![]() ![]() Sadly, unlike that film, this here doesn't have all that much going for it. Naschy's screenplay is clearly borrowing or paying homage to HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and even the opening here with how Dracula is discovered is a complete rip. Sadly, the film is neither as the production had all sorts of issues ranging from script changes to simply running out of money. You'd think that a film that brought all these monsters together would at least either be so bad it's good or a campy fun time. You have to give it to a film that combines aliens, Dracula, the Frankenstein monster, the mummy and the werewolf in the form of Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy). He hopes his group can start living on Earth but before that can happen he must bring back several monsters so that they can help kill off all the humans. No, the problem is that the movie is just incredibly boring.making it a bad film that's not even fun to watch in order for a laugh!Īssignment Terror (1969) * 1/2 (out of 4) Michael Rennie, in his last film role, plays an alien who comes to Earth when his planet is dying off. However, this pieced together look is not the problem with the movie, nor are the cheap looking monsters. Occasionally, this film changes abruptly in look-meaning it was pieced together over a long period and, possibly, by different filmmakers and filmstock. Now considering they reanimate less than a dozen, it would take 158,007 years (more or less) to depopulate the planet! Additionally, while the leader (Michael Rennie) is remorseless and evil, the women that work for him all end up being horny for humans and very emotional. But instead of just wiping out people with a plague or ray or space ships, they decide to bring back various monsters and unleash them on the planet. So imagine my surprise when the IMDB trivia says that the film's title was a ripoff of an Al Adamson title! Wow.talk about setting the bar low! And, this combined with some other trivia (such as the filmmakers running out of money repeatedly and filming as they wrote the thing) lead me to set my expectations VERY low for this movie. After this picture, Dracula and a few other fiends would get invited to the monster party.Al Adamson was one of the worst filmmakers of the 1960s-70s.much like Ed Wood Jr. While Frankenstein fans may be disappointed, this picture definitely works as a great 'Wolf Man' sequel & one of the top Universal romps from the 1940s. And yet, in spite of its inconsistencies (not to mention the heavy editing done to it), the whole of 'FMTWM' still turns out very good, and the ending clash of the monsters is very entertaining. And there are many instances where the screenwriter doesn't seem to know the difference between Ludwig Frankenstein & his father Henry who made the monster, as Talbot, the villagers, even Baroness Frankenstein speak as if Ludwig actually created the monster. ![]() ![]() Saria), when in the previous film, the villagers in the town called "Frankenstein" blew it up.How is it, that there's suddenly a Frankenstein castle in Vasaria (or is it Vi Would it be considered out of the realm of possibility to speculate that perhaps the great Curt Siodmak (the screenwriter) wrote some seriously crappy dialogue for the creature to recite that would've produced titters no matter who spoke it? Also marring the proceedings a bit is some shaky continuity in regards to the monster's portion of the story if you're familiar with the previous 'Ghost' movie. It didn't bother anyone then, so what was the problem now? There has to be more to the story than "it was all Lugosi's fault". Speaking of that monster, "Poor Bela" always get the blame dumped on him for why this film had to be chopped up in post-production, the story always being that the monster with his voice was simply too "Hungarian funny", yet this film was produced by the same Universal that a year earlier made "Ghost of Frankenstein" which featured the monster with Bela's voice. Too bad the monster has to rear his ugly, stitched up head. The potential was certainly here for a great 'Wolf Man' sequel that could've surpassed the original. The film begins on a very high note, with one of the most chilling and atmospheric openings in any horror movie. Universal begins their monster-mash rallies of the 1940s here, as Wolfie must share his sandbox with the "undying monster" & the two get along well for the most part, but eventually, even the best of friends will have their disputes. A real shame, considering that even the likes of the Mummy got 'four' sequels. Marked not only with the pentagram, but marked to never have a sequel that was all his own. ![]()
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