Year Of Production: 1974
Running Time: 90 Minutes
DVD Released By: Something Weird Video
Directed By: Ramiro Oliveros
Writing Credits: Mario Francini, Mark Rose, Mark Smith, Roberto Spano
Filming Locations: Italy
Starring: Rossano Brazzi, Michael Dunn, Edmund Purdom, Gordon Mitchell, Loren Ewing, Luciano Pigozzi, Xiro Papas, Salvatore Baccaro
Tagline: Weird creatures return to life in...
Alternate Titles:
Dr. Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks (1974)
Frankenstein's Castle (1974) (UK: video title)
Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks (1974) (USA)
House of Freaks, The (1974)
Monsters of Dr. Frankenstein, The (1974)
Monsters of Frankenstein (1974)
Terror (1974)
Terror Castle (1974)
Interesting Bits of Trivia:
Actor Rossano Brazzi, who played Count Frankenstein in this film, was arrested in 1984 on arms smuggling charges. He was fully aquitted of the charges in 1985 after his trial which took place in Venice, Italy. He died on December 24, 1994 after suffering from a neural virus.
| What The Hell??? |
| 1. Naturally since this is a DVD from Something Weird Video, I have to watch the opening trailer montage. I just can't help myself. Whoever put this thing together did such a great job. This is my first review back from taking a two-plus week break from the site just to kinda re-charge my batteries. I'll try to get back into the swing of things as quickly as possible. |
| 2. Ok, that was a little bizarre. This movie starts out with a bunch of villagers from what looks like the 1800's fighting what looks like a caveman in a skimpy outfit of skins that barely covers his club. Once they've subdued him and beat him repeatedly in the head with a rock and a bunch of sticks, his body is taken to Count Frankenstein's laboratory in his castle. After that, we're shown the credits as we watch some undertaker lookin' guy in a carriage heading towards the cemetery. |
| 3. So the undertaker dude gets to the cemetery and he, two other guys, and a dwarf are digging up this coffin that looks like it had just been buried that day. So they open up the lid and the dwarf reaches down and pulls open this hot lookin' dead chick's blouse so he can check out her breasts. He gets this horny look on his face, but he don't get too long of a look because the guy kneeling down next to him points a shiv at him and growls at him to knock it off. The dwarf looks all disappointed and backs off. They close the lid, load up the coffin in the wagon and head off along their merry way. |
| 4. Back in Frankenstein's lab now, and he's got the caveman strapped down to a table. The rest of the gang all just got back and they're bringing in the coffin. The dude who pointed the knife at the dwarf tells the dwarf to get back so he can open the door. So this guy reaches up and turns this candle holder sideways and the door opens. The dwarf is watching him do this with this look on his face like he's just seen a naked woman for the first time. I'm noticing here that the candle is lit as well. I find myself wondering something as I watch this. You have a secret door with a candle holder for a switch. The candle holder has to turn almost completely sideways to open the door. Wouldn't that leave a big pile of wax on the floor that would pretty much tell everyone that there was a secret door there and also tell them how to open it? I mean duh! Anyway, the door opens up and they carry the coffin into the laboratory. Everyone treats this dwarf like crap. I'm bettin' he's going to turn on them later in the movie. |
| 5. So they put the girl on the table and Frankenstein looks at her under the blanket. He get's this look on his face and then he's all, "Who touched her?" Now how the hell did he know anyone touched her? What, is he a psychic or something? Who knows, maybe the dwarf was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or something before they dug her up and he left little jelly fingerprints on her boobies. The doctor calls him a necrophile and says that he's always causing trouble and tells Igor and Kreegin to take the dwarf out of there. The dwarf says he won't do it again, but the two big dudes pick him up and hold him up in the air like he was nothin'. They take him out of the room and then Frankenstein turns to Hans, who was the guy with the shiv, and tells him not to let anyone into the laboratory. |
| 6. Ok, now we're gettin' down to the brass tax here. Things are starting to happen. What things you may ask? Well, Frankenstein is shaving not only the caveman's face, but his forehead as well with a straight razor. Watching him shave this guy's forehead is really funny. Wonder if he's gonna shave the girl as well? I bet the dwarf would be happy to do it. So Hans tells him now that the equipment is almost charged up, and Frankenstein decides that it's time to operate. He starts cutting into the caveman's head, but we only see that for a second before we're magically whisked away into the back of some horse driven carriage where two total babes and a cheesy lookin' guy are talking about how Castle Frankenstein should make for a romantic honeymoon spot for the guy and his fiance` who's sitting next to him. I'd have enjoyed this movie a lot more if it had been a nice honeymoon spot for the two girls and the guy was just the valet that packed the luggage around, but that's just me. |
| 7. They come rolling on up to the castle, and are greeted by Hans, who I now assume is the butler, and Valda who is most likely the cook. One of the girls in the carriage was Frankenstein's daughter Maria. The guy is her fiance` Eric, and the other girl is Krista Lauder. She's Maria's class advisor, whatever that is. Count Frankenstein comes out to greet them all and he's very cordial and friendly. Eric tells Frankenstein that his mother is not well and that he can't stay. Frankenstein asks him to stay for dinner and tells him that he can stay the night and leave first thing in the morning. Eric agrees and they all walk into the castle together. Well, the little dwarf was watching all this with great interest from around a corner. He looks like he's thinkin' something, but I guess it could have just been gas. Anyway he goes waddling off to do his little devious dwarfy things somewhere. |
| 8. We're in Prefect Ewing's office now. Detective Koerner just came in and told the prefect that there had been a grave robbery. Koerner brought in this guy that worked at the cemetery and he told the prefect that it was the girl they just buried the previous day. So they all pack up shop and head out to the cemetery where the prefect and Koerner find one small footprint near the grave. No one else left any footprints. Now, I don't know what happened, but I do know that these guys who robbed the grave didn't clean up their footprints. They just loaded the coffin and left. So how come there's no footprints except for that one still there? Anyway, they got a fire goin' and Koerner is melting some wax to take an impression of the footprint. Now off in the distance, from behind a tree, Igor is watching all of this. He goes back to the castle and reports to Hans that they found one of Genz's footprints at the grave site. Hans get's all excited and happy about it. I have the feeling he's going to blame it all on Genz. Sure, blame it on the dwarf. Someone gets murdered...blame it on the dwarf. Someone robs a grave...blame the dwarf. Dog takes a crap on the lawn...blame the dwarf. No wonder the dwarf is gonna turn on these people later in the movie. I don't blame him at all. Get it? I don't blame him! Ha! I kill me! |
| 9. Upstairs, the count is telling his guests about the neanderthal man that the villagers encountered and killed. He says that there are caves around there that could be shelter for wild animals or humans. I don't really get this scene and his accent is making things kinda hard to follow. They're having dinner now and talking more about the caveman and anthropology and what not. During this conversation, it becomes more than apparent that he's flirting with Krista. It's also quite apparent that she likes it. She keeps giving him this coy look like she's gonna give him her cookies later if he plays his cards right. Hans is waiting on them during the meal and Count Frankenstein is treating him quite shabbily for whatever reason. But now comes something even funnier... |
| 10. We go down to the kitchen where Kreegin is helping
Maria the cook with dinner. He asks her when they can meet
again, and she get's angry with him and says that there's no
sense in having trouble with Hans. He says that her husband is
busy serving the count, and she gets mad and slaps him, but
not overly hard, and tells him that if her husband catches them
he'll kill them both. So basically, we just found out that Kreegin,
who is a hunchback by the way, is hittin' Hans' wife on the side.
At this point I'm thinking that you all might be feeling like you need
a scorecard to keep track of all the twisted stuff going on,
so I'll give you a recap here so you can get back up to speed. Twisted Stuff So Far In This Movie
|
| 11. Ok now we're up in Krista's room. Valda is pouring her bath for her and Krista is walking around in this very sexy nightgown and robe. On her way out Valda tells Krista that she shouldn't let herself get too interested in the Frankenstein family. So now we get to the good part. Krista walks over to her bath now and sits on the edge. Now this is no ordinary bath, oh no. It's a warm milk bath! Man this movie just keeps gettin' cooler and cooler. As she sits there on the edge of the tub and sticks her fingers down in the milk, they keep showing this painting on the wall like someone's behind it...watching her...getting all excited...sweat forming on their brow...kinda like in the movie Porky's except there's no beast on the other side of the wall waiting to catch whoever it is that's peeping on the pretty young girl. Yep, I was right, the eyes just slid down in the painting and they were replaced by real eyes. What do you wanna bet it's Genz? Krista's in the bath now, and man is she hot. Whoever it is on the other side of the painting is still watching as there comes a knock at the door. It's Maria. Krista tells her that she's taking a bath and Maria asks her if she's all right. Now isn't that a stupid question? Why wouldn't she be? Anyway, Krista says she is and Maria leaves. Now this movie would have gotten twelve extra bees if Maria had gone in and scrubbed Krista's back. Even just for a few minutes, but since she just left, I guess it's gonna lose out on the bonus points. |
| 12. Now we're following Maria around. She goes off into another room and takes her robe off. Her lingerie isn't anywhere near as nice as Krista's. Eric just reached around a curtain and grabbed her which pretty much scared the living hell out of her. They start making out and she gets all nervous and stops because she's afraid of her father finding out. Eric says that he's not afraid and he keeps kissing her. She obviously wasn't all that afraid either because her night gown is now on the floor and they're making out again. Jeez, what a weird movie. |
| 13. Back to Krista's room now. She hears something out in the hall as she's drying off from her bath and starts getting all freaked out. She puts on her robe and goes creeping over to the door. She opens it. There's a storm brewing, and the hallway is dark save for the few flashing moments that it's lit by the lightning outside. She looks to the left. She looks to the right. She sees Kreegin's face lit up by a flash of lightning and starts screaming insanely and yelling at him to get away from her. Now I could understand having this as an initial reaction, but she just keeps screaming to the point where she's starting to seem a little psycho. Anyway, Kreegin is trying to calm her down, but she's too busy screaming to notice. Finally, the count comes walking up with a candle and asks Kreegin what he's doing there. He says that he brought a towel for her and the count takes the towel and tells him that he shouldn't frighten their guest. Kreegin just says, "Yes master," and then walks away back into the shadows. The count tells her that Kreegin is really harmless and that she'll enjoy the house more during the day. She says she's sure she will and then the Count kisses her hand she goes back into her room with yet another coy look to the count. I think we have a regular little romance brewing here kiddies. |
| 14. So now we go back out into a hallway where we find Genz opening up this panel in the wall. He looks through it and sees Eric and Maria, both nekkid and makin' out on the bed. Hans comes along and scares the crap out of him. Hans angrily sends Genz off to his room, and then starts looking through the panel himself. He see's what's on the other side, seems to think something for a minute, and then leaves. I know what he was thinkin' too. He's thinkin', "Man, if I had a video camera and a web site, I could make some serious bank on this!" |
| 15. The next morning, Maria see's Eric off and he goes riding off on a horse. Then we go back into the house where the count is giving Krista a tour. He's talking about how generations of Frankenstein's have lived in that house and how that legacy is about to end because his daughter will be marrying Eric and his own wife died while giving birth to their still born son. Krista starts hitting him up about re-marrying and he says he thinks he's too old for that. He says he wants the Frankenstein name to live on through his contributions to science. They talk about his experiments and how she wants to see his lab and that that was the whole reason she came there in the first place was so she could meet the great Count Frankenstein. They kiss at this point finally, but it's the kind of a kiss a little kid would give to his aunt. It's pretty sad actually. |
| 16. Now we hit a part that truly made me say, "What the hell???" The scene changes, and we're out in the woods. There's this big caveman lookin' dude dragging this sheep along by a rope tied around it's neck. The sheep don't wanna go obviously because I would imagine it's got a pretty good idea of what's gonna happen to it when they get where they're going. Watching this big burly caveman lookin' guy trying to drag this sheep along, and not having a hell of a lot of success is just really funny. So now we see Eric riding along through the woods. He hear's the bleat of the sheep and starts looking around. The caveman is up on the side of the hill in relation to where Eric is. He's watching Eric through the trees, but then Eric finally rides off and the scene changes. I'm not sure what the point to that whole scene was. Why have Eric go riding through there if he wasn't going to encounter the caveman? |
| 17. The scene changes again and now we're in front of the police station where a few upset citizens are banging on the door. They're upset about the grave robbery and they want the prefect to arrest Count Frankenstein. Koerner comes out and tells them that they'll have to talk to the inspector. Just then Prefect (Inspector) Ewing comes around the corner with another policeman. They start bitching at him to arrest Frankenstein, and he basically tells them that the Count's altruistic nature should not be questioned and that they should leave the police work to him. When they all leave, Koerner asks him if he wasn't a bit rough on them, and Ewing says that he has to keep them under control or they could turn into a dangerous mob. Gee, ya think? Ignorant villagers turning into an angry mob? The heck you say! |
| 18. Back at the castle, Genz is sneaking into the laboratory now. I'm not really sure why he's even there, because I haven't seen him do a damn thing except sneak around and be a peeping tom. There's a quick cut back to where a couple of villagers are talking about what a dastardly crime grave robbing is and how it's Frankenstein that's doing it and saying how they should burn down Frankenstein's castle and all the demons in it. I just noticed something too that's been bugging me about this film and I couldn't put my finger on it until just now. All the clothes in this movie look brand new. Like they were just made within the last few days and are all being worn for the first time. No one's really dirty or anything. Even the caveman's skins looked brand new. Not a big deal really, it's just that I finally realized that just now. Anyway, back into the lab now. Genz is walking in and there's the caveman laying on the table. He's clean shaven and he's got bandages wrapped all around his head with some blood on them. Genz Touches him and kinda nudges him a little to wake him up. He does wake him up, and the guy growls at him. Genz freaks out and breaks a beaker that was sitting on the table that was full of some green liquid. Count Frankenstein comes into the lab and sees what's going on. He makes Genz sit in the chair while he looks over the patient. He then rings the bell to call Hans. Hans comes in and the count want's to know how Genz got in there. Hans says he doesn't know but then he tells the count that the police found Genz's footprint at the grave site. Frankenstein get's incredibly upset and tells Genz that he's going to have to leave because he can't allow anyone to put his experiments in jeopardy. Genz says that he has no where to go, but Frankenstein tells Hans to take him away out into the woods and to keep him away. Outside, Kreegin looks out his window and watches Hans take Genz away. Hans is being a total jerk to Genz as he drags him away. Oh my god. They have this really nasty exchange once he gets Genz out into the woods. Hans is a complete and utter jerk. It ends off with Genz swearing revenge upon him and Count Frankenstein. |
| 19. Now right after Hans left with Genz, Kreegin goes upstairs to find Valda. He tells her that Hans has left the castle and that he'll be busy for a while, so they should go to the woodshed together. She comes along happily. After we see the exchange in the woods with Hans and Genz, we come back to the woodshed. Kreegin in slappin' Valda in the face, and she's totally gettin' off on it. She loves it. He slaps her like three or four times and she's all hot now. They start kissing and then lay down on some sacks where they start makin' out all hot and heavy....and...uh...that's it. That's the end of the scene. |
| 20. We now see a quick shot of Frankenstein writing in his journal. He's writing that his patient, Goliath, has shown no negative symptoms in his recuperation from this recent disturbance. After we see that, we go back out into the woods where Genz is walking along some path. He has an encounter with that big ugly caveman that was out there earlier dragging the sheep. The caveman acts like he's going to hit Genz with his club, but then he takes Genz by the hand and picks him up and they go walking off together. I'm not sure why yet, but they seem to have become friends. The caveman takes Genz back to his cave and shows him around. The caveman has a torch too. I'm not sure where a caveman got a torch, but we'll let that one pass for now. The caveman starts a fire and invites Genz to sit down and warm himself by it. He gives Genz some food too. This is really a great scene. The caveman cuts some meat off a carcass he has hanging in the cave and gets a piece for himself and one for Genz. He gives it to Genz and motions for him to eat it, but Genz says no and then shows him how to cook the meat over the fire. He says that he doesn't know his name so he'll just call him Ook. Ook doesn't like his meat cooked and he spits it out. Genz shows him that it's good to eat it that way, but Ook just cuts himself off another slice of raw meat and starts chowin' down on it. They seem pretty content just sitting there eating and talking to each other even though neither one knows what the other is saying. Maybe if they hang out together long enough, Genz can teach Ook about hygiene and tapeworms and other assorted parasites and germs. |
| 21. Back in the lab now. The count is doing something scientific looking with some glass vials, colored liquid, and dry ice. Hans brings in Krista who is looking just beyond hot in the dress she currently has on. She comes walking over to the table and Frankenstein tells her that she can never tell anyone about what she sees here. She looks down and sees Goliath laying on the table and asks him if that's a patient of his. Gee Krista no, it's just some guy who enjoys being strapped down to a table and having his head cut open. Jeez, what a stupid question. Anyway, he tells her that it's a special patient and that if he wakes up, not to make any sudden movements. He shows her around his lab and shows her his accumulator that he's been working on. She seems pretty fascinated and impressed by his lab even though there's not a whole lot in there. You can really see the limits of the budget of this movie by how spartan the lab decor is. After some explaining about what's going on, they kiss again. Man, this guy has no clue how to kiss. |
| 22. It's later on now, and Maria and Krista have gone to this cave where there's a hot spring mineral bath kinda natural hot tub thing. It looks like a set from the original Star Trek tv show. They start undressing and get in the water, but unbeknownst to them, Genz has spotted them and followed them into the cave. He's watching them from behind some rocks now and getting all excited. YES! They're rubbing mud all over each other now. God bless the Italians and their beautiful women in their movies. They're talking about how it would be if Krista married Maria's father and they're both getting out of the water. Genz just took off running. He went to get Ook. He brings Ook back to the cave, but the girls are gone. Genz get's all ticked off because now he's lost his chance for revenge. He picks up this big rock and throws it in the water. I don't know why he's so bent about it. If he had just gone and gotten Ook in the first place instead of playing rub the nub from behind the rocks, he'd have had both of them. It's his fault they got away. |
| 23. It's the next day now, and Maria is outside watching the prefect ride away. The count comes walking down the stairs and Maria and Krista both come over and ask him who that was. He tells them who is was and that he was there because they found Genz's footprint at the grave site that had been robbed. Maria says that she doesn't know why he keeps Genz around and he tells her that he dismissed Genz a couple days ago and that she'll never see him again. Yeah, that's what he thinks. For you see my kiddies, at this very moment, our little dwarf friend is plottin' and plannin' and figuring out new and twisted ways to get his revenge. He's also got a few ideas on how to score with chicks too, which we're about to see. |
| 24. It's night time now and Genz and Ook are outside of a chicken house which is attached to this bigger crappy lookin' house. A girl comes out and goes into the chicken house to gather some eggs. When she comes out, Ook conks her on the head with his club, and then they drag her off. Now I've heard of being hard up, but I think there are better ways of getting chicks than busting them in the head with a club and kidnapping them. |
| 25. Back in Count Frankenstein's lab now, and Frankenstein and Krista just walked in. They're discussing operating on the brain and something about blood flow. The count's accent is making it kinda hard to follow along here. They walk over and look at Goliath now, and he wakes up and starts freaking out. The count takes her over to the door and tells her to remember that she is the first to witness his achievement. I'm really starting to think that the count is gay or somethin'. I mean, he's got this absolutely gorgeous girl all hot for him and all he does is kiss her like she was his mother and pretty much treat her like there's pretty much nothing between them at all. For a smart guy, the count is sure an idiot. |
| 26. Outside of police headquarters now and there's a mob of angry villagers with torches and the whole nine yards. The prefect comes out and one of them tells him that his daughter Jenny has disappeared. He said that she was cleaning, and then she went outside and he hasn't seen her since. The villagers all think it's Frankenstein that's kidnapped her and they want to go put the hurt on him. The prefect calls out Koerner and the other cop and them and the girl's father all go out to his farm so they can look at where it was that he last saw her. I can tell you what they're going to find right now. One great big set of footprints, and one very small set of footprints. Isn't that amazing? I would have made a great detective. |
| 27. Back in the cave, Genz is tying up the girl while Ook watches. He don't know what the hell's going on. He just did what Genz told him to do. Anyway, Genz gets her tied up and Ook stands over her with a knife. She wakes up and starts screaming and Genz tells him to back off. Genz takes the knife and starts cutting the buttons off her shirt and telling Ook to watch him because he's going to show him the pleasures of life. The girl is all freaked out but Genz don't pay no never mind and just strips her down. Then he strips himself down and starts doin' the dwarf nasty with this girl. They show Ook during that part and he's just standin' there looking all weirded out like he's watching some kind of a bizarre peep show. And come to think of it...he is! |
| 28. The prefect is riding out to where they found a dead body. Apparently, after they got done raping this girl, Ook beat her to death. He broke both her legs, and almost tore her body apart. They're going to take her in for an autopsy. This is kind of a nasty turn for this movie which has up to now been quite fun. The prefect mounts up, and Koerner asks him if he'd like him to write up a report. The prefect says yes and tells him to be sure to get it right this time. Now this is the second time that the prefect has told Koerner to get something right in this movie. The first time was when he was making the wax footprint mold. Who the hell is this guy? Inspector Clouseau? He doesn't come off as being that incompetent. If they were going to treat him like he was, then they should have written the character to appear that way. |
| 29. Now we cut to Kristen and the count riding along in a horse drawn carriage. He's explaining to her about where they found Goliath and about how the villagers took him down and killed him. Then he goes on to explain how they brought his body to the laboratory and juiced him with his electrical accumulator and brought him back to life. Ok, that's it. Nothing more to see here. Mooooove along. |
| 30. Two quickie scenes here. One of Eric coming back and greeting Maria, and the other of the prefect entering a carriage and riding off somewhere. Then we go down to the laboratory where Krista has just come in. Count Frankenstein takes him over and explains to her that Goliath has fallen in love with her, and that he is calm now because she is there, and he has become accustomed to her daily visits. He then does a couple of experiments to see Goliath's reaction to them. First he kisses Krista, and Goliath just stares at them. From this the doctor surmised that Goliath didn't know jealousy. Next, he shook Krista around a little to see if Goliath had protective instincts. He did. He freaked and started making all kinds of noise and started trying to get up. It's a good thing he was strapped down good and tight, or the count would have been in trouble. He calms Goliath down at that point then then tells Krista that he would like her to assist him in his experiments and she happily agrees. He starts showing her around the lab and explaining things to her, and then he gets her over to his accumulator and kisses her. Again, it's an Aunt Flo kiss. This guy is just sad. |
| 31. Oh man. The inspector is standing in front of this Massive gorgeous fireplace while he waits for Count Frankenstein to come talk to him. It's gorgeous. The count finally comes in and the inspector asks him if he has any knowledge of the dwarf that used to work for him. Apparently they found the same small footprint there that they found near the grave plot. The count calls in Hans and asks him if he or any of the other servants have seen or heard from Genz since he was dismissed. Hans says no and that the dwarf knew the consequences if he were to return. The inspector seems satisfied with that and leaves. Hans goes with him to show him to the door, but stops after the inspector walks out and says to the count that he should have killed the dwarf when he had the chance. I was feeling kinda sorry for the dwarf, but at this point, I would tend to agree. That dwarf is a little scumbag. |
| 32. Krista decided now that it would be nice to go back to the cave where the hot spring was and have another dip in the water. So she walks in there and she's all getting ready to strip down, when suddenly we see Ook come in from behind and grab her. Now they did a close up of his feet in this part, and I gotta tell ya folks, this guy has the biggest toes I've ever seen on a human being. Big and fat and bulbous. I mean, they pretty much defy description. Anyway, he drags her off with her yelling and fighting all the way. |
| 33. Now we go back to the castle, where Genz is spying on Kreegin walking up some stairs and through a gate. After Kreegin goes through, Genz goes up himself and sneaks through the gate. Kreegin takes the basket of vegetables he's carrying into Valda, and we hear him messing around with her a little while Genz makes his way down the corridor. Oh, he just went into the laboratory. He's undoing the straps that are holding down Goliath. Now he's waking Goliath up. Now Goliath is up. Now Goliath is growling and opening his mouth wider than I've ever seen anyone open their mouth. Now Genz is crapping his pants. Smart move Genz, you moron. Now Goliath is stretching and giving Genz that what the hell are you supposed to be? look. He picks him up just as Kreegin comes in to see what's goin' on. Kreegin tells him to get back and tries to get Goliath to calm down and lay back down. He does until Kreegin turns around and pushes the dwarf. Then Goliath gets up and beats the snot out of him and tosses him around like a rag doll. About this time, Igor comes running in. He tries to beat Goliath into submission, and he puts up a lot more of a fight than Kreegin did. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any more luck than Kreegin. He ends up either choked or with a broken neck. Genz leads Goliath down the steps with Goliath following closely behind. Valda sees him walking down the steps by her doorway and comes out yelling at him. Goliath grabs her and either breaks her neck or strangles her. Whatever he did, she went down with a quickness. |
| 34. Hans comes running in to Frankenstein's living room now and tells him that Genz has released Goliath. Frankenstein tells Hans to get Kreegin and Igor. Hans tells him that Kreegin got himself beaten half to death and Igor was nowhere to be found. Frankenstein tells Hans to look in the woods while he searches on horseback. Eric and Maria come in at this point. He tells Maria that her and Krista are to stay there with Eric and she informs him that Krista is not back from her walk yet. Frankenstein takes off and we get a quick shot of Ook who now has Krista tied up in his cave. He offers her some raw meat which she doesn't seem to appreciate. Now for some reason, as soon as Frankenstein leaves, the first thing Eric and Maria do is run off to his lab and start looking through his journal. They find out what's been going on. Not that they really do anything about it. |
| 35. Out in the countryside, Frankenstein finds Goliath and Genz. He tells Genz that Hans said he should have killed him and that now he sees that that's the only way to be rid of him once and for all. Goliath doesn't take kindly to Frankenstein using such harsh words against his new little buddy, so he pulls Frankenstein off the horse and kills him. Then Hans comes running up. He see's that Frankenstein is dead, and then he sees that Goliath is now coming towards him. Goliath get's him in a bear hug and squeezes the stuffin's out of him. So now that's two more down. Not sure how many there are left to go. |
| 36. We go back to the local pub now where we find three stupid villagers sitting saying how they should do something about Frankenstein because the inspector isn't getting any results. Now they're talking about how they should petition the governor to get rid of the inspector. Ok, that's basically all that went on in that scene. Now we go back out in the countryside where Eric just found Count Frankenstein dead. That's enough of that scene too. Now Eric is back at the castle. That was quick. He and Maria find Kreegin staggering along and tell him that Count Frankenstein is dead. They send him off to get the inspector. So Kreegin goes to the village and he starts pounding on the inspectors door. Naturally there's a group of villagers with torches all around him. The inspector comes out and Kreegin tells him that Frankenstein's monster has escaped. He for some reason knows that the monster is in the caves. Not sure how he knew that. |
| 37. So Genz gets Goliath back to his cave now and introduces him to Ook, who was naturally standing there eating some raw meat. Goliath sees Krista sitting there and starts walking over to her. Ook doesn't want no one touching his woman so he attacks Goliath. They have a colossal (colossally stupid) battle, at the end of which Goliath puts Ook in a bear hug and snaps his spine like a twig. Genz unties Krista and she takes Goliath by the hand and leads him out of the cave. Eric, Maria, and the inspector are there now with the angry mob hot on their heels just as Krista and Goliath are coming out. The mob isn't in any mood to listen to reason, and even though the inspector and Koerner try to hold the mob back, it's just no use. They light some hay on fire behind Goliath and then force him back into it. The monster burns up in the fire and then after one last comment from the inspector about how there's monster in all of us, especially when there's fear involved, we see the final credits. Wow. Man that's all I can say. What a twisted, bizarre movie. But fun as well. |
Count Frankenstein has been conducting experiments in an attempt to bring the dead back to life. When a caveman is discovered near the village and beaten to death by a mob of locals, Frankenstein acquires the caveman's body and brings it back to his lab where his life's work finally comes to fruition. The caveman lives again. I could write more here, but this movie is just too involved and way beyond twisted. Just keep reading and you'll find out everything you ever wanted to know about Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks.
The Conclusion
Whoo boy was this a twisted movie. This
movie was like a deranged Italian soap opera. The thing is, I
enjoyed this movie. I've had reviews in the past where I
couldn't even hardly make it through the movie because it was
so boring or bad or whatever. I didn't have that problem at
all with this movie. This movie was so deliciously bizarre that
it kept me happy from start to finish.
Part of what contributed to the interest
value of this movie was the sheer number of characters in it.
That in itself created a variety of sub-plots that wouldn't
have been possible without the number of characters that were written
into this film. Things like the sheer hatred that existed
between Hans and Genz or the affair between Kreegin and Hans'
wife Valda. These little sub-plots really helped to flesh out
the film and make it far better than it would have been
otherwise. It also made the characters into something more
than just secondary cardboard cut-out type figures that were
just in the movie for the sake of being in it. The cavemen
characters in this movie, Ook and Goliath, added some extra comical
aspects that also improved upon the basic plot of the film.
This is not to say that there weren't a
couple of rather unnecessary characters however. The Detective Koerner
character wasn't in it all that much and when he was it was
usually just to add support to the inspector's character. The
inspector himself was really just a tertiary figure who was
only really in it I think to keep the villagers under control
until the plot could play itself out. The character of Igor
wasn't used much at all which is unusual because in most of
these Frankenstein movies, the Igor character usually has a
fairly large part as the mad scientist's assistant. Igor in this
movie was also not a hunchback like the classic Igor character.
If anyone should have been Igor, it should have been Kreegin since
he was the one with the hunchback. He would have hit the Igor
persona perfectly. As it is, the guy who played Igor walked
around looking like an undertaker and wasn't hardly in the film
at all.
Since my reviews are lengthy, I'm not going
to get into all the nit-picky little details about various
things in the movie. I'll just go ahead now and move on now to
a few of this film's more notable tidbits.
Since this is an Italian film that was made
in the 70's, it's probably not one you're going to have your
kids watch. There's some nudity and lightly sexual situations,
but for you adult males out there, you're gonna love it.
Christiane Rücker who played Krista, was just unbelievably
gorgeous. If you can watch her on the screen without drooling all
over yourself, then you're a better man than I. There was one thing
in this film that not only disturbed me, but it seemed out of
place as well. That was the rape and murder of the village
girl. The scene leading up to where Genz is about to rape her
is actually pretty funny. Seeing Ook looking on with that
totally hilarious look on his face was great. What disturbed
me though is that the next day they found the girl's body
beaten to a pulp with both her legs and probably her neck
broken. They showed the body when the police found her, and
they had it made up real good with bruises and blood. This was
not only an unnecessary thing to have happen in this movie, it was also
dark, disturbing, and out of place in the grand scheme of the
rest of what was going on. I guess it was supposed to serve as
a plot device to get the villagers all riled up, but I think
they could have had the girl escape and reach the same ends.
This whole section was really unnecessary and had nothing at
all to do with Genz getting his revenge on Count Frankenstein.
Despite this however, this really was a very enjoyable movie,
and I had great fun watching it. The whole time it was on, I
found myself just anticipating the next twisted or bizarre
thing that was going to happen. This movie hasn't really gotten
good reviews elsewhere, but I'm going to give it one because it
deserves it. It's not perfect by any stretch of the
imagination, but the sheer entertainment value that comes from
watching this film has earned it...
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