Lady Frankenstein (1971)

- La figlia di Frankenstein
Better than its reputation suggests, 3 August 2005

The movie begins with Dr. Frankenstein buying a corpse from a grave-robber to use in his experiments. His daughter's arrival puts a kink in his plans, but he forges on in his quest to create life. When his monster does come to life, it immediately attacks and kills the good Doctor. Tania (the daughter) is also a doctor and wants to carry-on with her father's experiments. So, while the original monster terrorizes the community, Tania hatches a plan to take the brain from Marshall, the lab assistant, and place it into the hunky (Did I just use that word?) body of a retarded servant. Will she succeed?

What's not to like about a Frankenstein movie where the basis of creating life is sex? Tania doesn't get all philosophical on us and start babbling about discovering the origins of life and the secrets of God. Sure, Tania wants to see her father's reputation restored by proving his theories, but she also wants to create the ultimate lover and isn't afraid to say so. It's as good a reason as any I've heard in a movie for creating a monster.

I've always thought that Lady Frankenstein was better than its reputation suggests. Oh, it's got problems, but I always have fun watching it. Lady Frankenstein comes across to me as an Italian Hammer-style film - rich, vibrant colors, nice Gothic touches, attention to details, and a lot of fake looking blood. The cast consists of a who's who of Euro regulars. Joseph Cotten, Rosalba Neri, Paul Muller, and even Mickey Hargitay give performances that are as good as most any other Italian horror film of the period. I also like the references to the old Universal film that can be found in Lady Frankenstein. For example, Dr. Frankenstein's line about man being God on earth takes Colin Clive's speech from the original Frankenstein to a whole new level.

6/10