Baron Frankenstein's daughter Tania graduates from medical school & returns to her father's mansion where she learns of his infamous experiments. But instead of feeling disgusted, she actually plans to join her father in continuing their experiments. When the Baron is killed by his latest creation, Tania & her father's assistant Dr. Charles Marshall (who has secretly become her lover) decide to make a new creature to destroy the rampaging monster. At the same time, Tania proposes to Charles that she can transplant his brain into the body of the handsome but retarded stable boy so that Charles can be young & handsome again. He reluctantly agrees to the deal but before that happens, he marries Tania. Now husband & wife, they start work on the new creature while the police captain investigates the original monster's killing spree & begins to connect the dots leading to the doctors.
The Frankenstein legend is one of horror's great stories. From Mary Shelly's classic novel to the 1931 Boris Karloff classic film & its superior sequel, the story has been filmed just about as many times as the Dracula story. Lady Frankenstein is an Italian attempt to cash in on the story but realising that Hammer has made the story its own through the inventive use or Peter Cushing's cold theatrics & copious gore, the makers decided to try a different tack. They made it erotic.
Heaven knows what Mary Shelly would have made out of it but this attempt to beat Hammer at its own game doesn't fully work. Oh, it does replicate the basics of the story well enough, but the idea of combining what is essentially a mad scientist story with softcore tumbling is as novel as it is ridiculous. In order to compensate for the slim plot, director-producer Mel Welles (an actor who decided to make his own films for once & who was the star of the original Little Shop of Horrors) turns Frankenstein into a woman. He picked Rosalba Neri (credited here as Sara Bey), an actress who was one of Jess Franco's favourite actresses (& who was known for her softcore roles) for the lead role & some surprising names for the supporting cast. From Joseph Cotten as the original Frankenstein to Mickey Hargitay as the well-stacked but wooden police captain, the casting choices can be seen as an amusement for fans of the actors present.
Lady Frankenstein is a film that is almost knocked to the grave by its cheap budget. It is so low that the sets are threadbare & the effects are similarly slipshod. Case in point being the rather pathetic makeup job on the monster – a bulging fake eye & what looks like a watermelon placed on the actor's head conspire to ruin the design of the character. Having said that, it is a goldmine for unintentional humour, so much so that the film's cheap production values can be considered a badge of honour (& nobody knows that more than the Italians, who have made an industry out of cheap horror films & tatty production values). As for the skin, the film has some reasonable softcore scenes but nothing too explicit.
The acting is a mixed bag. Rosalba Neri teaches us an important lesson on the skills of an actress known for her softcore works. Mickey Hargitay is wooden as usual, although he can be considered the Schwarzenegger of the early 1970s horror genre (the real Arnie was still busy bodybuilding at this time) while Joseph Cotten does his best with the material but is clearly slumming it.
The Frankenstein legend is one of horror's great stories. From Mary Shelly's classic novel to the 1931 Boris Karloff classic film & its superior sequel, the story has been filmed just about as many times as the Dracula story. Lady Frankenstein is an Italian attempt to cash in on the story but realising that Hammer has made the story its own through the inventive use or Peter Cushing's cold theatrics & copious gore, the makers decided to try a different tack. They made it erotic.
Heaven knows what Mary Shelly would have made out of it but this attempt to beat Hammer at its own game doesn't fully work. Oh, it does replicate the basics of the story well enough, but the idea of combining what is essentially a mad scientist story with softcore tumbling is as novel as it is ridiculous. In order to compensate for the slim plot, director-producer Mel Welles (an actor who decided to make his own films for once & who was the star of the original Little Shop of Horrors) turns Frankenstein into a woman. He picked Rosalba Neri (credited here as Sara Bey), an actress who was one of Jess Franco's favourite actresses (& who was known for her softcore roles) for the lead role & some surprising names for the supporting cast. From Joseph Cotten as the original Frankenstein to Mickey Hargitay as the well-stacked but wooden police captain, the casting choices can be seen as an amusement for fans of the actors present.
Lady Frankenstein is a film that is almost knocked to the grave by its cheap budget. It is so low that the sets are threadbare & the effects are similarly slipshod. Case in point being the rather pathetic makeup job on the monster – a bulging fake eye & what looks like a watermelon placed on the actor's head conspire to ruin the design of the character. Having said that, it is a goldmine for unintentional humour, so much so that the film's cheap production values can be considered a badge of honour (& nobody knows that more than the Italians, who have made an industry out of cheap horror films & tatty production values). As for the skin, the film has some reasonable softcore scenes but nothing too explicit.
The acting is a mixed bag. Rosalba Neri teaches us an important lesson on the skills of an actress known for her softcore works. Mickey Hargitay is wooden as usual, although he can be considered the Schwarzenegger of the early 1970s horror genre (the real Arnie was still busy bodybuilding at this time) while Joseph Cotten does his best with the material but is clearly slumming it.