Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster – aka Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster – is a 1964 American science-fiction horror film directed by Robert Gaffney and starring Marilyn Hanold, James Karen (The Return of the Living Dead), Lou Cutell and Robert Reilly. It was filmed in Florida and Puerto Rico and released in 1965.
The film was released in the UK as Duel of the Space Monsters. It is also known as Frankenstein Meets the Space Men, Mars Attacks Puerto Rico, Mars Invades Puerto Rico, and Operation San Juan.
In the United States, the movie was initially released by Futurama Entertainment Corp on a double-bill with British low-budgeter Curse of the Voodoo.
The film tells the story of a robot that combats alien invaders. Despite the title, neither Doctor Frankenstein nor Frankenstein’s Monster makes an appearance.
Plot:
All of the women on the planet Mars have died in an atomic war, except for Martian Princess Marcuzan (Marilyn Hanold). Marcuzan and her right hand man, Doctor Nadir (Lou Cutell), decide they will travel to Earth and steal all of the women on the planet in order to continue the Martian race. The Martians shoot down a space capsule manned by the android Colonel Frank Saunders (Robert Reilly), causing it to crash in Puerto Rico.
Frankenstein’s electronic brain and the left half of his face are damaged after encountering a trigger-happy Martian and his ray gun. Frank, now “Frankenstein”, described by his creator as an “astro-robot without a control system” proceeds to terrorise the island.
Review:
Portentous (and obviously post-synched) dialogue — two of the script-writers were poets — and repeated references to a ‘plan’ mark this camp trash masterpiece out to be in the realm of Ed Wood filmmaking, albeit with a bigger budget, despite the heavy use of stock footage. Highly recommended if you’re into cinematic sludge. Adrian J Smith, MOVIES & MANIA
Other reviews:
” … undoubtedly a slapdash effort, lacking any form of suspense, terror, coherency, or social or political commentary. However, the film does pack a number of unintentional laughs and a slew of performances that will have you blushing in embarrassment for the actor or actress. And if there are any other positives to be pointed out, the film has plenty of monster action to keep B-movie fans coming back for seconds and thirds” Anti-Film School
“It’s cheap and stupid, and the makeup and costumes are wonderfully way-out. A must-see.” Cult Flicks and Trash Pics
” … a thoroughly enjoyable relic that’s well-paced for its brief running time, despite the inclusion of mucho NASA and wartime stock footage. As unconventional a “Frankenstein” film as they come, the film is sort of a cheat in that respect, with the posters promising a more Karloffian figure than what’s delivered in the final product.” DVD Drive-In
” …it does just enough to instill a giddy smirk and a heap of schadenfreude. It’s hard not to laugh as aliens target half-naked Puerto Rican women for procreation, only to be thwarted by a reanimated corpse astronaut and NASA employees riding around on Vespa scooters, all wrapped up in a groovy 1960′s soundtrack and stock footage from the space program.” The Droid You’re Looking For
“Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster is actually fairly well made if one can discount some wretched post-synched dialogue. The camerawork isn’t bad and the action cuts are pretty active. Just about all the director had to create space-age ray gun battles are some smoke pots and a few eager actors.” DVD Savant
“The cast isn’t stellar but does seem to be made up of professional and semi-professional actors (except for the kidnapped young women in bikinis, who wisely don’t even try to act). Lou Cutell is the most memorable as the bald, pointy-eared Dr Nadir. Cutell doesn’t seem embarrassed by the material and simply goes for it in each scene, which is kind of delightful.” The Horror Incorporated Project
We are grateful to The Deuce Grindhouse Cinema Database and Zombo’s Closet for some images above.
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