#frankensteinathon | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mariocki · 9 months

Text

La figlia di Frankenstein (Lady Frankenstein, 1971)

"The creation of life is the greatest achievement. To hesitate or have doubts, to be scared now, would mean all my work up to now has been pointless. This... is my life."

"But creating life, isn't that God's task alone?"

"Here on earth, man is God."

#La figlia di Frankenstein #lady frankenstein #Frankensteinathon #italian cinema #Horror imagery #body horror #mel welles #Edward Di Lorenzo #Aureliano Luppi #rosalba neri #joseph cotten #paul muller #Herbert fux #Riccardo Pizzuti #Mickey Hargitay #Lorenzo Terzon #Marino Masé #Renate Kasché #Andrea aureli #Ada Pometti #Petar martinovitch #messy italiano take on the Frankenstein mythos. apparently the genesis of this was one guy's attempt to get into Neri's pants‚ throwing #money at various filmmakers to get this off the ground. it wasn't enough and New World Pictures ended up supplying some of the cash making #this a weird combination of Italian horror and US exploitation but somehow coming in on the lower end of either spectrum #poor Neri does her game best despite the indignity of the background (apparently said would be seducer was actually very attractive but his #rich douche persona made her despise him) and the director wasn't well liked by the cast and crew. a messy time and a flawed result but not #without fun aspects; the first half is a traditional walk through classic Frankenstein mode but the second half goes a little more nuts #as Neri succeeds her father and starts designing a husband while the og monster is out shredding ppl up with his bulbous head in tow #she and Cotten are the big names but i have to say it's Muller's performance that most impresses‚ as the nervous sycophant helper #who serves first father and then daughter adoringly and unceasingly. a silly little thing but not un fun

2 notes · View notes

mariocki · 5 years

Text

House Of Frankenstein (1944)

"If they search the ruins of the prison, our bodies will not be found - we should hide!"

"So we shall, but in the open. All the protection of a traveling show; I as Lampini, you as my assistant. Free to move on towards those... for whom I have unloving memories."

#house of frankenstein #1944 #universal monster cycle #frankensteinathon #films i done watched #boris karloff #lon chaney jr #j. carrol naish #john carradine #glenn strange #elena verdugo #anne gwynne #lionel atwill #peter coe #sig ruman #george zucco #william edmunds #charles f. miller #philip van zandt #julius tannen #erle c. kenton #curt siodmak #after the success of frankenstein meets the wolf man it was only natural that someone at universal would have the idea to go bigger and #better and try and get a whole roster of monsters together. originally this would have involved the invisible man and the mummy but as it i #we have such iconic monsters as...the hunchback? im not sure that really counts. regardless naish is very good and much more nuanced than #previous hunchback assistants (no shade on dwight frye who was gloriously evil in previous frankenstein films. sadly frye had died by this #point). this was karloff's final outing with the universal team and it's a fine send off. he's in excellent form as a distracted and #irritable mad scientist follower of frankenstein. the monster itself doesn't really come into the action until the final ten minutes but #there's lots to enjoy on the way. chaney's talbot is a delightful if depressing figure as always. atwill pops up again. and dracula is #introduced to the mix and then promptly disposed of in a wonderfully dark bit of funny business. fun forgettable nonsense.

11 notes · View notes

mariocki · 5 years

Text

Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

"I know there's no such person as Dracula; you know there's no such person as Dracula."

"But does Dracula know it?"

#abbott and costello meet frankenstein #universal monster cycle #frankensteinathon #abbott and costello #films i done watched #1948 #bud abbott #lou costello #bela lugosi #lon chaney jr #glenn strange #lenore aubert #jane randolph #frank ferguson #charles bradstreet #vincent price #and so we draw to a close. an odd bridging moment this. although it was the first of the cycle of abbott and costello spoofs #to be followed by meetings with the mummy the invisible man and other universal horror commodities #this was also the end of an era. the last true entry in the frankenstein dracula and wolf man cycles. as a goodbye its mixed #i mean it's a comedy after all and it plays fast and loose not just with the continuity (although in a nice touch dracula and the wolf man #have met before which they do briefly in house of dracula) but also with some of the basic rules of the monsters. dracula is reflected in #a mirror. frankenstein's creature not only shows no fear of fire but willingly walks into it at the conclusion. but im being picky #actually this is quite a lot of fun. my first abbott and costello film! there are some lovely little asides and visual gags such as lou #pulling a table cloth from under a heavily laden table to use as a cloak and leaving everything on the table untouched. and ofb #course its lovely to have the big three monsters back together again. it seems utterly bizarre to me that almost 20 years after donning the #cape and having refused numerous sequels bela actually returned for an abbott and costello film?? glenn strange's creature finally gets to #speak (the first time the monster had spoken onscreen since ghost) and as always chaney brings real depth to talbot. talbot seems like the #odd one out in a way. there's a lot of fun to be had in a comedy with dracula and the creature but the wolf man is essentially a tragic #figure. as always things build to their customary firey conclusion. it's also surprisingly violent in those final moments. i absolutely was #was not expecting lovely lenore aubert to get yeeted through a window to her death and yet..

9 notes · View notes

mariocki · 5 years

Text

Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man (1943)

"You promised the people to rid Vasaria of his monstrous creation. I want to be sure that nothing, nothing whatsoever, can sway you. It is in your hands to undo the crimes my father and grandfather committed. We must clear the name of Frankenstein!"

#frankenstein meets the wolf man #1943 #universal monster cycle #frankensteinathon #films i done watched #lon chaney jr #bela lugosi #ilona massey #patric knowles #lionel atwill #maria ouspenskaya #dwight frye #dennis hoey #don barclay #harry stubbs #rex evans #doris lloyd #horror film #roy william neill #curt siodmak #the last true entry in the frankenstein cycle ie. the last to feature a true frankenstein relative and to build on the mythology of previou #films. subsequently the monster appeared in cameo parts in the various team up films that followed (this set the trend by bringing together #the monster and the wolf man). truthfully this is still more of a wolf man film than it is a frankenstein one. mostly that's down to behind #the scenes interference. as shot this followed directly from ghost of frankenstein with the monster rendered blind and now having the brain #of bela lugosi's ygor (thus the rather odd choice of having the not exactly robust legosi play the creature). however at some point the #decision was made to remove all of lugosi's dialogue as the monster and with it went the explanation of the blindness. if you pay attention #its still very clear in his performance but that vital bit of exposition does hurt the film a little. as for the focus on the wolf man im #not complaining. chaney's wolf man might be my favourite universal monster. certainly he's the most sympathetic and chaney was #really a fine actor under all that makeup. atwill returns (hurrah!) but isn't nearly so fun here (boo!). a fun but patchy entry #that suffers from the studio interference which only confuses the backstory. oh also some of this is set in cardiff.

3 notes · View notes

mariocki · 5 years

Text

The Ghost Of Frankenstein (1942)

"This monster must be destroyed."

"Destroyed? But how? He's not subject to the ordinary laws of life."

"There is a way. It was made limb by limb, organ by organ. It must be unmade in the same way."

"Dissection?"

"Bit by bit, piece by piece, just as my father created it."

#the ghost of frankenstein #1942 #universal monster cycle #frankensteinathon #films i done watched #horror film #lon chaney jr #bela lugosi #cedric hardwicke #ralph bellamy #evelyn ankers #lionel atwill #janet ann gallow #barton yarborough #leyland hodgson #erle c. kenton #mary shelley #the last of the direct sequels to the original frankenstein. or at least the last to feature the creature as solo villain (universal were #just about to embark on their monster team up cycle). it's a more modest film than the previous three with smaller set pieces and arguably #lower stakes. but it is interesting and starts pushing the series in new directions. chaney takes over from karloff and does a pretty fine #job considering what big shoes those are to fill (metaphorically and literally). sadly the monster spends most of the film as a mindless #killer bent on destruction where it was more nuanced and sympathetic in the first two and the victim of ygor's manipulations in the third #lugosi returns and has just as much fun. atwill returns to but im sad to say not as my beloved krogh. he's still fun tho as an embittered #colleague of cedric hardwicke's previously unmentioned second son of frankenstein. the chronology is a bit patchy across all the films but #there is an interesting point to be made. colin clive's original frankenstein seemingly survives the end of bride with his wife. mention #here is made of his dying as a result of experiments with the creature. he also seemingly had two sons and when we see his ghost he is much #older than clive was in bride. so we can surmise an unseen third adventure between bride and son where an older frankenstein returned home #and tangled with the creature again causing his death. presumably he brought his second son who seems to have some recall of ygor but not #his eldest who did not know him in son. this also handily explains why ygor talks of having robbed graves for clive's frankenstein despite #despite not appearing in either of the first two films. food for thought. someone should write that story...

3 notes · View notes

mariocki · 5 years

Text

Son Of Frankenstein (1939)

"By Heaven, I think you're a worse fiend than your father. Where is this monster, where is he? I'll stay by your side until you confess; and if you don't, I'll feed you to the villagers - like the Romans fed Christians to the lions!"

"I wouldn't put it past you. In the meantime, will you have a drink or would you like to play darts?"