FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER (1965)
Article #1156 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-14-2001
Posting Date: 10-11-2004
Directed by Robert Gaffney
Featuring Marilyn Hanold, Lou Cutell, Robert Reilly

Space aliens planning on kidnapping Earth women for breeding stock destroy a rocket manned by a robot, which is then damaged so that it goes on a murderous rampage.

When you see a movie with the name “Frankenstein” in the title, you have every right to feeling ripped off if the movie has nothing to do with Frankenstein or his creation. The title here is akin to that of some sword and sandal movies in which Hercules as such does not appear; the hero is just some guy who is real strong, so they call him Hercules. Here the robot’s murderous rampage elicits a comment from someone that he’s turned into a “Frankenstein”; hence, the title.

Actually, I remember this movie well enough from having seen it on my local Creature Feature years ago; the monster, the creepy alien Dr. Nadir, and the fact that the robot uses an axe to kill a man all stuck in my memory. There’s no doubt that the movie has a certain drive-in appeal. Beyond that, there’s very little to recommend in this cheap little movie unless the succession of kidnapped bathing beauties (who submit passively to whatever the aliens want them to do because it spares them from actually having to act) is enough for you. For me the cheapness and the tediousness of some of the scenes (including endless scenes of people tooling around on a motor scooter while one of the soundtrack’s two swinging sixties songs plays) became overly repetitive. This one is largely for fans of cheap drive-in fare.