A hilarious twist on the classic monster movie

He’s living in a world of evil. But he’s got a heart of gold. Now, he’s having a monster of a problem. Meet the talented hunchback who’s got an evil intention that turned into a good invention in the new animated film Igor.

In a land of mad scientists and diabolical inventions, what do you do when you’re born with a hunch on your back? You become an Igor. A hilarious twist on the classic monster movie, Igor tells the story of one Igor (the voice of John Cusack) who’s sick of being a lowly lab assistant with a Yes Masters’ degree and dreams of becoming a scientist. When his cruel master kicks the bucket a week before the annual Evil Science Fair, Igor finally gets his chance.

At its heart, Igor is a story of hope and how the most unlikely people can change the world. For screenwriter Chris McKenna, it all began with a simple idea. A lifelong fan of horror films, he set out to create a riff on Frankenstein and other evil scientist films by flipping that world upside down — turn the slurring, hunchbacked lab assistant into a genius, the evil genius into a fraud, the evil monster into a sweetheart, the brain-in-a-jar to an idiot, and so on. “I got stuck on this notion of a dark, stormy Transylvania-like universe and wanted to explore that setting,” said McKenna.

For director Tony Leondis, McKenna’s slightly twisted take on a classic tale immediately intrigued him and sparked visions of creating a film with a look that was completely unique.

That deep reservoir was realized in an ensemble cast of incredibly talented actors who form the voice cast of Igor. Heading up the group as the cute but creepy, Igor, is John. He is joined by Steve Buscemi as the somewhat morose Scamper; John Cleese as Dr. Glickentsein; Jennifer Coolidge as the sultry Jaclyn; Arsenio Hall as Carl Cristall; Sean Hayes as the irrepressible Brain; Eddie Izzard as Dr. Schadenfreude; Jay Leno as King Malbert, James Lipton as himself, Molly Shannon as Eva and Christian Slater as Dr. Schadenfreude’s Igor.

Igor is now showing in theaters nationwide.