Sevimli Frankenstayn

Yes, it's another Turkish rip-off of a famous American movie. "Sevimli Frankestayn" ("My Friend Frankenstein" in English) is an imitation of Mel Brooks's "Young Frankenstein". It's probably hard to find a copy containing English subtitles, but if you know what happens in the more famous version, then you'll know what happens in the rip-off, especially since they copy almost every scene.

Other Turkish rip-offs of American movies include "The Exorcist" and "ET". To my knowledge there wasn't a Turkish "Mary Poppins"* or "Ghostbusters", but if there was either of those, I'm sure that it would be pretty entertaining.

*There was in fact a Soviet version of "Mary Poppins" made in the early '80s. It had to be the most whacked-out movie ever made: so-bad-it's-good '80s music and a pair of nutty kids, not to mention that the Bert character looked like a cross between Elliott Gould and Keith Richards.

Sevimli Frankestayn (Turkish Young Frankenstein) (1975)

* (out of 4)

I guess the Turkish Film Industry frowns that their most popular films are low budget junk, which usually rip off American scenes shot for shot. Star Wars, The Exorcist and Superman are just a few of the titles that have been ripped off and this movie here rips Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. This is the first film of this type that I've watched and while it was perfectly awful I must admit that I'm going to start seeking others out. This wasn't a scene for scene rip but it might as well have been. All the famous scenes from the Brooks movie are redone here with incredibly cheap effects. Just one example are whenever the equipment starts to flash. It's done here by cheap fireworks going off. The monster make up is incredibly bad and I'd say that this is the worst looking monster in film history. The film was in Turkish without English subs so I couldn't understand the dialogue but I'm sure it was just as bad as the rest of the film. Fans of Young Frankenstein will certainly want to check this out just to see how incredibly stupid it all really is. The spoof of the hermit/monster scene from Bride of Frankenstein is especially bad.

It is NOT exactly ... The interpretation is interesting, but sometimes perplexing... The classic Horse whiny is never on the same word... and the "Putting on the Ritz" gag is mistranslated very amusing, even though the movie sometimes elicits unintentional scares while trying to capture the gags of the Mel Brooks film... I doubt if the director had seen the original black and white classic and understood what Mel was spoofing.

For spoof of spoof it is quite amusing though.

The idea of science VS belief does not come through, and several ideas do not translate well. The special effects are less than Dr. Who... but the heart of the effort is appreciated if you enjoy the efforts of the under-funded.