Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster

N/A

• themovielord's Grade: C-
• Disc Grade: B-
• Reviewed Format: DVD
• Rated: Not Rated
• Stars: Marilyn Hanold, James Karen, Lou Cutell Nancy Marshall, David Kerman, Robert Reilly, Bruce Glover
• Writers: R.H.W. Dillard, George Garrett and John Rodenbeck
• Director: Robert Gaffney
• Distributor: Dark Sky Films / MPI
• Original Year of Release: 1965
• Suggested Retail Price: $14.98
• Extras: Anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1; English DD 2.0 mono; English subtitles; gallery; booklet; trailers

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‘Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster’ (1965) starring James Karen, Lou Cutell, Robert Reilly, and directed by Robert Gaffney.

Fearing the loss of anymore astronauts, NASA develops a robot astronaut named Frank (Robert Reilly) and launches him into space. A group of alien survivors from another planet is scanning earth at the same time and knocks Frank back to Earth. Frank is damaged beyond reason and he starts attacking the islands of Puerto Rico and the aliens, who have now landed and are abducting women.

Very much in the realm of Ed Wood, yet for some reason not as good as an Ed Wood film or as bad depending on your taste, I found this film to be incredibly uneven. It isn’t the end all be all of “B” science fiction films but it does have its charms.

The stock footage of Cape Kennedy and the exteriors of NASA are historically intriguing. This was during the race for space and everything as a futuristic space look and feel. Even the downtown restaurants and cafés have this look. Stock footage is also the down side of this film. Many times when they need shots of the military doing anything, these long drawn out takes are boring and the only thing that keeps this movie from being under an hour.

The make up on Frank is tacky and very much in the style of Batman’s Two-Face. After the crash we get half burned Frank. When they crank up open Frank's brain and you see the make up artist used a TV tube as part of robotic brain that just screams classic “B” movie. So the make up did have some charm for Frank.

The aliens, which looked like bald albino Vulcans, had the worst skull caps of all time. What never stops amazing me in these films is that there will be some aliens in full make up and he rest will have helmets on, but there will never be more than 4 or 5 guys on the screen at a time. How much can fake ears, a bald cap, and white paint really cost? Those helmets looked like second rate NASA training helmets; they had to cost a lot more.

Films of this era, especially “B” science fiction films of this era always have a fear of Atomic Power, Nuclear weapons, and aliens that want one thing… our women! You have to laugh at the selection process for their new breeding stock and Lou Cutell is deliciously funny and creepy as Doctor Nadir in a Jon Lovitz kind of way.

Now right from the first frame we get this shot of this huge monster, his outline anyway, but through out the film all we get is the albino aliens. Finally we see the big baddie who will eventually fight Frank but when the fight does occur it is too little too late.

Our scientists, Frank’s creators, James Karen and Nancy Marshall are doing their scenes by the numbers and not really giving too much effort in this film. There seems to be a love story going on between them and a few scenes allude to it, but most nothing really comes out of it.

If you ever wanted to see what type of film they would have ran with an “A” science fiction film on a Saturday morning double feature back in the Sixties then check out ‘Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster’. If you have no interest in something like that, well then you’re really not missing anything.