The Vindicator (also known as Frankenstein '88) is a 1986 Canadian Sci-Fi Horror film directed by Jean-Claude Lord, starring David McIlwraith, Teri Austin, Richard Cox, Pam Grier, Maury Chaykin, and Catherine Disher. The visual effects were provided by Stan Winston. The story is a modern-day take on that of Frankenstein, centering on a man named Carl Lehman (McIlwraith) who is killed in a suspicious "laboratory accident" and revived as a cyborg as part of an experiment.
This film provides examples of the following tropes:
- Asshole Victim: Burt. He betrays Carl by leading him into a trap and attempts to take Carls wife for himself. When she rebukes him, he attempts to rape and kill her. Oh, by the way, she is pregnant and Burt is well aware of this. Thankfully, he is killed when Carl crushes him inside his car while crushing it lengthwise against a tree.
- Cyborg: Carl is revived as one after dying in a laboratory explosion.
- Driven to Suicide: Hunter. As one last "Eff You" to Carl after trying to make him kill his own pregnant wife who she was also torturing, once Carl has her cornered, she shoots herself in the head.
- Facial Horror: The accident that kills Carl has him taking an explosion to the face, and the only skin that remains intact is that around his eyes, and that's only because he was wearing safety goggles — everything else can only be described as "ghoulish".
- He Knows Too Much: When Carl confronts his boss Mr. Whyte about his suspicious funding cuts, the latter sends an employee to rig an explosion in Carl's lab to silence him while making it appear accidental.
- Stalker with a Crush: Burt. It doesn't end well for him.
- Unstoppable Rage: Carl's cyborg body is fitted with a "rage program" that senses when he is in danger and sends him into one of these before returning to normal once the threat has been eliminated.
- We Can Rebuild Him: After dying in a suspicious "accident", Carl is given a cyborg body constructed from an experimental flight suit he had been developing and cutting-edge prosthetics technology.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To Frankenstein. Both involve an ambitious but ethically dubious scientist trying to create life from death, which ultimately backfires and results in his own death at the hands of his creation.
