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Blackenstein
Black Frankenstein / Blackstein / Return of Blackenstein
USA 1973
produced by Frank R. Saletri, Ted Tetrick (executive) for Frisco Productions
directed by William A. Levey
starring John Hart, Ivory Stone, Joe De Sue, Roosevelt Jackson, Andrea King, Nick Bolin, Karin Lind, Yvonne Robinson, John Dennis (as Bob Brophy), Liz Renay, Gerald Soucie, Beverly Haggerty, Daniel Fauré, Andy C, Cardella Di Milo, Marva Farmer, Robert L. Hurd, James Cousar, Don Brodie, Dale Bach
written by Frank R. Saletri, music by Cardella Di Milo, Lou Frohman
Frankenstein
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Young surgeon Winifred (Ivory Stone) is heartbroken when she finds her
boyfriend Eddie (Joe De Sue) returning from Vietnam (they had a war going
on there, remember?) with his arms and legs missing, so she hooks up with
her teacher from university Dr. Stein (John Hart) to see if he can help
... and against all odds, he thinks that he can, having perfected a method
to make DNA regrow missing limbs. Now that sounds almost too good to be
true, but it is, and the treatment at first works out perfectly ... but of
course, this is a horror film, and disaster is right around the courner.
As a matter of fact, Malcolm (Roosevelt Jackson), valet and assistant of
Dr Stein, is madly in love with Winifred and confesses his love to her -
but she seeing her sweetheart to be made whole again before her very eyes
of course turns Malcolm down ... which he doesn't take lightly, so he
changes Eddie's formula a bit, and thus Eddie turns into a monster,
killing those who wronged him at first, then everybody in his way. It
takes Dr Stein and Winifred quite a bit to find out Eddie's behind the
murders, and when they do, it's almost too late as Eddie has found his way
back to the Stein-lab ... and just about the right time for Winifred, as
she's about to be raped by Malcolm, whom Eddie the monster turns limb from
limb, then he also kills Dr Stein before the police arrives with dogs that
tear the monster apart ... Now the setup of this movie, while
not entirely on the original side, is actually pretty cool and promises
creepy fun, is slightly grotesque in atmosphere ... but once the monster's
created, the movie drops the ball, fails to build up on its premise and
instead becomes a meaningless monster rampage, with little in terms of
tension or suspense, no further character development, and actually, most
of the gore effects look pretty crude even for a low budget. It's
certainly watchable for its obscurity and trash value, but certainly
nothing remotely resembling a must-see, even for bad movie afficionados
like myself.
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