Shocktober 2026 - Frankenstein 1970 (1958)
Last time, I promised a familiar name, and a familiar actor and here they are in this historical oddity from 1958. Boris Karloff returns to a Frankenstein film for the first time since Universal Pictures’ House of Frankenstein (1945) – but with reservations.
This isn’t a Universal film, and holds no continuity with those films. This is a B movie from Allied Artists, filmed in eight days on a budget of $110,000. But it’s notable for starring a then 71-year-old Karloff as the last descendant of the infamous Frankenstein family. Also, it’s filmed in Cinemascope, which I feel is odd for a black and white poverty row film. If they could afford the expensive Cinemascope process, you’d think they’d chip in some extra bucks for colour film, wouldn’t you?
The script is decent, but to be honest, there’s nothing in the film to give the notion that it’s set in any other time than the year of production. The clothes, the cars – all late fifties. Apparently, the title was intended to give the film a futuristic feel. The producers rejected Frankenstein 1960 for not sounding futuristic enough, but I can’t understand why the third option, Frankenstein’s Castle wasn’t used.
On with the film, then…
We open at night with a terrified girl running along a lonely road. Someone, or something is in pursuit. He shambles along, his feet weighted down by heavy, blocky boots reminiscent of the familiar Frankenstein monster. His hands are grotesquely twisted, with long fingernails. We don’t see his face. He chases the girl into a lake, as she tried to get away. The pursuer catches her, waist deep in the water and holds her head underneath the surface.
“Cut!”
It’s a scene being filmed for a television show about the Frankenstein family legacy. But what a cool start. The actor and actress in the lake walk to shore and we meet the director Douglas Row (Donald Barry) and his ex-wife and assistant Judy Stevens (Charlotte Austin). They’re on location for this docu-drama, and much of the filming is taking place inside the fabled Castle Frankenstein, with Victor himself (Karloff) taking part.
Frankenstein has fallen upon hard times. He was tortured by the Nazis during the war, this has scarred his face, his hands and affected his walking. He knows he hasn’t long to live and he’s understandably bitter at the film crew’s invasion of his privacy, but he needs the money they’re paying him – or more accurately, an atomic reactor they’re buying for him to continue his experiments.
Before he was caught by the Nazis, he was working on another creature (in the family tradition, I guess) which has been in storage and he needs a few more parts, plus the reactor to finish this endeavour. He wants the creature to resemble him and has sculpted a bust of his younger, unscarred self to use as a template for the artificial flesh he’s developed and intends to use.
You might have guessed by now that Victor isn’t the most stable of people. Unfortunately, his faithful butler Schutter (Norbert Schiller) finds this out the hard way when he accidentally stumbles into Frankenstein’s secret laboratory while Victor’s at work. Victor needs secrecy, he also needs a heart and a brain for his experiments, so long, Schutter. The creature needs eyes; unwilling donations are made by the crew’s cinematographer and leading actress – but they’re incompatible. Victor’s next target is Gottfried, his accountant (Rudolph Anders). Success!
Now completed, the bandaged monster turns on Frankenstein (remember, he has Schutter’s brain and Schutter isn’t best pleased with the developments) and in a struggle, the monster accidentally switches on the reactor causing it to purge a cloud of radioactive steam instantly killing them both.
After the reactor is shut down and it’s safe to enter the laboratory, the monster’s face is revealed. It’s Victor’s unscarred face. (Karloff as the monster once more!!! The film is worth watching just for this, as far as I’m concerned.) A tape recording by Victor reveals that the plan was to have the monster as a continuation of himself, as he was the last of the Frankenstein line.
We’re not done with the good name of Frankenstein yet, not by a long way. This is just Scream number four, remember. We have another nine Screams to go. But next time, for the fifth of our Alternative Takes, I suggest you look to the skies.
Until then…
Don't forget the Piercing the Veil Shocktober Special at this link.