The FRANKENSTEIN saga gets an Italian sleaze upgrade in this fun and highly amusing trash epic that's nowhere near as bad as it's reputed to be. Top-billed Joseph Cotten doesn't have much screen time as weary Baron Frankenstein, but that's OK, his beautiful nympho daughter Tania ("Sara Bay"/Rosalba Neri) has just returned from med school eager to contribute to her father's experiments. After the baron's first lightning-born creation backfires in a big way (killing him and then escaping the castle to kill some grave-robbers and a few random naked women), Tania decides to redeem the family name (and make sure she is kept sexually satisfied!) by transferring the brain of her obedient, older doctor lover (Paul Muller) into the virile body of a hulking half-wit.
Despite the low-grade quality of much of this production, it's still highly entertaining, genuinely fun and is blessed with a fantastic performance by the great Rosalba Neri; an engaging, vicious, demanding, sexy femme fatale who is sick of everyone treating her like a little girl, gleefully attends a public hanging and uses both her brain and her body to manipulate everyone around her to get what she wants. Just as good in a more low-key kind of way is Paul Muller, who manages to actually be sympathetic amid all the sleaze and puts his heart into a role that really deserves much less. The cast includes former Mr. Universe (and Mr. Jayne Mansfield) Mickey Hargitay as a police captain and Euro horror regular Herbert Fux as a grave robber. It's also noteworthy as a precursor to ANDY WARHOL'S FRANKENSTEIN, mixing the gore, camp sensibilities and sex a year earlier.
Despite the low-grade quality of much of this production, it's still highly entertaining, genuinely fun and is blessed with a fantastic performance by the great Rosalba Neri; an engaging, vicious, demanding, sexy femme fatale who is sick of everyone treating her like a little girl, gleefully attends a public hanging and uses both her brain and her body to manipulate everyone around her to get what she wants. Just as good in a more low-key kind of way is Paul Muller, who manages to actually be sympathetic amid all the sleaze and puts his heart into a role that really deserves much less. The cast includes former Mr. Universe (and Mr. Jayne Mansfield) Mickey Hargitay as a police captain and Euro horror regular Herbert Fux as a grave robber. It's also noteworthy as a precursor to ANDY WARHOL'S FRANKENSTEIN, mixing the gore, camp sensibilities and sex a year earlier.