Frankenstein Island | |
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![]() Film poster | |
Directed by | Jerry Warren |
Written by | Jacques Lecoutier |
Produced by | Jerry Warren Robert Christopher |
Starring | John Carradine Cameron Mitchell Andrew Duggan Steve Brodie Robert Clarke Katherine Victor |
Cinematography | Murray De Ately |
Edited by | Jerry Warren (uncredited) |
Music by | Jerry Warren |
Production companies | Cerito Films Chriswar |
Distributed by | Intercontinental |
Release date |
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Running time | 97 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Frankenstein Island is a 1981 science fiction horror film produced, written, composed, edited and directed by Jerry Warren and starring John Carradine and Cameron Mitchell. The plot concerns a group of balloonists stranded on an island where they are captured by Dr. Frankenstein's female descendant, Sheila Frankenstein, who has been kidnapping shipwrecked sailors for years and turning them into zombies.
When a hot air balloon crashes on a remote and uncharted island, the four balloonists and their dog Melvin are captured by a pair of drunken old pirates who take them to the hilltop laboratory home of Dr. Frankenstein's modern-day descendant Sheila Frankenstein who is carrying on the family tradition by turning shipwrecked sailors into pre-programmed bloodless, black-garbed zombies who must wear sunglasses to protect their weird white eyes from light.
Discovering that one of the new arrivals is a doctor, the buxom, white-haired Sheila quickly brainwashes him into helping her try to save her bedridden 200-year-old husband Dr. Van Helsing using the blood of a Poe-quoting prisoner and the nubile bodies of a local tribe of primitive bikini-clad Amazon jungle girls descended from highly advanced aliens who once used the rocky, desolate island as their secret Earth landing site.
Meanwhile, the mystic spirit of her ancestor hovers ever near, channeling from the Great Beyond all of the arcane energies that charge her experiments as he rants about "The Power! The Power!!", while his immortal creation, the original Frankenstein Monster, lies trapped underwater at the bottom of a pool hidden in a cave, biding its time as it waits for its chance to escape.
In an interview with Tom Weaver, Jerry Warren stated that between making The Wild World of Batwoman in 1966 and making Frankenstein Island in 1981, he was living on his ranch for fifteen years, as he no longer had any interest in the film business. [1] On meeting with Katherine Victor in 1981, Warren learned that low-budget horror films were profitable again and decided to make a new film even though he recalled he had not even seen any films in the past 15 years. [1]
Warren wrote the screenplay and score himself under the alias of Jaques LaCatier and Erich Bromberg respectively. [2] Frankenstein was generally the same story of his earlier film Teenage Zombies , with a connection to the titular legend added. [3]
Warren cast a number of actors who had appeared in his previous work, including Robert Clarke, Katherine Victor and Steve Brodie. [3] Clarke said he initially had high hopes for the film as he felt Warren "has a lot of enthusiasm and he can get a lot on the screen for the kind of money he spends. But it soon became pretty apparent that this wasn't going to get much beyond what any of his others had achieved, and it wouldn't reach Planet X or Time Barrier or even Sun Demon as far as quality." [4]
An article on actor Jim Webb in the Los Angeles Times stated that Frankenstein Island would be released in the summer of 1981. [5] The film was ultimately released that November.
Warren later felt he did not make Frankenstein Island modern enough to compete with contemporary films. [6] He made a television version of the film which featured newer material that included scenes with explosions and special effects and cut out portions of the film. [6] Clarke recalled that Warren "cut and cut it, but it's still very ponderous." [4]
From contemporary reviews, Jack Zink stated that Frankenstein Island was "abominable" stating that both John Carradine and Andrew Duggan "show their age dramatically enough to indicate the film stock isn't as must as the images imprinted on it" and that Warren was "a hack" and "among the '50s-era cheapie filmmakers, hasn't changed his tactics a bit." [7] Zink concluded that "cultists may get a kick out of investigation to determine whether Frankenstein Island is terrible enough to rank among the worst films of all time. For the rest, this boring nonsense is an excruciating peek at just how low once-respectable marquee names can sink." [7]
From retrospective reviews, academic Peter Dendle wrote in The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, called it "a ludicrous mishmash of random elements, lovingly stirred into a burgoo of cinematic insanity". [8]
In 1985, Warren discussed a sequel, which he described as "more up-to-date, not so campy and old-time." [9] He suggested that co-writer Robert Christopher would co-direct. [9] Warren died in 1988. [10]
In 2012, former Mystery Science Theater 3000 writers Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett recorded a comedic commentary via their RiffTrax subsidiary. [11]
Mesa of Lost Women is a 1953 American low-budget black-and-white science fiction film directed by Herbert Tevos and Ron Ormond from a screenplay by Tevos and Orville H. Hampton, who is given on-screen credit only for dialogue supervision.
Teenage Zombies is a 1959 science fiction horror film written, produced, edited and directed by Jerry Warren, and starring Katherine Victor, Don Sullivan, Chuck Niles and Warren's then-wife and production manager Brianne Murphy. Warren wrote the screenplay under his pen name Jacques Lecoutier. Film historian Bill Warren wrote "This dreadful, leaden and depressingly cheap film does have one unusual aspect... it was actually made by Jerry Warren in its entirety."
House of Frankenstein is a 1944 American horror film starring Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine. It was directed by Erle C. Kenton and produced by Universal Pictures. Based on Curt Siodmak's story "The Devil's Brood", the film is about Dr. Gustav Niemann, who escapes from prison and promises to create a new body for his assistant Daniel. Over the course of the film, they encounter Count Dracula, the Wolf Man and Frankenstein's monster. The film is a sequel to Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943).
House of Dracula is a 1945 American horror film released and distributed by Universal Pictures. Directed by Erle C. Kenton, the film features several Universal Horror properties meeting as they had done in the 1944 film House of Frankenstein. The film is set at the castle home of Dr. Franz Edelmann, who is visited first by Count Dracula and later by Larry Talbot, the Wolf Man, who are trying to cure their vampirism and lycanthropy, respectively. Talbot is eventually cured, which leads him to discover the body of Frankenstein's monster in a cave below the base of the castle. Edelemann takes the monster's body back to his laboratory but finds Count Dracula has awakened and by attacking his assistants, he captures Edelmann and forces a reverse blood transfusion, which gives Edelmann a split personality and makes him a killer.
Katherine Victor was an American actress, perhaps best known for her roles in Ron Ormond's Mesa of Lost Women (1953) and a number of Jerry Warren's films. She was also known as Katina Vea.
King of the Zombies is a 1941 American zombie comedy film directed by Jean Yarbrough and starring Dick Purcell, Joan Woodbury, and Mantan Moreland. The film was produced by Monogram Pictures, and was typical of its B films produced by the Pine-Thomas team. Along with flying scenes, the use of zany characters and slapstick efforts were juxtaposed with a spy and zombie story.
The Incredible Petrified World is a 1959 science fiction film produced and directed by Jerry Warren, and starring John Carradine and Robert Clarke. The film follows four explorers who travel down into the depths of the sea and get stranded in an underwater cavern.
Nightmare City is a 1980 Italian-Spanish science-fiction horror film directed by Umberto Lenzi. It stars Hugo Stiglitz as a TV news reporter who witnesses the collapse of order in a city overrun by irradiated blood-drinking ghouls. Victims rise from the dead to join the host, adding to the chaos.
I Eat Your Skin is a 1971 American horror film written, produced and directed by Del Tenney. It stars William Joyce, Heather Hewitt and Walter Coy. The film was shot entirely in Florida in 1964 under the title Caribbean Adventure to disguise from potential investors the fact that it was a zombie film.
Blood of Ghastly Horror is a 1967 science fiction horror film directed by Al Adamson and starring John Carradine, Tommy Kirk, Kent Taylor, and Regina Carrol.
The Hideous Sun Demon is a 1958 American science fiction horror film produced, directed, and cowritten by Robert Clarke, who also starred in the title role. It also stars Patricia Manning, Nan Peterson, Patrick Whyte, and Fred La Porta. The film focuses on a scientist who is exposed to a radioactive isotope and soon finds out that it comes with horrifying consequences.
Doctor Blood's Coffin is a 1961 British horror film produced by George Fowler, and directed by Sidney J. Furie. It stars Kieron Moore, Hazel Court, and Ian Hunter. The story is that of young biochemist Dr Peter Blood, who returns to his hometown in Cornwall with the belief that he can selectively restore life by transplanting the living hearts of 'undeserving' people into dead people who 'deserve' to live. The film is significant for being one of the first two zombie films to be shot in colour, the other being the obscure 1961 American film The Dead One, and for its early portrayal of zombies as homicidal rotting cadavers. The movie was released in the UK in January 1961 and in the US in April of that year, where it was on a double bill with another British film, The Snake Woman (1961).
Jerry Warren was an American film director, producer, editor, screenwriter, cinematographer, and actor. Warren grew up wanting to get into the film business in Los Angeles, California. He appeared in small parts in a few 1940s films such as Ghost Catchers, Anchors Aweigh, and Unconquered.
Revenge of the Zombies is a 1943 comedy horror film, directed by Steve Sekely, starring John Carradine and Gale Storm. Dr. Max Heinrich von Altermann, is a mad scientist working to create a race of living dead warriors for the Third Reich.
House of the Black Death is a 1965 American horror film directed by Harold Daniels, Reginald LeBorg and Jerry Warren. The film was written by Richard Mahoney, based on a novel titled The Widderburn Horror by Lora Crozetti. The movie starred Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine, although the two actors shared no scenes in the film.
Invisible Invaders is a 1959 American science fiction film starring John Agar, Jean Byron, John Carradine and Philip Tonge. It was produced by Robert E. Kent, directed by Edward L. Cahn and written by Samuel Newman.
The House of Seven Corpses is a 1973 American horror film directed by Paul Harrison and starring John Ireland, Faith Domergue and John Carradine.
Frankenstein is a film series of horror films from Universal Pictures based on the play version by Peggy Webling and the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. The series follow the story of a monster created by Henry Frankenstein who is made from body parts of corpses and brought back to life. The rest of the series generally follows the monster continuously being revived and eventually focuses on a series of cross overs with other Universal horror film characters such as The Wolf Man. The series consists of the following films: Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939), The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944), House of Dracula (1945) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).
Dracula is a film series of horror films from Universal Pictures based on the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker and its 1927 play adaptation. Film historians had various interpretations of what constitutes being in the film series, with Ken Hanke finding that only Dracula (1931), Dracula's Daughter (1936), and Son of Dracula (1943) could be considered a part of any series while Gary D. Rhodes included House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945), stating these films would require an audience to be familiar with Count Dracula portrayed by Bela Lugosi and the various character traits the actor established in the original 1931 film.