Thursday, May 11, 2017

FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER (1965)


Now that I've seen this 60's monster mess I understand why it took me so long to catch up with it. Usually a monster film from this period will have fans regardless of it's low quality but I have never had anyone recommend seeing FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER and that has kept me away. With good reason!


This micro budget affair relates the tale of an alien Queen who travels to our planet in search of women to replenish her homeworld's war depleted supply of fertile breeding stock. This is complicated by NASA's (at least I think it's NASA) newest astronaut - an android that can actually pass as human. The aliens shoot down the missile containing our humanoid robot and then land near him to begin their round up of female baby-pods. The heavily damaged but still sort-of functional android wanders around until his scientist creator (the great James Karen) locates him and then kind-of places him in the way of the invading aliens.


The running time of this incredibly boring SF effort is a much padded 76 minutes and at least 20 of those minutes are made up of stock footage. Seriously. The rest of the film is a series of poorly directed, barely scripted scenes that advance the story in fits and starts. This is easily one of the dullest and dumbest science fiction films of the 1960's and it's a terrible monster film to boot! The burned and damaged android is our Frankenstein Monster and the alien race has sent along a creature for just such occasions! Time to rumble - but not until the last couple of minutes of this overstretched, laborious, snooze inducing muddle. There are worse monster films from the 1960's but this one is still pretty damned bad. But that poster art is amazing!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Do you think Monster A Go Go is the worst '60's monster movie?

Rod Barnett said...

Probably. MANOS is in the running, of course, but I also can't find the charm of THE UNDERTAKER AND HIS PALS.

Unknown said...

I'd also throw out The Creeping Terror.

Brian Lindsey said...

Call me crazy, but I actually kind of like this one -- in a "so bad it's good" sort of way.

"And now... Maximum energy!"

Rod Barnett said...

I guess if you it caught on the right night it could fall into the So Bad It's Good category but DAMN it's dull.

Brian Lindsey said...

I must admit fast-forwarding through the scooter tour of San Juan... and the fact that I've been rather blitzed every time I've seen this movie. ;)