Frankenstein '80 (1972)

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

When Mary Shelley wrote "Frankenstein" in 1818, she could never have imagined that it would inspire this Italian-made cinematic sleazefest. If gratuitous gore and smarmy sex are your forte, this film has plenty of both (often at the same time).Despite the title, there is nothing futuristic about "Frankenstein '80." Rather, it is the story of Dr. Otto Frankenstein (Gordon Mitchell), a hospital lab tech. He innocuously does his job during the day, but at night he works to perfect Mosaico (Greek wrestler Xiro Papas), a lumbering monstrosity that he made out of discarded body parts. The film offers no explanation as to Otto's motives. I guess we're supposed to think, "Hey, his name is Frankenstein. What else would he do in his off-hours?"Alas for Otto, he has created the horniest Frankenstein monster of all time. On more than one occasion, Mosaico brutally murders a young lady and then has his way with her battered, bloodied corpse. This arouses (pardon the expression) the attention of the local police, led by one Inspector Schneider (Renato Romano). Long story short, Mosaico chokes Otto to death and goes on a killing spree until his brain does or something or other that destroys him after 48 hours. Frankly, I was more interested in checking Facebook than in watching this dogsh*t movie.Mosaico looks just like what he is: a Greek wrestler with flesh- colored clay and fake stitches all over his face and body. In a scene where he beats a homeless man to death in an automobile graveyard (with what looks like a transmission), I said out loud, "Please don't let him hump the dead guy!" Mercifully, he didn't.Also worth noting is the laughable dubbing job, especially of Otto and Schneider. Otto sounds like he's doing a bad impersonation of Inspector Clouseau, while Schneider's voice suggests a grown-up Eric Catman. All that's missing is the "goddammit."In the '70s, Europe (and Italy in particular) produced a number of films that eroticized the Frankenstein legend. As this is the only one I've seen, I can't say where it falls on the spectrum. I can, however, state that "Frankenstein '80" will *not* motivate me to seek out any more of these movies. Yecch!

A typically incomprehensible Italian sleaze epic, made on a shoestring budget and squarely aimed at the exploitation market with its offerings of graphic gore and copious female nudity. Although it's not consistently entertaining enough to be considered a so-bad-it's-good delight, FRANKENSTEIN '80 does contain its fair share of delirious delights which stop it from becoming totally unwatchable. These include a cheesy script full of overly serious dialogue; amusingly bad acting from Xiro Papas as the monster, Mosaic; overblown scenes of action; and some bad-taste moments in which the creature goes around raping prostitutes and innocent girls. The film's highlight has to be the moment in which Mosaic breaks into an abattoir and beats a girl to death with a bone (!) before stripping her corpse and having his wicked way with her - it's that kind of movie.The strung-together plot sees the Frankenstein tale updated to the "then" slightly futuristic setting of 1980 where Dr. Otto Frankenstein continues his medical experiments. The first thing to notice is that the good doctor is played by peplum legend Gordon Mitchell, bizarrely decked out in Victorian attire whilst everyone else wears bad '70s gear! Mitchell can always be relied upon to deliver a solid performance and his appearance here is no exception, although sadly his character does get bumped off about halfway through the film, leaving the monster to go on a low-budget rampage of terror through the countryside with nobody to hold him back.The story goes that bearded scientist Professor Schwarz has developed a serum which can help to bond organs into new bodies (an idea later used in the horror smash hit RE-ANIMATOR). Just as dashing hero Karl Schein is about to have the serum used on his sister, undergoing a heart transplant, Frankenstein steals it and his sister dies, leaving Schein understandably peeved and embarking on a personal investigation to find his sister's murderer.The leading role of Schein is played by the omnipotent John Richardson, who gained fame with his appearance in ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. before appearing in all kinds of trashy Italian horror films (mainly gialli) in the '70s. Aside from his silly haircut, there's little memorable about his performance here and he doesn't actually achieve much despite his investigations. The film also includes a police investigation into the murders which is lethargic ever, but at least it is presided over by the short-tempered Inspector Schneider, who gets some great ranting when one of his officers spells his name wrong in his report! Many scenes in the film involve Mosaic going around and offing a series of young, attractive women, with the rape angle added on to give the film an even sleazier atmosphere. There are also the standard "operating room" procedures in which the camera is held as close as possible to some sloppy organs and blood-covered hands. The string of murders that the monster commits are slapdash and brutal and almost always involve bright red blood being smeared over a clean white wall to emphasise the carnage. As for Mosaic, his physical inspiration seems to be the creature played by Freddie Jones in Hammer's FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED, and the actor playing him is the bushy-eyebrowed Xiro Papas, a specialist in such areas - he would later play another sexual sadist in THE BEAST IN HEAT.Don't expect any characterisation of the monster; he's simply a rampaging brute, a creature of destruction with murder in mind. The over-the-top ending, in which Mosaic's organs fail in an unforgettable display of fake blood and bad acting, is the stuff B-movie fan's dreams are made of. In most respects this is a poorly-made movie but that just adds to the charm; FRANKENSTEIN movies don't get any cheaper, gorier or sleazier than this brain-addled Italo entry.

I don't know what I'm more appalled by - this nitwit concoction of horror porn or the idea that there are more than a dozen reviews of it already here by the time I write this. Actually, that might be a blessing in disguise for me, because now I won't have to get into what this monstrosity of a trash flick was all about. Except to add that the Frankenstein in question at one point received a testicle transplant to round out his assortment of body parts. Oh yeah, you didn't think I missed that one, did you? Nor did I miss the part about Dr. Schwartz's inability to reproduce the magical blue serum he invented that would prevent organ rejection following his transplant procedures. No Nobel Prize for this genius, he forgot to keep notes.This one's part of a twelve disc, fifty movie set of 'Pure Terror' films just put out by Mill Creek Entertainment that you can probably pick up at your local Wal-Mart or Sam's Club if you hurry. "Frankenstein 80" sounded like a pretty good choice to be my first pick but I know better now. Actually, this one tries to be so gruesome it's just laughably bad, and I did bust up more than once. A lot of it is subliminal, like when the monster attacks the butcher shop lady in the meat locker, and somehow she's suddenly down to her underwear as the freak clubs her with a giant soup bone. One's supposed to deduce I guess, that he just boned her before he gets around to doing the real thing. Boy, I can't believe writing these reviews has come to this.

I would say Mario Mancini does a good job.A _giallo, Italian specialty, is a mysterious murders thriller, it needs a mysterious cereal killer, and also nice girls (sexy broads in danger, who are undressed only to be slashed) and some nudity, extreme violence, slashing, plus that unmistakable score to induce fright; in Mario Mancini's movie, the hideous creature indulges in a bit of gentle necrophilia (see the beautiful butcher lady, played by Mme Gallotti, whose tits the monster fondles; the prostitute, played by Mme Traversi, who approaches the monster; the stripped girl). Unlike in the _giallos, the identity of the murderer is found out by the viewer rather early in FRANKENSTEIN '80.The _giallos are usually topographic and labyrinthine; the plot follows a police (--or a private--) investigation. A special anti—lymphocytes serum has been stolen, a woman was strangled, another one—beaten to death, undressed and caressed, a whore raped and strangled, a stripper is murdered. The characters have German names, one reads a German paper.Doctor Frankenstein is a former surgeon, now working as a pathologist. He 'uses his knowledge in medicine to create a monster'. Sonia, his niece, sleeps naked under a very vaporous nightdress. Hers is one of the five _nudities to be seen in FRANKESNTEIN '80 (Mss Gallotti and Traversi, 'Sonia', the stripper, the lady in the car).Mario Mancini focuses on the sexual urges of the monster. He also increases the nudity as the movie goes on.On the site where it's available for free download, FRANKENSTEIN '80 has been deemed a horror/ Sci—Fi; in fact, it's straight _giallo.