"homunculus", produced by deutsche bioskop in 1916, is a six-part serial science fiction film involving mad scientists, superhuman androids and sinister technology. the script was written by robert reinert, and the film foreshadows various elements of fritz lang's 1927 "metropolis", as well as serving as a model for later adaptations of mary shelley's "frankenstein" rather than the original 1910 version. the subject-matter of "homunculus" is similar to an earlier film about a monstrous man-made being, "der golem" (paul wegener, 1915).