Monster of Frankenstein (1981 TV Movie) User Reviews

Kyofu densetsu Kaiki! Furankenshutain: Competent but sombre

[Platypuschow · 6/10 · 7 December 2017]

Marvel Studios + Japanese anime + Frankenstein? Now that is an interesting combination.

That's right from the people who bring you the Marvel/Avengers universe we have a feature length animated adaptation of Frankenstein in traditional anime style.

It's mixed tones are very unusual, it's sickly sweet animation style crossed with blood and violence.

For the most part its stays loyal to the original material and that plays to its benefit and detriment.

Frankenstein was always full of social messages, the questions raised being the mentality of playing god and whether he was truly a monster or if man become the monster in response to his existence.

Dark gritty and yet at the same time sickly sweet this is a watchable though highly depressing film but don't expect any similarity with other Marvel works. Truth be told this is closer to Studio Ghibli than Marvel.

The Good:

Looks great

Hard hitting adaptation

The Bad:

The monsters groans get real old real fast

Ultimately still a very depressing tale

Script is pretty flawed

Stupidly sickly in places

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

There are clothes easily available for purchase for mute 9 foot monsters

Monster of Frankenstein

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 1 June 2014]

I saw this dubbed anime version of Frankenstein under the title Monster of Frankenstein, which is the name of a Marvel comic book series from the 1970s. This is supposedly based on that which, of course, was based off of Mary Shelley's classic novel. I say supposedly because I'm not overly familiar with that series so I don't know if this is directly adapted or just loosely so. The movie starts with Frankenstein creating the monster, who then attacks his creator and falls off a cliff. From there Frankenstein returns home to his VERY annoying family and spends a lot of time freaking out, worrying that his creation is going to come after him. Eventually, he decides to hunt down the monster himself and kill it.

This isn't for kids. There's lots of blood, violence, death, and even implied cannibalism. One character has his head squeezed until he loses an eye. Frankenstein cuts into a steak and the sight of blood makes him flashback to cutting up cadavers. It's fairly graphic at times, even by today's standards. The animation is kind of like what you would see in the '80s on cartoons like G.I. Joe, for those of you who are familiar with that. It seems strange to me that this was made by Japanese people for Japanese television yet all of the characters are Anglicized. Was that a common practice then? From what I've read it wasn't dubbed and released in the US until 1984. It's not bad necessarily, but it's overlong and weird. Still, I can't think of many other cartoons like it. If you're a Frankenstein fan you should definitely check it out.

Great animation, terrible dubbing and music. Not for kids.

[WisdomsHammer · 5/10 · 20 April 2019]

Quick rundown: (All of this is my opinion, of course)

Pros:

• Great animation somewhere between the style of the old 90s X-Men cartoons and Pokemon. The backgrounds were especially striking to me, but I really liked the way they drew Frankenstein and his monster in this. This alone made it worth watching for me. I liked it that much.
• The story is good, even if the dialogue is not.

Cons:

• Terrible script. The story itself is good but it's not told very well.
• I don't know what the Japanese version sounds like but the English dubbing is TERRIBLE. I cannot stress how bad it is. It's so bad. I had it muted most of the time. I just couldn't stand it. On the plus side, the story is pretty obvious even without subtitles so I didn't need dialogue to follow most of it.
• The score is pretty bad, too.

Pro or Con depending on your viewpoint:

• A mature and tragic story that doesn't pull many punches.
• Kind of bloody and gory in parts.

That's my two cents. 5/10 for me.

Horrible but viewable.

[gra_240 · 4/10 · 7 January 2007]

I saw this movie as kid many years ago. It really freaked me out cause it was the first animated horror movie I had ever seen, and to this day I haven't seen anything like it.

It starts with the classical Victor Frankenstein trying to create life, and as you all know.......he succeeds. The maker is terrified of his creation and the "monster" escapes from the castle.

This story follows not only the monster and Victor but also Victors daughter.

The weird thing about this one is that almost all of the main characters in the movie dies, one way or the other. As always the monster has a kind side but when he's threatened he strikes back against the people, who seems to be made of glass or something considering how easy they die.

The ending is very sad with the final showdown between the monster and his creator Victor Von Frankenstein.

Impressive Animated Film

[Michael_Elliott · 26 October 2016]

Kyofu densetsu: Kaiki! Furankenshutain (1981)

*** (out of 4)

This animated Japanese movie is another take on the Frankenstein legend as the doctor thinks it's a good idea to play God and he soon regrets that decision.

This film is also known as MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN and FRANKENSTEIN OF TERROR but no matter what you call it I thought the film was pretty good. I'm not going to call this thing a masterpiece as there are countless issues with it but if you're a fan of the monster then this is certainly worth watching.

The version I watched was the dubbed English one but what was most impressive was the visuals. I really loved the animation and especially some of the creative uses of light and its effect on the monster. The monster appears to look like ash early on and I really loved the scenes where lightening would strike and have the monster glow in a green tint. The entire look of the film is quite excellent as it perfectly captures a Victorian era but also a Gothic horror film.

The vocal work in this dubbed version was quite good and I'd argue that the story told is pretty effective. This here goes for a more "father-son" approach to the doctor and the monster. I thought the film also benefited from showing the horrors of the doctor having to live with what he has created. I was really surprised by this one but it's worth watching.

Marvel in Japan

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 12 January 2022]

Along with Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned, Toei made two animated movies for Marvel and of all the properties they could have used, they made Dracula and Frankenstein's Monsters movies. Released here as Monster of Frankenstein and Frankenstein Legend of Terror in 1984, this was based on the Marvel Comic Monster of Frankenstein, which ran 18 issues. In case you wondered, that monster is now in SHIELD's monstrous version of the Howling Commandos.

Much like so many Japanese cartoons made for kids, this is totally way more violent than our country would be ready for. It starts with the monster falling off a cliff and Dr. Frankenstein trying to keep his family ahead of his crimes and dealing with a blackmail attempt by his assistant, making the doctor paranoid and having non-stop nightmares about the pure evil he has created.

Meanwhile, the blind man from the Universal movies is recast as Dr. Frankenstein's father, who adopts the creature along with his granddaughter Emily and names him Franken. As for Victor, he wants to shoot the monster at the same time the monster is learning about God, which ends pretty quickly when her mother dies in a fire and Emily blames him.

Have you ever seen a movie - much less an animated movie - where Frankenstein's Monster has a hole in his hand and related to Jesus, who also has one? Or one that ends with the creature committing suicide at the same time as his creator? And again, let me state, this is a cartoon.

This is a great movie

[jacobjohntaylor1 · 10/10 · 3 February 2019]

This is a very scary movie. It has a great story line and I also has great acting. It scarier then A Nightmare on elm street. It is scarier then The Exorcist. Frankenstein (1931) is better. But still this a good movie.