Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)

This is a Frankenstein sequel and it is a great film. The Frankenstein monster live into modern times. He is exposed to a nuclear bomb. He becomes a giant. He fights a dragon in this movie. This movie movie great. It has a great story line. It also has great acting. It is one of the scariest movies ever made. This movie is a must see. Koj Furuhata is a great actor. Tadao Takashima is a great actor. This movie is very intense. This is better the Frankenstein (1931). Frankenstein (1931) is a very scary movie. This one is scarier. Nick Adams was a great actor. Kumi Mizuno is a great actress. The Curs of Frankenstein is better. But still this a great horror film.

The only conclusion I could come to on this film is that Toho concluded that Frankenstein was the big American monster, so they had to do a movie about him to sell in America. And if that doesn't work, hire Nick Adams.The plot is that in the closing days of World War II, the Nazis transferred Frankenstein's heart to Japan, where it was brought to Hiroshima and irradiated for good measure. The heart was eaten by a war-orphan who mutated into a Frankenstein who looked slightly imbecilic, but grows to enormous size.Then there is another subplot with a more conventional Toho Kaiju called Baragon who is tearing up the countryside so the new giant Frankenstein will have something to fight. They then capped it off with a giant Octopus... yes, a giant octopus in the middle of the mountains! I think the director subscribed to the Spielberg theory that if you have the audience for that long, they'll go along with anything.

Before I even started watching this film, I had a very, very strong impression that the film would suck--and boy, was I right! With such titles as "Frankenstein Versus the World" and "Frankenstein Verses Baragon", it was obvious it wasn't going to be Shakespeare. What surprised me, though, is that not only was this a cheesy Japanese Frankenstein story, but this time the monster was almost Godzilla-sized!! And this was never really fully explained in the longer international version (the DVD also had a shorter American version that I skipped)! The film begins with Nazi scientists sending something to Japan in the final says of World War II--though what exactly it happens to be is unknown. However, it must be important because the Germans risk a sub to get this secret to Japan. Well, it turns out the sub is carrying a box containing Frankenstein's indestructible heart and the idea is to research into how to make more so they Japanese can have an entire army of indestructible soldiers. However, just after they take the heart out of the box in Hiroshima, the city is nuked and 15 years pass. Now, for reasons completely unknown, this heart somehow got transferred into a feeble-minded teenager who looks like a cross between a caveman and a Japanese kid with an over-sized Frankenstein wig. Oddly, the scientist who examines him declares that the freaky boy "is a Caucasian", though he looks about as Causcasian as Gary Coleman! Oddly, this feral child is already pretty big but starts to quickly grow to gargantuan proportions. This leads the audience to wonder: 1. How the nuked heart survived Hiroshima and magically appeared in a caveboy's chest.2. Why the kid has been doing just fine eating pets and roadkill for years and only when he is rescued does he begin to grow.3. Is the scientist who examined him in his right mind? 4. When the Frankencritter escapes, the first person called is the comely Japanese lady scientist. However, while she is learning about it on the phone, Nick Adams (the token Western actor) announces he's going to find the boy and bring him back to the lab. But how did Adams know this BEFORE the lady? Did he have esp or did he just read the script? After all, SHE was on the phone and he was with her.Regardless of all these important unanswered questions, none are adequately answered and the script is a mess. Instead of trying to make a real horror film, it soon becomes a battle of giant monsters as two ugly brutes appear from nowhere to battle Frankie. It's the typical stupid Toho Studios fare--with tiny buildings and tanks being stomped. My favorite was the boar--that was so obviously fake it made me laugh. However, the first challenger to Frankenstein looked a lot like a dog in a rubber lizard costume! You have to see it to believe it.Despite the movie totally stinking, it is worth seeing if you are a "bad movie fan" who LIKES seeing inept and stupid films. Plus, thankfully, despite being really, really dumb, at least the film is better than the god-awful Gamera films--with that annoying brat who loves and believes in the monster. YECCCHH!!FYI--After writing this deservedly scathing review, I checked out the other reviews for this film and found three people who gave it a positive review AND a score of 10. Apparently, they must now be encouraging mental patients to post reviews.

My above summary does puzzle me. It could be that those that gave this bottom of barrel ratings saw the dubbed American International Release. the running time was also reduced.I saw this last night(rental from NETFLIX) in Japanese with sub-titles & a 93 minute running time.The correct title is FRANKENSTEIN vs. BARAGONGranted the story line is very hokey, BUT there again MOST films of this type are & make no sense what so ever.I liked the background story, it was at least interesting, I have seen more incredible plot twists than shown here.The American actor Nick Adams has a major role & not just cast for Box-Office reasons.The acting is OK for this type of film. One does not expect award winning performances, same for production values.The special effects are good & final scene is the fight between ThE Monster (a mutant boy )& a giant reptile. we have seen these scenes many times. Nothing new or different..My good thumbs up rating is mainly because I enjoyed it. & that is why we see movies, isn't it, to enjoy them.. So my fellow film buffs, be sure to see the Japanese Version & you will think like I do about this film.Ratings *** (out of 4) 82 points out or 100) IMDb 7 (out of 10)