Frankenstein’s Great Aunt Tillie (1984)
Article 5833 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 8-20-2020
Directed by Myron J. Gold
Featuring Donald Pleasence, Yvonne Ferneaux, June Wilkinson
Country: UK / Mexico / USA
What it is: …..

Several descendants of Frankenstein return to the old castle just as the city council of a local village are about to claim the property as their own due to back taxes.

On title alone, I would guess this would be a comedy. Another feeling I get from the title alone is that if it is a comedy, it’s not going to be a good one. But even armed with these two (both correct) assumptions, I was still blind-sided by what this movie really is, which is one of the dreariest wastes of celluloid that I’ve ever been unfortunate enough to encounter in my cinematic journeys. I’m going to tell you right now that the name of the village in this movie is Mucklefugger, simply because finding this out is the closest the movie ever gets to even a slight snicker. The rest of the movie is filled with endless jabber, very tepid slapstick, and an occasional references to some earlier Frankenstein movies that lead nowhere, certainly not to any laughs. It’s one of those movies that tries to mine laughter by having characters recite archaically-phrased long-winded speeches that are more likely to incite slumber than laughs. Yes, there’s a monster here, but he adds no more interest value to this one than anyone else. Sure, Donald Pleasence is trying his best and June Wilkinson is sexy, but they’re working with a script that sucks the life out of everything. Believe it or not, but FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND is now, in my eyes, not the worst movie with Frankenstein in the title, and I never thought I’d say that.