I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN (1957)
Whit Bissell starred in I Was a Teenage Werewolf a few months before playing the infamous doctor in I Was a Teenage Frankenstein. He theorizes that his kooky grandfather - the Baron - failed to revivify dead tissue because of the advanced age of the discorporate limbs. Yeah, I'm sure that was the problem. This experiment would be different. The body would be sinewy and the brain would be more receptive to commands. Naturally, something goes awry. Our excitable monster is seen in public, so he snaps, strangling a full-figured blonde in the process. Meanwhile, Frankenstein is acting like a total jerk. I know that Peter Cushing raped a chick in 1969's Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, but at least he carried himself with amenity. Good grief.
Clearly, Teenage Frankenstein is z-grade material, but I had quantitative fun watching it unfold. The special effects are pretty lurid for the 50's, and the climax is bedizened in red-tinted "color." Woo-hoo! If anything, this b-nugget makes you realize how stealthy Hammer's The Curse of Frankenstein is by comparison. They're both entertaining, though. Join them at the hip (surgically, of course) for a spooktacular double feature.
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