Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)

Wasn't electrifying

Whether watched under the title Frankenstein Conquers the World or Frankenstein vs Baragon, this movie was a letdown on both counts. I enjoyed War of the Gargantuans, the loose sequel to this film and had higher hopes for the origin story. All the scenes of decimated animals had me wanting to bolt for the door.

During the last days of WWII a German mad scientist’s work is taken by the Nazis and delivered to the Japanese via submarine. An equally mad Japanese scientist in Hiroshima looks at the indestructible beating heart and envisions an invincible army of soldiers who cannot be killed. As luck would have it, as they were doing their experiments, it turned out to be the disastrous day of August 6, 1945. Fifteen years later scientists come across a feral boy who is eating people’s cats and dogs and bunny rabbits. He’s eventually captured and after some research is believed to be a Frankenstein. With an oversized brow, a terrible wig, gapped teeth, and unable to communicate he continues to grow the more protein he is fed. Meanwhile, an earthquake, unbeknownst to the citizens, is actually Baragon burrowing and causing havoc.

A feral boy who continues to grow until he’s over three stories tall and a giant burrowing kaiju with a glowing horn ought to make for an electrifying movie. Alas, most of the film was as dull as dirt until the last 15 minutes or so. The scientists continually waffled back and forth whether Frankenstein should be or could be killed. Most believed he wasn’t human so it didn’t matter how they treated him when he was shackled and caged. This could have led to an interesting moral discussion but they were unable to piece together a workable body of logic.

The miniatures for the most part were skillfully done. The trees being thrown had roots to good effect. The boar on wheels and puppet horse were funny because they were so unrealistic and made the scenes less problematic. Although I did not need to see a dismembered rabbit. The overlays worked for the most part when Baragon blasted through a dance party.

These are the hardest films to review because Frankenstein Conquers the World wasn’t awful but it wasn’t very good either. It was an interesting origin story for War of the Gargantuans but didn't reanimate the genre. Baragon would be seen again in 1968’s Destroy All Monsters and the mouthful of a title Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah-Giant Monsters All Out Attack in 2001. The latter was the best out of all the movies mentioned here. There were parts of an interesting story and the final fights were good (make sure to watch the international version which has an additional kaiju), it just wasn’t stitched together well as a whole. The writers could have used a hand but sadly it crawled off.

5 October 2024

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