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Gods and Monsters | 1998 | R | - 8.3.6

This film speculates how Frank Whale, the openly gay director of several Frankenstein films, spent his last days in his secluded estate. With Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave, Lolita Davidovich, David Dukes, Kevin J. O'Connor, Mark Kiely, Jack Plotnick, Rosalind Ayres, Jack Betts and Matt McKenzie. [1:45]

SEX/NUDITY 8 - Lots of sexual innuendo (including references to sodomy and homosexuality) and a brief kiss between two men. A topless man and woman thrust roughly against the side of a wall (we see part of her bare breast). A man removes the towel he's wrapped in and poses nude for a man who's sketching him (we only see his bare torso, then see the towel draped across his lap as he's sitting); later, the man who's sketching him kisses his cheek, touches his chest and reaches toward his towel-covered genitals (a fight ensues; please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). A man tells another he must remove one piece of clothing for every question he asks (we eventually see the man in his underwear). In a flashback scene, many men skinny-dip in a pool and we see the side and full-front of two nude men as they climb out of the pool; also, we see a painting of a nude male several times in the background of a scene. We see a shirtless man a few times and briefly see a picture of a shirtless man on what is presumably a male centerfold magazine.

VIOLENCE/GORE 3 - A man elbows another in the chest, tackles him, slaps him twice, wrestles with him on the floor and starts to choke him (he eventually stops). A man yells at another, throws a coat rack to the floor and overturns his chair. We see some flashbacks of war scenes throughout the movie, with explosions and sound of bombs and heavy gunfire; in one scene we see the shape of a body hanging in barbed wire, in another we see dead soldiers lying on the ground and in another we see lots and lots of dead soldiers in a pile (none seems bloody) and a man imagines himself lying down in the pile. We see a corpse floating in a swimming pool; it's lifted out and then thrown back in. A woman appears to be helping a man urinate (she's standing next to him in front of the toilet, presumably holding his genitals; the scene is in no way sexual).

LANGUAGE 6 - About 10 F-words, an anatomical reference and a few anatomical slang terms, a scatological reference, several mild obscenities and some name-calling.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - The movie industry, homosexuality, suicide, aging, stroke victims.

MESSAGE - Personal demons can haunt anyone, even those who are wealthy and successful.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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