Frankenstein 1970 starts deep in some German woods with Carolyn Hayes (Jana Lund) desperately running from a monster intent on killing her... Film director Douglas Row (Don 'Red' Barry) shouts cut & the scene is in the can. Baron Victor von Frankenstein (Boris Karloff) has hit hard times & is skint, he has let a film-crew consisting of Row, cameraman Morgan Haley (John Dennis), writer Judy Stevens (Charlotte Austin), assistant director Mike Shaw (Tom Duggan) & actress Hayes make a film in & around his castle & estates about his ancestor's. As one would expect the current, & last, Frankenstein is continuing the family tradition of trying to re-animate a stitched together body (Mike Lane). His latest patchwork creation is missing several vital ingredient's, a heart, a brain, a face & a couple of eye's. His nosey servant Shuter (Norbert Schiller) provides the brain & heart, however while handling the eye's Frankenstein drops them. He re-animates his monster so it can go & find a suitable pair, meanwhile all the missing people are starting to make everyone become suspicious of Frankenstein & what his real intentions are...
This black and white potboiler was directed by Howard W. Koch & there is very little to recommend in Frankenstein 1970, & that's another thing what's with the 1970 in the title? No mention of the fact it is set in the year 1970 is made & the film was made in 1958. Anyway, I am amazed that the script by Richard H. Landau, Charles A. Moses, Aubrey Schenck & George Worthing Yates took four people to write it. Four people?! Didn't at least one of them stand up & say 'look guys this is total crap & the audience deserves better', obviously not it would appear. It's slow, boring, uneventful & is basically Frankenstein trying to create a monster using spare parts from various unwilling donors just like most other cheap Frankenstein films. He doesn't even get an assistant this time. The only original part of Frankenstein 1970 is the presence of the film-crew but it's never used to forward the story or try to take things in a different direction other than one would expect. The ending is abrupt but there is a certain degree of fun to be had watching this man with a bucket on his head wrapped in bandages running around trying to act scary & menacing, totally failing of course.
Director Koch does nothing to distinguish the film & it's bland throughout from the awfully dated lab to the flat castle interiors. The lab itself features some of the worst looking scientific equipment ever, massive computer panels with huge dials & knobs to all the stupid flashing lights & a control panel that wobbles whenever Frankenstein touches it. The monster starts off looking OK as it lies on an bed with no skin on it's face & just it's skull exposed but once it gets re-animated it looks awful, it's completely wrapped from head to toe in bandages (which makes it look more like a Mummy) & the shape & size of it's head resembles a large bucket! One more thing, when the monster is looking for some eye's for itself how can it see where it's going or who it's kidnapping & why are there eye holes cut into the bandage's around the bucket, erm sorry head, so it can 'see'?
With a budget of about $110,000 Frankenstein 1970 looks cheap throughout & considering Hammer's Curse of Frankenstein (1957) looked better & was made a year previous there really is no excuse, it's just bad film-making. The acting is poor & Karloff is obviously living on past glories here, in this he has a weird haircut, a stupid exaggerated limp & scar on his face.
There really is very little to recommend Frankenstein 1970 by, I can't really think of anything other than the fact that I have seen worse films. Not one of Karloff's finer moments although I'm sure fans of his will lap it up. Not worth bothering with.
This black and white potboiler was directed by Howard W. Koch & there is very little to recommend in Frankenstein 1970, & that's another thing what's with the 1970 in the title? No mention of the fact it is set in the year 1970 is made & the film was made in 1958. Anyway, I am amazed that the script by Richard H. Landau, Charles A. Moses, Aubrey Schenck & George Worthing Yates took four people to write it. Four people?! Didn't at least one of them stand up & say 'look guys this is total crap & the audience deserves better', obviously not it would appear. It's slow, boring, uneventful & is basically Frankenstein trying to create a monster using spare parts from various unwilling donors just like most other cheap Frankenstein films. He doesn't even get an assistant this time. The only original part of Frankenstein 1970 is the presence of the film-crew but it's never used to forward the story or try to take things in a different direction other than one would expect. The ending is abrupt but there is a certain degree of fun to be had watching this man with a bucket on his head wrapped in bandages running around trying to act scary & menacing, totally failing of course.
Director Koch does nothing to distinguish the film & it's bland throughout from the awfully dated lab to the flat castle interiors. The lab itself features some of the worst looking scientific equipment ever, massive computer panels with huge dials & knobs to all the stupid flashing lights & a control panel that wobbles whenever Frankenstein touches it. The monster starts off looking OK as it lies on an bed with no skin on it's face & just it's skull exposed but once it gets re-animated it looks awful, it's completely wrapped from head to toe in bandages (which makes it look more like a Mummy) & the shape & size of it's head resembles a large bucket! One more thing, when the monster is looking for some eye's for itself how can it see where it's going or who it's kidnapping & why are there eye holes cut into the bandage's around the bucket, erm sorry head, so it can 'see'?
With a budget of about $110,000 Frankenstein 1970 looks cheap throughout & considering Hammer's Curse of Frankenstein (1957) looked better & was made a year previous there really is no excuse, it's just bad film-making. The acting is poor & Karloff is obviously living on past glories here, in this he has a weird haircut, a stupid exaggerated limp & scar on his face.
There really is very little to recommend Frankenstein 1970 by, I can't really think of anything other than the fact that I have seen worse films. Not one of Karloff's finer moments although I'm sure fans of his will lap it up. Not worth bothering with.