Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster (1965)

A Martian princess and a doctor replace the women on Mars, destroyed by atomic war, by raiding Puerto Rico while a shot down android terrorizes all.

Director:

Robert Gaffney

Writer:

George Garrett (story)

Stars:

Marilyn Hanold, James Karen, Lou Cutell

Cast

Cast overview:
Marilyn Hanold	...	Princess Marcuzan
James Karen	...	Dr. Adam Steele (as Jim Karen)
Lou Cutell	...	Dr. Nadir
Nancy Marshall	...	Karen Grant
David Kerman	...	Gen. Bowers
Robert Reilly	...	Col. Frank Saunders / Frankenstein

Storyline

When an atomic war on Mars destroys the planet's women, it's up to Martian Princess Marcuzan and her right-hand man Dr. Nadir to travel to earth and kidnap women for new breeding stock. Landing in Puerto Rico, they shoot down a NASA space capsule manned by an android. With his electronic brain damaged, the android terrorizes the island while the Martians raid beaches and pool parties.

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Plot Keywords:

bikini | frankenstein's monster | android | martian | nasa | 

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Taglines:

Warning! Beware their stare!

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

In their book "Son of Golden Turkey Awards", Harry and Michael Medved award this film the Golden Turkey for "Most Ridiculously Inane Rock 'n' Roll Lyrics Used in a Motion Picture". (For "To Have and To Hold" by the Distant Cousins)

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Goofs

After Frank seizes up during his press release, Dr. Steele says he's coating the plug-ins in Frank's head with silica gel to waterproof them. However, silica gel is a solid, supplied in those little disposable packages in many consumer goods to absorb moisture from the air; for waterproofing plug and socket connections, you need to coat them with dielectric grease (which is often silicone-based).

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Quotes

[first lines]
Dr. Nadir: We continue to hear modulated hydrogen frequency signal of 21 centimeters, Princess.
Princess Marcuzan: What does that mean?
Dr. Nadir: We're not quite certain, Princess. But it is definitely the same signal we have been following since we left our planet. The source of the signals is the planet that we are observing on the telescanner now. These transmissions indicate some intelligent life.
Princess Marcuzan: Let us move in for a closer look.

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Connections

Featured in Atop the Fourth Wall: Target $20 Lamp Review (2013)

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Soundtracks

That's the Way It's Got to Be
by The Poets
Written by George Gallacher (uncredited), Tony Myles (uncredited) and Hume Payton (uncredited)
Courtesy DVX Records
A Bob Crewe Production

User Reviews

Hoo-Boy, What a Mess... :=8P

Wacky cheapie that is part "Plan 9", part "Mars Needs Women", in which Dr. Evil and Cleopatra decide to invade the earth; fortunately, they get stopped by "Frank", the Frankenstein robot-astronaut who is film's hero with 1/2 face, and the annoying tendency to throttle innocent people randomly. Dr. Evil and Cleopatra send their evil bald henchmen armed with hair dryers to abduct bikini-clad females for "breeding purposes". They make them lie on a board, drape cheap curtains over them, and pull them away for "electro-purification". Mull, a shaggy, snaggle-tooth monster, is also on hand, and is the titular space monster for "Frankenstein" to fight. Frank blows himself up, along with the evil bald aliens, and Cape Kennedy and Puerto Rico and Korea are all saved. Various pointless chunks of raw, oozing stock footage are spliced together in a vain attempt to insinuate that this film has some sort of a plot. The stock footage ranges from Korean War battles to, old NASA footage, to Civilian Air Patrol film strips, all cut up and sprinkled liberally throughout the film, like so much salt and pepper. In fact, stock footage makes up a good 50% of the moovie, and it does constitute an improvement over actually paying attention to the story. Much of the film involves the "actors" stumbling about in the bushes at night, so you can't actually see what they do. In fact, the film is as murky as a septic tank, and sports some of the worst post-production (looping, editing)this cow has ever seen. Toss in some rockin' 60's surf moosic, and you've got an almoost passable plate of schlock. First-time Director Frank Gaffney never directed again, and the world breathed a sigh of relief. Marilyn Hanold("The Brain that Wouldn't Die")plays the ditsy, Cleopatra-like Princess Marcuzan, who wears a hat made of kleenex and cardboard. Lou Cutell("Pee Wee's Big Adventure") plays Nadir, the effette, smiling bald dwarf who ogles the stolen babes. Long-time bit actor James Karen("Poltergeist", "Invaders from Mars") plays Dr. Adam Steele, the bland, un-appealing scientist who creates Frank & goes off to find him when Frank gets his face turned into a tuna melt. This film is a mumbling, stuttering, incoherent, indigestible pile of celluloid that only professional devotees of schlock-theater cud love, so says the MooCow. As ol' Princess Marcuzan says, "This is clearly a failure". You said it, babe. :=8P

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 September 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

Operation Frankenstein

Filming Locations:

Cocoa Beach, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Futurama Entertainment Corp., Vernon-Seneca Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1