy, in fits of despair related to her inability to be a mother, being driven mad by her need to finish her novel, or is paranoid about everything around her. We never really get time to get to know a mentally healthy and lucid version of Mary, which places the viewer on the back foot with her, forcing a wedge between character and audience that makes it hard to fully connect.
As with Mary herself, A Nightmare Wakes only truly comes to life when visiting Mary’s literary ideas. Here, within her mind, we meet Victor Frankenstein, a darkly romanticised version of Percy who effortlessly seduces Mary into telling his story. As his story consumes her, the outer world and relationships fall away, and Mary finds herself at the behest of Frankenstein’s demands, much as Frankenstein finds himself at the mercy of his ‘monster’ in the novel. This decision proposes an interesting perspective on Shelley’s own state of mind at the time of her writing; was it a case of life imitating art or vice versa?
A Nightmare Wakes lies heavily upon the shoulders of Alix Wilton Regan, with little screen-time given to anyone outside of Mary. With so much time on screen, Regan is given plenty of time to unpackage all of Mary’s emotional baggage and effortlessly takes the viewer on a trip through the dark. Her performance moves from gentle and respected lady, to desperate and wild-eyed monster. This iteration of Shelley requires full commitment and in Regan, Unkel has found the perfect vessel. Unkel also found the perfect Percy / Victor in Giullian Yao Gioiello as the chemistry between him and Regan is brilliant. The interactions between him as Victor, and her as Mary, are steeped in electricity and the dynamic really sizzles.
However well put together A Nightmare Wakes may be, there’s a distinct lack of that magic ingredient that makes a film really special. The shortfall potentially comes from the indecisive nature of the tone. Unkel doesn’t seem to settle on whether the film should be viewed as period Gothic drama, or psychological horror nightmare. Instead, it see-saws back and forth, the audience cast into no-man’s land with nothing to properly grasp onto.
Historian’s will no doubt be distressed by this screen version of Shelley. Whilst certain aspects of Shelley’s life are respectfully represented on screen, A Nightmare Wakes is a definite work of fiction, with Unkel claiming poetic licence at every opportunity. By side-stepping the truth, Unkel offers a more attractive interpretation of the prolific writer’s life and will no doubt inspire more to find out the real story for themselves.
A Nightmare Wakes arrives on Shudder from 4th February 2021.
A Nightmare Wakes
Summary
A (mostly) beguiling blend of horror fiction and period biopic, A Nightmare Wakes offers a new perspective on historical stories. This new direction occasionally leaves the viewer uncertain of where the truth lies and its tonal sway distracts slightly more than it enthrals.
