Orlak, el infierno de Frankenstein

Ehh, this is not exactly a movie. It's a four chapter t.v. mini series. Still, I watched it on a classic movie channel from Mexican cable and it was featured as a complete movie. You see, they didn't separate the chapters and made a single movie.

The dialogs are the best feature about this one. You see, according to the script, we are in front of a master evil mind that should terrorize Frankenstein!

Sadly, the lack of suspense and action makes this a forgettable effort. Joaquin Cordero was the best feature about it. The man is a great actor.

Still, I strongly recommend you not to seek after this title. It gets odd and boring pretty fast. Watch it only on cable or if your hunger for b-classical entertainment is ferox.

THE HELL OF FRANKENSTEIN (1960, original title Orlak, el infierno de Frankenstein) is a Mexican potboiler whose main character is Jaime, a criminal who is released from prison at the film's outset. He busts Dr. Frankenstein from the clink and aides him in the creation of a new man with the aide of a horrifically-scarred assistant desperate for a new face. Soon, the box-headed monstrosity has a metal skeleton a la Wolverine and is busy taking down rivals and committing acts of larceny and murder...

Like many low budget Mexican features of this era, this is a cheap and cheerful effort, and very slow for the most part which stops it being hugely entertaining. It turns into a doppelganger movie halfway through, giving the antagonist a perfect alibi for the many crimes that take place, and is more thriller than sci-fi or horror. Some of the staging and characters favourably recall the Universal greats, and it does pick up for a traditional rooftop chase climax that doesn't disappoint, but overall this is one for hardcore fans only.