Jesus Franco is a machine that produces shit and here he is working as efficiently as ever. This is a really sad affair. It is virtually a silent film inasmuch as there is hardly any dialogue - a few screams, some grunts and a voice over or two - oh yes, and a cabaret song! Script and direction are non-existent which renders most of the goings on totally incoherent. Rainer Von Frankenstein revives his monster and then sets about reviving Count Dracula himself. This is all so bad it isn't even funny. Howard Vernon plays Dracula as if, having seen the scribble that passed for a script, he went into catatonic shock. But Vernon has nobody to blame but himself. This is a man who worked with Michael Powell, Fritz Lang and John Frankenheimer and who somewhere along the line sold his soul to the devil in the form of Jesus Franco and now, for his sins, he languishes in Movie Hell. Even sadder is the case of Dennis Price who began his career in the lofty heights of such British classics as KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS. Here Price is Dr.Frankenstein...poor Dennis, his addictions and predelictions had obviously caught up with him by the time he made this - a period when he was accepting anything to pay the bills - and he looks barely conscious of his surroundings and in serious danger of falling over. There is no pleasure to be had here even for the most jaded of fans. Rating *Thursday, 21 May 2009
DRACULA CONTRA FRANKENSTEIN/Dracula Prisoner of Frankenstein (1972)
Jesus Franco is a machine that produces shit and here he is working as efficiently as ever. This is a really sad affair. It is virtually a silent film inasmuch as there is hardly any dialogue - a few screams, some grunts and a voice over or two - oh yes, and a cabaret song! Script and direction are non-existent which renders most of the goings on totally incoherent. Rainer Von Frankenstein revives his monster and then sets about reviving Count Dracula himself. This is all so bad it isn't even funny. Howard Vernon plays Dracula as if, having seen the scribble that passed for a script, he went into catatonic shock. But Vernon has nobody to blame but himself. This is a man who worked with Michael Powell, Fritz Lang and John Frankenheimer and who somewhere along the line sold his soul to the devil in the form of Jesus Franco and now, for his sins, he languishes in Movie Hell. Even sadder is the case of Dennis Price who began his career in the lofty heights of such British classics as KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS. Here Price is Dr.Frankenstein...poor Dennis, his addictions and predelictions had obviously caught up with him by the time he made this - a period when he was accepting anything to pay the bills - and he looks barely conscious of his surroundings and in serious danger of falling over. There is no pleasure to be had here even for the most jaded of fans. Rating *
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Never saw it but I think I subconsciously steered clear of it. I was aware of Dennis Price's severe dissipation in the film and frankly didn't want to witness it. I'm certainly glad I have strong evidence from you to give this film a wide berth. I only wish I had been warned away from FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY MISHMASH with Rossano Brazzi!
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