Frankenstein '80 — Frankenstein '80( Blu Ray)
Frankenstein '80 is a crossbreed between mad doctor horror and sleazed serial killer genres with slight touches of dark comedy, and a ton of corny ‘n’ campy dialogue. Despite its title, the film is from the early 70’s, and it’s an Italian production. Here from Cauldron Films is a new Blu-Ray release- taking in a bold ‘n’ bright 2k scan, a commentary track, and a few other extras.
Frankenstein '80 (aka Midnight Horror, Mosaic) was made in the year 1972. It was the one & only film directed by Mario Mancini- who was most known as a camera operator- in total, he worked on twenty-three titles, with the most notable title being Black And Black Lace (1964). And it’s fair to say it’s not the most competently made film- with some real pacing issues midway, and deeply clunky direction all round. Though as unintentionally amusing euro-trash it most certainly does reward.
The film opens in a rather jarring fashion- as we’re inside a car watching a man drive along, with voice over radio announcer talking about what one of the film's key doctor character has done- basically a sloppy exposition dump- there are a few more of these throughout the film!. As we watch the man driving, we notice there is something a little out of the ordinary about him- basically, he has a flesh stump where his hand should be. Next, we switch to a nighttime alley where a woman is struggling with shopping- she suddenly screams, we hear laboured breathing- she forced down, top pulled off, and her side is cut off camera- then we get close up of an organ- as the towering attacker stands with his face off camera with the organ dripping blood- the whole scene has a very Herschell Gordon Lewis vibe to it.
Next, we meet our lead man Karl (John Richardson) a rather smug, sometimes cap-wearing journalist. He’s in a hospital room with his rather monotone sister who has heart issues- she has just been given the go-ahead for a transplant (the man from the opening with a stub hand got in a car crash & passed away). And it’s certainly to take, as the goatee professor Schwarz( Roberto Fizz) has invented some blue liquid that will make sure transplant will take. The night before the op- his lab broken into- liquid is stolen.
In time we find out the liquid has been taken by struck-off and rather creepy blond matted-haired Dr Otto Frankenstein (Roberto Fizz). He’s created a man-built-from-body-parts Mosica(Xiro Papas)- who is bald towering, with black bushy eyebrows, and unfortunately, he has a leering lust for women- so he often goes on a rampage- to get new
organs, but also attack/ kill the women.
We get quite a few kills- a woman gets battered to death with a cow bone, there’s a throat slashing, a topless strangling, someone's face gets slammed into a tiled room, and a few other organs removed- even at one point, a testicle is removed off camera. Added into the mix we have cigar-chomping with a few stomach ulcer lead detective, love interest for lead man Karl- the blond daughter of Ott.
The film features a really bad monotone & often emotionless dub- this is added to by the corny/ at times cringe-inducing dialogue. The film runs at just over the one hour & a half mark, and as mentioned earlier the pacing is rather off midway- when not a lot seems to be happening- though things do pick up towards the end. Frankenstein '80 is an entertaining enough slice of euro trash- with its mixing of the mad doctor and serial killer genres.
This new Blu-Ray release is region-free. It features a nicely punchy bright & bold 2k scan- which really brings out the fake blood reds and 70’s colouring. On the extras side, we get a good selection of worthy things. First off we get a commentary track from film historian Heather Drain, and this as with all the tracks I’ve heard with Ms Drain is most animated and passionate. She starts out talking about the film being a lurid pulp come to life with bong stains on it. She talks about the film being a public domain film- which now looks better than ever. She discusses its working title, if there could have been a sequel, and its US VHS release. She points out the moments of plotting logic, we get a bio of Roberto Fizz who plays Dr Frankenstein- finding out that before he got into acting did bodybuilding on Muscle Beach & was a teacher in a California school. Later on, she discusses the films often damming critical reviews. Talks about Night Of The Bloody Apes, which she thinks would make a great double bill for this film. She gives interesting bios for supporting actors, and much more. Next, we have Little Frankensteins(38.20) which finds Italian film historian Domenico Monetti discussing the history of Frankenstein ( the Dr & monster) in Italian film. Starting with 1920’s short Monster Of Frankenstein, all the way through to the early 90’s. He also of course discusses Frankenstein '80. This is in ilatain with English subs, and is really excellent- because as well as Monetti's informative history we get a great selection of garish trailers too. Lastly, there’s Dalila Forever( 27.46) which is an audio-only interview with Dalila Di Lazzaro who played Dr Frankenstein's niece.
If you can look past the pacing issues, and moments of lesser-than-stellar direction Frankenstein '80 is entertaining euro trash- with some great corny ‘n’ campy dialogue, schlocky gore, and sleaze. Certainly not a lost masterpiece- but if you're in the mood for turning off your brain euro horror, this will most certainly be enjoyed. With this Cauldron Films release featuring a classy new scan, and a nice selection of worthy extras.