Frankenstein's Daughter (1958)

 

Frankenstein's Daughter was produced by Marc Frederic and directed by Richard E. Cunha.  They gloriously made a very distinct film.  Donald Murphy stars as Oliver Frank...the grandson of Victor Frankenstein.  He lives in a house with Dr. Carter Morton (Felix Locher) and his niece Trudy (Sandra Knight).  Dr. Frank is not happy with just helping Dr. Morton....he has his own little experiments happening on the side.

This movie has Dr. Frank up to some zany shit.  He starts out by giving a mysterious potion to Trudy because he's pissed off that she won't give in to his advances.  She transforms into a bushy eyed monster that runs around town scaring folks while in her bathing suit.  But that's not his main goal.  His main goal is to bring to life a female monster because...."The brain of a female is conditioned to a man's world, therefore it takes orders."   Oh and he succeeds.  The monster awakens, tears the door down and goes out and kills someone.  But it's nice enough to knock when it comes back to the lab.  Regardless of looks, we know it's female because it has lipstick smeared across it's face. 

I'm conditioned to take orders.

Not only do we have terror galore but we get a party scene to cheer things up with Harold Lloyd Jr (backed by Paige Cavanaugh) and they sing "Special Date" and "Daddy Bird".  "Shaba-labba-lop, bobba-lobba lobba-lop"  Not only do we have some rocking tunes, we also have a playmate in this film.  Suzie (played by February 1957 Playmate, Sally Todd).  She's pissed because Trudy stole her boyfriend and goes off on a date with Dr. Frank.  But when she won't spread for the good doctor, she hops out of the car.  Mistake....Frank runs her over for monster parts.

This is not the playmate.

This a bad movie....but it falls into the category of drink some beers and laugh out loud bad.

Kevin Booker

Trivia:
The full monster make-up was actually being worn by a man, Harry Wilson. Because of this, makeup creator Harry Thomas did not realize that the creature was supposed to be female. All he could do at the last minute was apply lipstick to the creature.

Director Richard E. Cunha recently recalled that, upon seeing the make-up for the title creature just before filming, he was so disappointed he left the set and broke down in tears. 

The exteriors of the house were shot at the home of producer Marc Frederic.

This film is listed among The 100 Most Amusingly Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE.

Completed in May 1958, the last Frankenstein film made during the 1950's.