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By Hank Reineke

It reaches from the grave to re-live the horror, the terror! More destructive! More terrifying!” (1958 ad campaign for Frankenstein’s Daughter.)-

Promises, promises. Even the most forgiving fans of low-budget 1950s horror concede Richard E. Cunha’s Frankenstein’s Daughter is a mess. It’s the sort of film where everything seems off-kilter: the script, the acting, the monster, the directing and flat lighting… well, everything, really. Ironically, this reality is also, perversely, the film’s single saving grace. If you go into Frankenstein’s Daughter with such knowledge aforethought and low-expectations, the resulting film – brought in on a budget of 60,000 - is actually pretty entertaining, if only in a manner of speaking.

In 1958 one New York tabloid chastised Manhattan’s Mayfair Theater for plummeting “to an all-time low in booking not one, but two, of the year’s worst films.

Richard Cunha’s third of four horror item for Astor Pictures is perhaps the most marketable: in 1958 almost anything with the name Dracula or Frankenstein could get a big release. The Film Detective’s new disc (remastered from a 4K scan) shows the picture at its absolute best and confirms Cunha as a decent director. The monsters are dire but most of the acting is rather good: Sandra Knight, Donald Murphy, Wolfe Barzell and Sally Todd in particular. It’s core nostalgia for monster fans, and much gorier than we remembered.

Frankenstein’s Daughter

Blu-ray

The Film Detective

1958 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 85 min. / Street Date October 26, 2021 / Available from The Film Detective / 24.95

Starring: John Ashley, Sandra Knight, Donald Murphy, Sally Todd, Wolfe Barzell, Harold Lloyd Jr., Felix Locher, Robert Dix, John Zaremba, Harry Wilson.

Cinematography: Meredith M. Nicholson

Art Director: Don Ament

Film Editor: Everett Dodd

Original Music: Nicholas Carras

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.I am not your little mermaid.. George Pal was known for his cheese and special effects filled epics. Atlantis may not be the best of the lot but it does offer some goofy fun as well as some footage from better films. but you weren.t supposed to recognize that it had been borrowed. Demetrios (Anthony Hall [real name: Sal Ponti]) and his father Petros (Wolfe Barzell [sounds like he was dubbed by Paul Frees, who also narrates]) are fishing off of Greece when they spot a raft. On board the raft is the unconscious Princess Antillia (Joyce Taylor) but Demetrios is immediately smitten by her beauty. They kindly take her back to their meager home to revive her.