I am generally a big fan of the highly prolific exploitation filmmaker Jess Franco, yet it is undeniable that his impressive repertoire includes ingenious films as well as big time stinkers. While this "Erotic Rites Of Frankenstein" of 1972 is not one of the most awful films Franco has ever brought to screen it definitely ranges among his lesser ones. The film has its positive aspects, including a certain delightful weirdness, but it is overall a bit too messy, and often quite boring. Still, for my fellow trash fans, there are some reasons to see the film. This is the first film ever starring Lina Romay, who subsequently became a Franco-film-regular and sleaze-queen. Romay was only 18 when this film was made, and she became director Franco's wife some time later. The film's storyline is weird and very absurd, and basically typical for a Franco flick. I will not go into detail, but I'll say this much: The story revolves about an insane scientist/sorcerer named Cagliostro (regular Franco-film star Howard Vernon), who has a cult of devoted freaks in his castle, and wants to create a human 'masterrace' by crossing beautiful women with Frankenstein's monster. Or whatever. Sounds like a lot of weird fun, I know, but sadly the film gets quite tiresome at times. There are two versions of the film, one of which is a lot sleazier. They basically shot the whole film twice, with the exact same things happening, only that the women are mostly clothed in one version and mostly fully naked in the other. My DVD contains the more prudish version, with the more explicit 'alternative' scenes as a bonus feature. I strongly recommend to watch the sleazier version, of course, since the sleaze factor is arguably the most recommendable thing about the film. The female cast is lovely to look at and mostly naked (in the interesting version). Also, there are some ridiculous and amateurish, but delightfully weird outburst of violence. The cinematography and settings are also very good. Howard Vernon enjoys a certain cult status among many of my fellow exploitation fans, and rightly so, if I am considered. The guy was certainly not the most brilliant actor ever, but he fit very well in the trashy Eurohorror roles that he played. Vernon's repertoire ranges from some excellent films (such Jess Franco's very own masterpiece "Miss Muerte") to god-awful (such as Jean Rollin's dreadful "Zombie Lake") and his presence actually makes films like this one a lot more worthwhile. This film of many aka. titles (such as "La Maldición De Frankenstein") is watchable (in the explicit version) for its weirdness, but one shouldn't expect too much. Among the Franco films I've seen (and those are quite many by now) this one doesn't rank at the very bottom, but it certainly ranges in the lesser half.
28 Reviews
"Something has happened to the Doctor, something abominable." Better than usual effort from Jesus Franco.
poolandrews4 November 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Les Experiences Erotiques de Frankenstein, or under one of it's other alternate titles like The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein, La Maldicion de Frankenstein or The Curse of Frankenstein which was the title of the version I saw, starts in Dr. Frankenstein's (Dennis Price) laboratory where he & his assistant Morpho (writer & director Jesus Franco) have just transplanted a human brain into his silver skinned monster (Fernando Bilbao) that has been able to give it the power of speech. However, they are attacked by a blind half bird half human woman named Melissa (Anne Libert) who was created by a mad reincarnated scientist named Cagliostro (Howard Vernon) who attack Frankenstein & steal his monster, before he dies Dr. Frankenstein tries to tell Dr. Seward (Alberto Dables) about what has happened, along with Inspector Tanner (Daniel White) Seward decides to investigate. Shortly after Dr. Frankenstein's daughter Vera (Beatriz Savon) turns up & with the help of her assistant Abigail (Doris Thomas) reanimates her Father who begs her to save his monster as Cagliostro is a reincarnated madman intent on creating a perfect female using various carefully chosen body parts & have her mate with his monster to create a 'master race' to replace all of humanity! As the clues point to the 'Castle of Barna' can Cagliostro be stopped?
This Spanish French co-production was written & directed by Jesus Franco who also appears in the opening sequence, I have to admit that I'm not the biggest Franco fan usually but Les Experiences Erotiques de Frankenstein isn't too bad & at least he tries to inject some horror amidst the nudity & surrealism. Apparently this film exists in a couple of different versions & the one I an commenting on is the 'hot' uncut version with all the nudity intact which probably consist of someone undressing, the naked female monster, Melissa's naked body getting a few camera pans up & down it & a few rituals involving naked people. The script doesn't play like an ordinary Frankenstein adaptation as you can probably tell from my synopsis, it's all rather strange, disjointed, nonsensical & downright bizarre at times but having said that it does entertain to an extent. What is Melissa all about? She is supposedly a half bird with blue feathers & sharp claws for no good reason as far as I could tell. Cagliostro uses 'Magnetic Waves' to control people's minds but has to do it through Melissa which again is just pointless. What are those zombie types doing just standing there doing nothing in particular? Why does the monster have silver skin? Why all the baffling incantations & rituals? In a odd sort of way these surreal elements work on a basic level & Les Experiences Erotiques de Frankenstein is watchable in a way I can't quite explain. It moves along at a fair pace & never becomes boring or dull which is one good thing about it. As far as the nudity goes there isn't much to talk about actually, one naked body is pretty much the same as another although the inclusion of naked breasts & vagina's isn't necessarily a bad thing & for the girls some bloke gets his wedding tackle out. Now in terms of violence & gore it could have been bloodier, there is a brain in a jar, a severed with a sword hand, a cheap decapitation & a scene where the monster brutally whips a naked man & woman whom are tied together (don't ask). Director Franco shows that he probably would be better off directing traffic as he uses the annoying day-for-night process & he puts constant Owl hooting on the soundtrack to try & convince us that it's the middle of the night! He uses plenty of zooms which seem to go in & out of focus at random & as a whole doesn't do much to add atmosphere to the proceedings apart from a couple of nicely lit shots. Technically Les Experiences Erotiques de Frankenstein is cheap & cheerful, some of the costumes look alright while others like bed sheets, some of the locations are decent, the cinematography is OK & I must admit that the music really got on my nerve's. The special effects are far from special, that lab skeleton is obviously plastic & the monster just looks daft. The acting is of low calibre by everyone involved. Overall I thought it was watchable in a daft & silly but entertaining & fun sort of way. Much better than most of the other stuff I've seen from Franco anyway although that in itself is far from a recommendation. Worth a watch for Euro horror fans if you can find a copy.
This Spanish French co-production was written & directed by Jesus Franco who also appears in the opening sequence, I have to admit that I'm not the biggest Franco fan usually but Les Experiences Erotiques de Frankenstein isn't too bad & at least he tries to inject some horror amidst the nudity & surrealism. Apparently this film exists in a couple of different versions & the one I an commenting on is the 'hot' uncut version with all the nudity intact which probably consist of someone undressing, the naked female monster, Melissa's naked body getting a few camera pans up & down it & a few rituals involving naked people. The script doesn't play like an ordinary Frankenstein adaptation as you can probably tell from my synopsis, it's all rather strange, disjointed, nonsensical & downright bizarre at times but having said that it does entertain to an extent. What is Melissa all about? She is supposedly a half bird with blue feathers & sharp claws for no good reason as far as I could tell. Cagliostro uses 'Magnetic Waves' to control people's minds but has to do it through Melissa which again is just pointless. What are those zombie types doing just standing there doing nothing in particular? Why does the monster have silver skin? Why all the baffling incantations & rituals? In a odd sort of way these surreal elements work on a basic level & Les Experiences Erotiques de Frankenstein is watchable in a way I can't quite explain. It moves along at a fair pace & never becomes boring or dull which is one good thing about it. As far as the nudity goes there isn't much to talk about actually, one naked body is pretty much the same as another although the inclusion of naked breasts & vagina's isn't necessarily a bad thing & for the girls some bloke gets his wedding tackle out. Now in terms of violence & gore it could have been bloodier, there is a brain in a jar, a severed with a sword hand, a cheap decapitation & a scene where the monster brutally whips a naked man & woman whom are tied together (don't ask). Director Franco shows that he probably would be better off directing traffic as he uses the annoying day-for-night process & he puts constant Owl hooting on the soundtrack to try & convince us that it's the middle of the night! He uses plenty of zooms which seem to go in & out of focus at random & as a whole doesn't do much to add atmosphere to the proceedings apart from a couple of nicely lit shots. Technically Les Experiences Erotiques de Frankenstein is cheap & cheerful, some of the costumes look alright while others like bed sheets, some of the locations are decent, the cinematography is OK & I must admit that the music really got on my nerve's. The special effects are far from special, that lab skeleton is obviously plastic & the monster just looks daft. The acting is of low calibre by everyone involved. Overall I thought it was watchable in a daft & silly but entertaining & fun sort of way. Much better than most of the other stuff I've seen from Franco anyway although that in itself is far from a recommendation. Worth a watch for Euro horror fans if you can find a copy.
Franco-stein!
BA_Harrison6 October 2020
A silver-skinned Frankenstein's monster - now that's different. One thing is for sure, this isn't your bog-standard Frankenstein film. Whereas most movies based on Mary Shelley's legendary creation are content with one mad doctor and one monster (two at a push), Jess Franco's The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein features three insane scientists - Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price), his daughter Vera (Beatriz Savón), and the villainous Cagliostro (Howard Vernon) - plus a whole slew of strange creations, including a blind bird-woman called Melisa (Anne Libert), a bloke with pointy ears, some living skeletons, and assorted ghouls.
In the film's opening scene, Doctor Frankenstein is murdered by Cagliostro and Melisa, who make off with the scientist's shimmering, shambling monster, intending to mate it with their creation, a perfect woman, to create an entirely new race. To be honest, the shambolic plot doesn't make a lot of sense (like a lot of Franco's stuff), and the film's limited appeal is its sheer insanity and some gratuitous nudity. The most bonkers scene sees the shiny monster flogging a naked Vera and an equally starkers man, who are bound together, until they fall on a floor of rubber spikes. If that sound like fun to you, then by all means give it a whirl, but this isn't one of Franco's better efforts.
In the film's opening scene, Doctor Frankenstein is murdered by Cagliostro and Melisa, who make off with the scientist's shimmering, shambling monster, intending to mate it with their creation, a perfect woman, to create an entirely new race. To be honest, the shambolic plot doesn't make a lot of sense (like a lot of Franco's stuff), and the film's limited appeal is its sheer insanity and some gratuitous nudity. The most bonkers scene sees the shiny monster flogging a naked Vera and an equally starkers man, who are bound together, until they fall on a floor of rubber spikes. If that sound like fun to you, then by all means give it a whirl, but this isn't one of Franco's better efforts.
Frankenstein as told by the Marquis de Sade
Chris-77317 April 2001
Once upon a time, I viewed a copy of Jess Franco's Virgin among the Living Dead. I thought the movie was slow, boring and utterly pointless. Henceforth, I made it my firm resolution to avoid any movie directed by Jess Franco again. However after catching "the Awful Dr Orloff" on tv I have over the years become an admirer of his unique filmic style and now suprisingly claim that Jess Franco can be considered an Auteur of Euro-trash cinema.
The Erotic rites of Frankenstein is a very hard movie to track down. As far as I know it has never been released in the UK or America. Therefore, I was lucky enough to obtain a good widescreen copy on VHS from a car-boot sale. (These thing's always turn up in carboot sales!) The movie is a very imaginative and bizarre reinterpretation of Shelley's classic horror tale with and overtly sexual subtext.
Dr Frankenstein finally bestows the gift of speech upon his creation. Unfortunately his triumph is short lived when he is attacked by a weird naked vulture woman who tears him to shreds in his laboratory. Vera Frankenstein investigating his death reanimates her fathers corpse and discovers that his murderer is none other than Cagliostro the Wizard who has stolen the monster to aid his plans for world domination. Vera sets out to revenge her father but alas falls into the clutches of the wicked and very perverse Cagliostro....
This film contains many odd scenes and speeches from the characters. The oft mentioned scene of a bare chested and silver skinned Monster mercilessly whipping a naked couple over a spiked floor is suprising to say the least. The naked vulture woman's attack and slaughter of several naked men too is unexpected. As is the appearance of zombies at Cagliostro's castle. For once in a Frankenstein film it is the Doctor himself who is reanimated not less than three times and eventually becomes his own monster.
I enjoyed this movie - Franco's obsessions with S&M and naked women provide a spice to a very tired tale.
The Erotic rites of Frankenstein is a very hard movie to track down. As far as I know it has never been released in the UK or America. Therefore, I was lucky enough to obtain a good widescreen copy on VHS from a car-boot sale. (These thing's always turn up in carboot sales!) The movie is a very imaginative and bizarre reinterpretation of Shelley's classic horror tale with and overtly sexual subtext.
Dr Frankenstein finally bestows the gift of speech upon his creation. Unfortunately his triumph is short lived when he is attacked by a weird naked vulture woman who tears him to shreds in his laboratory. Vera Frankenstein investigating his death reanimates her fathers corpse and discovers that his murderer is none other than Cagliostro the Wizard who has stolen the monster to aid his plans for world domination. Vera sets out to revenge her father but alas falls into the clutches of the wicked and very perverse Cagliostro....
This film contains many odd scenes and speeches from the characters. The oft mentioned scene of a bare chested and silver skinned Monster mercilessly whipping a naked couple over a spiked floor is suprising to say the least. The naked vulture woman's attack and slaughter of several naked men too is unexpected. As is the appearance of zombies at Cagliostro's castle. For once in a Frankenstein film it is the Doctor himself who is reanimated not less than three times and eventually becomes his own monster.
I enjoyed this movie - Franco's obsessions with S&M and naked women provide a spice to a very tired tale.
"The Curse of Frankenstein" - sequel to a film even worse than this one...
The_Secretive_Bus1 August 2006
More hot hacienda action the ol' Franco way, featuring many of the sets, actors and characters from "Dracula: Prisoner of Frankenstein". "Curse" does in fact exist in two versions, as the "proper" version is called "The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein" and is roughly the same as "Curse" aside from that fact that in several scenes the characters have miraculously lost all of their clothes. Curse is the censored and "clothed" one, which also unfortunately includes an additional number of scenes not present in "Erotic Rites" which depict a gypsy girl called Esmeralda wandering around a wood and talking to an under-acting old woman who doesn't even appear to realise that she's being filmed. Needless to say these scenes have absolutely sod all to do with anything else and, in an act of pure sadism, Tartan Video decided to release this longer version onto DVD.
Being fair to it, "Curse" is a lot better than "Dracula: Prisoner" and with some alterations could even have made a tolerable 70s horror film in its own right. Its core plot isn't too far removed from the Hammer films being churned out at the time and there's some vaguely interesting stuff going on in it. However, that doesn't mean to say it's any good. Mercifully, Franco has vastly cut down on the number of crash zooms though still seems to have problems in focussing the camera a third of the time, and most exterior footage seems to suggest that every building in Spain is situated on an ungodly ground subsidence. The musical score is also questionable, giving us some nicely eerie tunes here and there and then assaulting us with jazzy percussion tempos during key action scenes, such as when Frankenstein's monster breaks into a poor young lady's bedroom and leaps on her on the bed. Ah yes, there's some naughty hijinks going on in this film including a truly nasty whipping scene that goes on for too long (and is even worse in the "Erotic" version, simply because one of the people being whipped is a nude 50 year old man urgh ) but certainly nothing to get heated about. Then again, Franco's idea of erotica seemed to be to just point a camera at a naked woman and stay there for 30 seconds a throw. Ho hum.
Dr Frankenstein (Price) is reanimating a somewhat shinier version of his monster, with help from his assistant, Morpho (what is Franco's fetish with the name 'Morpho'???). Despite playing the title character, Price is killed approximately two minutes into the film. Now, poor old Price's characters often have a run of bad luck. I've seen him getting throttled, impaled, drowned, drained of blood, tipped into acid and "excited to death", but I think I wouldn't be wrong in saying that Curse gives us the most novel method of Price dispatchment: bitten and bled by a blind and cannibalistic bird woman. Mmm. There's something to write home about. The bird woman and a gurning helper steal Frankenstein's monster and take him to the true villain of the piece, Cagliostro: a ranting nutter who doesn't blink (yes, it's Howard Vernon again, far better playing some bloke we've never heard of than the legendary Count Dracula). Cagliostro initially seems to want the monster to steal lots of virgins for him but then decides that he wants to create the ultimate woman as a bride of sorts for the monster. Quite why I don't know but I'm sure if he had the chance he'd list his reasons. Frankenstein's daughter, Vera, comes to pay her respects at her dad's funeral, following which she steals the body and reanimates it back at the "castle" to learn who did the poor bugger in. Eventually she reasons that the best way to get her revenge on Cagliostro is to let herself get captured by his monster and um, get hypnotised into being his completely willing slave. Yes. Erm, not quite sure what she was getting at, there. In any case, that's the status quo and it's not even including the activities of the good Dr Seward, wandering around the plot and chatting to people (probably looking for Bram Stoker for an explanation as to what on Earth he's doing there).
I said it wasn't as bad as "Dracula: Prisoner" and that's true. For a start, it can only tarnish the memory of one horror staple rather than three, but aside from that it at least seems to know where it's going half the time. Most of this is thanks to the dialogue, in stark contrast with its prequel; yes, this time characters actually talk to each other, a revolutionary concept if ever I've heard one. Dr Seward actually gets stuff to do here and even comes across as a decent enough hero character (even if he does try to chat up Vena at her dad's own funeral yes, really), having a hand in the baddie's downfall as opposed to his spare part status in "Dracula: Prisoner". Dennis Price appears several times throughout the narrative despite the seemingly overwhelming drawback of having been killed but spends most of the time lying on a bed, twitching spasmodically and rambling about his monster and Cagliostro. From what I can make out, Price seems to be giving an interesting performance (in other words, going over the top to exceptional degrees) but as it's dubbed in Spanish with English subtitles I can't really tell. Eventually Frankenstein dies after one ramble too many, only to come back from the dead as a (somewhat mincing) zombie who staggers into the next room to have a go at strangling Dr Seward. Price's demise is finally made certain when a police inspector chucks a container of acid over him, which seems to disintegrate Price's head in 0.5 seconds. Golly.
And then, 20 minutes later, it sort of... stops. I ought to be grateful that it ended at all.
Being fair to it, "Curse" is a lot better than "Dracula: Prisoner" and with some alterations could even have made a tolerable 70s horror film in its own right. Its core plot isn't too far removed from the Hammer films being churned out at the time and there's some vaguely interesting stuff going on in it. However, that doesn't mean to say it's any good. Mercifully, Franco has vastly cut down on the number of crash zooms though still seems to have problems in focussing the camera a third of the time, and most exterior footage seems to suggest that every building in Spain is situated on an ungodly ground subsidence. The musical score is also questionable, giving us some nicely eerie tunes here and there and then assaulting us with jazzy percussion tempos during key action scenes, such as when Frankenstein's monster breaks into a poor young lady's bedroom and leaps on her on the bed. Ah yes, there's some naughty hijinks going on in this film including a truly nasty whipping scene that goes on for too long (and is even worse in the "Erotic" version, simply because one of the people being whipped is a nude 50 year old man urgh ) but certainly nothing to get heated about. Then again, Franco's idea of erotica seemed to be to just point a camera at a naked woman and stay there for 30 seconds a throw. Ho hum.
Dr Frankenstein (Price) is reanimating a somewhat shinier version of his monster, with help from his assistant, Morpho (what is Franco's fetish with the name 'Morpho'???). Despite playing the title character, Price is killed approximately two minutes into the film. Now, poor old Price's characters often have a run of bad luck. I've seen him getting throttled, impaled, drowned, drained of blood, tipped into acid and "excited to death", but I think I wouldn't be wrong in saying that Curse gives us the most novel method of Price dispatchment: bitten and bled by a blind and cannibalistic bird woman. Mmm. There's something to write home about. The bird woman and a gurning helper steal Frankenstein's monster and take him to the true villain of the piece, Cagliostro: a ranting nutter who doesn't blink (yes, it's Howard Vernon again, far better playing some bloke we've never heard of than the legendary Count Dracula). Cagliostro initially seems to want the monster to steal lots of virgins for him but then decides that he wants to create the ultimate woman as a bride of sorts for the monster. Quite why I don't know but I'm sure if he had the chance he'd list his reasons. Frankenstein's daughter, Vera, comes to pay her respects at her dad's funeral, following which she steals the body and reanimates it back at the "castle" to learn who did the poor bugger in. Eventually she reasons that the best way to get her revenge on Cagliostro is to let herself get captured by his monster and um, get hypnotised into being his completely willing slave. Yes. Erm, not quite sure what she was getting at, there. In any case, that's the status quo and it's not even including the activities of the good Dr Seward, wandering around the plot and chatting to people (probably looking for Bram Stoker for an explanation as to what on Earth he's doing there).
I said it wasn't as bad as "Dracula: Prisoner" and that's true. For a start, it can only tarnish the memory of one horror staple rather than three, but aside from that it at least seems to know where it's going half the time. Most of this is thanks to the dialogue, in stark contrast with its prequel; yes, this time characters actually talk to each other, a revolutionary concept if ever I've heard one. Dr Seward actually gets stuff to do here and even comes across as a decent enough hero character (even if he does try to chat up Vena at her dad's own funeral yes, really), having a hand in the baddie's downfall as opposed to his spare part status in "Dracula: Prisoner". Dennis Price appears several times throughout the narrative despite the seemingly overwhelming drawback of having been killed but spends most of the time lying on a bed, twitching spasmodically and rambling about his monster and Cagliostro. From what I can make out, Price seems to be giving an interesting performance (in other words, going over the top to exceptional degrees) but as it's dubbed in Spanish with English subtitles I can't really tell. Eventually Frankenstein dies after one ramble too many, only to come back from the dead as a (somewhat mincing) zombie who staggers into the next room to have a go at strangling Dr Seward. Price's demise is finally made certain when a police inspector chucks a container of acid over him, which seems to disintegrate Price's head in 0.5 seconds. Golly.
And then, 20 minutes later, it sort of... stops. I ought to be grateful that it ended at all.
Focus, Franco! Focus!
bensonmum215 August 2005
Warning: Spoilers
- The beginning of the movie doesn't stray far from what you might expect - Dr. Frankenstein and his assistant are transplanting a brain into their creature. The transplant works and the monster is not only capable of performing simple tasks, but can think and speak. But before the Doc has time to celebrate his victory, he is interrupted by Melissa, the Bird Woman. She kills the Doctor and assistant and takes the monster to her master, Cagliostro. He has other plans for the creature. Dr. Frankenstein's monster will be the father of a new race of supermen.
- First, a word of warning. I bought Image's The Rites of Frankenstein that came out August 9, 2005. I didn't pay much attention and just assumed it would be the edition that is commonly known as The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein - a movie I've wanted to see for a while. But this version is actually the Spanish movie - La Maldición de Frankenstein. The big difference is that the Spanish movie is heavily cut (meaning all the naughty bits are cut out) and extra scenes with Lina Romay have been added (which do nothing for the movie). It seems that almost everything you normally look for in a Franco film has been left on the Spanish editing room floor. I'm positive my rating and opinion of this movie would improve when and if I ever get a chance to see the real thing.
- For those unfamiliar with Franco, a first time viewing can be puzzling and jarring. To begin with, Franco has a tendency to put shots in his films that are totally unrelated to the story. The scenes I mentioned with Lina Romay are the perfect example. They're just there. Sometimes Franco will allow his camera to linger on an inanimate object for what seems like an eternity. In this movie we get a random, close-up shot of a tree for no purpose that I could see. Shooting things out of focus doesn't appear to bother Franco. There were a couple of scenes in The Rites of Frankenstein where I had to stop myself from yelling "Focus, Franco. Focus". There are other examples as I've just scratched the surface of what you're likely to see in an average Franco movie. Whether you like them or not, his movies provide an experience like no other.
- Visually, Franco has filled The Rites of Frankenstein with all sorts of treats (at least what wasn't cut from my version). I've already mentioned Melissa, the Bird Woman. She's a blind half-bird/half-woman with steel looking talons, green feathers, and an appetite for human flesh. That's definitely something you don't see everyday. Franco could have made the whole movie about her and it might have been more interesting. Frankenstein's monster has a unique look - he's completely silver. Cagliostro has the ability to summon the undead. The site of these shrouded figures wandering through the forest is one of the highlights of the movie.
- But mixed with these interesting scenes, Franco has seen fit to include some ridiculous moments. One of my "favorites" in The Rites of Frankenstein are continual close-ups of Cagliostro's eyes. Somehow Howard Vernon was able to go the entire movie without blinking and, for some reason known only to him, Franco felt compelled to show us Vernon's non-blinking eyes over and over and over and.... Don't ask why - it's Franco. I'm convinced they had a representative from Guinness and were going for some sort of world record.
- In short, if you're a fan of Franco, you might find some enjoyment in the movie - but wait for the uncut version. If you don't like Franco, skip it all together.
Below average Monster movie co-produced by Spain and France and badly made by prolific Jesús Franco
ma-cortes29 December 2020
Dr Frankenstein : Dennis Price and his assistant Morpho : Jesús Franco, are attacked by the giant monster : Fernando Bilbao , as soon as he is brought to life. Then the monster is taken by the immortal magician Cagliostro : Howard Vernon , and his helper , the witch Melissa : Ana Libert . Cagliostro's goal is to create a new master race and turn over the World. Then Dr Stewart : Alberto Dalbes to do battle against the forces of evil and once again decides it's time to wipe them off the Earth , unfortunately his is attacked by Frankenstein monster .They have awakened .. and they are the sound of terror!
Typical Jesús Franco of the Seventies , this time revisiting Frankenstein creature . This is the follow-up to "Dracula versus Frankenstein" 1972 with similar techinician and artistic team, adding Paca Gabaldon and shot in same scenarios from Sintra , Lisboa , Portugal . Here shows up ordinary actors of the Jess Frank factory , giving lousy interpretations , such as : Howard Vernon, Dennis Price , Anne Libert , Britt Nichols , and film debut of Lina Romay , Jesús Frank's future wife and his muse.
It packs an atmospheric and passable cinematography by Raúl Artigot . Being shot on location in Barcelona, Alicante, Murcia and Sintra, Lisboa , Portugal. As well as atonal and weird musical score by Daniel White, Jesús Franco regular . The motion picture produced by Franco regular producers Arturo Marcos and Robert De Nestle who financed him several movies in the Seventies . The flick was lousily directed by Jesús Franco in his usual style . This La Maldición de Frankenstein or Erotic adventures of Frankenstein was one of a multitude of terror films directed by the hack Jesus Franco, such as : Miss Muerte or The Diabolic Dr Z , Gritos en la Noche , La Mano del Hombre Muerto, Count Dracula , Jack the Ripper , Vampyres Lesbos , Dracula versus Frankenstein , The erotic rites of Dracula , Los Demonios , Mansion of the Living Dead and Doctor Orloff Saga that includes : The Awful Dr Orloff , Secret Dr Orloff , Sinister Dr Orloff , Orloff's Invisible Monster , Faceless . Rating 4/10 . Inferior and below average horror movie . Exclusively for Jesús Frank completists .
Typical Jesús Franco of the Seventies , this time revisiting Frankenstein creature . This is the follow-up to "Dracula versus Frankenstein" 1972 with similar techinician and artistic team, adding Paca Gabaldon and shot in same scenarios from Sintra , Lisboa , Portugal . Here shows up ordinary actors of the Jess Frank factory , giving lousy interpretations , such as : Howard Vernon, Dennis Price , Anne Libert , Britt Nichols , and film debut of Lina Romay , Jesús Frank's future wife and his muse.
It packs an atmospheric and passable cinematography by Raúl Artigot . Being shot on location in Barcelona, Alicante, Murcia and Sintra, Lisboa , Portugal. As well as atonal and weird musical score by Daniel White, Jesús Franco regular . The motion picture produced by Franco regular producers Arturo Marcos and Robert De Nestle who financed him several movies in the Seventies . The flick was lousily directed by Jesús Franco in his usual style . This La Maldición de Frankenstein or Erotic adventures of Frankenstein was one of a multitude of terror films directed by the hack Jesus Franco, such as : Miss Muerte or The Diabolic Dr Z , Gritos en la Noche , La Mano del Hombre Muerto, Count Dracula , Jack the Ripper , Vampyres Lesbos , Dracula versus Frankenstein , The erotic rites of Dracula , Los Demonios , Mansion of the Living Dead and Doctor Orloff Saga that includes : The Awful Dr Orloff , Secret Dr Orloff , Sinister Dr Orloff , Orloff's Invisible Monster , Faceless . Rating 4/10 . Inferior and below average horror movie . Exclusively for Jesús Frank completists .
Feed Uncle Jess's Frankenstein.
morrison-dylan-fan11 December 2013
Warning: Spoilers
After having seen my first ever Jess Franco title, (the fun,but very flawed Women Without Innocence (1978-also reviewed) )I decided,that with still having great memories from Danny Boyle's excellent adaptation (2011-also reviewed),that I would take a look at Franco's take on Frankenstein's creature.
View on the film:
For the soundtrack and distinctive appearance of the film,writer/directing auteur and co-star Jess Franco closely works with regular composer Daniel White to soak the movie in a hauntingly surreal atmosphere,with echoing voices and distorted screams rippling across the screen.
Emphasizing the soundtracks features,Franco gives the movie a strikingly avant-garde look,with Cagliostro's "cult" and the residence of the village being set a against a trance style backdrop,which help to give the film a wonderfully chilling feel.
Despite Dennis Price giving a fun performance as Dr Frankenstein,and Lina Romay making her film debut, (in the composite cut) the screenplay by Uncle Jess is sadly unable to match the confident appearance that he displays in his directing,with Franco mostly leaving the creature/monster roots of the story behind,and instead trying to target everything from occult terror to murder mystery chiller, without ever really being keep in step with Frankenstein's creation.
View on the film:
For the soundtrack and distinctive appearance of the film,writer/directing auteur and co-star Jess Franco closely works with regular composer Daniel White to soak the movie in a hauntingly surreal atmosphere,with echoing voices and distorted screams rippling across the screen.
Emphasizing the soundtracks features,Franco gives the movie a strikingly avant-garde look,with Cagliostro's "cult" and the residence of the village being set a against a trance style backdrop,which help to give the film a wonderfully chilling feel.
Despite Dennis Price giving a fun performance as Dr Frankenstein,and Lina Romay making her film debut, (in the composite cut) the screenplay by Uncle Jess is sadly unable to match the confident appearance that he displays in his directing,with Franco mostly leaving the creature/monster roots of the story behind,and instead trying to target everything from occult terror to murder mystery chiller, without ever really being keep in step with Frankenstein's creation.
The Erotic Rites Of Frankenstein (Jesus Franco, 1972) **
Bunuel197627 October 2007
This one's undoubtedly superior to Dracula, PRISONER OF FRANKENSTEIN (1971) displaying a fair evidence of style throughout (notably some Bavaesque lighting).
It utilizes a lot of the same cast as that film: Dennis Price, in fact, returns as Frankenstein but gets little to do (this is his least performance in a Franco film especially embarrassing when his character is regenerated); Howard Vernon now turns up as Cagliostro (I had been underwhelmed by his performance when I watched the Spanish version a few years back, but he's actually quite commanding); Anne Libert gets her most impressive role as Melissa, the blind and eccentric "Bird Woman" in Cagliostro's service (though the mysterious zombie-like figures who witness the titular events from behind bars are just as grotesquely made-up); Britt Nichols is underused, but her luscious figure gets exposed this time around (and, in any case, she's perfectly cast as Cagliostro's proposed bearer of a new master race); Alberto Dalbes also returns as Dr. Seward where, again, he's the hero; ditto Fernando Bilbao as Frankenstein's monster (given a curious silver make-up here); Luis Barboo is on hand as well but, now, he plays Cagliostro's henchman rather than Frankenstein's (the latter role is taken all too briefly at the very start by Franco himself); Daniel J. White also gets more screen-time than in the previous film (where he was just an extra) as a Police Inspector.
Missing here consequently, the film runs for a mere 70 minutes! is the irrelevant gypsy subplot (featuring Lina Romay) filmed some time later and eventually incorporated into the Spanish variant, dubbed LA MALDICION DE FRANKENSTEIN aka THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN...though the English-language edition I watched also bears this title!! Still, the would-be erotic rites (presented clothed in Spain) are silly rather than titillating: actually, there's only one (in which the monster is made to whip the naked figures of Barboo and Frankenstein's daughter in a dungeon with a spiked floor), as the intended procreation scene involving Bilbao and Nichols is ultimately interrupted by the heroes. Cagliostro's flight at the end, then, suggests that a further instalment may have been intended but it never transpired.
Opinions about this particular version seem to go from one extreme to the other: it's neither one of Franco's top efforts nor among his worst, hence the middle-of-the-road rating I gave it. On the other hand, everybody seems to agree that the alternate Spanish release is a lesser achievement even so, it's not that the loss of the tacked-on footage (or, for that matter, the benefit of nudity) dramatically alters the quality of the finished product!
It utilizes a lot of the same cast as that film: Dennis Price, in fact, returns as Frankenstein but gets little to do (this is his least performance in a Franco film especially embarrassing when his character is regenerated); Howard Vernon now turns up as Cagliostro (I had been underwhelmed by his performance when I watched the Spanish version a few years back, but he's actually quite commanding); Anne Libert gets her most impressive role as Melissa, the blind and eccentric "Bird Woman" in Cagliostro's service (though the mysterious zombie-like figures who witness the titular events from behind bars are just as grotesquely made-up); Britt Nichols is underused, but her luscious figure gets exposed this time around (and, in any case, she's perfectly cast as Cagliostro's proposed bearer of a new master race); Alberto Dalbes also returns as Dr. Seward where, again, he's the hero; ditto Fernando Bilbao as Frankenstein's monster (given a curious silver make-up here); Luis Barboo is on hand as well but, now, he plays Cagliostro's henchman rather than Frankenstein's (the latter role is taken all too briefly at the very start by Franco himself); Daniel J. White also gets more screen-time than in the previous film (where he was just an extra) as a Police Inspector.
Missing here consequently, the film runs for a mere 70 minutes! is the irrelevant gypsy subplot (featuring Lina Romay) filmed some time later and eventually incorporated into the Spanish variant, dubbed LA MALDICION DE FRANKENSTEIN aka THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN...though the English-language edition I watched also bears this title!! Still, the would-be erotic rites (presented clothed in Spain) are silly rather than titillating: actually, there's only one (in which the monster is made to whip the naked figures of Barboo and Frankenstein's daughter in a dungeon with a spiked floor), as the intended procreation scene involving Bilbao and Nichols is ultimately interrupted by the heroes. Cagliostro's flight at the end, then, suggests that a further instalment may have been intended but it never transpired.
Opinions about this particular version seem to go from one extreme to the other: it's neither one of Franco's top efforts nor among his worst, hence the middle-of-the-road rating I gave it. On the other hand, everybody seems to agree that the alternate Spanish release is a lesser achievement even so, it's not that the loss of the tacked-on footage (or, for that matter, the benefit of nudity) dramatically alters the quality of the finished product!
Utterly bizarre Frankenstein tale from Jess Franco
Red-Barracuda28 July 2014
Back in the early 70's there was a spate of very strange cinematic versions of the famous Frankenstein tale. There was Frankenstein '80 (1972) which was a detective story where the monster was a serial killing sex offender; there was also Flesh for Frankenstein (1973), the schlock-fest produced by Andy Warhol, featuring delirious performances from the likes of Udo Kier and Joe Dallesandro; and then there was Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks (1974) in which the good doctor was accompanied by an evil dwarf, a Neanderthal man improbably called Lugosi and a monster named Hulk. Well, given this fashion for sexploitation/trashfests based on the famous old story it surely comes as no surprise that that king of the Eurotrash horror film himself, Jess Franco, got in on the act and delivered his own take on this most specific of ideas. And so we have The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein. Oh, one can only wonder what Mary Shelley would have made of such adaptations of her little Gothic novel.
Anyone experienced with Franco films must surely go into a new one with an element of trepidation. Old Jess certainly knocked them out fast and sometimes with hilariously little care, so you never know for sure if what you are going to get is going to be good or terrible. Well, pleasingly, this flick is one of the better ones. It's from his early 70's period when he was ludicrously prolific and naturally it has a very low budget. But this one contains lots of the very weird style that the director is perhaps most loved for. It also has a great deal of his more notorious techniques, such as copious zooms and lots of out-of-focus shots. While regular collaborator Daniel White provides one of his better scores, even if jazz does seem a little ill-fitting to a story set in the 19th century.
I'm not going to recount the story as there simply is no point but needless to say this is a surreal, sexploitation costume horror with enough genuine strangeness about it to ensure it is always interesting. The most obvious thing to do will be to simply recount some of the strange highlights of this film. Firstly, we have a strange blind, vampiric bird woman who kills Dr Frankenstein within the first five minutes; she is so bizarre a character, a whole film could easily have been based around her. She is played by Anne Libert, who played another very odd character in Franco's A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973). She appears to be the muse of a sorcerer called Cagliostro played by legendary Franco regular Howard Vernon, who once again puts in a commendably serious performance despite the essential nonsense of the storyline. Then there is the unexplained fact that the monster itself is silver. I have no idea why this is but it's brilliantly bizarre. He even gets to viciously whip a naked couple who are tied together above some spikes. This constitutes one of the sadomasochistic erotic rites of the title I think. They all begin with the white gowned undead walking through a misty moonlit forest on their way to Cagliostro's castle; once there, these strange creatures observe the rites. All of this stuff is really great and show Franco at his best. While this rather strange stuff goes on other things happen too, such as Dr Frankenstein's dead body hilariously being periodically reanimated by his daughter simply in order to get information and then there are several scenes involving Lina Romay as a gypsy girl called Esmeralda who has several one-way discussions with a very old woman, these scenes seem to have no relevance to anything else really and are in here for reasons only known to Franco. And why is Dr Seward from the novel Dracula involved in all of this? Your guess is as good as mine.
In summary, this is psychotronic nonsense of the first order. But if you have a taste for the bizarre and appreciate Mr Franco's eccentricities then I think this is one that you will get a kick out of.
Anyone experienced with Franco films must surely go into a new one with an element of trepidation. Old Jess certainly knocked them out fast and sometimes with hilariously little care, so you never know for sure if what you are going to get is going to be good or terrible. Well, pleasingly, this flick is one of the better ones. It's from his early 70's period when he was ludicrously prolific and naturally it has a very low budget. But this one contains lots of the very weird style that the director is perhaps most loved for. It also has a great deal of his more notorious techniques, such as copious zooms and lots of out-of-focus shots. While regular collaborator Daniel White provides one of his better scores, even if jazz does seem a little ill-fitting to a story set in the 19th century.
I'm not going to recount the story as there simply is no point but needless to say this is a surreal, sexploitation costume horror with enough genuine strangeness about it to ensure it is always interesting. The most obvious thing to do will be to simply recount some of the strange highlights of this film. Firstly, we have a strange blind, vampiric bird woman who kills Dr Frankenstein within the first five minutes; she is so bizarre a character, a whole film could easily have been based around her. She is played by Anne Libert, who played another very odd character in Franco's A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973). She appears to be the muse of a sorcerer called Cagliostro played by legendary Franco regular Howard Vernon, who once again puts in a commendably serious performance despite the essential nonsense of the storyline. Then there is the unexplained fact that the monster itself is silver. I have no idea why this is but it's brilliantly bizarre. He even gets to viciously whip a naked couple who are tied together above some spikes. This constitutes one of the sadomasochistic erotic rites of the title I think. They all begin with the white gowned undead walking through a misty moonlit forest on their way to Cagliostro's castle; once there, these strange creatures observe the rites. All of this stuff is really great and show Franco at his best. While this rather strange stuff goes on other things happen too, such as Dr Frankenstein's dead body hilariously being periodically reanimated by his daughter simply in order to get information and then there are several scenes involving Lina Romay as a gypsy girl called Esmeralda who has several one-way discussions with a very old woman, these scenes seem to have no relevance to anything else really and are in here for reasons only known to Franco. And why is Dr Seward from the novel Dracula involved in all of this? Your guess is as good as mine.
In summary, this is psychotronic nonsense of the first order. But if you have a taste for the bizarre and appreciate Mr Franco's eccentricities then I think this is one that you will get a kick out of.
One of the crappiest looking Frankenstein monsters in film history!
planktonrules13 May 2010
Wow, despite Jesus Franco having a bit of a cult following for his horror films, this Frankenstein monster is among the crappiest ever seen in a movie--almost as bad as the monster in "Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster" (though technically this guy isn't THE Frankenstein) and Al Adamson's god-awful "Dracula Vs. Frankenstein"! Yes, it's THAT bad! Here, the monster is painted silver and looks a bit more like the Tin Man from "The Wizard of Oz"! Heck, the cheesy 1910 version of the monster looks better than this guy!
As for the movie, it really bears little semblance to the original story and is a Frankenstein movie in name only. S&M, rooms full of articulated skeletons, a few ALMOST steamy scenes and an incomprehensible story make for a really, really terrible film. I don't see much of the Franco magic here in this tired bastardization of the classic tale. Now considering that he was also responsible for "Night of the Blood Monster" and the terrible Fu Manchu films of the late 60s, I shouldn't have been surprised that I disliked the movie as much as I did. Quality-wise, it didn't even approach the worst Hammer film in quality and is best left unwatched unless you are either a glutton for punishment or are curious to see a bad monster film. Of course, if you ARE looking for a bad monster film, try watching the ones I mentioned above--especially "Dracula Vs. Frankenstein" which makes me shudder to think about its wretchedness!!
As for the movie, it really bears little semblance to the original story and is a Frankenstein movie in name only. S&M, rooms full of articulated skeletons, a few ALMOST steamy scenes and an incomprehensible story make for a really, really terrible film. I don't see much of the Franco magic here in this tired bastardization of the classic tale. Now considering that he was also responsible for "Night of the Blood Monster" and the terrible Fu Manchu films of the late 60s, I shouldn't have been surprised that I disliked the movie as much as I did. Quality-wise, it didn't even approach the worst Hammer film in quality and is best left unwatched unless you are either a glutton for punishment or are curious to see a bad monster film. Of course, if you ARE looking for a bad monster film, try watching the ones I mentioned above--especially "Dracula Vs. Frankenstein" which makes me shudder to think about its wretchedness!!
Jess still has a lot to teach us.
mido50521 August 2005
To all of you out there who think that the likes of Steven Soderbergh and David O. Russell epitomize independent film-making: go rent this film and let the scales fall from your eyes. Made during director Jess Franco's amazing early 70's period, post Harry Alan Towers and pre-porno, The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein is a surrealist masterpiece, poetic, perverse, comic, and mesmerizing. Shot for next to nothing on location in Portugal, the film is full of evocative, wide-angle, hand held imagery that must have appeared jaw-droppingly innovative at the time, and still astounds today. Daniel White's atonal, experimental score skillfully enhances the film's nightmarish languor, and the roles, particularly Anne Libert's blind cannibalistic Bird Woman, and Howard Vernon's strangely sexy Cagliostro, are performed with aplomb and conviction. You won't soon forget the scenes of white-shrouded undead gliding through a mist-laden forest, the strange, red-lit shots of Cagliostro's acolytes blithely staring at cruel tableaux orchestrated for their perverse amusement, or a shrieking, silver-skinned Frankenstein's monster relentlessly whipping a man and a woman tied together over a bed of spikes. Anyone who doubts Jess Franco's talent should rent this DVD, and then ponder the pettifogging morass that independent cinema has become.
Not bad at all
christopher-underwood12 February 2018
When I think of some of the barely visible 3rd generation copies of Jess Franco's films I've seen over the years and now here is a pristine, all bright and shiny Blu-ray. Also, this is a film that was very hard to get to see in any shape or form, for good or bad i will leave to you. Actually, considering what this sets out to do, a Universal Studios rip-off in full colour with full frontal nudity, some gore and a little S&M, this succeeds rather well. Dennis Price probably comes back to life a few too many times and I never did work out why the monster was painted silver but it is light hearted fun with some magically lit scenes. Neither was I sure why Howard Vernon had to stand by as many of his 'instructions' and guidance were spoken by his half bird, half woman side-kick but never mind. The film doesn't waste time getting going and keeps up for the duration with plenty of bloody scenes and lots of skin. The aforementioned S&M quota come curtesy of a fairly lengthy sequence where a completely naked man and women are tied back to back while the silver monster lashes them severely leaving rather theatric bloody stripes. Not bad at all.
Very much lesser Franco
dbborroughs11 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Jess Franco's painfully dull weird ass Frankenstein film with a silver monster. Insomniacs look no further-if you can get past the fact it makes no sense- none- zippo- nada- then the boredom will put you out. (Interestingly the color of the Monster changed for what maybe the follow up Dracula Prisoner of Frankenstein, where the monster is gold.That film is greatly superior to this one Take it from me this is a turkey. I'm on record as defending Franco since he's made some good trash films-and he's made some films that should be tossed in the trash. This one needs to go out by the curb 3 out of 10 for reasons I can't fathom
The Artificial Creation
tedg16 July 2005
Most people watch Franco it seems specifically because it is junk, or so they think. The cheapness and (for the era) exotic nudity must give some sort of trailer park thrill.
But these films seem important to me. The reason is that today's most exiting cinema comes from the Spanish tradition of layered realisms. While the main source is Latin literature, I fancy that it can be traced back to Franco and buddies as well.
About half of these that I encounter make me yell "This! This must be the ultimate Franco!" I had that experience when gliding through this.
Yes, of course it is cheap, with bad acting and so on. But nearly _every_ movie is for me. Its just a matter of degree and earnestness. Overlook that, dear viewer.
The story alone should be enough to attract you. I won't recount it here, but it is complex and ambiguous, borrowing from several genres and reinventing them capriciously. One character is the evil genius's erotic soothsayer. She is blind but sees, a vampire but humanly erotic, our surrogate on screen.
That evil genius wraps us up in capturing Frankenstein's monster to mate for a purpose I didn't understand. This eventually involves Frankenstein's beautiful scientist daughter who temporarily reanimates her now carrion dad and ends up getting nudely whipped... well it hardly matters.
The real thing is in how he creates a gauzy, abstract world that floats above the normal world of movies. It is a movie like other movies, but not. It engages us in a conspiracy to weave a new world. Who cares about what that world contains, it is how it is woven that matters.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
But these films seem important to me. The reason is that today's most exiting cinema comes from the Spanish tradition of layered realisms. While the main source is Latin literature, I fancy that it can be traced back to Franco and buddies as well.
About half of these that I encounter make me yell "This! This must be the ultimate Franco!" I had that experience when gliding through this.
Yes, of course it is cheap, with bad acting and so on. But nearly _every_ movie is for me. Its just a matter of degree and earnestness. Overlook that, dear viewer.
The story alone should be enough to attract you. I won't recount it here, but it is complex and ambiguous, borrowing from several genres and reinventing them capriciously. One character is the evil genius's erotic soothsayer. She is blind but sees, a vampire but humanly erotic, our surrogate on screen.
That evil genius wraps us up in capturing Frankenstein's monster to mate for a purpose I didn't understand. This eventually involves Frankenstein's beautiful scientist daughter who temporarily reanimates her now carrion dad and ends up getting nudely whipped... well it hardly matters.
The real thing is in how he creates a gauzy, abstract world that floats above the normal world of movies. It is a movie like other movies, but not. It engages us in a conspiracy to weave a new world. Who cares about what that world contains, it is how it is woven that matters.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
Francostein
BandSAboutMovies20 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
After the death of Victor Frankenstein (Dennis Price) at the hands of perhaps immortal mystic wizard Cagliostro (Howard Vernon) and Melissa, his blood-thirsty blind bird woman (Anne Libert), the metallic monster of Frankenstein is torn between his master's killer and the daughter who has inherited his mantle, Dr. Vera Frankenstein (Beatriz Savon).
Shot in the same time and place as Dracula, Prisoner Of Frankenstein - Franco reminds me of the friend that invites you to help him move, offers pizza and beer, and then also asks you to install all his new applicances and oh yeah, can you fix the hot water heater and help me paint while you're here - this is the kind of movie where the villains power their plans with the whipped bodies of the young and beautiful because, well, they're perfectly willing to admit that along with their evil aims that they have no shame in enjoying a little bit of violence - actually a lot - with their sex.
The plan is to find a mate for the monster and the perfect person may be village mystic Madame Orloff (Britt Nichols AKA Carmen Yazalde), but the chivalrous Dr. Seward hopes to save the day. This being a Franco movie, I don't see that happening.
So many questions, like why Frankenstein is painted silver; why Cagliostro has the polymath power sheet of being near-eternal, a mentalist, a maker of human-animal hybrids, a lover of BDSM and orgies, and hypnotism, making him the kind of super villain that Alex Jones might believe is a real person; and if this is the movie Franco saw in his head when he watched Universal and Hammer movies, because now I can't unsee it when I watch those movies.
Shot in the same time and place as Dracula, Prisoner Of Frankenstein - Franco reminds me of the friend that invites you to help him move, offers pizza and beer, and then also asks you to install all his new applicances and oh yeah, can you fix the hot water heater and help me paint while you're here - this is the kind of movie where the villains power their plans with the whipped bodies of the young and beautiful because, well, they're perfectly willing to admit that along with their evil aims that they have no shame in enjoying a little bit of violence - actually a lot - with their sex.
The plan is to find a mate for the monster and the perfect person may be village mystic Madame Orloff (Britt Nichols AKA Carmen Yazalde), but the chivalrous Dr. Seward hopes to save the day. This being a Franco movie, I don't see that happening.
So many questions, like why Frankenstein is painted silver; why Cagliostro has the polymath power sheet of being near-eternal, a mentalist, a maker of human-animal hybrids, a lover of BDSM and orgies, and hypnotism, making him the kind of super villain that Alex Jones might believe is a real person; and if this is the movie Franco saw in his head when he watched Universal and Hammer movies, because now I can't unsee it when I watch those movies.
I can see Frankenstein's creature raping beautiful virgins...
lastliberal21 June 2009
Doctor Frankenstein (Dennis Price) creates a man (Fernando Bilbao), but before he can fully enjoy his creation, Melisa (Anne Libert), a blind vampire with wolfman hands, steals him and takes him to her master Cagliostro (Howard Vernon) so he can use him to collect beautiful virgins. Not exactly the Frankenstein story we are familiar with, but one from the mind of Jesus Franco.
Vera Frankenstein (Beatriz Savón) is on the hunt to find her father's creature and continue his work. Unfortunately, she falls into the clutches of Caliostro and must help him in his quest to create the most beautiful woman in the world. I don't know why he wants to create a woman when Lina Romay is close at hand, and she would certainly qualify on her own.
The film was a great disappointment as it was basically a story of an evil genius, a strange vampire that served him and Frankenstein's creature. The creature didn't rape any beautiful virgins. In fact, there was nothing in the film that would get it more than a PG-13 rating - and that was all from the blood drawn by the vampire.
Vera Frankenstein (Beatriz Savón) is on the hunt to find her father's creature and continue his work. Unfortunately, she falls into the clutches of Caliostro and must help him in his quest to create the most beautiful woman in the world. I don't know why he wants to create a woman when Lina Romay is close at hand, and she would certainly qualify on her own.
The film was a great disappointment as it was basically a story of an evil genius, a strange vampire that served him and Frankenstein's creature. The creature didn't rape any beautiful virgins. In fact, there was nothing in the film that would get it more than a PG-13 rating - and that was all from the blood drawn by the vampire.
Sleaze 'n' Cheese
Tweetienator12 March 2024
La maldición de Frankenstein, also known as The Curse of Frankenstein (not to be confused with the one directed by Terence Fisher and starring the almighty Peter Cushing), delivers Jesús Franco's usual dish: a decent sleaze-feast, some blood, a most peculiar and cheesy story, and some well-shot scenes. If you are familiar with and enjoy Franco's works but have not seen this one, you may dare to watch The Curse. In my opinion, it does not belong to his best nor his worst movies. So, for aficionados of Jesús Franco's style, this film will provide sufficient entertainment. However, for those new to his universe, I would recommend starting with some of his top (or better, as some would say) movies like Jack the Ripper, Count Dracula, or Vampyros Lesbos. Once you have accustomed yourself to his taste and crave more, you may put The Curse on your screen. Exact rate: 4.5.
The Gloriously Goofy Franco-Frankenstein Show!
Coventry27 March 2014
Jess/Jesùs Franco (also known under approximately two dozen of pseudonyms) must be – hands down – the most audience-dividing filmmaker in history! Regardless which one of his more than 200 (!) movies that you research here on this website results in ultra-contradictory viewers' opinions. Some claim that he was a severely underrated visionary and progressive artist of surrealism, while others carelessly downgrade him to one of the most incompetent and perverted amateur directors of all times. And me? I generally tend to agree with the first bunch of people, although admittedly I can sometimes just enjoy a certain Franco movie when I'm in a very tolerant mood and/or under the influence of large amounts of alcohol. "The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein" is arguably one of Jess' most challenging efforts. It definitely contains several ingenious and innovative aspects, but at the same time you can't get passed the numerous 'what the hell' moments and almost laughable story development. Speaking of alcohol, I assume that good old Jess had to be quite drunk as well to come up with a scenario like this. Dig this: Doctor Frankenstein is busy minding his own business and joyfully creating a monster when, suddenly, a ferocious blind bird-lady invades his laboratory, kills him and takes off with his semi-resurrected monster. The bird-lady turns out to be an acolyte of the evil wizard Cagliostro who intends to build a whole race of super-monsters, males and females! I'm not entirely sure why, but I reckon it's primarily to organize massive S&M orgies and gradually obtain world domination or something. After all, isn't that the goal all evil wizards pursue? Anyways, Frankenstein's daughter Vera wants to avenge her father, but she's rapidly captured by Cagliostro and – through a lot of whipping – forced to fabricate the first female mate for the monster. What makes this film so unfathomable, I think, is the wide variety of colorful and flamboyant characters. The Bird Lady, impeccably depicted by Anne Libert, is a fascinating and disturbingly loyal shrew with bright green feathers on her arms. She's blind but sees through the hypnotic mind of her master. Cagliostro, played by Franco's shadow Howard Vernon, is a skinny freak with heinous eyes and he has a ridiculous bush of pubic hair glued to his chin. The Frankenstein monster here is, for whatever unknown reason, painted silver and stumbles around the sets like he doesn't really fit into the story. Vera Frankenstein disrespectfully brings her father back from the dead no less than three times, just to gain some additional information about his slayer and it is all for nothing, since she is soon captured and whipped. Franco does succeed in – occasionally - generating a genuinely macabre atmosphere, mainly through misty forests, uncanny costumes and sinister musical guidance. And regarding the psychedelic sexual content? Well, let's just state that Franco unquestionably was a provocative pioneer in this department. "The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein" is one of the few movies that actually make me wonder: what would Mary Shelley think?
Footnote: there exists a heavily cut version entitled "The Curse of Frankenstein", not to be confused with the legendary Hammer classic starring Peter Cushing. In this version, most of the sexual content has been replaced with an additional sub plot about Lina Romay (in her very first appearance in a Franco movie) as a gypsy girl wandering through the woods and receiving mental messages from Cagliostro. The sub plot leads absolutely nowhere, but hey, what else did you expect?
Footnote: there exists a heavily cut version entitled "The Curse of Frankenstein", not to be confused with the legendary Hammer classic starring Peter Cushing. In this version, most of the sexual content has been replaced with an additional sub plot about Lina Romay (in her very first appearance in a Franco movie) as a gypsy girl wandering through the woods and receiving mental messages from Cagliostro. The sub plot leads absolutely nowhere, but hey, what else did you expect?
Exotic Stitchings
Cineanalyst27 September 2019
This Franco Frankenstein feature is far better than his feeble Dracula films I've seen: his 1970, more-or-less faithful "Count Dracula" adaptation featuring Christopher Lee and Klaus Kinski, and his lesbian sexploitation reworking of Bram Stoker's tale, "Vampyros Lesbos" (1971). Those productions weren't only cheap, but also cluttered with filler and relied upon zoom shots as an overriding aesthetic--most ridiculously in a scene in "Count Dracula" involving taxidermied animal heads supposedly come to life. This take of Frankenstein includes zoom-ins, of course, as well his usual soft-focus views, but there's also an abundance of high and low-angle camera shots, use of wide-angle lenses, colored lighting (along with a silver monster), shaky tracking shots and close-ups and oscillating perspectives, which are often quickly cut together. An early scene by the windows of the castle balcony between the mad doctor Cagliostro and his blind, soothsaying vampire companion Melisa is an especially lovely sequence of shots--richly inhabiting a beautiful location and fluid camerawork and montage.
The story is weird, but is a more concise and thematically faithful rendering of Mary Shelley's narrative in some respects than Franco's bowdlerizing of Stoker's book. There's a stitched together quality to the editing and plot construction here that feels almost haphazard, including bits from "Dracula" (Melisa as a vamp, the hypnotizing stuff, and there's a character named "Dr. Seward") as well as "Frankenstein," mixed together with the titilating sexploitation of bondage, an apparent sex cult that likes to watch, and copious amounts of nudity if you're viewing one of the better international "erotic" versions of the film (reportedly, that other Franco from Spain dictated clothes for the native Spanish cut). The part about Frankenstein's daughter avenging her father and his reputation, including by reanimating his cadaver multiple times, is similar to the plot of another Frankenstein sexploitation B-picture from Europe, "Lady Frankenstein" (1971). The plot to have the Frankenstein monster copulate with a female mate pieced together by Cagliostro also echos "Flesh for Frankenstein," which was also released in 1973. An extended scene of the monster whipping a bondaged couple until one of them faints to their death upon pointed stakes while that cult looks on seems entirely new, though. We're already talking about novels that involved bloodsucking, grave robbing, cadavers and the undead and murder, so it's hard to make any cinematic transmutation seem filthy by comparison, although Franco gives it his best shot.
To top it off, Franco's superior visual sense here is underscored by the focus on sight: Melisa's physical blindness but her supernatural sense; the sex cult of spectators; as well as the concentration on eyes in some scenes, such as when Cagliostro uses his mesmerizing powers on Vera Frankenstein.
The story is weird, but is a more concise and thematically faithful rendering of Mary Shelley's narrative in some respects than Franco's bowdlerizing of Stoker's book. There's a stitched together quality to the editing and plot construction here that feels almost haphazard, including bits from "Dracula" (Melisa as a vamp, the hypnotizing stuff, and there's a character named "Dr. Seward") as well as "Frankenstein," mixed together with the titilating sexploitation of bondage, an apparent sex cult that likes to watch, and copious amounts of nudity if you're viewing one of the better international "erotic" versions of the film (reportedly, that other Franco from Spain dictated clothes for the native Spanish cut). The part about Frankenstein's daughter avenging her father and his reputation, including by reanimating his cadaver multiple times, is similar to the plot of another Frankenstein sexploitation B-picture from Europe, "Lady Frankenstein" (1971). The plot to have the Frankenstein monster copulate with a female mate pieced together by Cagliostro also echos "Flesh for Frankenstein," which was also released in 1973. An extended scene of the monster whipping a bondaged couple until one of them faints to their death upon pointed stakes while that cult looks on seems entirely new, though. We're already talking about novels that involved bloodsucking, grave robbing, cadavers and the undead and murder, so it's hard to make any cinematic transmutation seem filthy by comparison, although Franco gives it his best shot.
To top it off, Franco's superior visual sense here is underscored by the focus on sight: Melisa's physical blindness but her supernatural sense; the sex cult of spectators; as well as the concentration on eyes in some scenes, such as when Cagliostro uses his mesmerizing powers on Vera Frankenstein.
the best and the worst combined
hulstra2 April 2000
This picture is utterly weird. Between unbelievably dull scenes (filmed without any inspiration) we find some of the most extraordinary scene's ever. It uses characters and idea's that were known at that time (and are therefore not introduced), but since comics like Crepax' Valentina are sinking to obscurity, girls who are actually birds and a monster of Frankenstein who whips a couple while they are standing above a field of sharp pins aren't daily routine. I was lucky to find a copy on VHS, so it exists!
Utterly bonkers!
Stevieboy6668 May 2023
I recently bought a copy of "The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein" on blu-ray, thinking that it was a Jess Franco movie that I had not seen before. However I soon realised that I had already watched it but under the title "Curse of Frankenstein". There are quite significant differences between the two versions. For a start "Erotic" contains much nudity whereas "Curse" is the "clothed" version. "Curse" is a longer film as it features an additional plot in which Lina Romay plays a gypsy girl (in her first movie role). So to the movie itself, Dennis Price plays Frankenstein but he is killed off early on and annoyingly he is dubbed in the English language version! Franco as usual has a small cameo, always fun seeing him in his own movies. The main villain here is a mad cult leader called Cagliostro (the ever reliable Howard Vernon) who plans to use Frankenstein's Monster to create a super race! He has an assistant, a bird woman! The soundtrack features a jazzy score which doesn't fit right with the Euro Goth setting, but then this is a Franco movie where anything goes. "Erotic" has a lot of full frontal nudity, mainly female but one scene does have a naked man too. The Creature has silver skin which looks bizarre, even worse the make up artist clearly missed a few patches! The plot is completely mad but visually the movie oozes Gothic horror, it has a dreamlike/nightmare look to it and for that alone makes it a worthwhile watch. "Erotic" is the better version though "Curse" is far more suitable to any young kids wanting watch it. Prolific film maker Franco made good movies and he also made dreadful ones, this one is hardly good but it's certainly not bad either.
Totally delirious take on BRIDE OF FRANKSTEIN: 100 Proof Jess Franco
monell57923 July 2005
Cagliostro (Howard Vernon) and his bird woman creation, Melissa (Anne Libert) work tirelessly to create a female mate for the silver skinned creature created by Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price).
A wild ride deep into Jess Franco terrain. This is an unhinged, no-budget attempt to redo the Universal horror motifs in the style of Italian Erotic Comics. It works, at least in the nude/uncovered version, simply because Franco and his cast immediately go way over the top and stay there: ratty set design, the silver skinned monster who looks like the confused survivor of a spray painting attack, the nude whipping scene, the mysterious sect led by the perverse, totalitarian Cagliostro, Melissa-the flesh eating human vulture who predicts pleasure and death, are typical "Jess Franco" elements, but this time he stages them with such Sadean glee that those who "get it" will be utterly transfixed while those who hate will cite it as another file in the case against the director. It's a long way from James Whale...
The version made for Spain contains additional scenes featuring Lina Romay as a gypsy and omits all of the outrageous nudity which is so essential to Franco's aesthetic (or anti-aesthetic). The score is an iconoclastic collection of sonic blasts, jarring cues and odd sounds.
A wild ride deep into Jess Franco terrain. This is an unhinged, no-budget attempt to redo the Universal horror motifs in the style of Italian Erotic Comics. It works, at least in the nude/uncovered version, simply because Franco and his cast immediately go way over the top and stay there: ratty set design, the silver skinned monster who looks like the confused survivor of a spray painting attack, the nude whipping scene, the mysterious sect led by the perverse, totalitarian Cagliostro, Melissa-the flesh eating human vulture who predicts pleasure and death, are typical "Jess Franco" elements, but this time he stages them with such Sadean glee that those who "get it" will be utterly transfixed while those who hate will cite it as another file in the case against the director. It's a long way from James Whale...
The version made for Spain contains additional scenes featuring Lina Romay as a gypsy and omits all of the outrageous nudity which is so essential to Franco's aesthetic (or anti-aesthetic). The score is an iconoclastic collection of sonic blasts, jarring cues and odd sounds.
The Castle of Cagliostro
cold_lazarou23 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
More movie-making madness from the archfiend of Iberian exploitation Jess Franco. This movie, known variously in its alternate guises as "The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein" and "The Curse of Frankenstein" (not to be confused with the Peter Cushing Hammer classic of the same vintage), re-utilises a great deal of the same cast and characters of Franco's roughly contemporaneous "Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein", but is thankfully a more coherent film than that effort.
That's not necessarily to say that it's good, mind...
The plot, such as it is, involves Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price once again slogging the twilight years of a once-promising career away in Eurotrash exploitation) and his assistant creating a bizarre silver monster, before being attacked by Melisa the flesh-eating bird woman (the lovely Anne Libert, also to be seen in Franco's "A Virgin Among the Living Dead"), resplendent in green feathers and not a lot else. Melisa is the slave of the immortal Cagliostro, played with relish and garnish on the side by the godlike genius of Howard Vernon, who wants to mate the creature with kidnapped lovelies such as Britt Nichols. Well, you would, wouldn't you? Meanwhile, Esmerelda the gypsy (future Mrs. Franco Lina Romay) is having her own ponderous and largely irrelevant adventures in the woods, chatting away to a batty old crone who doesn't seem to realise that she's even in the film. Understated just doesn't cover it. Cagliostro is in the meantime summoning an undead army of darkness (ie: extras wearing Halloween skellington masks and cloaks), resulting in some quite atmospheric and haunting shots of these revenants drifting through a mist-shrouded forest. Sadly, however, these dreams of conquest are destined to never come to fruition, and Cagliostro winds up plummeting over the edge of a precipice for no other reason than that the film's run-time is almost up.
A truly trippy and hallucinatory experience that must be endured to be believed, this is another true Franco classic that combines the kind of story-line you made up when you were too young to know any better, needless nudity of hot chicks, and editing seemingly done on the hoof by a blind man. And a green-feathered flesh eating bird woman. What's not to love?
That's not necessarily to say that it's good, mind...
The plot, such as it is, involves Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price once again slogging the twilight years of a once-promising career away in Eurotrash exploitation) and his assistant creating a bizarre silver monster, before being attacked by Melisa the flesh-eating bird woman (the lovely Anne Libert, also to be seen in Franco's "A Virgin Among the Living Dead"), resplendent in green feathers and not a lot else. Melisa is the slave of the immortal Cagliostro, played with relish and garnish on the side by the godlike genius of Howard Vernon, who wants to mate the creature with kidnapped lovelies such as Britt Nichols. Well, you would, wouldn't you? Meanwhile, Esmerelda the gypsy (future Mrs. Franco Lina Romay) is having her own ponderous and largely irrelevant adventures in the woods, chatting away to a batty old crone who doesn't seem to realise that she's even in the film. Understated just doesn't cover it. Cagliostro is in the meantime summoning an undead army of darkness (ie: extras wearing Halloween skellington masks and cloaks), resulting in some quite atmospheric and haunting shots of these revenants drifting through a mist-shrouded forest. Sadly, however, these dreams of conquest are destined to never come to fruition, and Cagliostro winds up plummeting over the edge of a precipice for no other reason than that the film's run-time is almost up.
A truly trippy and hallucinatory experience that must be endured to be believed, this is another true Franco classic that combines the kind of story-line you made up when you were too young to know any better, needless nudity of hot chicks, and editing seemingly done on the hoof by a blind man. And a green-feathered flesh eating bird woman. What's not to love?
A majestically mad admixture of Mary Shelley, Jorge Luis Borges and the hyperbolic sex-horror excesses of vintage Fumetti!
Weirdling_Wolf4 April 2023
Exuberantly maintaining its weird fascination, 'The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein' is arguably one of prolific filmmaker, Jess Franco's most eminently watchable midnight movies. Mischievous, audaciously macabre, and memorably demented,this kaleidoscopically kooky creepshow ventures boldly into bizarre cinematic realms all too rarely travelled! Very few staid creature features can ever hope to match this lurid level of hysteria! 'The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein' finds maestro, Jess Franco on bravura form, unleashing his own inimitable brand of psychotronic insanity! This visually exquisite, strikingly sensual, psychedelically perverse 70s shocker is a fleshy-fabulous Gothic fever dream you may not care to awaken from!!!
'A majestically mad admixture of Mary Shelley, Jorge Luis Borges and the hyperbolic sex-horror excesses of vintage Fumetti, no less intoxicating than bossing a triple shot of Absinth!'
'A majestically mad admixture of Mary Shelley, Jorge Luis Borges and the hyperbolic sex-horror excesses of vintage Fumetti, no less intoxicating than bossing a triple shot of Absinth!'
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