Verdict
Summary
A likable creature feature with a sexy sensibility, Frankenstein’s Daughter is pure drive-in movie material, and while it doesn’t resonate beyond its lowbrow pedigree, it’s fun and likable for wearing its dead heart on its severed arm’s sleeves. The girls are hot, the creatures are ghastly, and the rock and roll songs on the soundtrack are righteous! This is a movie impossible not to like.
Plot:
The grandson of the original Doctor Frankenstein is living in Los Angeles and performs experiments on unwitting participants that will rock the area!
Review:
Two young couples living in Los Angeles are just trying to have a nice time as young adults when all of a sudden a hideous and freaking looking woman all but assaults one of them after a date one evening. Word gets around, and young Trudy (Sandra Knight) swears that the same woman is somehow haunting her memory, and her uncle – a scientist with a secret laboratory in the house – is working with another shady doctor named Oliver Frank (Donald Murphy), whose surname is actually Frankenstein! Turns out Frank is the grandson of the original Frankenstein, and he has been performing experiments … on Trudy without her knowing it! Every night, he has her drink a potion that turns her into a freak that escapes the house and terrorizes the folks of Los Angeles. When Frank needs a human brain to complete his next experiment, he kills one of Trudy’s friends and extracts the brain and places it in a monstrous creature’s skull, igniting the thing with electricity, and – BAM – he’s created life from dead matter. When the creature is unleashed, it causes all kinds of havoc, prompting the police – and Trudy’s friends – to help stop what’s coming!
A likable creature feature with a sexy sensibility, Frankenstein’s Daughter is pure drive-in movie material, and while it doesn’t resonate beyond its lowbrow pedigree, it’s fun and likable for wearing its dead heart on its severed arm’s sleeves. The girls are hot, the creatures are ghastly, and the rock and roll songs on the soundtrack are righteous! This is a movie impossible not to like, especially if you’re a fan of these ’50s schlock movies. From director Richard Cunha.
The Film Detective has just released a Blu-ray edition of Frankestein’s Daughter, and it presents the film in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1, and has a bunch of bonus material, including a newly produced documentary from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, a new audio commentary, a career-spanning retrospective of one of the lead actors, and a booklet with an essay in it.
