I got Frankenstein vs. the Space Monster in via Blockbuster Online yesterday and had a chance to watch about 40 minutes, before I had to leave for work today. Now I should add a preface to this, ever since I saw a trailer for this film on a Frankenstein "doc" 2 tape VHS set (which I suspect was put out by some pre runner to ALL DAY, as most of the same content appears on the disc, except for times when stills where used for films or a few other films are added) I have always wanted to see it as it looked like an amazing blend of Alien Invasion and Creature Feature. The trailer made it look like an interesting and fun romp. Later, I read more and more about the film and didn't expect too (as most coverage of it is negative) much when the disc came yesterday. Happily, I've been enjoying the living daylights out of the film so far. For reference, I stopped the DVD at the point where Frank Saunders is discovered in the cave by the scientists also my rental did not come with the liner notes.
For me FmtSM reminds me of the dime-store epic of Invisible Invaders, It Conquered the World, and others. It has a very ambitious plot of Alien Invasion, Cyborgs on the loose, Space Exploration (that doesn't get too far), plus the plot thread of passing off a cyborg as a human (with a funny if for the wrong reasons (the idea is not bad, just the still), press conference). I don't even mind the stock footage as it mostly makes sense, say as opposed to a herd of water buffalo that appeared in one film I know of. I really enjoyed the take-off sequence (it worked really) with the surf punk in the background (which along with other surf punk and stock scores actually create a decent soundtrack so far.
I think the story so far is quite enjoyable, it is simple in its execution, but grand its plotting. While I can imagine some scoff at the creature being treated as a Frankenstein creature, I would say to combat this that as the dialogue suggests he is made from human parts. In a sense it is actually advances the concept of Frankenstein into a new age fusing the concept with robotics. The aliens are generally interesting (even with the less than stellar make-up, but hey that happens with Kung Fu movies and wigs all the time). The cast is enjoyable too, with some wonderfully goofy aliens and the scientists are interesting, if a little sedated (that and Karen is really being played poorly in terms of line delivery). The Frank Saunders character is interesting because of the fact that he is played both as a human being at times and monster at others (giving it an unpredictable Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dynamic. I really cannot wait to get home and finish the film. I suspect some readers maybe thinking that I’m insane, but so far Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster is a really good flick. Stay tuned for my final thoughts later and a Mini-DVD review of the Dark Sky Disc.
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