The Cabinet of Dr- Caligari 1920 Decla-Bioscop A.G.
Director: Robert Weine
This fellow named Francis recounts for us a story which took place some years before. We go back to that fateful day, when the carnival came to town and with it a showman named Caligari. When Caligari goes to the city office to get his permit, the clerk so rudely ignores him and guess what? That clerk ends up dead... Mysteriously...
The carnival show consists of Dr- Caligari and his "cabinet", which is more of a crude wooden box containing a sleeping weirdo in black tights named Cesare. At the height of the carnival, Caligari wakes Cesare from a long sleep and Cesare predicts the future for the good people. When Francis' friend Alan asks when he will die. Cesare looks him straight in the eye and tells him "...You will die at dawn!"
No magic here... Cesare himself shows up in the night to make the prediction come true! Horrified at his friend's death, Francis makes haste to the woman they both loved, Jane. He tells her of Alan's fate and she swoons to dramatic effect. Meanwhile, "the killer" has been captured but is he really the killer? Come on! What about that weird guy in the box?
The guy who slinks into Jane's room like a devilish acrobat and hovers above her with a big knife... Until he realizes he loves her too. (She is the typical doe-eyed beauty of the era!) After she is rescued, she insists it was Cesare so off they go, cops in tow, to Caligari's to see if the body in the box is really Cesare. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't... Either way, Francis is never the same.
Though my copy of the film is rather butchered, with a wide variety of english dialogue frames thrown in over the decades, I could still see this movie for what it is- a true cinematic masterpiece. The cinematography is brilliant, with clever use of lighting and make-up throughout. Then there is the crazy scenery... And I do mean crazy. There there is no "square" anywhere in the architecture and perspective is distorted like a bad acid trip. This is one strange tale in an even stranger land! XXXXX
Carnival of Souls 1962 Harcourt Productions
Director: Herk Harvey
Tragedy strikes when two cars are racing side by side down an old bridge. One of the cars, packed with three young ladies, crashes through the guard rail and plunges 20 feet or so into the river. Rescuers scour the river bottom for signs of the car but to no avail. Suddenly, one of the three emerges from the murky waters. Her name is Mary.
Mary, it turns out, plays the organ and has taken a job in Utah (of all places) as a church organist. She recovers from the wreck and leaves for what I presume is Salt City (being a native myself). Along I-80, she sees the weathered remnants of the once luxurious Saltair resort- a kind of a sultan's palace on the lake shore. But that's not all Mary sees. The dead are walking the highways here!
She makes it to town and settles in to her new digs. The landlady seems nice, the next-door neighbor is a drunken letch but not all bad. But something is amiss. Poor Mary just doesn't feel right and then things start to get really strange. People don't see her anymore. It's like she just doesn't exist at times.
Throughout, she is drawn back to the lake, where haunting images come to her- the carnival, the boardwalk and the ballroom dancers. There is just something about the place. Mary slips into a trance and is fired from her new job for playing what sounded like normal organ music to me(?). Nonetheless, it really pissed off the priest! From there, she returns to Saltair and awaits her fate.
This is really a very good movie. It's slow at times but not enough to drag. I love the scenes of the old Saltair resort. Although the place is still there (I saw the Legendary Shack Shakers there last winter), little is left of its former glory and though decayed by '62, that glory is still more evident in the film. Atmosphere is the key here, and Harvey builds a creepy one with roadside walking dead, spiraling organ music and the zombie-like Mary stumbling through her life. XXXXX
Cat O' Nine Tails Productions
Director: Dario Argento
You know, I have watched this movie three times now and I still don't know what to tell you!
It's one of those "someone gets killed and then everyone who had something to do with that person ends up dead", only this time around it's not a brassy newspaper reporter who is going to help the "don't have time for this" police solve the crimes. It is a blind crossword puzzle maker and a little girl, who serves as his eyes. Unbelievable, I know...
It's not that this movie is terrible. There is a certain air of suspense but it's just not memorable, the only thing that is a original at all is the main character and I just plain expected more from Argento. XX
Caveman 1981 David Foster Productions
Director: Carl Gottlieb
Starring: My favorite Beatle, Ringo Starr. Along with Dennis Quaid, Shelley Long, Barbara Bach and Avery Shreiber(?)
Ringo stars as Atouk- kind of the weak link of a band of cavemen lead by a hulking giant named Tonda and his woman Lana (Bach). Atouk pines for Lana but is no match for Tonda. after drugging the two and trying to have his way with Lana, Atouk is kicked out and forced to live on his own- sort of...
He soon meets up with Lar (Quaid) who had been hobbled up after nearly being eaten by a dinosaur, then left for dead by Tonda. They run to embrace and crack their backs. Suddenly upright, they begin to thrive. They meet a young lady (Long) and her blind father, saving the father from a tar pit. The girl, Tala, takes a liking to Atouk but he is in love with Lana.
They meet up with several other misfits from varying tribes and band together. During a particularly nasty thunderstorm, they discover fire- and cooking! One day while "fishing" Tonda loses Lana down the river and guess who save her downstream... Yep, Atouk. He takes her back to camp where Tala becomes jealous and goes to tell Tonda that Lana is still alive.
Then comes to a head the long rivalry between Atouk and Tonda... A full-on war between the misfits and the normals and a final show-down between Atouk and Tonda, over what else but Lana. Or is it really more than that?
Like others of the era, this was funnier when I was 15 but it was still pretty funny today. The big furry boots (now all the rage for ravers everywhere), the howling dinosaur, the marijuana berries... I don't which was more accurate, this or the french film Quest for Fire (also 1981). While the latter was probably a better movie, it is Caveman that achieved cult status and lives on! XXXX
Cheerleaders Beach Party 1977 Cannon Publications
Director: Alex Goitein
Wait! Is that the USC Trojans? No, it's just the Whatever College Rams... And they suck. Nonetheless, their cheerleaders (all 4 of them) cheer on very poorly but with great enthusiasm. So, when the cheerleaders find out 3 of the top players are being enticed by a recruiter from State College (what state, we do not know...), the cheerleaders swing into action.
They steal the school van from the coach and follow the boys to the beach (apparently the home of State College). There they find that the recruiter has some trick up his sleeve, such as Honey, Sugar and Ginger- the State College cheerleaders, along with bribes, free grades, etc. Well our heroines are not about to take this laying down (yet).
First, they crash the recruiter's poolside party by posing as waitresses and sabotage the party, or so they think. Turns out the boys think it was the coolest party ever! Meanwhile, they've recruited a dumb farm boy by milking his chicken one by one and star Mitch has fallen for the other cheerleader (Monica? Sheryl? I can tell them apart...) but has failed to tell her he has already signed to play at State.
Here's the plan to win their boys back... Throw and even better party on the beach where they have been camped out. All the while, Coach Henson has been trying to catch up with the rogue cheerleaders, who ruined his camping trip, but has only been met with one ridiculous scenario after another.
Let's face it. This is a T&A movie. Normally T&A adds something for the male viewer but there has to be something more than four cheerleaders taking their clothes off. I understand the writer of the "story" is a former writer for porno movies, which would explain why the story sucked so bad! Not even worth it for the nudity... ~
Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things! 1972 Gemeni Film Distributuion
Director: Benjamin "Bob" Clark
A rag-tag theatre group, led by an pompous extravagant weirdo- the likes of which we haven't seen since Beyond the Valley of the Dolls- heads out to an island graveyard for some hi-jinks and role playing. The weirdo, Alan, has already set up a bang of a practical joke, which he unleashes on his crew. Then Alan, in his worst Shakespearian acting, tries to conjure up the dead for real.
After failing miserably, one of the troop gives it a try. Up 'til now, all this bohemian JAP has done is spit out really bad one-liners every time Alan speaks. But she gets down in the grave and uses her "artistic" zeal in an attempt to show up Alan. Nothing works, so they take the corpse they dug up the day before back to the house for some fun.
After propping the stiff up, they put a doily on his head and generally poke fun at him until one of the girls (the sensitive "mental" one) freaks out and pleads with the corpse to forgive them. Finally Alan pushes them too far, they no longer care about his threats of unemployment and set out for the boat. Too late! The dead are springing up out of their shallow graves and they are hungry for flesh!!
Most of the group makes it back to the house and hole-up, Night of the Living Dead style, boarding up windows and blocking doors in a vain attempt to escape the marauding zombies. Good luck!
This is an obvious attempt to cash in on the success of prior zombie movies, with some occult flavor thrown in. Where it fails is, that it can't shake it's home-made feel. There really isn't anything good in this film... Director Bob Clark went on to make everything from Porky's to the classic A Christmas Story, but this is one of the worst movies ever. The only thing I liked was Alan's striped pants. ~
Circus of Fear (a.k.a. Psycho-Circus) 1966 Circus Films
Director: John Llewellyn Moxey
Starring: Christopher Lee
Not the best print I've seen but hey, what do you want for 1966? Starts right in with a clever armed car robbery, in broad daylight, on a bridge. One of the robbers is sent off with a large sum of cash to meet an unknown boss at "the old farm". All he meets is his demise, from the knife of an unseen killer. See, our poor bloke has stumbled into the winter quarters of the circus!
Now, someone in the circus is rich... a masked lion tamer named Greggor. But is he the killer? No, that would be too easy. Same with the jealous and abusive knife thrower, although his two-timin' girlfriend Gina is eventually killed by a thrown knife. No, it's much more complicated than that. Plus, there's a young Rutger Hauer sneaking about, looking for the money. And don't forget the midget who's blackmailing Greggor...
The cops are stumped, as the robber's body surfaces, then Gina with the same kind of knife. Subplot: The ringmaster is out for revenge on the man who killed his father. A man he believes is Greggor's brother, or is he? Greggor's niece Natasha isn't saying. The ringmaster thinks he will know soon enough, then he will exact his revenge, maybe with the help of the cops!
It's a complex and intriguing story. Suspenseful and I did not know who the killer was until the very end, when they fished him out. Like I mentioned, this was a terrible print. I wonder if there's a better copy out there somewhere... Either way, the movie is just good enough to make you forget halfway through! XXXX
Coffy 1973 American International Productions
Director: Jack Hill
Starring: That fine Pam Grier and that not-so-fine Sid Haig
Coffy (Grier) is an emergency room nurse whose eleven year-old sister is sitting in DT, after a heroin overdose. None too happy with the pushers who put her sister there, Coffy decides to take matters into her own hands- starting with the local dealers who hooked her lil' sis on the shit. A drug pusher shot-gunned to the head and an accidental overdose... The cops don't know anything is up.
When she's not screwing up at work or shagging her councilman boyfriend, she seeks out the next guy up, King George... King of the pimps and pushers. He also is the king of hideous male camel-toe in his mustard yellow jumpsuit! (Shudder, here.) George is easily suckered in by Coffy's fake jamaican accent and hires her for his "escort" service, where she has access to the bigger fishes.
Sid Haig steps in to stop her from killing his boss, which may have been her plan anyway as she then blames it on King George. It's on! These mobsters take out George (in a particularly grisly fashion) and find out their whole business may be in jeopardy! Pissed, they order Coffy killed too. They shoot her up with smack but before he kills her, Sid wants to get a little piece of that beautiful Coffy ass. Bad move Sid...
Packaged as Soul Cinema, we all know it better as blaxploitation. It doesn't matter... Coffy is a dynamic tale of revenge. Grier plays one tough and pissed-off chick, who isn't afraid to use her "charms" if necessary. Hell hath no fury like a woman spurned? You have no idea! Coffy will do more than kick your ass! XXXX
The Corpse Vanishes 1942 Banner Productions
Director: Wallace Fox
Starring: Bela Lugosi
What a lovely day for a wedding and our beautiful bride is about to say her "I do" when suddenly she faints. By gum, she's dead! The morgue truck arrives and off she goes. But then wait... The morgue truck really arrives. So who took her? Soon we see who is behind it. Another wedding, another dead bride and another corpse snatched!
Don't worry, fashion reporter Patricia Hunter, is on the case. Or at least she thinks she has a clue- a funny smelling orchid. She tries to tell the boss but hell... It's 1942, what does a woman know? Well, Pat the Reporter is bound to prove the old SOB wrong about her. He basically puts her on the case to get her out of his office.
She finds the orchid is a hybrid, developed by a european professor (Lugosi), who just by chance lives just up the road! She goes to see him (by sneaking on a truck) and discovers the horrible truth. But did she, or was it just a dream? Anyhoo, she finds an ally in the doctor who is treating the prof's wife- the countess. Da-na-na!
She goes back to the city and he follows. They tell their unbelievable story to the boss and he thinks it's the craziest thing he has ever heard but still fronts $500 to set a trap. But will it work or will it backfire on them? Let's just say it's 1942 and even though she just cracked the biggest story in the paper's history, she quits to marry the doctor. Go figure...
OK... Yes, it's old fashioned. Yes, it's full of grandiose actors. Yes, the story is completely ridiculous. Yet, somehow I still liked this one. At least as much as White Zombie. I give it the same XXX.
The Cosmic Man 1959 Futura Productions
Director: Herbert S. Greene
Starring: John Carradine and Scotty Morrow (best known as Pee-Wee on Donna Reed)
So maybe this is where all this ridiculous "orb" nonsense came from. Never mind all that science and lens optics, this movie proves that orbs come form space and may have bad intentions. This orb is not just a spot on lens but a giant metallic thing, some ten feet in diameter. It's radioactive, so let's go down and get a closer look!
In typical '50s fashion, science and the military are at odds about what to do with the orb and the apparition that later appears from within. The guilt-ridden ex-army scientist wants study it and help the "cosmic man", but Col. So-n-So has his orders to bring it back to base and confine it. Thing is... It won't budge!
So they fret, while the cosmic man races around creating havoc by finishing their experiments and fixing their math errors(?). Soon Cosmic man announces his departure and the military is anxious to stop him. This begins another show-down between the square-jawed army guys and the four-eyed cosmic man. The end. WTF? The end? Yeah...
Doesn't appear they had much of a story fleshed out here before they started shooting. I mean, it's 1959 and as long as the army has to deal with a foreign menace and radiation, we're good, right? Greene, like Ed Wood, must've thought, "Aw, the audience will never know!" Much to our amusement, we do know! XXX
The Crazies 1973 Pittsburgh Films
Director: George A. Romero
George A. Romero strikes back, with this tale of a killer virus which is inadvertently unleashed on a small town. After a father goes crazy, killing his wife and burning down his house, the army rolls into town. Sporting white hazmat suits and gas-masks, they do nothing to ease the publics mind as they declare Marshall Law and start herding people into the high school.
With the lack of communication, many people revolt outright and our heroes (two volunteer firefighters, the girlfriend of one and a mentally slow teenage girl and her father) go on the run. Claiming weapons and any information they can get from the soldiers they kill along the way, they take refuge at the country club for a night. Meanwhile the army is trying to deal with the increasing number of crazed survivors of the virus and keep the fact it is a biological weapon that caused it under wraps.
Our friends push on, trying to break the perimetre before it is completely in place. They battle more soldiers and take a farm house. There it becomes apparent that the father and daughter and one of the firemen are sick. The father even rapes the daughter in his fevered insanity! Finally, the one fireman and his girlfriend are forced to go on alone. They hide out in a brick yard but it may be too late... She is starting to talk to her self and laugh uncontrollably. The men in white suits are rolling into the brickyard. Who will survive??
By all appearances, Outbreak (starring Dustin Hoffman) is just a modernization of this film. I didn't know it at the time but the similarities are glaring throughout! Despite the low-budget feel, this is a really good one!! XXXX
The Crazies 2010 Overture Films
Director: Breck Eisner
Starring: The guy from Deadwood and some other pretty actors
This time around it's the sheriff, his doctor wife, his deputy and some teenage girl who go on the run as the scary army guys with gas masks swoop in and seal off the town, separating the healthy from the sick and strapping the sick to gurneys to die.
The story stays fairly true until the end, which is a little more Hollywood, but not necessarily song and dance. A much higher budget afforded better bio-suits, better make-up, better film production and special effects, but it doesn't add up to a better movie. However, it does add up to a very well done remake... And that is something! XXX
Creature from the Black Lagoon 1954 Universal Pictures
Director: Jack Arnold
When a paleontologist finds a fossilized, webbed "hand" in the depths of the Amazon, he enlists the help of a couple of doctors. Mark has been working in Brazil for some time, with his assistant Kay. David has come to work for Mark and has fallen for Kay along the way. That's your lovey-dovey back story...
Mark, the fame hungry one, decides to take a little trip down there to see what they can find. The bunch of them set out, by boat named Rita, for the camp but when they arrive they find the inhabitants grossly mutilated. Eight days of digging (or was it eight weeks?) yields not a thing so they head off to the fabled Black Lagoon, to look for further clues.
They find their Black Lagoon and in it the proof of their theory, that is that the rocks from excavation washed into the lagoon. Still... No fossil. In fact, nothing much at all until the comely babe, Kay, goes for a swim and stirs the loins of a living gill man. Before long, the creature is on board the Rita and killing anyone who interferes. Fortunately, there are a few nameless crewmen, so he doesn't have to kill the main characters!
Mark is hell-bent on killing the creature and bringing it back- for his own personal glory. David, on the other hand, would like to catch the creature- to study it in the name of science. This disagreement carries through the rest of the film and into the final moments, when Mark's motives could interfere with their attempt to escape a trap set by the creature... A trap to catch his "love"!
One of the finest of the Universal films, perhaps the finest. Full of action, suspense and excitement. Fantastic direction and cinematography, especially the underwater segments- amazing imagery, even today, but even more for the time. Just an all-around great film and one of my all-time favorites! XXXXX
Creature from the Haunted Sea 1961 Roger Corman Productions
Director: Why, Roger Corman of course!
Okay, let me see if I can explain this to you... A secret agent has infiltrated a gang, which is smuggling anti-government militants out of Cuba. Only the head mobster has other plans for the "freedom fighters", that is kill them one by one and keep the gold they are delivering to the U.S. How does one do that? With a fake sea monster of course!
So, they dress Lenzo up as the sea monster (scuba gear under the costume) and they make fake monster "tracks" on the boat with a toilet plunger and green dye! Believe it or not, this works for a while. Even the Generale eventually buys the story. Meanwhile, the spy is radioing messages back home using a lunchbox (The Professor from Gilligan's Island must've learned from this man!)
Somehow, they all end up shipwrecked on an island. There's romance and intrigue and stupid humor and still, one by one, cubans being killed by the monster. Here's the problem: The gold is sitting at the bottom of the ocean. Yup, sunk in the shipwreck! But wait, these cubans are frogmen!
The mob and the remaining cubans don their scuba gear and dive for the gold, and the mobsters use the dangerous conditions to knock off a couple more cubans. But then wait... Is that Lenzo, or is that a real sea monster? What is going on? Are we all going to die??
This may be even whackier than Little Shop of Horrors. It certainly tried to be somewhat a spoof of itself. I'm just not sure if it succeeded. Much of the humor was very annoying (the guy who does animal calls, for instance) and you just want to punch the head mobster's jive-talkin' girlfriend in the mouth when she speaks! Not on par with Little Shop or Bucket. At all. XX
Creature with the Atom Brain 1955 Columbia Pictures
Director: Edward L. Cahn
After a rogue nightclub owner and the city D.A. are found murdered in a similar fashion and with radioactive fingerprints(!) at both crime scenes, a crime lab doctor sets out to solve the strange crimes. He soon discovers that the men who belong to the fingerprints are both dead and if that don't beat all, eight bodies in total are missing from the morgue!
We of course know that a bitter ex-con is behind the whole mess. He has financed a scientist's experiments in trade for revenge, in the form of super-human zombies!! When another body is found with more radioactive fingerprints, the cops enlist the military to sweep the area with "radium finders". They must pinpoint the source that the zombies feed on! The plot emerges and the remaining two men ,who may be the next victims, are taken into protective custody.
No matter, the scientist's next step is to kill the crime lab boss, only another detective friend is driving his car and meets an untimely end. With a police detective under their control, they easily dispatch the remaining two men. The crime lab boss spots his buddy and follows him back to the roost, where it's a zombie battle!
This is your typical '50s "radioactive" movie. Fits right in with Invisible Invaders, Tarantula, etc. Wrought with pseudo-scientific jargon and wholesome family values, but also as funny as any of them. XXX
Cult of the Cobra 1955 Universal Pictures
Director: Francis D. Lyon
Six GIs on leave before transferring out, happen upon a snake charmer who offers (for a price) to take them into the temple of a secret snake worship society, where women turn into snakes and vice versa. Having to see to believe, the six eagerly shell out the hundred bucks and that night they meet the charmer at the temple and witness a snake dance.
The festivities are interrupted when one of the dip-shit GIs takes a photog (with a flash!) and the jig is up. Only after the priest curses them all does the woman turn to a snake, to put the bite on that SOB with the camera. At the hospital, he seems to be recovering but the snake comes back and finishes him off. The rest of the gang heads home to NYC, where Paul and Tom start banging the same girl, Julia.
When she picks Paul, Tom is a little sore at first but then a smoldering brunette moves in across the hall... Hubba, hubba! Tom falls for her instantly and she tolerates him, as she has a secret life. See, she sneaks out late at night and oddly enough, she always seems to be there when Tom's GI buddies get killed one by one.
The cops are catching on, even Paul is catching on but not ol' Tom. He stands by his new girl come hell or high water! That all changes when the snake goes after Julia. Tom must still dig her because he jumps to her rescue and well, the rest is history.
Pretty typical stuff here: A knuckle biting heroine and a villainess dressed in black. The GIs are fleshed out a little better but still mostly stereotype. For Tom, just picture Wally Cleaver joining the air force and getting mixed up in this business. It may have been better if that was the story! So, so. XX
Curse of the Aztec Mummy a.k.a. La Maldicion de la Momia Azteca 1957 Cinematografica Calderon S.A.
Director: Raphael Portillo
When we left our heroes last time, they had just arrested the bad, bad Dr- Krupp (a.k.a. The Bat), leaving the bracelet and breastplate in a pile of rubble. Now, the gang is going to bust him out of jail, so he can finish his quest for the aztec treasure (so he can finish his experiment, you know... He's not greedy!)
Despite the efforts of a new hero, a mexican wrestler named Angel, the gang succeeds in freeing their boss and they quickly set to their big plan. First, let's kidnap Flo (remember her? The one who lead them to the tomb?), then we'll bring in Dr- Almada to translate the breastplate and lead us to the treasure!
So, the goons go to Almada's house and they kidnap Flo, and Almada's daughter who happens to get in the way. They take her back to the lair and shoot her up with hypnosis drugs (LSD perhaps?). Once again, Angel shows up and once again, he gets his ass whooped! This guy is not much of a wrestler and possibly the worst superhero ever! He is left to the snakes and must call an 11 year-old boy for help(!).
Krupp, he finds his trinkets, but in the process wakes the mummy. No matter... They escape and the doc translates the location of the ever fabled aztec treasure. But wait, who that at the door? Angel? No, he's right here. It must be... Aaaaagh! That damn mummy!! Yep, and he wants his stuff back.
At least as good as the first. Maybe even better with the bumbling wrestler and all! I mean, picture the biggest goof you know deciding to become a masked and caped crime-fighter in his spare time. Now you're getting it. Another bonus... An english language version. Somehow the dub is always funnier than subtitles. Picture Godzilla movies with subtitles. Isn't pretty is it? A little better but still in the XXX range.
Curse of the Demon a.k.a. Night of the Demon 1957 Columbia Pictures
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Starring: Johnny Reno hisself, Dana Andrews!
I woulda sworn I'd already reviewed this one, based on the title but no... It was new to me! Here we have a mysterious magician and possible cult leader being pursued by Andrews and the curvy blond in the movie. Not many surprises here. The villain even has a goatee. An awesome goatee at that!
Some doctor or another is killed when he crashes into power lines after visiting the magician, Dr- Karswell I believe. But the poor fool hasn't just been electrocuted, he's been torn to shreds and we have already seen by what. A hulking beast of foam rubber on wheels, which moves shakily along the tracks! Pathetic...
I dozed off a few times as our heroes worked to expose what they suspected, which was that Dr- Karswell was behind this hideous beast, er... Machine. Well the trick here is that you get "marked to die" with a parchment full of runes and guess who get one... Yup, Dana. Although skeptical, it does appear that all those "marked" before did indeed croak, so what does he do? Try to figure it out!
A little slow-paced for a thriller and the monster was not only bad but unnecessary! This coulda been a tight thriller if they put a little effort in. But they didn't. X
The Curse of Frankenstein 1957 Hammer Films
Director: Terence Fisher
Starring: Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee
In this brightly colored re-telling of the classic tale, we have a normal boy who inherits the family estate. This boy, Victor, doesn't stay normal for long. He sends his aunt and cousin packing (with an allowance) and quickly turns pretty obsessive about his new work- reanimating dead critters.
Victor goes from 15 to 50 in the blink of an eye and the older Victor (Cushing) is aided, though somewhat apprehensively, not by a hunchback named Igor but by a regular guy named Paul. Paul? Anyway, Paul is good with things until Victor turns his focus from dogs to humans.
OK, maybe digging up a corpse or two isn't so bad... But when he suspect Victor has killed a colleague for his magnificent brain, Paul dissents! He does not, however, move out. See, by now, Victor's cousin Elizabeth has come to marry Victor. Yeah, you heard me... Paul makes every effort to get her to leave and when she won't he stays to protect her (from marrying her cousin?).
Bam! Crash! Zap! Lightning brings the poor creature to life. It was all an accident, see. With a damaged brain and looking like a zombie Paul Simon, this creature is none too happy... He tries to kill Victor right off! Sounds of silence this, motherf*cker!! So, this brilliant scientist, who brought the dead back to life, makes a fateful decision.
Back story: Victor has been banging the maid. When she finds out he intends marry his cousin instead of her. Well, you know the saying, "Hell hath no fury..." So what does Victor do? How about replace the damaged brain with that of the maid. Certainly no harm can come of that, right? Way to go genius...
I like that this is not just a Universal remake in color. There is something sacred about a B&W Boris Karloff monster. Add color and it's Herman Munster, not Frankenstein! No, this stands on its own as a great version of Mary Shelley's tale. Not quite as dark as the Universal film but the bold color must've lent well to the drive-in theater! XXXX