Not only is Christmas coming early this year, but it’s coming in spades! While we’ve seen plenty of promotional material and trailers for Guillermo Del Toro’s star-studded (TOM HIDDLESTON!) Crimson Peak (October 16th), there’s been little fanfare to be made about the Max Landis written project, Victor Frankenstein. But now, me and all of Tumblr can drool over the newly released trailer which depicts the fictitious relationship of Victor Frankenstein (James McAvoy) and his not too-deformed assistant Igor (Daniel Radcliffe).

Aside from being spawned from my deepest sexual fantasies, this version of the Mary Shelley classic seems to be a re-telling with a slightly altered perspective, focusing on the Igor and Frankenstein relationship. Many Frankenstein fans know that as far as the films go, the Universal Frankenstein film had a character named “Fritz” who was the mad doctor’s assistant who would meet an unfortunate end. It was the sequel, Son of Frankenstein, that introduced the Igor character (played by Bela Lugosi) who was later greatly popularized by Marty Feldman’s portrayal in Gene Wilder’s Young Frankenstein. This version seems to have been inspired by the Dario Argento school of “Emotional Deformity > Physical Deformity”, where Daniel Radcliffe’s Igor seems to be trapped McAvoy’s Doctor’s manipulation while maintaining really pretty hair.

In all seriousness, while I welcome any variation of the classic Hammer Horror Films (that Radcliffe is no stranger to), there is something about the trailer that I can’t pin down. I get the impression that we’re not really supposed to sympathize with the doctor, and I think that’s something McAvoy will relish in. But there’s also more to this story it seems than just the standard Frankenstein tale. A film that reminds me of Van Helsing does not inspire hope, that’s not something we should be comparing any film to. I have a hunch that the film isn’t as silly as the trailer is leading us to believe, but I’m not sure if that’ll be a good thing or a bad thing. Considering how the Kenneth Branaugh version of Frankenstein is so melodramatic that it is accidentally funny in places (that birth scene), maybe it’s not wise for another film version to be so serious.

Also, this fucking tease of a poster knows who its audience is.

Victor Frankenstein opens this November. I swear to god if some artsy UK horror movie with Dan Stevens and Cillian Murphy comes out in December, my eyes will explode out of my head.