Frankenstein's Great Aunt Tillie

Donald Pleasence appeared in 137 movies; of those, I've seen just 30, but I'll hazard a guess that this is his worst film. Not only do I believe that Frankenstein's Great-Aunt Tillie must be the absolute nadir of Pleasence's career, I also reckon that it is the worst Frankenstein film ever made, the worst comedy ever made, and quite possibly the most terrible film I have ever seen (and I can regularly be found scraping away at the bottom of the cinematic barrel).

The script (if indeed there was one) feels like a stream of consciousness from a drunken Chinese madman, translated into English by another drunken madman whose first language is neither Chinese or English. The actors spout their lines of gibberish as though they're tripping on peyote (the film WAS made in Mexico, after all). Come to think of it, the whole experience felt like a bad hallucinogenic trip for me too, such is its sheer nonsensical nature.

Pleasence plays a descendant of Baron Frankenstein, who travels with Great Aunt Matilda (Yvonne Furneaux) to the ancestral estate to try and locate a hidden treasure and prevent developers from buying the place. In the basement of the castle, they discover Frankenstein's monster and bring it back to life. What follows is a series of seemingly random scenes in which everyone rambles incoherently whilst acting like fools.

Clocking in at an excruciating 100 minutes, Frankenstein's Great-Aunt Tillie is a virtually unwatchable mess that only the most dedicated fan of z-grade films will be able to finish. Those who do manage to stay the distance (and stay sane) will be treated to such garbage as women's rights protestors attacking the police with soda siphons, Pleasence dressed in a frilly maid's outfit, a parody of the Karloff classic's 'monster meets a little girl' scene that is off-the-charts insane, and an epilogue that continues the agony just when you thought it was all over.

I swear I thought someone put acid in my drink when this little nugget got rolling. I'm even a little ashamed that I'm taking the time to write about this flick. I haven't looked for this title as an individual product and I got this through a Brentwood collection for like $4.00. If it is available as a stand alone DVD, they should be paying the customer to take this crap away. I think this DVD would fail as a coaster. Stay away from this Great Aunt. She sucks big time.

Oh yeah, this movie is terrible...and not in a good way.

Actually I don't think anyone in this gem knew what the thing was about. I don't think they cared. There isn't one thing in this DVD (since I can't call it a "film" anymore without throwing up in my mouth)that provides it any redemption. Don't even watch it for giggles, you won't giggle at all.

I write this review not because this is a particularly good film, but to counteract some of the (in my opinion) overly harsh reviews and the overall low rating. If even Ed Wood's films can crack the 3/10 mark, surely Frankenstein's Great Aunt Tillie deserves its due. Firstly, this film contains Donald Pleasance in a maid's costume - this alone is worth 2 stars. Throw in some questionable period set pieces, incompetent government officials, an actress who is far too, shall we say, 'buxom' for the early 20th century setting, and some particularly bad monster make-up -- what's not to love?!

In the vein of spoof films of classic monster films (i.e. Young Frankenstein), Frankenstein's Great Aunt Tillie, directed by Yvonne Furneaux, does not have any pretentions to being a 'good' film. Whether or not the comedy is intentional or unintentional, the film offers up a big fat slice of delicious 80s cheese. For fellow fans of trashy film, this one deserves more recognition. After all, they don't make 'em like this anymore!

So appalling I nearly stopped watching. I only continued when I realised that only once or twice in a lifetime would one be privileged with the opportunity to see a film quite this bad. It was so stunningly bad I felt compelled to watch it all.

The cast comprised no-name actors and a couple of b-movie actors who one can only assume had very large tax bills to pay that year. To describe the acting as wooden would be only partly accurate it was rotten wooden acting. The dialogue was poorly conceived badly delivered and delivered with the comic timing and deftness only available to those suffering from autism.

It was intended to be funny and tongue in-cheek and had the script not been written by the directors 9 year old it may have succeeded. The cinematography looks like it was done by the 5 year old's elder brother playing with a cheap camcorder he was given for Christmas.

So, then, bad acting, dire script, ludicrous production values. Should you watch it. Yes but remember the eye bleach.

See The Respectable People keep down suffragettes trying to bring the E. R. A. To Mucklebugger from a 1386 AD decree. See car race on old roads. Much hilarity ensues and is a visual feast of off-beat, obscure, weird and odd references that don't really congeal into a whole movie.

Speaking of a disjointed movie, how about that audio de-sync. But wait for it - this is a movie to GO APE! It's got so many strange items and things to see! Thomas Crapper is referenced, Zsa Zsa Gabor shows up, radio and FM had not been invented yet, bloomers are given away: "down with trousers, up with skirts", likes Chinese food, dancing at 48m(!), cross-dressing Nanny Groat, Sir Thomas Crapper and the dream of hygiene, gunk of rock oil, hickie on wrist, many UFOs: Unverified Frankenstein Observations: 6; Ape-tastic: 7; Ape-tastic: 9 (Audio De-Sync); Black Monolith with Apes: 2; Conelrad Alert: 1; Indian Head Test Pattern: 2; Monkeys at a Typewriter: 4; Poop Show: 0; Propeller Cap: 5 (Obscure References) .

Find the audio sync by using a second player in the mini player mode. This audio de-sync will keep you Going APE. If the sync was there, it might - might - be as good as Young Frankenstein.

PSA: Watching the audio de-synced version is one of the hardest films yet to extract viewing enjoyment out of and receives a Poop Show Award. GO APE! Enjoy!