Peter Cushing returns as Dr. Frankenstein for this fifth entry in Hammer Studios’ Frankenstein films. This time out, the good (mad) doctor gets a room in a boardinghouse and blackmails a coke dealing med student and his fiancée into becoming his unwilling lab assistants. Frankenstein then sets out to turn a mentally deficient colleague (Freddie Jones) into his latest in a long line of botched medical experiments.
Director Terence (The Revenge of Frankenstein) Fisher keeps the proceedings drenched in a modicum of atmosphere, but for the most part this is a low key and muted outing in the usually durable series. Cushing is splendid as always as the diabolical doctor, but the rest of the supporting cast pales in comparison. It also doesn’t help when his creature is a sympathetic stumblebum. While this portrayal is closer to what Mary Shelley originally intended, what’s the use when he’s kept on the operating table for 4/5 of the film?
The main draw of these movies (for me anyway) is the gruesome operating scenes. In that respect, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed comes up a little short. There’s one nifty brain drilling scene, but other than that, the doctor’s handiwork is pretty tame in this one. Also, the make-up on the monster himself is kinda weak as he basically just looks like a Parkinson’s patient with stitches on his noggin.
Admittedly, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed is one of the weakest of the Hammer Frankenstein films (it’s no Frankenstein Created Woman, I’ll tell you that), but there are enough moments of invention (the revelation of a body buried in a garden after a water main bursts) sprinkled about to hold your attention. The Horror of Frankenstein was next in the series.
The still beating heart of Frankenstein’s monster gets snatched by the Nazis and is put aboard a submarine. It just so happens that the day they decide to transport it is the day the Americans drop the bomb on Hiroshima. Cut to twenty years later where a sensitive American doctor (Nick Adams) and his cute girlfriend encounter a square headed feral boy (who’s survived by eating rabbits) who has a strong resistance to radiation. We learn fairly quickly that the boy is actually the reborn Frankenstein monster, spawned from the radiation fallout of the Hiroshima blast.
The monster has problems adjusting to society (he throws a TV out the window just like Keith Richards, whom he resembles quite a bit) which only multiply when he begins growing at an accelerated rate. Some dumb reporters scare him with their flashbulbs and he goes crazy and escapes the hospital and causes a general panic. Meanwhile a giant horn nosed monster named Baragon (he looks like a cross between an armadillo and a piñata) burrows his way through Japan causing destruction wherever he goes. Of course they go monster y monstero for the big finale.
The 50’s and 60’s was kind of a dead zone for old fashioned Frankenstein flicks. Most Frankenstein movies of the era updated atomic energy as the source of the monster’s creation and not lightning. Frankenstein Conquers the World is no exception and anyone looking for a traditional Frankenstein flick will be in for a serious disappointment.
That’s not to say the film’s without it’s charms though. The effects are better than average for a Toho production and the final monster mash is fun, especially when Frankenstein grabs Baragon by the tail and slings him around. The unconventional approach to the Frankenstein story (the film owes more to Bert I. Gordon than it does to Mary Shelley) works remarkably well, all things considered and opens the film up in a couple of amusing ways. (Since Frankenstein can regenerate it’s limbs, this leads to a fun scene where a hand is running loose in a lab.) The key is that the filmmakers keep the monster sympathetic so we’re actually kinda rooting for him throughout.
I’m not saying that this is a perfect movie by any means. Way too much time is spent on Adams and his girlfriend, and most of the human cast has an IQ hovering around 45, but it’s still pretty entertaining. Since it’s a Toho production, you know the dubbing will be awful and the dialogue will be hilarious. “The dog wasn’t just killed… it was EATEN!”
Adams was also in Toho’s Godzilla vs. Monster Zero. War of the Gargantuas was the sequel.
AKA: Frankenstein Meets the Giant Devil Fish. AKA: Frankenstein Meets the Giant Lizard. AKA: Frankenstein vs. Baragon. AKA: Frankenstein vs. the Giant Devil Fish. AKA: Frankenstein vs. the Subterranean Monster.
The monster has problems adjusting to society (he throws a TV out the window just like Keith Richards, whom he resembles quite a bit) which only multiply when he begins growing at an accelerated rate. Some dumb reporters scare him with their flashbulbs and he goes crazy and escapes the hospital and causes a general panic. Meanwhile a giant horn nosed monster named Baragon (he looks like a cross between an armadillo and a piñata) burrows his way through Japan causing destruction wherever he goes. Of course they go monster y monstero for the big finale.
The 50’s and 60’s was kind of a dead zone for old fashioned Frankenstein flicks. Most Frankenstein movies of the era updated atomic energy as the source of the monster’s creation and not lightning. Frankenstein Conquers the World is no exception and anyone looking for a traditional Frankenstein flick will be in for a serious disappointment.
That’s not to say the film’s without it’s charms though. The effects are better than average for a Toho production and the final monster mash is fun, especially when Frankenstein grabs Baragon by the tail and slings him around. The unconventional approach to the Frankenstein story (the film owes more to Bert I. Gordon than it does to Mary Shelley) works remarkably well, all things considered and opens the film up in a couple of amusing ways. (Since Frankenstein can regenerate it’s limbs, this leads to a fun scene where a hand is running loose in a lab.) The key is that the filmmakers keep the monster sympathetic so we’re actually kinda rooting for him throughout.
I’m not saying that this is a perfect movie by any means. Way too much time is spent on Adams and his girlfriend, and most of the human cast has an IQ hovering around 45, but it’s still pretty entertaining. Since it’s a Toho production, you know the dubbing will be awful and the dialogue will be hilarious. “The dog wasn’t just killed… it was EATEN!”
Adams was also in Toho’s Godzilla vs. Monster Zero. War of the Gargantuas was the sequel.
AKA: Frankenstein Meets the Giant Devil Fish. AKA: Frankenstein Meets the Giant Lizard. AKA: Frankenstein vs. Baragon. AKA: Frankenstein vs. the Giant Devil Fish. AKA: Frankenstein vs. the Subterranean Monster.
When I was a little kid The Monster Squad was right up my alley. It’s basically The Goonies meet Frankenstein. What’s not to like when you’re 9 years old right? Seeing it now 20 years later on DVD, it’s still a lot of fun and works well as both a kid’s movie as well as a PG-13 friendly horror movie.
Dracula (Duncan Regehr), along with the Wolf Man, Frankenstein, the Creature and the Mummy, shows up in a small suburb to destroy a mystical amulet that will drench the Earth in darkness. The only thing that stands in their way a group of horror movie loving kids called The Monster Squad who know all about monsters and more importantly how to kill them.
Writer/director Fred Dekker imbues the flick with the style and sensibilities that made his previous film Night of the Creeps such a classic and even though it suffers from a watered down kiddie friendly atmosphere, it’s still a blast and the scene where the Fat Kid proves that the Wolf Man has “nards” is priceless. The special effects by Stan Winston, especially on the Mummy and Creature, are excellent although the Wolf Man (played by Jon Gries from Napoleon Dynamite) is kind of weak. Dekker does go a little overboard with trying to make Frankenstein “adorable” (the scene where the little girl plays dress up with him is right out of E.T.) and the scene where Van Helsing gives the kids the “thumbs up” is a groaner, but we’ll forgive him because the Mummy’s demise is still cool as hell.
Even if you don’t have a wave of nostalgia from watching this flick, it’s still pretty hard not to like and is great family entertainment. Co-writer Shane Black went on to write Lethal Weapon and Dekker would later bring his family friendly ideals to Robocop 3.
Dracula (Duncan Regehr), along with the Wolf Man, Frankenstein, the Creature and the Mummy, shows up in a small suburb to destroy a mystical amulet that will drench the Earth in darkness. The only thing that stands in their way a group of horror movie loving kids called The Monster Squad who know all about monsters and more importantly how to kill them.
Writer/director Fred Dekker imbues the flick with the style and sensibilities that made his previous film Night of the Creeps such a classic and even though it suffers from a watered down kiddie friendly atmosphere, it’s still a blast and the scene where the Fat Kid proves that the Wolf Man has “nards” is priceless. The special effects by Stan Winston, especially on the Mummy and Creature, are excellent although the Wolf Man (played by Jon Gries from Napoleon Dynamite) is kind of weak. Dekker does go a little overboard with trying to make Frankenstein “adorable” (the scene where the little girl plays dress up with him is right out of E.T.) and the scene where Van Helsing gives the kids the “thumbs up” is a groaner, but we’ll forgive him because the Mummy’s demise is still cool as hell.
Even if you don’t have a wave of nostalgia from watching this flick, it’s still pretty hard not to like and is great family entertainment. Co-writer Shane Black went on to write Lethal Weapon and Dekker would later bring his family friendly ideals to Robocop 3.
Anton (Fahrenheit 451) Diffring stars as Baron Frankenstein in this failed half hour horror television pilot produced by Hammer Studios. The plot has the Baron bringing his creature to life, but since it has the brain of a murderer, he decides to use the brain of a terminally ill sculptor instead. It’s a shame that this didn’t become a series, because it’s stylishly directed by Curt Siodmak (who also wrote The Wolf Man) and the monster is pretty cool looking. It also re-uses stock footage from Dracula and the score from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein as well. The story may be overly simplistic, but you can tell it was just meant to set up the tone of the series. The story moves along pretty fast and Diffring makes for a better than average Baron. It’s more of a curiosity piece than anything else, but die hard Frankenstein fans and horror buffs will definitely want to check it out.
This was the last film (shot in eight days) by hack movie director William “One Shot” Beaudine, so named for his penchant for shooting everything in one take. It played on a double feature with his Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (his next to last feature from the same year) and has a misleading title, since Jesse meets up with Frankenstein’s GRANDDAUGHTER. It’s not as good as Billy the Kid vs. Dracula but it’s an okay Western/Horror hybrid.
Jesse James (John Lupton) gets into a gun battle resulting in his lumbering, slow witted pal Hank (Cal Bolder) getting shot. He takes him to Frankenstein’s daught… I mean granddaughter to get him patched up, but she has other ideas. She wants to put a new brain into Hank’s body and turn him into the new and improved Frankenstein monster.
The operation scene where the good doctor puts a multi color GI Joe helmet on and yells at the monster, “You are no longer Hank! You are Igor!” is pretty hilarious. Eventually she sends him to kill Jesse and the two of them wrestle each other until Jesse’s love interest guns the monster down. Most of the time it’s a rather pokey western, but the nutty lab scenes and the final climax makes for good times, if you can get past the third rate horse opera stuff.
Jesse James (John Lupton) gets into a gun battle resulting in his lumbering, slow witted pal Hank (Cal Bolder) getting shot. He takes him to Frankenstein’s daught… I mean granddaughter to get him patched up, but she has other ideas. She wants to put a new brain into Hank’s body and turn him into the new and improved Frankenstein monster.
The operation scene where the good doctor puts a multi color GI Joe helmet on and yells at the monster, “You are no longer Hank! You are Igor!” is pretty hilarious. Eventually she sends him to kill Jesse and the two of them wrestle each other until Jesse’s love interest guns the monster down. Most of the time it’s a rather pokey western, but the nutty lab scenes and the final climax makes for good times, if you can get past the third rate horse opera stuff.
Boris Karloff stars as the latest descendent of the Frankenstein clan in this junky but entertaining horror flick. He walks with a limp and has a scarred face (he was a victim of Nazi cruelty) and pretty much chews up the scenery left and right. He grudgingly lets a film crew into his castle to film a television pilot while he hides away in his lab and performs experiments on his skull faced monster. He also keeps a bust of himself around to remind him what he used to look like before his face got all fucked up.
Like Frankenstein ’80, this takes place “in the future”. The only futuristic thing about it is the atom fueled CAT scan machine the good doc uses to give his creature life. Karloff’s hammy performance separates this flick from the myriad other similar Frankenstein pics that were out at the time.
Director Howard W. (The Girl in Black Stockings) Koch makes good use of the Cinemascope cinematography, especially during the atmospheric film-within-a-film opening sequence but allows the pacing to drag at inopportune moments. A handful of gory (for the time) images such as a jar of eyeballs smashing to the ground makes up for some of the film’s various shortcomings, but any Karloff fan worth his salt will want to see it just for his over the top performance.
Like Frankenstein ’80, this takes place “in the future”. The only futuristic thing about it is the atom fueled CAT scan machine the good doc uses to give his creature life. Karloff’s hammy performance separates this flick from the myriad other similar Frankenstein pics that were out at the time.
Director Howard W. (The Girl in Black Stockings) Koch makes good use of the Cinemascope cinematography, especially during the atmospheric film-within-a-film opening sequence but allows the pacing to drag at inopportune moments. A handful of gory (for the time) images such as a jar of eyeballs smashing to the ground makes up for some of the film’s various shortcomings, but any Karloff fan worth his salt will want to see it just for his over the top performance.
Jerry Warren, who has been responsible for some of the worst cinematic atrocities known to man (The Incredible Petrified World anyone?) returns with his final motion picture.
He saved the worst for last.
Warren had been making films since the early 50’s and by the time he got around to making this one (after a 15 year hiatus) horror films in general had changed greatly. I mean in ’81 alone there was An American Werewolf in London, which broke new ground for special effects make-up, Lucio Fulchi’s The Beyond which set a new standard for stomach churning gore, and Friday the 13th Part 2, which witnessed the birth of America’s favorite masked maniac Jason Vorhees.
Unfortunately, despite advances in special effects and audiences’ expectations, Warren was still making films they way he did back in the 50’s: BADLY.
Four balloonists (and I use that term very loosely because we never seen the actors in the balloon, only stock footage of random hot air balloons with dialogue badly edited in) led by Robert (The Hideous Sun Demon) Clarke land on a remote island where they are befriended by nubile loin cloth clad native cave girls. Pretty soon a crusty crew of seamen led by the one eyed Steve Brodie (a veteran of Warren’s The Wild, Wild World of Batwoman) leads the balloonists to a castle where Frankenstein’s latest descendant, Sheila (Batwoman herself, Katherine Victor) is up to no good. Her “husband” is an ancient looking, bedridden old fart who was once the original Dr. Frankenstein’s assistant. When Clarke becomes incredulous to his credentials he retorts, “Good God man, didn’t she tell you, I’m almost 200 years old!”
The good doctor also keeps a race of robot henchmen who dress like beatniks around for no good reason whatsoever and performs blood transfusions to keep her hubby alive. In the end, the Frankenstein monster shows up to ruin everything. To say that the monster’s appearance in the final few minutes is too little too late would be an understatement. To say this movie is an unmitigated disaster would be an understatement. To say that this flick never approaches anything close to being watchable would be an understatement. While other Warren films have been so bad, that they’ve been entertaining (like Teenage Zombies for instance), this one is just unbearable.
It wasn’t bad enough that Warren was still using the same camera, lighting, editing and make-up techniques that he used in the 50’s, but he also used the same actors as well. (How many 80’s movies can you say were headlined by Robert Clarke?)
The production values are pretty much nonexistent (plastic Dracula fangs are passed off as “special” effects) and the acting, writing, and directing are even worse. Just when you thought you’ve seen it all, a decrepit looking John Carradine shows up as the “apparition of Dr. Frankenstein” and shouts “The power! The power! The power!”
The only good part is seeing the great Cameron Mitchell in a supporting role as a Poe spouting imprisoned sailor, but that’s not saying a whole heck of a lot.
He saved the worst for last.
Warren had been making films since the early 50’s and by the time he got around to making this one (after a 15 year hiatus) horror films in general had changed greatly. I mean in ’81 alone there was An American Werewolf in London, which broke new ground for special effects make-up, Lucio Fulchi’s The Beyond which set a new standard for stomach churning gore, and Friday the 13th Part 2, which witnessed the birth of America’s favorite masked maniac Jason Vorhees.
Unfortunately, despite advances in special effects and audiences’ expectations, Warren was still making films they way he did back in the 50’s: BADLY.
Four balloonists (and I use that term very loosely because we never seen the actors in the balloon, only stock footage of random hot air balloons with dialogue badly edited in) led by Robert (The Hideous Sun Demon) Clarke land on a remote island where they are befriended by nubile loin cloth clad native cave girls. Pretty soon a crusty crew of seamen led by the one eyed Steve Brodie (a veteran of Warren’s The Wild, Wild World of Batwoman) leads the balloonists to a castle where Frankenstein’s latest descendant, Sheila (Batwoman herself, Katherine Victor) is up to no good. Her “husband” is an ancient looking, bedridden old fart who was once the original Dr. Frankenstein’s assistant. When Clarke becomes incredulous to his credentials he retorts, “Good God man, didn’t she tell you, I’m almost 200 years old!”
The good doctor also keeps a race of robot henchmen who dress like beatniks around for no good reason whatsoever and performs blood transfusions to keep her hubby alive. In the end, the Frankenstein monster shows up to ruin everything. To say that the monster’s appearance in the final few minutes is too little too late would be an understatement. To say this movie is an unmitigated disaster would be an understatement. To say that this flick never approaches anything close to being watchable would be an understatement. While other Warren films have been so bad, that they’ve been entertaining (like Teenage Zombies for instance), this one is just unbearable.
It wasn’t bad enough that Warren was still using the same camera, lighting, editing and make-up techniques that he used in the 50’s, but he also used the same actors as well. (How many 80’s movies can you say were headlined by Robert Clarke?)
The production values are pretty much nonexistent (plastic Dracula fangs are passed off as “special” effects) and the acting, writing, and directing are even worse. Just when you thought you’ve seen it all, a decrepit looking John Carradine shows up as the “apparition of Dr. Frankenstein” and shouts “The power! The power! The power!”
The only good part is seeing the great Cameron Mitchell in a supporting role as a Poe spouting imprisoned sailor, but that’s not saying a whole heck of a lot.
Frank Henenlotter’s masterpiece gets better with repeated viewings and remains one of the greatest horror comedies of all time.
James (Street Trash) Lorinz gives the performance of a lifetime as Jeffrey Franken. When his girlfriend Elizabeth (Patty Mullen) accidentally gets chewed up by a remote controlled lawnmower, Jeffrey saves her head and works on a formula to bring her back to life. To get his head straight, he performs elective brain surgery with an electric drill on himself, and he comes up with a plan. He needs body parts, lots of them and decides the best body parts come from hookers. So what he does is invent “Super Crack” which causes hookers to explode when they smoke it.
“I’m not killing anybody, it’s the crack that’s gonna kill them… I’m just gonna put a lethal form of crack into their presence… if they don’t want to smoke it they can just say no!”
The scene where the hookers explode is some of the best stuff ever put on celluloid. Lorinz has several classic lines during the carnage like “Oh no, that’s the devil’s music!”, “Stop that, that’s not natural!”, “For crying out loud, you’re like cats with catnip!”, and “Duck and cover, she’s gonna blow!”
He then pastes the body parts together using his “estrogen based serum” then zaps her with a blast of electricity, bringing Elizabeth to life. But she’s not the same Elizabeth he once knew and loved; she’s an amalgam of all the hookers that now comprise her. She screams out “Wanna date?” (The talking VHS box says the same thing.) and when the perplexed Jeffrey says he doesn’t have any money, she cold cocks him and starts walking the streets looking for a john.
It doesn’t take long to find one and soon enough she’s causing horny tricks to explode all over 42nd Street. Jeffrey finally comes to, and goes looking for Elizabeth, while the hookers’ greasy Mexican pimp Zorro (Joseph Gonzalez) mourns, “My bitches blew up!” When Zorro finds Elizabeth in a bar he confronts her, “This ain’t your tattoo! This ain’t your arm!” and nearly knocks her head off. Jeffrey arrives on the scene and sneaks Elizabeth out of the bar and back to his lab where he fixes her, but Zorro interrupts and cuts off Jeffrey’s head. He tries to take possession of Elizabeth, but the mutated body parts of the hookers come back to life to give Zorro his just desserts. In the end, Elizabeth resurrects Jeffrey, but he’s not quite the man he used to be.
Henenlotter outdoes his earlier cult classic Basket Case and infuses the movie with some truly outrageous gore and humor, making it a must see. But as great as the movie is, it would be nothing without James Lorinz. He gets some of the best lines ever uttered since Jolson spoke in The Jazz Singer, such as “What are ya, some kind of a Swede?”, “It’s like a soccer game!”, “There wasn’t enough of you to fry an egg with!”, and “Where’s my Johnson?” His performance will leave you, like his creation, in stitches.
James (Street Trash) Lorinz gives the performance of a lifetime as Jeffrey Franken. When his girlfriend Elizabeth (Patty Mullen) accidentally gets chewed up by a remote controlled lawnmower, Jeffrey saves her head and works on a formula to bring her back to life. To get his head straight, he performs elective brain surgery with an electric drill on himself, and he comes up with a plan. He needs body parts, lots of them and decides the best body parts come from hookers. So what he does is invent “Super Crack” which causes hookers to explode when they smoke it.
“I’m not killing anybody, it’s the crack that’s gonna kill them… I’m just gonna put a lethal form of crack into their presence… if they don’t want to smoke it they can just say no!”
The scene where the hookers explode is some of the best stuff ever put on celluloid. Lorinz has several classic lines during the carnage like “Oh no, that’s the devil’s music!”, “Stop that, that’s not natural!”, “For crying out loud, you’re like cats with catnip!”, and “Duck and cover, she’s gonna blow!”
He then pastes the body parts together using his “estrogen based serum” then zaps her with a blast of electricity, bringing Elizabeth to life. But she’s not the same Elizabeth he once knew and loved; she’s an amalgam of all the hookers that now comprise her. She screams out “Wanna date?” (The talking VHS box says the same thing.) and when the perplexed Jeffrey says he doesn’t have any money, she cold cocks him and starts walking the streets looking for a john.
It doesn’t take long to find one and soon enough she’s causing horny tricks to explode all over 42nd Street. Jeffrey finally comes to, and goes looking for Elizabeth, while the hookers’ greasy Mexican pimp Zorro (Joseph Gonzalez) mourns, “My bitches blew up!” When Zorro finds Elizabeth in a bar he confronts her, “This ain’t your tattoo! This ain’t your arm!” and nearly knocks her head off. Jeffrey arrives on the scene and sneaks Elizabeth out of the bar and back to his lab where he fixes her, but Zorro interrupts and cuts off Jeffrey’s head. He tries to take possession of Elizabeth, but the mutated body parts of the hookers come back to life to give Zorro his just desserts. In the end, Elizabeth resurrects Jeffrey, but he’s not quite the man he used to be.
Henenlotter outdoes his earlier cult classic Basket Case and infuses the movie with some truly outrageous gore and humor, making it a must see. But as great as the movie is, it would be nothing without James Lorinz. He gets some of the best lines ever uttered since Jolson spoke in The Jazz Singer, such as “What are ya, some kind of a Swede?”, “It’s like a soccer game!”, “There wasn’t enough of you to fry an egg with!”, and “Where’s my Johnson?” His performance will leave you, like his creation, in stitches.
Hammer Studios kicked off a new horror cycle for the 50’s and 60’s (one that rivaled Universal’s in the 30’s and 40’s) with this classic shocker. To avoid lawsuits with Universal’s copyrighted monster, it had to be filmed in color and the monster had to be given a horrible scarred appearance.
Peter Cushing stars as Baron Frankenstein who successfully brings a dog back to life and then sets his sights on creating his own man by sewing together parts from dead bodies. He collects eyes, hands and brains for his new creation and brings it to life. The monster (Christopher Lee) is a scarred, blue faced mess that attacks the doctor and escapes. It kills an old blind man and when the Baron’s assistant shoots it in the eye; he has to give it an emergency brain operation to save it. Of course the monster gets loose again and kills the Baron’s maid and fiancée before the good doctor tosses him into a vat of acid.
The film looks great (it was filmed in Technicolor) and is handsomely mounted by director Terence Fisher, but it sometimes lapses into a silted costume drama. (The soap operay subplot about the Baron’s pregnant mistress drags things down considerably.) The operation scenes have a good kick to them and the first reveal of Lee’s face is quite memorable. Cushing’s performance is excellent (he would go on to recreate the role in five of Hammer’s six sequels) and Lee is equally great the monster. Both later made many horror films for Hammer and Cushing returned to his role in the next Hammer Frankenstein flick, The Revenge of Frankenstein. Lee, Cushing and Fisher returned the next year to rejuvenate the Dracula mythology with Horror of Dracula.
Peter Cushing stars as Baron Frankenstein who successfully brings a dog back to life and then sets his sights on creating his own man by sewing together parts from dead bodies. He collects eyes, hands and brains for his new creation and brings it to life. The monster (Christopher Lee) is a scarred, blue faced mess that attacks the doctor and escapes. It kills an old blind man and when the Baron’s assistant shoots it in the eye; he has to give it an emergency brain operation to save it. Of course the monster gets loose again and kills the Baron’s maid and fiancée before the good doctor tosses him into a vat of acid.
The film looks great (it was filmed in Technicolor) and is handsomely mounted by director Terence Fisher, but it sometimes lapses into a silted costume drama. (The soap operay subplot about the Baron’s pregnant mistress drags things down considerably.) The operation scenes have a good kick to them and the first reveal of Lee’s face is quite memorable. Cushing’s performance is excellent (he would go on to recreate the role in five of Hammer’s six sequels) and Lee is equally great the monster. Both later made many horror films for Hammer and Cushing returned to his role in the next Hammer Frankenstein flick, The Revenge of Frankenstein. Lee, Cushing and Fisher returned the next year to rejuvenate the Dracula mythology with Horror of Dracula.
This is yet another bad Jess Franco movie starring Howard Vernon but at least the beginning is good for some laughs. Vernon is Cagliostro, an immortal sorcerer who uses a blind, psychic, blood-drinking bird woman to kill Dr. Frankenstein and steal his silver skinned monster. He also kidnaps Frankenstein’s daughter and makes the monster whip her over a bed of spikes. Cagliostro wants the monster to mate with his own female creation while a skull faced sect in white cloaks called Panthos look on. The monster ends up turning on him and is eventually gunned down by the police. Vernon looks bored and uses “magnetic waves” to make his bird woman do all the talking. (My guess is that he simply refused to say his ridiculous dialogue.) Like the monster itself, Franco’s movie is dull and lifeless. Franco also turns up in a small role as does his wife, Lina Romay.
AKA: The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein.
AKA: The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein.
This senseless, silly sex film was filmed in “Deep Vision 3-D”. It doesn’t utilize the 3-D at all (only a broom comes out of the screen), has some terrible jokes and had an editor who obviously suffered from multiple personality disorder. It’s like an unfunny all sex version of Kentucky Fried Movie with skits, pie fights, a Superman parody and fake commercials. The main story has “Ms. Kinsey” a sex surveyor falling in love with a talk show host named Joe Strovack. The only good part is the silent movie parody and a brief appearance by the Frankenstein monster. Some theaters showed XXX versions, but the DVD is the cut R rated version. If the idiotic humor, awful acting or schizophrenic editing doesn’t give you a headache, the bad 3-D effects will.
Did you know that Mel Welles (Mr. Mushnik from Little Shop of Horrors) directed a horror movie? It’s pretty damn entertaining too.
Frankenstein’s daughter (Sarah Bay) returns home to help her pops (Citizen Kane’s Joseph Cotton) with his experiments. While bringing the creature to life, it’s face catches fire and it gets hideously burned. “I don’t care what he looks like, I want him to live!” The creature awakens with a bulging eyeball and a huge cranium and promptly kills the good doctor. It storms out of the lab and immediately kills a naked chick! Lady Frankenstein wants to make another man for herself and since her assistant Charles loves her and she only has eyes for the simple caretaker Thomas, she decides to put Charles’ brain in Thomas’ body. Meanwhile, the creature goes on a rampage killing people and a detective figures out that all the victims are linked to the monster’s creators. (Though he never explains why the creature killed the naked chick. What did she ever do to him?) Then the villagers grab their torches and go after the creature, who has returned home to wrestle Thomas/Charles for the affections of Lady F. Thomas/Charles cuts off the creature’s arm, giving him the upper hand (no pun intended) and buries an axe in it’s head. Victorious, he screws Lady Frankenstein as the villagers burn down the castle around them. Pure genius!
Some choice operating scenes, goofy make-up and a fair amount of nudity makes this highly recommended for fans who like their Frankenstein movies a little on the kinky side. Bay is excellent as the sexy domineering Lady Frankenstein and is very hot during her sex scenes. Co-starring Herbert (Mark of the Devil) Fux and Mickey (Bloody Pit of Horror) Hargitay.
Frankenstein’s daughter (Sarah Bay) returns home to help her pops (Citizen Kane’s Joseph Cotton) with his experiments. While bringing the creature to life, it’s face catches fire and it gets hideously burned. “I don’t care what he looks like, I want him to live!” The creature awakens with a bulging eyeball and a huge cranium and promptly kills the good doctor. It storms out of the lab and immediately kills a naked chick! Lady Frankenstein wants to make another man for herself and since her assistant Charles loves her and she only has eyes for the simple caretaker Thomas, she decides to put Charles’ brain in Thomas’ body. Meanwhile, the creature goes on a rampage killing people and a detective figures out that all the victims are linked to the monster’s creators. (Though he never explains why the creature killed the naked chick. What did she ever do to him?) Then the villagers grab their torches and go after the creature, who has returned home to wrestle Thomas/Charles for the affections of Lady F. Thomas/Charles cuts off the creature’s arm, giving him the upper hand (no pun intended) and buries an axe in it’s head. Victorious, he screws Lady Frankenstein as the villagers burn down the castle around them. Pure genius!
Some choice operating scenes, goofy make-up and a fair amount of nudity makes this highly recommended for fans who like their Frankenstein movies a little on the kinky side. Bay is excellent as the sexy domineering Lady Frankenstein and is very hot during her sex scenes. Co-starring Herbert (Mark of the Devil) Fux and Mickey (Bloody Pit of Horror) Hargitay.
Necrophiliac dwarves, homicidal cavemen, masochistic milkmaids and prissy brides to be are among the freaks featured in “Count” Frankenstein’s castle.
This odd Italian made Frankenstein flick has the good doctor (err… Count) trying to revive the body of a Neolithic man, (called “Goliath”) while entertaining guests for his daughter’s wedding. The Count also has a record number of assistants and interns ranging from a horny dwarf to a backstabbing butler. When the Count fires the voyeuristic dwarf he befriends ANOTHER caveman (named “Ook”) who lives in a nearby cave. He teaches the caveman what he calls “the pleasures of life” which involves kidnapping women, tying them up and raping them. When Goliath escapes and kills the Count, he confronts Ook and they battle to the death. After Goliath slays Ook, the usual gang of angry villagers come in and torches him alive.
There’s a healthy dose of nudity for this sort of thing but not much in the way of blood and gore. It earns points I guess for doing away with the usual Frankenstein method of reviving dead bodies by substituting cavemen instead and at least they did the whole dwarf befriending the monster thing long before The Bride did. Ook, The Neanderthal Man was played by “Boris Lugosi” who was actually Salvatore Baccaro a guy who made his bread and butter playing hulking Neanderthal types in such classics as Salon Kitty, Starcrash and Cave Dwellers.
Frankenstein’s daughter’s fiancée gets the best line of dialogue: “It looks like he’s been experimenting on a caveman!”
AKA: Dr. Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks. AKA: Frankenstein’s Castle. AKA: Monsters of Terror. AKA: Terror. AKA: Terror Castle. AKA: The House of Freaks. AKA: The Monsters of Dr. Frankenstein.
This odd Italian made Frankenstein flick has the good doctor (err… Count) trying to revive the body of a Neolithic man, (called “Goliath”) while entertaining guests for his daughter’s wedding. The Count also has a record number of assistants and interns ranging from a horny dwarf to a backstabbing butler. When the Count fires the voyeuristic dwarf he befriends ANOTHER caveman (named “Ook”) who lives in a nearby cave. He teaches the caveman what he calls “the pleasures of life” which involves kidnapping women, tying them up and raping them. When Goliath escapes and kills the Count, he confronts Ook and they battle to the death. After Goliath slays Ook, the usual gang of angry villagers come in and torches him alive.
There’s a healthy dose of nudity for this sort of thing but not much in the way of blood and gore. It earns points I guess for doing away with the usual Frankenstein method of reviving dead bodies by substituting cavemen instead and at least they did the whole dwarf befriending the monster thing long before The Bride did. Ook, The Neanderthal Man was played by “Boris Lugosi” who was actually Salvatore Baccaro a guy who made his bread and butter playing hulking Neanderthal types in such classics as Salon Kitty, Starcrash and Cave Dwellers.
Frankenstein’s daughter’s fiancée gets the best line of dialogue: “It looks like he’s been experimenting on a caveman!”
AKA: Dr. Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks. AKA: Frankenstein’s Castle. AKA: Monsters of Terror. AKA: Terror. AKA: Terror Castle. AKA: The House of Freaks. AKA: The Monsters of Dr. Frankenstein.
James (The Return of the Living Dead) Karen stars as a moped riding scientist who creates an android astronaut whose ship gets shot down by bald space men. He crash lands in Puerto Rico and has a laser gun battle with the aliens that leaves him with a half melted face. He then flips out and hacks up some poor dope with a machete while the spacemen set their sights on abducting earth women to repopulate their race. They crash a pool party and blow up a jock on the diving board before kidnapping some bathing beauties. Karen rewires the android and he saves the girls, not before the titular space monster (Diamonds Are Forever’s Bruce Glover) escapes and does battle with him for the memorable finale.
Some may call foul because this isn’t a real “Frankenstein” movie (the dude’s a robot, not a stitched together monster), but it still has it’s moments. The costumes and make-up are suitably cheesy and there’s some great 60’s garage rock music too. There’s also an abundance of stock footage, some bad dialogue and awful effects. It’s not quite enough to recommend, but it’s harmlessly silly entertainment perfect for Grade Z sci-fi movie fans. Filmed in “Futurama”.
Some may call foul because this isn’t a real “Frankenstein” movie (the dude’s a robot, not a stitched together monster), but it still has it’s moments. The costumes and make-up are suitably cheesy and there’s some great 60’s garage rock music too. There’s also an abundance of stock footage, some bad dialogue and awful effects. It’s not quite enough to recommend, but it’s harmlessly silly entertainment perfect for Grade Z sci-fi movie fans. Filmed in “Futurama”.
When Dr. Schwarz invents a formula that allows for organs to be transplanted with no rejection (appropriately called “Schwarz Serum”), his assistant Dr. Frankenstein steals it and uses on his own creation (affectionately named “Mosaic”) to keep it alive. The doctor sends his monster out at night to rip out fresh organs so he can transplant them. One memorable scene has the monster using a leg of lamb to bludgeon a female butcher to death. (I guess you could say she was boned to death.) When the good doctor gives the monster a testicle transplant, its first order of business is to rape a prostitute to make sure everything works properly. Whenever anyone sticks their nose in Frankenstein’s business, he orders Mosaic to kill. When the cops are clueless to find the murderer (Hmm… let’s see… we have a bunch of dead bodies found with their organs missing… a stolen serum for keeping body parts alive… and there’s a doctor… named FRANKENSTEIN...) a reporter figures everything out and leads the manhunt to find the creature. Since without the serum, Mosaic’s body will die in 48 hours, the cops brilliant solution to finding him is just let him go out killing until he dies!
Incredible!
This nutty Italian horror movie contains some gore and nudity, but it gets deadly dull after the creature kills his master and goes amok. The ending where its brain “dissolves” and he just keels over and dies is a letdown too. It’s not the worst Frankenstein movie out there, but it’s nothing to shoot your Schwarz Serum over. The biggest mystery of the movie is why the hell is it called Frankenstein ’80? I mean it was made in ’72, why the hell set it 8 years in the future?
Incredible!
This nutty Italian horror movie contains some gore and nudity, but it gets deadly dull after the creature kills his master and goes amok. The ending where its brain “dissolves” and he just keels over and dies is a letdown too. It’s not the worst Frankenstein movie out there, but it’s nothing to shoot your Schwarz Serum over. The biggest mystery of the movie is why the hell is it called Frankenstein ’80? I mean it was made in ’72, why the hell set it 8 years in the future?
The weakest entry in Hammer’s Frankenstein series was a co-production with Universal, so they were allowed to use the trademark flat headed green skinned monster, but ex-professional wrestler Kiwi Kingston is no Boris Karloff. Peter Cushing yet again stars as Baron Frankenstein who finds his wayward creature frozen in a block of ice (in a scene almost exactly like Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man) and thaws him out. Since its brain is damaged, Frankenstein gets a local hypnotist named Zoltan to revive him. Zoltan however has his own agenda and predictably uses the monster to kill. Despite the thudding plotting and awful make-up, it’s still watchable thanks to Cushing’s performance. Director Freddie Francis was later David Lynch’s cinematographer on Dune.
Dracula (Zandor Vorkov, who has an echoy voice and a disintegrating ring) digs up the Frankenstein monster and gets the good doctor (J. Carroll Naish), who runs an amusement park (complete with a house of horrors), to revive it. Lon Chaney, Jr. is his mute assistant who decapitates girls with an axe and Angelo (The Corpse Vanishes) Rossitto is the midget ticket taker who says, “In order to see, you must open your eyes!” Director Al Adamson’s wife, Regina Carrol plays a Vegas showgirl who teams up with philosophical hippie Anthony Eisley to find her missing sister. When they stumble into his lab, Frankenstein tries to turn them into his next experiment. When they escape, Rossitto falls on an axe, Chaney gets shot, and Naish gets inadvertently gets decapitated! Dracula then kidnaps Carrol and disintegrates Eisley with his ring. He wants to turn her into his vampire bride, but the monster has the hots for her too. The monsters fight (of course it had to be over a woman, right?) in Drac’s backyard and The Count pulls the monster a part limb from limb, but the sun comes out and he crumbles to dust!
This is probably Adamson’s best known movie and it’s pretty entertaining too. Whenever the monsters are onscreen it’s a lot of fun. However the hippies, stock footage of protests (“What are we protesting today?”), and slang date it unmercifully. Co-starring Russ (West Side Story) Tamblyn as a biker rapist, future director Greydon Clark as a hippie and Famous Monsters creator Forrest J. Ackerman as a victim (he was also a consultant). There’s also a cool credit sequence and good music by Bill Lava, but the familiar Creature from the Black Lagoon music is used for the final reel. Not to be confused with the Paul Naschy movie Dracula vs. Frankenstein from the previous year.
This is probably Adamson’s best known movie and it’s pretty entertaining too. Whenever the monsters are onscreen it’s a lot of fun. However the hippies, stock footage of protests (“What are we protesting today?”), and slang date it unmercifully. Co-starring Russ (West Side Story) Tamblyn as a biker rapist, future director Greydon Clark as a hippie and Famous Monsters creator Forrest J. Ackerman as a victim (he was also a consultant). There’s also a cool credit sequence and good music by Bill Lava, but the familiar Creature from the Black Lagoon music is used for the final reel. Not to be confused with the Paul Naschy movie Dracula vs. Frankenstein from the previous year.
Blacula made a buck or two so this was churned out fast and on the cheap. It’s mildly amusing and features some pretty good gore, but even at 87 minutes its way too long. The opening titles give us some clue of the ineptness that lay in store. After the word “Blackenstein” appears a helpful subtitle “The Black Frankenstein” pops up just in case you weren’t aware this was a blaxploitation version of Frankenstein.
The story has a young black soldier (John De Sue) coming home from
The grade Z acting takes a back seat to some glaring continuity errors that would make even Ed Wood blush. Consider the scene where the ARMLESS and LEGLESS De Sue is seen on a gurney with his arms and legs in plain view! While most of the time it’s pretty entertaining and features a great soundtrack of old library music and well timed heartbeats, what really undoes the movie is the atrocious editing. The scene in which the monster sneaks out of the lab is repeated over and over and the camera lingers on each and every step. Also we get to see a nightclub act filmed almost entirely in its entirety (thankfully there’s no two drink minimum). There’s even a scene in which someone is shown slowly falling asleep and I was half tempted to join her. The nonexistent editing aside, the makeup is especially fun and the usual mad scientist shtick will please most indiscriminate fans of Frankenstein flicks.
For all it’s inconsistencies at least it’s one of the first films to ever use DNA as a plot device. They also use Kenneth Strickfaden’s old Frankenstein equipment which he would later lend to Mel Brooks for Young Frankenstein the next year. That same year would also find Renay turning up in John Waters’ Desperate Living.
AKA: The Black Frankenstein. AKA: Return of Blackenstein.
Warhol produced this alternately campy, sexy and gory flick. Udo (Blade) Kier plays the doctor who has a male and female creature. He wants them to mate so he can breed a race of super people. Joe (Seeds of Evil) Dallesandro is the servant who gets it on with the doc’s wife while he’s busy in the lab. In the film’s most outrageous scene Kier opens up the female’s monster’s innards and fucks her on the lab table and says, “To know death, you have to fuck life in the gall bladder!” The over the top finale has the doc’s assistant literally eating out the female creature while the male stabs a spear through the doctor. His gizzard hangs out (it was originally filmed in 3-D, so this scene really woulda been something in the theater) as the doc keeps yapping and yapping. In the end, the male creature decides he doesn’t want to live anymore and rips his own guts out. I love it. Unfortunately, writer/director Paul (Trash) Morrissey can’t make the other parts of the film that don’t revolve around sex and gore work. Don’t worry though, he still delivers enough tits and gore to keep you awake. Morrissey followed with Andy Warhol’s Dracula.
AKA: Flesh for Frankenstein.
It’s amazing how well this horror comedy stands the test of time, even more than fifty years after it’s original release. It’s the best Abbott and Costello movie ever and the best horror comedy of all time. It still manages to be funny, scary, and surprising even after repeated viewings. The special effects are among the best of the old Universal monster movies. The Wolf Man transformation scenes and the scenes where Dracula turns into a bat (courtesy of animation) are excellent. Basically, the plot has Dracula needing Lou’s brain to revive the Frankenstein Monster. Larry Talbot tries to help the boys, but ends up turning into the Wolf Man at the most inopportune times.
It was only the second (and last) time that Bela Lugosi played Dracula, and sadly, it was his last picture for a major Hollywood studio. Universal originally wanted John Carradine as Dracula (he had played Drac previously in House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula) but director Charles T. Barton held out for Bela. Lon Chaney played the Wolf Man for the fifth time and Glen Strange played the Monster for the third time (though Eddie Parker doubled for him in some scenes). The film was a big hit for failing Universal, and it was the second time Bud Abbott and Lou Costello saved the studio (the first being their first film, Buck Privates). Universal quickly capitalized on the film’s success by having Bud and Lou Meet even more Monsters. Strange went on to Gunsmoke and Lugosi went on to do Ed Wood movies. Also with Lenore Aubert, and Vincent Price as the voice of the Invisible Man.
It was only the second (and last) time that Bela Lugosi played Dracula, and sadly, it was his last picture for a major Hollywood studio. Universal originally wanted John Carradine as Dracula (he had played Drac previously in House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula) but director Charles T. Barton held out for Bela. Lon Chaney played the Wolf Man for the fifth time and Glen Strange played the Monster for the third time (though Eddie Parker doubled for him in some scenes). The film was a big hit for failing Universal, and it was the second time Bud Abbott and Lou Costello saved the studio (the first being their first film, Buck Privates). Universal quickly capitalized on the film’s success by having Bud and Lou Meet even more Monsters. Strange went on to Gunsmoke and Lugosi went on to do Ed Wood movies. Also with Lenore Aubert, and Vincent Price as the voice of the Invisible Man.
Profile
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
thevideovacuum- The Video Vacuum
- The Video Vacuum