Frankenstein unearthed again

With Guillermo Del Toro's hands full with The Hobbit for the forseeable, it looks like the next Frankenstein adaptation we get will be based on Prodigal Son, the first in a series of novels by Dean Koontz.

Far from being a straight take on Mary Shelley's original, Koontz's Frankenstein series (the first was co-written with Kevin J Anderson and the second with Ed Gorman) sees two modern-day New Orleans detectives on the hunt for a serial killer known as The Surgeon. This peaks the interest of low-key monster Deucalion* who suspects the handiwork of his creator, and dedicates himself to battling his evil. Later instalments see Frankenstein cypher Viktor Helios (just don't call him Froonk-oon-shteen) unleashing an army of engineered undead. As if New Orleans hadn't had enough to contend with recently.

Producers Ralph Winter and Terry Botwick have their eye on a franchise, and are developing the project with 1019 Entertainment. Winter was part of the team behind the original X-Men trilogy, so he clearly has an eye for a potent property, although he was also part responsible for Fantastic Four and Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes.

This all sounds more Roger Corman than James Whale, but it could potentially be fun. Still, if people are going to be adapting twists on the Frankenstein mythos, we'd rather they went for Peter Ackroyd.

/Empire Online/