Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter

1966 Western Horror hybrid

Rating: 5/20

Plot: The titular outlaw and his burly sidekick Hank Tracy are on the run and hide out in a castle where the titular daughter of Dr. Frankenstein's daughter and some other guy are experimenting with the regeneration of humans.

First, I had to penalize this a point for having an inaccurate title. Frankenstein's daughter isn't even in this movie; it's his granddaughter. This movie is more boring than a movie called Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter should be. The famous outlaw is played by John Lupton who I know exactly one thing about--he's the most boring actor to ever live. This also has Rayford Barnes playing Lonny Curry, a twerpy backstabber and member of the Wild Bunch gang in this movie. I noticed that he somehow found his way in Pekinpah's The Wild Bunch, and as far as I know, twerps weren't allowed in that movie. His performance is also boring. Roger Creed plays the generic Wild Bunch gang leader and puts the accent on the wrong syllable in the word decoy, but it's expected because most of his work in film was as a stuntman. He probably hit his head a few times. Cal Bolder's got too much muscle for the Old West. He's an imposing enough figure, but his voice doesn't match his body. I did like in one scene how he punches a guy who falls back into a horse with enough force to knock off the horse's rider. I'm not sure why Bolder, after he's Frankenstein-monstered, is named Igor by the granddaughter. Didn't writer Carl K. Hittleman, who also did some writing for The Buster Keaton Show and wrote Billy the Kid vs. Dracula, read Mary Shelley's novel? (Note: I typed that with the knowledge that there is no Igor in Frankenstein.) I really can't think of any reason why anybody would want to see this. My favorite thing about it was the shot of a Wild West town with the creepy mansion overlooking it from a hill in the background. I also kind of liked these goofy red, yellow, and black helmets with antennas that one of the scientists and the soon-to-be-resurrected people wore. I'm not even sure two of the colors on that helmet existed in the 19th Century, and I'm not sure what those helmets were supposed to do. Either the subject on the table gets a helmet or everybody in the room gets a helmet, right? Did this movie not have enough of a budget to get a third helmet? I was confused by the whole thing and have had trouble sleeping since watching this. This movie also lost a full point for having what might be the most irritating sound effect in the world.

My favorite thing about this is a note before the movie about how the company releasing this on dvd is dedicated to preserving film history. Really? This movie?