Michael_Elliott Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks (1974) ** (out of 4)This Italian producer has Count Frankenstein (Rossano Brazzi) doing experiments on a missing link that was discovered in his village. While all of this is going on, his former assistant, a dwarf (Michael Dunn), is out with another menacing giant and the two are terrorizing local women.Of the various monster movies to come out of Italy, this one here has one of the strongest followings, which is probably due to the rather catchy title as well as some memorable and campy moments dealing with some wild things. The title certainly isn't misleading as there are a large amount of freaks on display here and we've given bizarre monsters, a raping dwarf, naked ladies and even a hot spring that sets up those naked ladies.Is this a good movie? Well, it's actually better than you might think, at least in a technical way. It's obviously working with a low- budget but the cinematography is quite good and it at least looks like a professional movie. The story itself is pretty wild and far-fetched but it's so goofy that you can't help but be slightly entertained. I mean, we've got killer dwarfs, a missing link and other freaks that perfectly live up to the title we're given.There's not too much violence or gore but we do get some nudity, which is never a bad thing in a movie like this. The most memorable sequence is probably when the dwarf sexually attacks a woman. It's not graphic but it's just different to say the least. There's also a rather funny sequence where the missing link is attacked by the villagers. Did I already mention the hot spring where the two beautiful ladies go for a swim?FRANKENSTEIN'S CASTLE OF FREAKS is a bad movie but at the same time it contains enough entertainment value to make it worth watching. It's certainly not going to be mistaken for the work of James Whale but for an exploitation movie it's not too bad.

Cristi_Ciopron Now this is my idea of a Gothic sick comedy, dry, brisk and more or less random plot—wise. Unlike other Italian thrillers, this one, vaguely inspired by Frankenstein's tale, looks like a bit of a Hammer pastiche; and it has a buxom starlet (Christiane Royce, as 'Krista'), likable and interesting actors (but the whole thing is direly acted), nice sets, the playful, ironic brio and briskness of some Italian period movies, generally a sense of leisure, common to many Italian B movies and European TV shows …—and it seems to have been given some budget—as well as some thinking. As a matter of fact, the movie has some TV feel to it. It's the score who leaves to be desired, a quite ineffective, random and unconvincing movie music. IL CASTELLO … is enjoyable, deliberately and dryly goofy—unsparingly and dryly goofy, I should say; I agree with B. Gauss that it resembles, by its dry humor, and mere pointlessness and randomness of the plot, the Spanish genre flicks, but the 90' movie I have seen didn't have that much nudity on display … (he also gives different names for the starlets, but nonetheless loosely resembling those screened on the credits of the movie I saw). The atmosphere is generally sunny and bawdy, the plot is leisurely narrated, the naked women: worth viewing—the landscapes, awesome. The plot involves revenge, lust, the servants' loves, women keen on science; a vengeful midget befriends a Neanderthalian ('Ook'), together they kidnap a girl and the midget rapes her, in front of the suddenly interested caveman. The viewers should respect the director for giving credit to the Frankenstein trope—instead of complaining about it being changed.(The 'Frankenstein' trope has trenched, at least partly decaying corpses—the 'Dracula' trope has spiked corpses. The former is, in a way, more morbid.)The wicked Count is played by Brazzi, Simone Blondell plays the Count's daughter. Mitchell, the '60 muscle-man, perhaps not even then as well known as Park, Scott and Reeves, sometimes player in movies about Maciste ('61, against the Cyclops), Ali Baba or Sinbad (in '63), Brennus (in '64), and even about Caesar (in '62), Achilles (also '62), Vulcan (in '60), got here a more becoming part—a bit part as one of Frankenstein's creatures and henchmen. In '83, he still got a part in a late _peplum. In the B movies' history, there were two Mitchell—Gordon& Cameron, and also two Gordon—Scott& Mitchell. Which of the three do you like better?The basic idea is that of a mad scientist bringing corpses back to life, reviving corpses by means of electricity; but the story also brings in Neanderthal survivors, without much other explaining about their fate--one of them uses a knife, and wears funny rags .... The screenplay belongs to M. Smith, W. Rose, and R. Spano; R. H. Oliver directed, and if he wouldn't have mentioned Frankenstein, if he would of skipped crediting Frankenstein, his work would of passed as a rip--off; like this, it passes as a . The score is by M. Gigante; sometimes atmospheric and cool, in a Lynch vein, but most times--ineffective.The movie is thematically grim, but light--hearted, feel--good, refreshing, and, I believe, intentionally funny; it's a weird comedy, a grim comedy.There's a bit of Lynchian TV leisure, in this bizarre comedy, that makes the gruesome weirdness seem light--hearted; stylistically, there are quite a bit of things to be added in its favor, as this approach is basically absent outside Latin western Europe (Italy& Spain).

CelluloidRehab The movie starts suddenly on a small cliff. What appears to be a man in animal skins (a caveman I suppose) is on top of the cliff throwing things at people below. The people are dressed in 18-19th century garments and are throwing things, up at the caveman. Sadly you know this will be a bad/cheap movie from the start as there appears to be a man in jeans and a turtleneck in the crowd of villagers. Did the movie run out of costumes up front or was this guy crashing the movie? Eventually, the villagers overwhelm the lone caveman and proceed to beat him to death with clubs & rocks. Then the titles.Marie Frankenstein (the doctor's daughter) is on her way home to her family's country castle, with her fiancé and a female friend tagging along for spring break. According to the good doctor, the Neanderthal man's (a.k.a. caveman) appearance is not a fluke, but is explained by "science". They somehow live in the nearby caves and have for hundreds of years. His experiment is the reanimation of that ex-caveman, now called "Goliath".This is a typical Italian knock-off/mash up of movie genres. I have had numerous experiences with these, from spaghetti westerns to giallo to the epics and even the apocalyptic future. This one is the Italian version (much cheaper) of a Hammer film with gratuitous nudity. It does try to portray Dr. Frankenstein as a misunderstood character, who is good by nature and circumstances and others have tarnished his image (the Wicked effect). This aspect is muffled by the gratuitous nudity, some horrible dubbing, extremely low budget and the "freaks". When you add 2 Neanderthals cavemen (one living in a cave and the other necrotic), a revenge driven ex-employed dwarf (Michael Dunn, most renowned for his role in Star Trek's Plato's Stepchildren episode) and a mustached, adulterer hunchback (Boris Lugosi, Karloff & Lugosi's Italian love child), what good can come from it? Basically, it was the dwarfs fault. Firing the dwarf causes the series of events that we are all aware of : monster escapes, innocent people are killed, villagers riot with torches, the monster & Frankenstein are killed by the end. There is not much horror, logic, acting, suspension of disbelief, nudity or much of anything else in this movie except a painfully long run time. You will struggle with the dialog, as some of it sounds like English, but in the end all you come away with is that the rule of the mob is that the mob rules. That and the idea that a long, nude mineral bath can fix just about anything.

Woodyanders Suave and charming Count Frankenstein (Rossano Brazzi, who surprisingly keeps his dignity and a straight face throughout) kicks depraved, perverted, sniveling dwarf Genz (the great Michael Dunn in his ignominious final film role) out of his castle for being a disgusting little degenerate creep. Genz befriends Ook the Neanderthal man (brilliantly played with grunting'n'growling primitive aplomb by Boris Lugosi) and plots his revenge. Director Robert H. Oliver, working from an outrageously lurid and ridiculous script, puts an entertainingly crude and leering emphasis on sleazy sensationalism: there's a substantial smattering of gratuitous nudity (the stunningly comely Christiane Royce warrants special kudos in this particular department), voyeurism, rape, necrophilia, softcore sex, and even a hunchback who enjoys rough sex (thankfully this latter one occurs off-screen). Marcello Gigante's laughably inappropriate swingin' lounge score is pretty funny. A big knock-down, drag-out, no-holds-barred climactic fight between Ook and Frankenstein's enormous hulk of a monster Goliath (brawny behemoth Loren Bwing) is likewise totally hilarious. Poor Edmond Purdom merely takes up place in an insignificant supporting part as an ineffectual constable. Heavy-handed morale: "There's a bit of a monster in all of us. Especially when there's fear." A campy hoot.