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Prepare for the first in a series of double doses of perversion
from legendary erotic horror director, Jess Franco. Dracula
Prisoner Of Frankenstein (1972) delivers bizarre and absurd
goings on at Castle Dracula, where the vampire Count's staked
corpse looks set to see another day at the hands of Dr Frankenstein,
as he and his assistant, called Morpho, bring Dracula back
to life in order to use him to do their evil bidding... In
The Curse of Frankenstein (1972) the classic tale gets
a much deserved shot in the arm as British character actor
Dennis Price plays the quietly brilliant doctor who discovers
a way to resurrect the dead, only to be overthrown by the
ghastly bird-woman who steals his monster for the evil Dr.
Cagliostro to create a master race...
In
Dracula Prisoner of Frankenstein, I couldn't make head
or tail of what was going on for the first fifteen minutes
(a young woman writhes anxiously in a corner, a deaf mute
limps into a bar [I think I've heard that joke], and a carriage
rides through the woods). Are we supposed to make sense of
this? However, a scholarly doctor arrives (Van Helsing in
all but name) and puts an end to Count Dracula's reign of
terror by the traditional method of staking.
Doctor
Frankenstein and his assistant Morpho (who spends the whole
time leering sideways maniacally at the camera) discover the
body in the form of a bat and take it back to their laboratory,
a room full of machinery, levers and bright carnival lights.
Who's that in the box? It's none other than Frankie's newly-created
monster doing his robotic dancing to electrical charges. His
first assignment, should he choose to accept it - and he does
- is to kidnap a saucy dancer whose blood is pumped on to
the bat to revive the master vampire.
Dracula (looking like a young Harry Worth, complete with caterpillar
eyebrows) stalks the night once more, this time under the
control of Doctor Frankenstein. The good doctor is savagely
attacked by the pasty-faced Frankenstein monster (complete
with hastily applied felt-tip lines which are supposed to
resemble stitches), and is cared for by some gypsies. One
of them tells him he will rid them of the curse with the help
of the wolf. As it happens, it's a bit of a free- for-all
as a female vampire kills Morpho, the wolfman (not unlike
Galen from Planet
of the Apes) throws himself repeatedly on the
monster, Doctor Frankenstein is forced to destroy Dracula
and the other vampires, and the monster dies through eating
too many currents.
This
is a comedy. Please tell me it's a comedy... Oh, it's not.
The last scene has to be seen to be believed. After the first
fifteen minutes of the film, during which nothing makes sense,
the ending is badly rushed. There's some running around which,
if it was any quicker, wouldn't be out of place in the Keystone
Cops. Furthermore, the good doctor hangs about with the gypsies
before suddenly rushing up to the castle, intent on putting
a stop to all the evil nasty things that go bump in the night.
The villagers follow him with the stereotypical flaming torches,
also intent on putting a stop to... etc. But when they arrive
its all over bar the shouting, and the film just ends abruptly,
the flimsy plot having resolved itself.
So
much for the prophecy. I mean... What the hell happened?!
Did they run out of film? Perhaps the wolfman demanded a pay
rise for extra razors, or Frankenstein's monster wanted new
platform shoes. Maybe there was a mass lurch-out of the Monsters
Union... now that would have made a good film.
In The Curse of Frankenstein, Doctor Frankenstein creates
a living creature (this time curiously painted silver with
tin foil on its head), but it's spirited away by the evil
bird-woman (a normal young woman with green feathery gloves)
for Doctor Cagliostro to use to create a master race. See,
Hitler had it all wrong, didn't he? Anyway, the plan is to
find the most beautiful woman to mate with him. Enter the
gypsies again, and in particular Esmeralda (yes, I know what
you're thinking, but apparently Quasimodo is on his holidays
- or sick with back trouble, or something).
When
Frankenstein is killed, his daughter appears on the scene
to exact her revenge, but things don't go exactly according
to plan and she is overpowered, hypnotised and used to conduct
the relevant experiments. Never fear though, because Doctor
Seward (there's more doctors than you can shake a stick at,
isn't there?) all-round purveyor of good, is at hand.
At
least this one has more of a structure to it, and a proper
climatic scene. However, the acting and plot is still significantly
exaggerated. The scene when Frankenstein's monster has a fit
of indecision before throwing a major strop is hilarious.
Both
of these films, which comprise Volume 1 of the Jess
Franco collection released by Tartan Grindhouse (or is that
grin-house), can only be enjoyed on a level of ridicule, and
are probably best viewed with friends after a night on the
town.
These
are a far cry from the style and presence of the Bela Lugosi
and Boris Karloff Universal films or the Christopher Lee Hammer
ones.
Ty
Power
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