I’ve been ill for the past few days, and todays my first day off work, so what better way to cope with drowning in your own bodily fluids than with a rowsing rewatch of ‘Flesh For Frankenstein’ (Also known as; ‘Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein’.

And what a deligtfully campy, over the top and strange viewing experience this is, perfect for someone in a flu-ish state to just be consumed by.

The plot is a bit of a twist on the Mary Shelly Classic, its as much a family drama as it is a horror film, In this iteration Baron Frankenstein is already well underway in his experiments to create life, but this time, his plans are all the more grand. Rather than just trying to bring to life his own man made being, instead, in this iteration, he intends to create a man AND a woman at the same time, and corral them into procreating, birthing a race of supermen who’ll take over the world and repopulate it with genetically enhanced undead models.

As the film opens his female subject is nearing completion and his male iteration is just missing a head. A problem thats fixed shortly therafter when a couple of working class travellers stop by the castle looking for work. One of them ends up joining the castles staff…the other ends up in a rather incapacitated condition.

The subplot while all of these shenanigans are going on is more family drama oriented. as Frankensteins wife (who is also his sister…) is deeply unhappy with her current life arrangement of essentially being left almost entirely alone in the castle all day, and having to deal with her offspring inbetween periods of solitude…So she begins an affair with the new member of staff.

And this creates a strange but deligtful textured work, as we flip flop between the baron conducting BIZARRE gory and graphic experiments (filled with lashings of blood, nudity and gall bladder fucking) and the Other plot line thats actually a pretty standard pressure cooker family piece about peoples needs and desires…of course, the two films themes overlap eventually leading to a particularly grand and campy finale. This really is pretty much a good time for all!

And I mean that! the script is light, zippy and really doesnt overstay its 90(ish) minute welcome. its got rock solid pacing, it dances the line between campy comedy and genuinely bizarre horror really well. It sticks the landing. The characters are all fairly well rounded, have depth and subtleties that are ABSOLUTELY blown out of proportions by the deliveries. I can honestly say you wont see another film quite like this one…Well…not till ‘Blood for Dracula’ at least…

The direction is rich, creative and gorgeous with some delightfully demented sequences realised quite wonderfully. The cast have seemingly all been very clearly briefed on what tone to work with and had the parameters of the films needs explained to them. Which is excellent as they seem to have been given fairly free control to work within those frameworks and deliver on it ten fold.

The cine is a delight as well, Vinegar Syndromes (semi) recent 4k release of this film scrapes off 50 years of mould revealing rich texture and colour to the picture image and JUST the right amount of film grain to allow the film to breath with its own personality, without feeling *too* seedy. Shots are excellently composed and the sequences all flow very naturalistically.

I think I spotted maybe a couple of slight issues on the editing front (shots cutting too early basically) But…when the rest of the film is like THIS!? Im willing to kind of overlook that a little bit.

The main selling point for this is the performances, with Udo Kier REVELLING in the role of the incestuous melodramatic Baron Frankenstein. Its an awful position to be in as a fan of cult cinema, because whenever he performs he brings SUCH a hammy bombasticism to proceedings. I keep being reminded of the fact that this is what Tommy Weisau would be like if he was good.

Udo is sublime here, EASILY the most watchable member of the cast and almost worth the price of admission alone, not to be outdone however, the other cast members too really bring a good balance of camp and melodrama to proceedings. leaving a film thats eccentric with out being aggressively in your face about it.

And the scoring! my god! its gorgeous! a wonderful arrangement, it suits the films tone perfectly and is used to great effect. I loved it.

‘Flesh for Frankenstein’ is a genuine delight to watch, but one that I feel you may have to be in a specific mindset to really truely appreciate. Next time I catch this (when im not dying on my arse) I’ll be sure to try the 3D version…as I can only BEGIN to imagine how THAT shapes up.

Definitely recommended. This was one of my favourite ‘First time watches’ of 2022…and I still think its amazing. Dont sleep on this one.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/flesh-for-frankenstein/1/