Les orgies de Frankenstein 80

Although the film has a Dr. Frankenstein and a Monster it's nothing like Universal or Hammer horror Frankenstein films (and I didn't expect it to be). It's watchable trash. Not a good film at all - horrible really.

This version of "The Monster" is really more of a zombie than Frankenstein's Monster. He's a horny killer - a rapist and murderer. It's really a tacky "Monster" film and it's crappy they used the name Frankenstein in association with this film... they could have easily named Dr. Frankenstein something else and the movie would have been the exact same. They used the name Frankenstein to get viewers I'm afraid.

The beginning of the film was the best part I think and it went downhill from there. It's watchable in it's way but nothing to brag about.

3/10

I can only wonder what Mary Shelley would have made of Frankenstein '80, one of the trashier movies to appropriate her classic literary creation for its own ends. Directed by Mario Mancini, this cheesy, sleazy piece of Italian schlock sees Dr. Otto Frankenstein (Gordon Mitchell) stealing a special serum that prevents organ transplant rejection, using it in the creation of a patchwork monster called Mosaic (Xiro Papas), who proceeds to not just kill beautiful women, but rape them too (in an early scene, we see Frankenstein preparing a nice set of gonads for his creature—how thoughtful of him).

With a rampant and very randy monster, there's certainly no shortage of sex and violence in this tasteless and often rather camp horror, but as delightfully deviant as it all sounds, Frankenstein '80 actually manages to be a rather dreary affair for much of the time, thanks to uneven pacing, lifeless performances, a weak script that dwells far too much on the investigative activities of a reporter called Karl (John Richardson), and a lack of decent gore: a lot of the killings are frustratingly bloodless, the surgical scenes are shot from a low angle so as to conceal the fact that Mitchell is pulling the organs from a tray hidden behind the body, and in one particularly inept scene, in which a victim has his head bashed against a wall, the ruptured bag' that provides the squirt of blood can clearly be seen attached to the actor's forehead. Only a brief shot of a severed head in a fridge genuinely delivers the grisly goods.

Thankfully, there is quite a bit of welcome nudity from a bevy of busty women to help alleviate some of the tedium, including a lengthy strip-tease routine that does nothing to advance the plot; but even with all of the bare female flesh on display, Frankenstein '80 is a tough watch, the last half an hour of obvious padding leading up to the monster's inevitable demise being particularly dull.

I was only vaguely familiar with this title starring "Euro-Cult" stalwart (and former muscle-man) Gordon Mitchell – especially since I had already watched him dealing with this popular horror figure (albeit in a supporting part and with its original Gothic setting intact) in the notoriously bad FRANKENSTEIN'S CASTLE OF FREAKS (1974)! Anyway, I actually found this – at the proverbial eleventh hour – on "You Tube" in time for a mini-Frankenstein marathon which I have just concluded. Interestingly, this forms the middle part of an unrelated trilogy (also because they emanated from different countries!) involving the Mary Shelley creation – all of which tried to bring the monster into our modern age (with varying degrees of success) by appending a future decade to the name: hence the American FRANKENSTEIN – 1970 was made in 1958(!), the Italian film under review precedes the inferred date by 8 years, while that for the 1990s (whose viewing came hard on the heels of this one) emerged from France in 1984!

Truth be told, the lowly rating for this one is not indicative of the lack of ideas put on the table along the way but rather the extremely dull handling (the dreary cheapo look does not help), indifferent performances (the other familiar face here was that of hero John Richardson) and a thoroughly listless pace (the reasons for which are given later on)! In fact, this is the first rendition of the much-filmed tale where the monster's grafts are rejected and are, therefore, in constant need of replenishment (a' la EYES WITHOUT A FACE [1960]), as well as one of only a few that address his libido (making him something of a Jack The Ripper-like serial killer!)…though, in all probability, this was done in order to up the sex'n'gore ante (cue an awful lot of padding throughout)!

Incidentally, I suspect that the makers of this film were inspired by the recently-watched FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER (1958) – since Mitchell here is the assistant of a clinic director, whose precious fluid he steals for his own ends via the experiments he conducts inside a secret lab (that connects to both his office and his home)! By the way, it felt not a little awkward to have no one bat an eyelid at the mention of his name (which he did not even bother to hide as in that earlier picture)! In the end, creature turns on creator, hero saves (and hitches up with) Frankenstein's niece, the monster then expires bloodily from a fried brain…and, for no very good reason, we close on a shot of the Police Chief finally getting his self-negated nicotine fix at long last!

Frankenstein '80 (1972)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Italian horror film has a nice scientist creating a formula that will allow organs to have a better rate at living in a new body but the evil Dr. Frankenstein steals it so that he can create a human who turns out to be a sexual predator who goes on a killing rampage. If you like goofy, gory and sex filled Italian horror films then you'll probably enjoy this one for some mindless entertainment. The story is pretty stupid and familiar but I liked the added touches of gore and sex. The monster has a thing for beautiful women so this leads to several nudity filled scenes with the monster attacking women both sexually and physically. The film drags in certain areas and goes on a bit too long but overall exploitation freaks should enjoy it.

In 1818 when Mary Shelley wrote the supernatural tale that would go on to make her famous forever, it's difficult to imagine that she could ever have conceived that over 150 years later, her novel Frankenstein would be reinterpreted as a detective story about a sex-crazed rapist monster. Well, seeing as this version of the tale was made in Italy in the early 70's that's exactly what happened. Frankenstein '80 is one of the cycle of erotic Frankenstein movies made in Europe at the time. But this one also adds in a serial killer detective element which sort of ties it in with the giallo and poliziotteschi films that were very popular in Italy at the time. So it's a strange hybrid of specific sub-genres.

It's certainly a very trashy film. The dubbing is particularly deranged, while the film overall has a pretty cheap aesthetic. However, it's a gore and sleaze horror film at the end of the day and really has to be judged on these merits. And to be fair, Frankenstein '80 has plenty of both of those criteria; usually at the same time. The story is ludicrous of course. But I suspect very few of you will be watching this for its complexity or depth. It's more or less a slasher movie with Frankenstein's monster as the killer.

Not great but good mindless fun.