This trash-fest’s exploitation Bonafides are affirmed by the presence of Cameron Mitchell and John Carradine in its cast, and by lesser-known B-movie stalwarts like Robert Clarke (THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON) and Andrew Duggan (IT’S ALIVE). Further grade B accreditation was provided by producer-director Jerry Warren (1925-1988), of craptaculars like MAN BEAST (1956), THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD (1959) and THE WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN (1966), whose final directorial credit FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND (1981) was. Yes, it’s pretty awful, but I’m sure you’ve figured that out already.
FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND (1980) Trailer
It begins with the hot air Balloonists Paul (Clarke), Jacko (Steve Brodie), Curtis (Tain Bodkin) and Dino (Patrick O’Neil) marooned on an island whose scenery closely resembles that of Southern California. There the men encounter a staked skull and several bikini-clad babes who perform a ritual dance. The following day the guys happen upon a house, on the outskirts of which is a makeshift jail containing the half-mad Jayson (Mitchell), who claims to have navigated a schooner that ran aground on the island seventeen years earlier.
Inside the house they meet Sheila (Kathrin Victor), who claims to be the great granddaughter of one Dr. Frankenstein (Carradine). The latter, she claims, channels his essence through Dr. von Helsing (George Mitchell), her husband and Frankenstein’s former assistant, who receives psychic transmissions via a disembodied brain kept alive by electricity. The island was apparently once the site of an alien visitation, and the bikini babes are among the descendants of those aliens.
Shiela hopes the guys will serve as vessels to impregnate the ladies and sire a new generation of island dwellers. She leads Paul, Jacko, Curtis and Dino into a laboratory that appears to be situated in somebody’s garage, where the incapacitated von Helsing is situated, and where unholy experiments are being conducted. As for Frankenstein’s most famous creation, the monster, it’s been chained up at the bottom of a cave to keep it from making trouble. Curtis, Paul, Jacko and Dino decide to stage a revolt, just as Frankenstein’s monster frees itself from its confinement and runs wild.
This film hails from 1981 but appears to have been made in the previous decade, when cheap ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU knockoffs (BEAST OF BLOOD, TWILIGHT PEOPLE, etc.) proliferated. The idea of combining H.G. Wells’ immortal classic with Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN was an interesting one, but Jerry Warren botches it in most every aspect.
That includes the narrative, which parcels out exposition haphazardly and ignores many of its more intriguing conceptions (the alien invasion angle could have done with some fleshing out). The special effects are nonexistent, and promising elements like the electrically animated brain (which resembles a thinly sliced slab of meat) and dancing bikini babes (who perform with all the enthusiasm of George Romero zombies) are wasted. So too is John Carradine as Dr. Frankenstein, who appears only in short snippets, repeating lines like “the power shall be given!” (not too dissimilar to the infamous Bela Lugosi “pull the strings!” clip that was featured in GLEN OR GLENDA).
The complete lack of nudity and bloodletting ensures that the PG rated FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND doesn’t work as grindhouse fare, while it’s not enjoyable enough to function as a so-bad-it’s-good product and too cheap to appeal to anyone else.
Vital Statistics
FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND
Cerito Films
Director/Producer/Editing: Jerry Warren
Screenplay: Jacques Lacouter
Cinematography: Murray de Ately
Cast: Robert Clarke, Steve Brodie, Cameron Mitchell, Robert Christopher, Tain Bodkin, Patrick O’Neil, Andrew Duggan, John Carradine, Katherin Victor, George Mitchell, Dana Norbeck, Laurel Johnson, Richard Banks, James Webb, Marla Conner, Donna Green, Vic Schneider