Lust for Frankenstein

I bought this video used for $1 when my local video store was switching over to DVD's and getting rid of their never-been-rented videos. $1 was too much. The movie tries to be too artistic to be a good porn-esque video, and there's far too much pornography for it to be a good artistic film. The main actress (Frankenstein's descendent) is ugly, has saggy tits which, unfortunately, are shown prominently through the whole movie, and is way too old to be in a movie like this. I watched this a long time ago and haven't bothered with it since. All I can remember is waiting anxiously for it to get good, and then being continually disappointed. It's been so long since I've seen it, I'm having trouble thinking of reasons for people to NOT SEE this movie, but I pretty much blocked it all out of memory after watching it the first time. The only reason I was looking at this page is because I was browsing the 100 Worst Movies list on imdb and was surprised to find this one absent. Even Kazam had more entertainment value than this horrible...HORRIBLE piece of crap.

I don't have much of any experience with evaluating these kinds of films (one could criticize the film for excessive nudity, but that's kind of the point of the subgenre), so I'll do my best at reviewing it. Its story wasn't the easiest to follow and the poor quality of the dialogue didn't help much, but I think I got the gist of what was going on. To get what I enjoyed out of the way, I liked the use of colored filters for several sequences, a few shots which obscured the actors in shadows worked pretty well, and the soundtrack was nice as well. Overall though, I was deeply unengaged with the film. I got that Moira had to lure victims for the monster to kill, but this premise grew thin rather quickly and that the film seemed half an hour longer than it needed to be didn't help much. So yeah, story was kind of just whatever, but the style made up for this to a degree as this is the kind of bizarre, risk-taking film that's hard for me to hate. Also, in spite of what I said about the story, I did enjoy the final scene with Moira's former husband as a confirmation that she had lost interest in him (I have no idea what was going on after that though). So yeah, I don't have a lot to say for this one, but I'm curious to hear what some other people have to say about it.

"Lust of Frankenstein" is a worthless piece of garbage made by Jesus Franco.The incredibly old and unattractive Lina Romay plays Moira,the daughter of Dr.Frankenstein,who does not like her widowed stepmother.Anyway,Moira discovers the hibernating body of another of her dad's experiments,this time of a woman.The monster,whose name is Goddess is played by the aging Michelle Bauer.Moira falls in love with Goddess and goes on a wild sex-spree that includes killing a bunch of people.The film features tons of sleaze and nudity,but the sex scenes are absolutely unerotic and laughably unconvincing.The action is incredibly slow and there is no gore.Avoid this piece of trash like the plague-just watch again "Female Vampire","Barbed Wire Dolls" or Borowczyk's "The Beast".2 out of 10 and that's being kind.

When critics start to use capital letters in an attempt to show their feelings, they are showing more childish emotion than critical savvy. Poking verbal sticks in Jesus Franco's eyes about over the ultra-low budget LUST FOR FRANKENSTEIN is pretty easy to do. Unfortunately, not one of the commentaries here have managed to give it a negative critique that is indicative of any intelligent thought. The gut reactions are real, though, and you have every right to hate this film once you've watched it. But when pudgy nerds try to belittle Lina Romay or Michelle Bauer, they are merely showing their inability to critique a film. The fact of the matter is that LUST FOR FRANKENSTEIN is so "out there" that it does stir emotions within the viewer. Whether that emotion translates into lust or disgust is for each viewer to decide but the film defies you to watch it dismissively. You have to react.

Franco, using his One Shot Productions team, captures every man's fantasy, the beautiful Michelle Bauer, and turns her into his garish ideal as a Frankenstein monster. Anyone who watches this film and declares Michelle Bauer as wasted in the role or not beautiful needs to push away from the dinner table once in a while and join the real world. Bauer is garishly gorgeous as Goddess, the monster in question, and Franco has truly achieved one of the singular incarnations of the Gothic creature. While she whiled away the '80s and early '90s in schlock goofy video fare, Bauer has finally creature a character here that is worthy to be remembered. And now she can be remembered for her acting ability and not just as a naked body and pretty face wasted away in countless Fred Olen Ray videos.

Lina Romay is way past her prime and she looks every bit of her 40-plus years. But she's not cast as a beautiful young thing here, so why does everyone want to fault her for acting her age? Is it a crime to age on camera? Sure, she has some embarrassing nude scenes but the point of the whole thing is that her character is the loser daughter of Dr. Frankenstein who finally discovers, at middle age, that she has a monster in her control who can possibly deliver the lust that her life has always been missing. I'm sure most of the people who have patheticly belittled Romay for appearing nude in this film probably have thrown blankets over their own bathroom mirrors. But they sure love to throw those stones.

Finally, the story is simplistic and straightforward with no twists or turns other than the omni-sexual creature created by Franco/Frankenstein and embodied by the wonderful Bauer. Once Romay's character sets the monster loose, the story just runs its bitter and disgusting course. But you'll have to admit, you will react viscerally to almost everything that transpires on the screen. When Bauer and Romay embrace as the monster couples with a tree (yes, it's true), you will know that you are deep inside the mind and world of Jesus Franco.

Boris Karloff would turn over in his grave. Universal fans will hate this. The average movie viewer will be disgusted. Fans of erotica, Euro horror and the Unusual will revel in Franco's ongoing nightmare of lust.

Senile creator of celluloid crud Jess Franco is perhaps the only director inept enough to make gorgeous scream queen Michelle Bauer look unattractive. The star of THE TOMB & HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS might not be in her "prime" anymore, but here she looks bloated and dumpy. Yet, in films made around the same time, Bauer still looks GREAT!!! Plus, why on earth did Franco give her that ridiculous half-penis???? At any rate ... yikes, this film STINKS!!!! No, really, it's virtually UNWATCHABLE. Lina Romay -- DEFINITELY past her prime as a '70s sex symbol -- is a wretched descendant of Dr. Frankenstein who revives his hermaphoditic monster, "Goddess," and has frequent lesbian sex with it. These sex scenes are, perhaps, the LEAST erotic things ever committed to film!!!! Please, avoid this atrocity at all costs -- it's not even "so bad it's funny," it's simply PAINFUL!