Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Lesser Boris Karloff horror picture, notable for being the first time he played an actual member of the Frankenstein family. In his earlier (better) Frankenstein movies, he played either the monster or a non-Frankenstein scientist. This movie and the later Mad Monster Party are, I believe, the only times he played an actual Frankenstein. The story has Karloff playing Baron Victor von Frankenstein, descendant of the Frankenstein that caused all that trouble way back when. The good Baron, disfigured by Nazis during WWII, is in dire financial straits and needs money to continue his own experiments. Ask what kind of experiments and I'll look at you funny. To make some money the Baron allows a horror movie to be shot at Castle Frankenstein. Soon things are getting a little crazy and members of the film crew are being killed off by the Baron for reasons that should be pretty to predict.Karloff always stood out in his horror films but here he plays to the rafters, no doubt overcompensating for the talky and dull script. Rudolph Anders is good as his friend and Don "Red" Barry does a decent job as the Carl Denham-esque movie director. There are a couple of pretty ladies around as well. Two of the better scenes are fake-outs that turn out to be scenes for the movie-within-a-movie. Perhaps if this movie had been more like that one it would have been more fun. As it is, it's a pretty dreary affair that drags on and on. The effects are poor and the monster, when it actually does something, is laughable. Basically this movie is a slow death by words. Only recommendable to Karloff completists.

Very Uneven and considered pretty Bad in Some Circles, This one has Its Moments but is Unretrievable because the Bad Parts are just Awful. It has a Cringe Inducing Patronizing of the Teen Audience at times that is ill fitting and Laughable. Listen to the Guy on the Phone trying to Speak "Teen". The Acting from Everyone, Ranges from God-Awful Embarrassing to acceptable Hamming from Boris Karloff. But even He can be Seen Struggling with the Script.There are some Interesting Sets and the Beginning is Famous and sometimes Touted as the Scariest Part of the Movie. A few Scenes of Lurid Horror are Included. A Dismembered Body Parts Grinder Disposal (the grinding sound had to be removed because of objections by the Code Nazis), and Grisly Eyeballs. Also, Karloff Massaging a Removed Heart.There are a couple of Effective Shots and Dissolves and the Music tries Desperately to add to the "Terror", but Ultimately it is the Non-Lab/Crypt Scenes that Routinely bring everything to a Standstill. Still Worth a Watch for a few things and as a Whole it is Better, but not by much, than its Reputation as Awfully Worthless.Note...One wonders why, but Filmed in Cinemascope.

The last association that Boris Karloff had with the Frankenstein character came in this low budget Allied Artists film that I remember seeing in the theater in 1958. It was not the best of endings.This time Boris Karloff is playing the last descendant of the Frankenstein clan who's an old man and who in his youth was tortured by the Nazis in an effort to divulge Frankenstein family secrets. It left him quite understandably twisted.Karloff is putting up with a movie company who is shooting on his castle grounds, no doubt shooting a film like Frankenstein 1970, a low budget thriller. The money they're paying him however is paying for an atomic reactor, something his ancestor didn't have, maybe that's the missing ingredient.Of course the bodies start falling, four of them to be precise as Karloff searches for what he needs to revive the Frankenstein monster which he has found and preserved.Boris Karloff and his contemporary Bela Lugosi did both great horror films and a lot of junk. Frankenstein 1970 sad to say falls in the latter category.

This film has only ever been shown once in my neck of the woods and on a minor Sicilian TV channel at that so, despite its negative reputation, I've always wanted to see it. After all, it does have Boris Karloff playing the Baron for once…even if, for some strange reason, he is named Victor here while his notorious ancestor is called Richard!!The film's pre-credit sequence, in which a German fraulein is being pursued through the forest by a barely-glimpsed fiend is promising enough but, as it turns out, it's also the best sequence in the whole film…which ought to give you an idea about the worthiness of the whole enterprise. However, even from this first sequence, one is made aware of the sheer ineptness of the direction: it not only cuts away from one character to another with a boring regularity but the sequence is framed in such a way as to cut the creature's head off! This factor cannot be attributed to watching a pan-and-scan version because, surprisingly enough, the film was being shown in the correct widescreen ratio. This is exacerbated as the film goes along by the director's apparent refusal (in some sequences, at least) to move the camera in any way; I don't know if this was an attempt on his part to satirize the TV medium (given that it is, after all, a TV crew which impounds on the Baron's home ground) but I'd be surprised if the thought had occurred to the director in the first place. Coming hot on the heels of Hammer's full-blooded color version, it would have been a daunting task for anyone I presume… Of course, it goes without saying that Karloff gives it his all (particularly during a rehearsal for the upcoming TV show in which he narrates straight to the camera his ancestor's diabolical deeds) and sometimes it's hard to watch him simply walking around the castle as the evident strain this is having on his legs is palpable and there were a couple of times where I could have sworn he lost his footing! Even so, apparently this does not detain him from creating the monster and installing the all-important atomic reactor (which is barely glimpsed in the film anyhow) single-handedly. It's incredible to note that, despite his failing health, some of Karloff's best work - Roger Corman's THE RAVEN (1963), Mario Bava's BLACK SABBATH (1963) and Peter Bogdanovich's TARGETS (1968) - was yet ahead of him! Still, even here - with the haphazard appearance of the Baron, whose misshapen face apparently gets "lifted" every once in a while! – the film's limitations make themselves felt. And why is it that every mad scientist out there has to be an accomplished pianist as well? Why not try your hand at an electric guitar, Herr Baron…after all, we're in the age of Chuck Berry here, aren't we? Er…no - make that 1970: "Monster making is for me, like…you know…outta sight, man"!! And how about that deadening monotone music during the laboratory sequences? Also, the less said about the goofy mummy…er…monster, the better! To top it all, there's an execrable attempt at an echo but the dialogue spoken in the cavern (the site of the Doc's lab) is totally all over the place and overlaps ad infinitum!I know Joe Karlosi (if he's still around, that is) won't be too pleased with my review of this one as I know this is one of his guilty pleasures…but I have to say that my negative impressions were certainly amplified by the abysmal state (correct aspect ratio notwithstanding) of the print I watched which was replete with print damage and missing frames which not only managed to shorten the film to around 70 minutes (against the official 83!!) but also made the parts of the narrative and the revelatory climax particularly incoherent! Recently, there's been some talk of an upcoming Warners DVD of this one and, strange as it may sound, I hope it does materialize as I wouldn't put it past me to give this clunker another chance under more ideal circumstances. For the moment, however, I suppose even LADY FRANKENSTEIN (1971) is preferable…!