The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein (1972)
"La maldición de Frankenstein" (original title)

Dr. Frankenstein and his assistant Morpho are killed just as they bring their creation to life. The monster is taken by Cagliostro and he now controls the monster and plans to have it mate and create the perfect master race.

Director:

Jesús Franco

Writers:

Jesús Franco (screenplay), Jesús Franco (story),

Stars:

Alberto Dalbés, Dennis Price, Howard Vernon

Cast

Cast overview:
Alberto Dalbés	...	Doctor Seward (as Alberto Dalbes)
Dennis Price	...	Doctor Frankenstein (as Denis Price)
Howard Vernon	...	Cagliostro
Beatriz Savón	...	Vera Frankenstein
Anne Libert	...	Melisa
Fernando Bilbao	...	Monstruo
Britt Nichols	...	Madame Orloff
Luis Barboo	...	Caronte
Daniel White	...	Tanner (as Daniel Gerome)
Doris Thomas	...	Abigail (as Doris Tom)
Lina Romay	...	Esmeralda (in version "La maldición de Frankenstein")
Jesús Franco	...	Morpho (as J. Franco)

Storyline

Dr. Frankenstein and his assistant Morpho are killed just as they bring their creation to life. The monster is taken by Cagliostro and he now controls the monster and plans to have it mate and create the perfect master race.

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Plot Keywords:

cagliostro | sex | blood | half bird | death | 

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Genres:

Horror

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Details

Country:

Spain France

Language:

French

Release Date:

31 May 1973 (France)

Also Known As:

The Rites of Frankenstein

Filming Locations:

Portugal

Box Office

Gross:

ESP 7,067,929 (Spain)

Company Credits

Production Co:

C. Fénix Films, Comptoir Français du Film Production (CFFP)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 71 min (as "The Curse of Frankenstein")

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Film debut of Lina Romay.

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Quotes

Melisa: Melisa speaks to you on behalf of her great master Cagliostro. Cagliostro created me and half of me is a bird. He meant for me to be his own daughter, but I am blind and therefore unworthy. Cagliostro now transmits the words he wishes you to hear through the fabulous creature that I am. Listen to the master speak these words to you: "I have accorded you the privilege of rising from your graves. But I cannot prevent your flesh from rotting. Originally, I started creating with nature's materials,...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore (2010)

User Reviews

Jess still has a lot to teach us.

To all of you out there who think that the likes of Steven Soderbergh and David O. Russell epitomize independent film-making: go rent this film and let the scales fall from your eyes. Made during director Jess Franco's amazing early 70's period, post Harry Alan Towers and pre-porno, The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein is a surrealist masterpiece, poetic, perverse, comic, and mesmerizing. Shot for next to nothing on location in Portugal, the film is full of evocative, wide-angle, hand held imagery that must have appeared jaw-droppingly innovative at the time, and still astounds today. Daniel White's atonal, experimental score skillfully enhances the film's nightmarish languor, and the roles, particularly Anne Libert's blind cannibalistic Bird Woman, and Howard Vernon's strangely sexy Cagliostro, are performed with aplomb and conviction. You won't soon forget the scenes of white-shrouded undead gliding through a mist-laden forest, the strange, red-lit shots of Cagliostro's acolytes blithely staring at cruel tableaux orchestrated for their perverse amusement, or a shrieking, silver-skinned Frankenstein's monster relentlessly whipping a man and a woman tied together over a bed of spikes. Anyone who doubts Jess Franco's talent should rent this DVD, and then ponder the pettifogging morass that independent cinema has become.