Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster is a 1965 American science fiction cult 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 in 1964.
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, it was initially released by Futurama Entertainment Corp on a double bill with Curse of the Voodoo. The film tells the story of a robot who combats alien invaders. Despite the title, neither Dr. Frankenstein nor Frankenstein’s Monster make any appearance in the film.
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, Dr. 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 terrorize the island. A subplot involves the martians abducting bikini clad women…
” … 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
“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.” Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant
” … 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. But with a horribly mangled half-face and scorched astronaut suit, Frank is a memorable movie monster, especially when he’s seen hatcheting a beachside resident, assaulting a young couple’s automobile in the middle of the night, or fighting off the aliens with the one spark of decency he still has in him. Lou Cutell’s grimacing Nadir, with add-on Spock ear tips and a bald cap that looks like it was left over from a grammar school production of “Annie”, adds a dimension of perversion and unintentional chuckles to the proceedings.” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In
“In the end, it’s a bad movie. There can be no doubt about it. But it does just enough to instill a giddy smirk and a heap of schaudenfreude. 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
‘Portentous 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 in into cinematic sludge’. Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia
Wikipedia | IMDb | Related: First Man into Space | The Incredible Melting Man
We are grateful to The Deuce Grindhouse Cinema Database and Zombo’s Closet for images above.
