Depraved


Depraved is a 2019 American horror film written and directed by Larry Fessenden and starring David Call and Joshua Leonard. It is a modern version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Premise

Suffering from PTSD following his stint as a United States Army medic, Henry now works feverishly in his Brooklyn laboratory to forget the deaths he witnessed overseas by creating life in the form of a man cobbled together from body parts. After procuring a brain from an unwitting victim, his creation, Adam, is born. But it soon seems that giving life to Adam was the easy part; teaching him how to live in a dark and troubled world may be perilous.

Cast

  • David Call as Henry
  • Joshua Leonard as Polidori
  • Alex Breaux as Adam
  • Ana Kayne as Liz
  • Maria Dizzia as Georgina
  • Chloe Levine as Lucy
  • Owen Campbell as Alex
  • Addison Timlin as Shelley
  • Chris O'Connor as Mr. Beaufort
  • Alice Barrett as Mrs. Beaufort
  • Andrew Lasky as Sam the Bartender
  • Jack Fessenden as Eddie
  • James Tam as Mr. Zhang
  • Zilong Zee as Mr. Ling
  • Noah Le Gros as Soldier Adam
  • John Speredakos as Officer Spano
  • Hope Blackstock as Officer Flores
  • Stormi Maya as Strip Club Bartender
  • Rev Love as Stripper #1
  • Hannah Townsend as Stripper #2

    Release

Depraved made its worldwide debut on March 20, 2019, at the IFC Center's What The Fest!? Film Festival. On May 13 that same year, it was announced that IFC Midnight acquired American distribution rights to the film.

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Depraved holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average score of. The site's consensus reads: "A thrillingly effective update on a classic story, Depraved jolts a familiar monster back to life with a potent blend of timely themes and old-school chills." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 69 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally positive reviews".
David Ehrlich of IndieWire graded the film a B. Anya Stanley of Dread Central awarded the film three stars out of five. Katie Rife of The A.V. Club awarded the film a B− and found that Fessenden did something interesting with what is "the umpteenth adaptation of a centuries-old classic." Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times called it Fessenden's "most coherent and visually polished work to date" while still finding it a little "overlong." TheWrap William Bibbiani was more critical saying "as a whole it contributes little to the 'Frankenstein' tradition, other than a reminder that this has all been done before, mostly better."