Frankenstein ’80 (1972)

Directed by Mario Mancini [Other horror films: N/A]

This Italian film isn’t really anything special, especially when you consider how rough the most common print of this film is. Even so, I’ve always found it on the more decent side of things, and though it probably doesn’t rise above average, Frankenstein ‘80 is a fun, trashy little movie.

Why it’s called Frankenstein ‘80, I don’t know. The ‘Frankenstein’ part makes sense – in the film a Dr. Otto Frankenstein creates a living being made of men, and christens it Mosaico (not a bad name, if I do say so myself). Where the ‘80 comes from, though, I’ve no idea. The body count is decent, but it’s not that high.

The print I own is from the Pure Terror 50 disc set from Mill Creek. It’s a rough print, as many of Mill Creek’s releases are – it’s sometimes blurry, the dubbing is so-so, and the aspect ratio may not be accurate (given the credits at the beginning of the film are cut off on both sides, which looks horrid). Even so, the nudity is intact, and the film itself isn’t too choppy, but this is a movie that might benefit from a higher definition release (and may already have one; I’m not exactly what you’d call up-to-date when it comes to Blu-ray releases).

Admittedly the story feels a little bit aimless for the final thirty minutes – at this point, Mosaico has escaped from the lab he was kept in and goes on a killing spree. Not that we don’t get kills throughout the movie, because we do, but it’s ramped up a bit, and throws in some more blood and nudity for good measure.

I liked John Richardson (Eyeball, Torso, and Black Sunday) as the lead, playing a reporter, and even more, I really liked how he was able to get the police chief, played by Renato Romano, on his side, and began working with him. Romano’s character even compliments him at the end of the film, which is a relationship I don’t see too often between police and reporters. Romano’s character was goofy at first, but I grew to like his irascible style, and I’m happy he finally got his cigarette in the final scene.

Gordon Mitchell (Dr. Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks and Blood Delirium) did well as Frankenstein. We never really got much character from him, but we have enough background information to fill in the blanks. Playing the creature was Xiro Papas (The Beast in Heat, The Devil’s Wedding Night, and Sex, Demons and Death) who did a great job, especially given he wasn’t exactly the most emotive creature we’ve seen. Dalila Di Lazzaro (Flesh for Frankenstein) was probably the most generic of the main cast, but that’s mostly because at the end, her character annoyed me, as she was screaming as the monster was attacking a friend of hers, and instead of leaving the house to get help, she just stood there, screaming. Always a good use of one’s time in a situation like that.

None of the kills are the highest caliber, but for a Frankenstein movie, that can’t come as too much of a shock. Someone gets a hatchet to the face, others get strangled, someone gets their head bashed into a bathroom wall (which supplied some nice blood splatter), and another gets their throat slit. None of these are great scenes, but they’re mostly serviceable, and I can’t say any were bad.

That’s really how I feel about Frankenstein ‘80 as a whole. Even with the rough print, I enjoyed it the two times I’ve seen it, and though it’s by no means a stellar film, I do think it’s decent, and if you want an Italian horror from the early 1970’s that’s not a giallo, then check this one out.

7.5/10