In the tradition of low-budget horror film producers AIP comes an interpretation of Mary Shelley's gothic work entitled TERROR OF FRANKENSTEIN. Any 1970's movie produced by an Irish/Swedish team would raise suspicions of schlockyness, but the results are surprisingly good for a "Hammer wanna-be."

Of course, everyone should be familiar with the FRANKENSTEIN story, but for those of us getting old and senile, the movie opens in the Arctic. A lone traveler, Victor, is near death when the ship captain of an ice-bound explorer rescues him. It seems Victor is on the trail of 'something', and he confesses his story as a warning to the captain. Flashing back, Victor grows up in Geneva with his father, brother, best friend, and beau Elizabeth. She's upset because Victor is leaving the town to study science at a large University, but agrees to wait for him. At school, Victor's professors tells him to put aside notions of alchemy and 'magic' and prepare to study the true science of man - biology, chemistry, etc. Victor throws himself into his studies, never taking a break, or even communicating much with his fiancée'. Inspired by his professor to "take his experiments to a new level", Victor delves in to the nature of life itself by buying a corpse. As he wires the cadaver, a convenient thunderstorm approaches. Victor attaches the wire to a kite and flies the toy into the storm. Lightning strikes. And when Victor returns to his lab, the body on the slab is...alive. Y'all should know the rest.

As a literary adaptation, TERROR OS FRANKENSTEIN is very true to Shelly's book. Aside from the Arctic sequences (almost always ignored in other Frankenstein movies), the monster's intelligence develops during the film instead of being just a mindless creature. The monster is not the square-headed 'Herman' of Karloff, but more of a realistic corpse that happens to be re-animated. The hubris of Victor - his ultimate flaw - is well defined. However, as with most gothic novel adaptations, there is a serious problem with timing. Distilling such an immense work into a 90-minute film meant that one scene has the monster inarticulate, and the next speaking rather well for a cadaver. There are a lot of inconsistencies similar to that, but overall, the writers did give it the 'old college try.' Even with a minuscule budget, there is a fine period flavor, with appropriate costumes and sets. The actors, mostly Swedish, give fine, heart-felt performances that make up for some of the budget constraints. You have to admire the cast and crew's efforts in making such a film without much money.

Unfortunately, the low budget reality is seen in TERROR OF FRANKENSTEIN's production work. The over-exposure of some of the outside scenes is jarring - transitions from the shadowy interior of Victor's lab to Elizabeth outside in the snow are almost overwhelming. Some of the interiors look like they only had one light to work with - very dark and heavy shadows. The picture itself is grainy, with occasional dirt and dropouts, and the colors are inconsistent; some scenes are well defined, the next is washed-out. It looks like two separate shoots, with very different result, edited into one picture. So much for continuity. The audio has a lot of background hiss and crackle, but the dialogue and music tracks are prominent. The editing is very choppy, especially the transition between the title sequence and the first shot of the actual film! Not the way a movie should start at all. I'm no expert, but it looks like the movie may have been shot on 16mm and blown up.

Wellspring has released TERROR OF FRANKENSTEIN on DVD along with a slew of other low-budget horror pictures like IN SEARCH OF DRACULA (by the same director, Calvin Floyd.) There are few extras included - trailers for the other titles as well as TERROR, and an informative booklet about the film's production. The movie is presented in full screen, with no audio or language options. Just about as basic as you can get.

Despite the best efforts of its cast and crew, TERROR OF FRANKENSTEIN is hampered by its lack of production value. I you're a big fan of "Hammer Horror"and other period monster movies, then this film is worth checking out as a low-budget version of those grandiose gothic films. For most of today's crowd, the absence of lavish special effects and bloodshed will leave TERROR OF FRANKENSTEIN languishing on the shelves. Que sera sera...