Shudder Secrets: Birth/Rebirth: A Fresh Take on the Frankenstein Classic

Though 2023 is not quite over yet, I’m already formulating my yearly best-of horror movie list. I have no doubt that Birth/Rebirth, written and directed by Laura Moss, will be on it. This is one of two fresh takes that we’ve had on Frankenstein in 2023, the other being The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, the feature debut of writer/director Bomani J. Story.

Both films update Mary Shelley’s classic tale for the modern age. While Story’s film takes place in an urban setting and deals with gang violence, Birth/Rebirth focuses on two women. The leads serve the role of the scientist. Birth/Rebirth still deals with themes central to the book, namely birth, loss, and trying to overcome the laws of nature to reanimate a corpse. In this case, the purpose of the reanimation is to revive a grieving mother’s child.

Birth/Rebirth’s Take on the Mad Scientist

In Mary Shelley’s novel, Victor Frankenstein is an ambitious student. He’s eager to solve the mysteries of nature despite warnings from others, including some of his teachers, that he shouldn’t dabble with forces much greater than himself. Once he births the creature, he abandons it. In fact, he literally passes out the moment it’s born. Victor’s scorn towards his creation causes the Monster to kill those closest to him, including his dear, sweet Elizabeth. Shelley’s novel has several major themes at play. In the case of Victor, he’s frequently concerned about his name living on long after he’s dead. His ego trumps his sense of morals. He wants glory, and that sense of fame connects him to other characters in the novel, including explorer Robert Walden, whose letters open the novel. It’s Walden and his crew who discover Victor in the ice and, later, the Creature.

In Birth/Rebirth, the moral compass is a bit blurrier and not as black and white. Marin Ireland turns in a simply fantastic performance as morgue technician Rose Casper. She steals bodies in hopes of reanimating them. However, unlike Victor, Rose doesn’t perform grisly acts, so her name may last the ages. Instead, she’s truly interested in science and prolonging life. Though she’s a bit deadpan and socially isolated, she does have better intentions than Victor.

After her daughter dies suddenly, maternity nurse Celie Morales (Judy Reyes), ultimately implores Rose to help her reanimate her daughter. More specifically, she discovers that Rose took her daughter’s body to experiment on it in hopes of returning her to life.

Together, the two female characters serve as the scientists paramount to the general Frankenstein story. However, both are more sympathetic, especially Celie. Because she’s a grieving single mother, you can’t blame her for wanting to save her daughter, Lila (A. J. Lister).

Birth/Rebirth’s Unique Take on the Monster

Birth/Rebirth also complicates Shelley’s timeless tale. Victor is monstrous in the novel by not only isolating himself from those he cares about for the sake of his experiments but also for ditching his Creation. Once the Monster tells his story and the narrative of the book shifts near the halfway point, he makes clear to Victor that he never would have killed if he was simply shown love, attention, and affection.

Shelley’s Monster does eventually learn moral choice and realizes the consequences of his actions by observing others and facing cruelty inflicted upon him for, well, looking different. In the case of Birth/Rebirth, a little girl stands in for the Monster. She has the Monster’s initial innocence, but she’s a far more subdued character. Yet, without spoiling anything, let’s just say that the corpse doesn’t come back quite right.

It’s an interesting shift to make the Monster a child. However, Lila is far less of a character than Victor’s Creation and not fully conscious for much of the film. Yet, some of the lessons from Shelley’s novel remain. There is a cost to reanimating Lila, and Celie especially showcases a hard-head determination to continue despite Rose’s growing reluctance. Rose eventually understands that maybe you shouldn’t mess with the forces of nature. This is a lesson Victor learns only after it’s too late, once the Monster kills his loved ones. Celie also never quite understands this lesson because her grief is so profound.

Birth/Rebirth’s Nonconventional Family Dynamics

There’s another interesting twist Birth/Rebirth offers and a potential queer reading of the film. Both Rose and Celie are single. The longer that the experiment goes on, the more they form a relationship, to the point Celie even cooks for Rose while she’s at work. To add, Rose’s icy and deadpan personality thaws the longer that Celie is in her life. They find companionship with each other.

It makes sense that there’s a potential queer reading to Birth/Rebirth. After all, Mary Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a famed feminist writer. Mary Shelley and the Romantic movement were a bunch of bohemians whose sexuality was fluid. Birth/Rebirth and the Frankenstein story belong to a rich and storied queer history.

Birth/Rebirth is a clever, female-centric take on Frankenstein. It places two females at the center of the story while still addressing the fundamental themes of Shelley’s masterpiece, that being birth, death, grief, and the very laws of nature.

The film streams on Shudder starting November 10. To keep updated on the streaming service’s latest releases, follow my Shudder Secrets column.

Birth Rebirth is now available to rent and own from 22^nd January in the UK.