Frankenstein’s Great Aunt Tillie (1984)

[dcj2112]

This was painful. I just watched it as part of a four pack called Born in Hell. This movie really was born in HELL.

I love the title for how campy it is. I knew it would be bad going in as it has a 3.1 on IMDB. However, I’ve seen 3.1’s before, but they weren’t this!

It is like Mel Brooks if Mel Brooks made his movies really, really badly. Despite some star power I’m not surprised it has faded into complete obscurity and the only place I could find it on DVD was in a four pack that mercifully went out of print years ago.

The plot is that 100 years after the original Frankenstein the town is going to take possession of the family castle since the family had not payed taxes for 600 years. At the last minute Aunt Tillie and some other Frankenstein’s return. They decide they have to pay off the taxes and restore the family’s place in town.

Sounds harmless enough?

It isn’t. This film clumsily meanders around for 100 minutes. I’d crack the old joke that it was 100 minutes longer than it needed to be (it was). However, if people like me have resigned themselves to self-torture by viewing the worst of the worst the filmmakers could have shown a sliver of kindness. Plenty of movies could edited down, but this film is outright flabby. 20 or 30 minutes could have been cut just to keep the film from being sadistic. Yet, the filmmakers revel in this sadism as just when you think this mess of loose plot plumped up by jokes that never land is over...there is an epilogue!

Has anyone else seen this monstrosity?

[Alex]

Not one I've ever heard of before.

[claws]

Never seen but heard of it. It has Aldo Ray in it. Seems like he was in every B-Movie made in the 70s and 80s.

[316zombie]

i love aldo, and even i couldn't get through this one. not even while in hospital on morphine, couldn't do it. my night nurse seemed grateful...