Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster [Duel of the Space Monsters] * (1965, Marilyn Hanold, James Karen, Lou Cutell) – Classic Movie Review 11,239

So-bad-it’s-good 1965 sci-fi cult film Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster features neither Dr Frankenstein nor Frankenstein’s monster but instead tells the story of a facially-damaged android robot who fights alien invaders.

Director Robert Gaffney’s truly terrible 1965 science fiction cult film Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster stars Playboy’s June 1959 Playmate of the Month Marilyn Hanold, James Karen and Lou Cutell, and was filmed in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and in Puerto Rico in 1964.

Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster features neither Dr Frankenstein nor Frankenstein’s monster but instead tells the story of a facially-damaged android robot who fights alien invaders, though, to be fair, the android is partly built from human parts and he is often called Frank, an ‘astro-robot without a control system’. Stock footage (about 65 per cent of the film), cheap sets, terrible acting and useless low-cost special effects combine for the full effect.

It stars Marilyn Hanold, credited as Princess Marcuzan, though only only called Princess in the film, James Karen (as Jim Karen) as Dr Adam Steele, Lou Cutell as the Martian scientist Dr Nadir, Nancy Marshall as Karen Grant, David Kerman as General Bowers, and Robert Reilly as Colonel Frank Saunders, with Robert Alan Browne as Martian crewmember, Robert Fields as reporter, Bruce Glover as Martian crewmember/ Mull the Space Monster and Susan Stephens as blonde surf-bather (poster girl).

Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster cost $60,000, and was ranked #7 in the 2004 DVD documentary The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made.

It is produced by the Futurama Entertainment Corp and released by Allied Artists Pictures, originally in a double bill with Curse of the Voodoo.

It was released in the US on September 22, 1965.

It was released in the UK as Duel of the Space Monsters, and is also known as Frankenstein Meets the Space Men, Mars Attacks Puerto Rico, Mars Invades Puerto Rico, and Operation San Juan.

The story is written by Virginia-based university writers George Garrett, R H W Dillard (uncredited) and John Rodenbeck (uncredited), but it was conceived as a sci-fi horror spoof of the science fiction and genres. However, the makers wanted a serious film, but they got a comedy anyway.

The supposed space suit worn by Robert Reilly belonged to director Robert Gaffney from his time in the US military.

The on-screen title is Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster, though is was Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster in all publicity, including the poster and trailer. 

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,239

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