Badmovies.org Forum

The thread about hammer's frankenstein movies made me feel like doing a thread on good frankenstein movies in general.

A little known jewel is the offbeat but still good "Frankenstein unbound" by roger corman, an excellent little movie that really takes the frankenstein genre into some new dimensions. Not a film for the frankenstein puruist (All 3 of them) but a good movie nonetheless.

There was a made for tv miniseries called "Frankenstein, the true story" that had david macullum and jane seymour, a good effort.

I can't recall the title but there was one with I think randy quaid as the monster, another cable movie, that was at least somewhat close to the original story.

The first karloff movie and it's sequel were excellent, with "bride of frankenstein" being one of the best sequels ever made even to this day. Of the rest of the Frankenstein movies from that era, generally the less said the better.

  Frankenstein(2004) takes place in modern New Orleans, where strange doings are a' transpiring. Dr. Victor Frankenstein is alive and well, as is his monster, thanks to the doctor's work in genetics. He's been trying to create the perfect human all these years and it turns out the world is littered with his failed attempts. One of them is killing people in horrific ways in the Big Easy.

   It's a different take on the story but I like it. This was the pilot for a T Vseries that was never greenlit, unfortunately. It had some interesting ideas, some good production value and the acting wasn't bad at all. You've got Parker Posey, Adam Greenberg and Michael Madsen as detectives.

  Overall it's a shame this didn't have a chance to develop because I think it could have grown into something really good.

This is based on a book by Dean Koontz, or something... It is a trilogy, the books I mean. I'm reading them now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Koontz%27s_Frankenstein

And it also had Michael Sarrazin as The Monster. I remember seeing this when it first came on as a miniseries on CBS when I was around 9 or 10. Thanks for jarring the old memory banks!  And yes, it was a very good effort. It needs to be seen again.:cheers:


As far as good Frankenstein movies go, I'd like to take a little trip East-ward and include Frankenstein Conquers The World from Toho studios (1965.)

First, Frankenstein was not your typical being. He was a living, breathing creature and not sewn together and re-animated.  And his character was greatly humanized, and lastly, he grew to giant size and fought another monster (this is Japan, folks  :wink:) 

The makeup for the Monster was good too, very good.

Looks like a must-see for me. :thumbup:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FzlgVqm6cw

Oh yes, the AIP trailer.  This was the version that played on TV all those years past. I have the subtitled DVD and the story is pretty much the same, but with some added footage.

Remember a movie called War Of The Gargantuas? that's the sequel to FCTW.   And yes, a definite must see. Let me know what think about FCTW!  :cheers:

Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein. As far as I remember this was the first movie with all the different movie monsters in it. Decades before the Monster Squad.

The Universal and Hammer movies are my favorites, but this one also deserves to be mentioned.  I really liked it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmYEfF3We8M&feature=related

I watched "Splice" by Vincenzo Natali a few weeks ago, and it deserves a mention. It's not a straightforward Frankenstein film, but it is very similar. "Frankenstein" can be read as the story of an unaccepted parenthood. "Splice" is about a couple of scientists who start treating their lab experiment as a child.

You all should give it a try. Chances are if you're reading this thread you'll like it.

I actually thought Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with Kenneth Branaugh and Robert DeNiro was pretty good. Not great. I wouldn't go out of my way to see it again, but pretty decent.

I'll raise my glass to that one...Lugosi, Chaney Jr. Glenn Strange and a special "dis"appearance by Vincent Price and the Invisible Man. 

My fave line in the whole movie.

Costello: "Frankie, you're gettin' a baa-d deal. I've had this brain for 32 years and it hasn't worked right once.." lmao!  :cheers:

It's not a movie but technically it is part of the Frankenstein legend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W0GvSMUl98&feature=related

It's Buzz Conroy and Frankie!!!   Ted Cassidy did the voice of Frankenstein Jr. and I have many fond memories of hearing "OK Buzz, let's go!" on Saturday mornings in the early to mid 70's.  Frankenstein Jr also was on a double bill with The Impossibles.  "Rally ho HO!!!"

Nice post, Hammock Rider  :cheers:

Michael Sarrazin's performance as the creature is regarded my many as being second only to that of Boris Karloff's.

And, unlike most creatures, he does not start out being physically ugly, but only turns physically ugly when the experiment goes awry, and he begins to regress.

And what a cast the film had. Besides Michael Sarrazin, Jane Seymour, and David McCallum, there was James Mason, Leonard Whiting, Nicola Paget, Michael Wilding, Clarissa Kaye-Mason, Agnes Moorehead, Margaret Leighton, Sir Ralph Richardson, Sir John Gielgud, and Tom Baker.


It is also one of the most graphically violent versions out there, especially as it was made back in the '70's for television. I think over half of the cast has been killed off in various violent ways, before the film is over.

Also one might try the silent version with Charles Ogle as the creature. While I have seen only bits and pieces of it. It apparently exists in its entirity. And its quite impressive for afilm that was made a century ago by the Edison Manufacturing Company. (Yes, that Edison.)

And the version with Randy Quaid as the Creature was a made for TV movie made in 1992 and simplely called "Frankenstein." I have seen it, and while it is somewhat more faithful to the original novel than some versions, I've been more impressed by other versions of the story.

I remember that, the cast was all killed off in a bunch a' ways, including if I remember right) Jane Seymour getting her head ripped off by The Monster at a ball they attended.

And yes, I also remember the creature starting to decay-he looked in the mirror and had seen where he was starting to break down.  Some good stuff there.

I thought the 1997 TV movie version of House of Frankenstein was reasonably entertaining.  Too long though, as it was a two part miniseries. 

It does have one of the most interesting ways of curing lycanthropy I've seen in a film.  I have to question why you'd want to be cured of its version of lycanthropy - the infected character can apparently change into a wolf in like 1 or 2 seconds at will, doesn't HAVE to change, and remains in control of herself all the time.  Seems cool to me.   :teddyr:

Hmm, and all I had to do in The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind was put a ring on
and take it off again to become a werewolf.  Wow, Lycans sure have made some good progress  :wink: