Lady Frankenstein

A typical exploitation sex&horror flick from the early 1970s for the most part, it has one distinguishing quality that elevates it from the usual dross: its leading lady, Rosalba Neri. She has screen presence, she is sexy, strong, sensual, menacing, seductive, independent, radiant. Even in the nude, when other genre actresses go into autopilot, become passive, timid, or giggly, even then she stays in control. I almost forgot to mention that she can act as well. Watching her in films like this I just cannot understand how mainstream cinema could have failed to give her more substantial projects to work on.

I remember seeing this movie when I was just about 11 years of age. At that time , nothing interested me more than Rosalba Neri's outstanding appeal to the senses , though I was still a young boy - this shows the extent to which Rosalba's beauty could be really something very special.Upon seeing it a second time just a few months ago , I came to discover that it's more than a movie with a really sexy actress in it.What struck me most was the atmosphere of the film , which makes you feel as though you were living in that very village and castle , among those people each of whom seems to want to hide something.The only week point , I found is Joseph Cotten's performance as Baron Frankenstein - maybe because I've seen him in some of his earlier , and much better parts.As for Rosalba Neri , I can simply say that she is incredible .Her strong desire to create a more powerful monster than the one her father did , and her unflinching determination to carry on her task till the end give to the character of Tania a strength that I've never felt in any of Rosalba's many other performances.

Rosalba Neri is very hot indeed as the titular Lady Frankenstein though she is called Mrs. Marshall throughout the film. After her father's death, played by Joseph Cotton who must be wondering how the hell he's gone from Citizen Kane to cheap euro-horror, by the hands of the Baron's creation with a brain supplied by a man that eerily resembles Patrick Swayze circa Point Break, the nubile doctor Tania Frankenstein becomes determined to advance in her father's morbid work. It's a good thing too because I can't see Joe Cotton pulling off asphyxiation and orgasms quite like Ms. Neri can. The Baron's assistant Charles has long been enamored with Tania and wishes to woo her now that her old man is kaput. Tania loves his mind but can't quite picture jumping into the sack with the old horny bastard without a serious makeover. That is where village dolt Thomas steps in as the half-wit has been graced with good looks and brings the thunder into Tania's private lab if you catch my drift. Now, all Tania has to do is put Charles's brain into Thomas' body and voilà! instant marriage material. Too bad Mickey Hargitay as a persistent police captain keeps inquiring into what exactly her father's experiments entailed and why did he associate with graverobbers. Definitely one of the most amusing and downright bizarre endings I have ever seen. Who knew the sight of a mutilated corpse got her juices flowing?

I give this film a lot of credit by retelling the story of Frankenstein as apposed to the more faithful to the mythos Hammer films which is geared more for the hard-core euro-horror fans. Rosalba Neri is extremely engaging as the sexy doctor and commands your attention in every scene not just her nude ones. The supporting cast does a great job as well with a special salute to Herbert Fux as a slimy graverobber. My major complaint is that this film looks like it was edited with a samurai sword. Scenes appear for a second then disappear without any reason whatsoever. The version I saw was the 84 minute cut though I wonder what was excised from the film as most of the gore and plenty of nudity still remained. On a side note this is the third consecutive film in the "Chilling Classics" collection that features an adult woman sexually seducing a mentally challenged man/child. This is not a trend I would like to see continue thank you very much. Grab some popcorn and enjoy this guilty pleasure.

When Baron Frankenstein (Joseph Cotton) is killed by his creation, his daughter sets out to create her own to bring the killer to justice and to make herself the perfect mate while she's at it. This one focuses on this more disturbing aspect of this and does a decent job of exploiting it.

I was quite stunned to see so many wonderful sets and costumes here, plus a decent atmosphere and lighting too. The film looks better than it is...The Monster may not be up to expectation but the rest delivers better than you might expect.

This Italian-made Gothic horror movie often gets the short shrift from fans of the overrated Hammer films of the time. Sure, it has much lower production values and, sure, Rosalba Neri (aka "Sara Bay")is no Peter Cushing, but there's no doubt which one of them I'd rather see naked. Seriously though, Neri shed her clothes so graciously on screen and looked so appealing doing it that no one ever gave her credit for being the great actress that she was. She carries this movie pretty much by herself--Joseph Cotton is good as her father but he is killed off early, and Mickey Hargitay isn't bad but is horribly miscast as a 19th century police detective. Probably more than in any other of her movies, Neri stays dressed here. But the two scenes in which she does shed her Victorian garments are VERY memorable, and not for the usual reasons. In one scene she helps her would-be lover kill a handsome but idiotic handyman by having sex with the guy while her accomplice smothers him with a pillow, but her evil and lustful character doesn't let the guy's untimely death interruptus the coitus. The look on her face as she has "the little death" well after her sex partner has had the big one (and her poor would-be lover can only watch) is amazing and very perverse. There's probably not another actress that could have (or would have) pulled it off. The final scene, if anything, is even more warped, so much so that it was censored from many prints. Let's just say that this nymphomaniacal Frankenstein just can't resist Frankenstein's monster, and the sight of the two of them on the operating table stops even the rampaging villagers with torches dead in their tracks.

Is this is a classic Frankenstein movie? Well, no. It resembles the Mel Brooks comedy "Young Frankenstein" more than the Hammer films or the Universal classics, but it is reasonably well-made, definitely pretty entertaining and it is, if nothing else, the sexiest Frankenstein movie ever.