Frankenstein’s Daughter (1958) was the third of four films crafted by producer Marc Frederic and director Richard E. Cunha in the late 1950s. In it, Victor Frankenstein’s grandson repeats his grandfather’s grisly experiments. The script includes the term ‘meddling kids’, later a Scooby-Doo reference point. The cast includes:
- John Ashley as Johnny Bruder
- Sandra Knight as Trudy Morton
- Donald Murphy as Oliver Frankenstein/Frank
- Sally Todd as Suzie Lawler
- Harold Lloyd Jr. as Don
- Felix Locher as Dr. Morton
- Wolfe Barzell as Elsu
- John Zaremba as Lt. Boyle
- Robert Dix as Det. Bill Dillon
- Harry Wilson as the Monster
The grandson of Victor Frankenstein, Oliver (Donald Murphy), is hiding away as a laboratory assistant for the gentle Prof. Morton (Felix Locher). While Dr. Morton pursues a pet project, Dr. Frankenstein secretly works his own experiments on his benefactor’s niece, Trudy Morton (Sandra Knight). Although these experiments temporarily disfigure Trudy’s face and cause her to wander aimlessly at night, they are only a build-up to Oliver’s greater goal of recreating life. With the aid of one of his father’s former assistants, Oliver constructs a female monster from the body parts of various murdered people and begins to deal a horrible fate upon any who dare stand in the way of his desires…
‘Working with a meagre $65,000 budget, a breakneck six-day shooting schedule, and a crackpot script, director Richard Cunha delivered a businesslike, unapologetic grade-z programmer that is perfectly entertaining.’ Frankensteinia: The Frankenstein Blog
‘Nicholson’s lighting throughout Frankenstein’s Daughter is particularly eerie, framing Sandra Knight’s she-monster in bizarre street lighting in the scenes in which Knight prowls the streets of a Los Angeles suburb. Nicholson is also adept at using “shock cuts” that gradually show Knight’s monstrous deterioration and disfigurement. In fact, it’s Nicholson’s camerawork that allows the film to be limned with a patina of grimy dissolution, similar to the look and feel of She Demons. Note, too, the scene in which Murphy advances toward Sally Todd just before he runs her over. Nicholson’s camera focuses strictly on Murphy’s wild, wide eyes, as he repeats to himself: “I need a brain …I need a brain!” Monsters from the Vault
‘Neither as childishly idiotic as Missile to the Moon, nor particularly campy in any fun way, Frankenstein’s Daughter would seem to avoid boredom by simply being what it is – a Frankenstein story pared down to its barest essentials. It really should be called Woman Who Lived in the House Where a Frankenstein Descendant Conducted Secret Experiments, or Grandaddy Made Me Graft a Blonde Bombshell’s Head onto a Rotting Corpse. Well – photographed (in focus, consistently exposed), it nevertheless exhibits the full range of Z-Movie symptoms: illogical plotting, vacant characterisation, performances that don’t mesh.’ Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant
”has craggy, overaged teenagers, a scene dramatising the hazards of going parking with a guy you’ve only just met, and a rock and roll band that even the one in The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow would look down on, it also comes complete with double the usual allotment of monsters and mad scientists.’ 1000 Misspent Hours… and Counting
Wikipedia | IMDb | Internet Archive (free download) | Images courtesy of Wrong Side of the Art
