60 Years Ago, An Infamous Sci-Fi B-Movie Blatantly Lied To Audiences

"There are movies that we lovingly declare to be among the worst of all time, ranging from the works of Edward D. Wood Jr. (Plan 9 from Outer Space) to the filmography of Uwe Boll ( Alone in the Dark) to standalone efforts like Manos: The Hands of Fate and Troll 2. We watch these films in baffled amusement, pondering the misplaced ambition of the filmmakers behind them and celebrating the sheer depths of awfulness to which they descend. One such title that regularly shows up on those lists, as we commemorate the 60th anniversary of its release, is 1965's Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster."

"Filmed in Puerto Rico and Florida by director Robert Gaffney, Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster could be mistaken for an Ed Wood movie if you didn't know better. The first thing to understand about the film is that while there have been a lot of strange movies starring Frankenstein or his monster (including the Japanese kaiju curio Frankenstein Conquers the World), there is no one named Frankenstein in this movie, nor does Frankenstein's monster ever appear."

"The plot, such as it is, follows a team of scientists and military personnel as they launch a deep space mission manned by Frank (Robert Reilly), an android indistinguishable from a human being except for the fact that he occasionally freezes up like your old laptop. Frank's space capsule, however, has the misfortune of being shot down by a Martian spacecraft that's coming to Earth to kidnap women; it seems that Mars needs females to help restart their race after a nuclear conflict."

Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster is a 1965 low-budget sci-fi film shot in Puerto Rico and Florida and directed by Robert Gaffney. The title is misleading because no one named Frankenstein appears and Frankenstein's monster never shows up. The story centers on Frank, an android astronaut who malfunctions and crash-lands on Earth after being intercepted by a Martian ship. The Martians seek Earth women to help restart their race after a nuclear war. The film runs 77 minutes and is known as a moldy, entertaining Z-movie often compared to Ed Wood–style productions.

Read at Inverse