I should have mentioned earlier that MGMHD aired Terror last night. Even though I've already got the movie on DVD, it's no surprise that the TV-showing had superior A/V. Ended up recording it and will save it for the subset day.

I'm not a big fan of Frank'70 at all, but (With Alyxstarr providing miracles as usual) I'm very much interested in the commentary (Tom Weaver's my most favorite of the classic-horror commentators) so I'll be tuning in to that one.

BTW, this was my very first introduction to The Terror:

Anybody else remember this on Liquid Television?

Frankenstein 1970 is a yawner. The DVD has a commentary track so I may check it out with that to see if I can get anything beneficial out of it other than Karloff.

But if you get the movie from Netflix via DVD, you get a double feature with a Karloff movie called The Walking Dead (1936) which is very good and I highly recommend checking it out. The only downfall is the ending. The script-writer obviously didn't have an answer to their good idea so the movie just ends with no resolution.

Watched Frankenstein 1970 with the commentary and while the commentary is a lot of fun, it doesn't help the film any. It is still awful.

On a side note, I also watched the commentary on The Walking Dead and it is excellent and will remind you of the great, informative commentaries on the Universal Monster discs.

Don't watch the Dailymotion link for the The Terror. The audio is terrible. Had to have been at least 10 minutes of complete silence all together from all of the cut outs.

I think that Frankenstein 1970 was very slow but still showed off Karloff's skill. The Terror was faster paced but fairly confusing at times. I still don't know why there was a crib in Ilsa's room but I guess I never will. For the time period, this could have been an interesting twin bill.

That guy Dick Miller is the greatest thing about The Terror. Love the way he attempts to recap the convoluted plot to Jack, and does it so eloquently.

Got done with both earlier. I'd still, one day, like to find out which director shot specific sequences for Terror.

As promised, I listened to the audio commentary for Frank'70. Since the movie's a dud, it was pleasing to hear all the comments (Mostly from Bob) pertaining to the 50's movie-world. I was especially intrigued by the "Halloween Frankenstein-Castle radio show" segment.

I liked some of the 'meta' elements wit Frankenstein and for the first 10 minutes or so it was a good movie but then it went... nowhere. Karloff is masterful in it, sinking ship that it is.

The Terror really jumps the shark at the end; what a lame and unbelievable twist... it is interesting so many directors were involves.

Actually, all things considered, I thought that BOTH films for today were pretty much yawners. Still, there are things that I like about both of them. The Terror is actually a very nice-looking film if you can find a good print of it, and Frankenstein 1970 has the odd bit of gore here and there that makes it interesting as a preamble of things to come. My big question: What does the "1970" in the title have to do with anything?

I watched The Terror from the Film Chest Blu-ray/DVD combo that came out a few years back. The video quality was good most of the time (except when there was lab work involved, such as a dissolve), but the audio was pretty bad all the way through. The left channel especially seemed to have a lot of distortion going on.

With the piecemeal way in which the film was shot, I'm surprised that The Terror makes any sense at all. Your example is evidence of it; another example is that Gustaf goes from being mute to speaking in as long as it takes for him to walk outside the house.

That guy Dick Miller is always the greatest thing about ANY movie that he's in. His bit in The Howling is absolutely perfect.

Wasn't there an article somewhere that detailed who shot what? Maybe in Video Watchdog?

Yeah, they were grasping at straws by that point, weren't they? The film doesn't make a lick of sense, even with all the explanations by various characters.

I wonder what the actual budget finally came in at? It couldn't have cost a whole lot, and Corman only ever made one film as a director that lost money (The Intruder), at least according to him.

I should have watched Dementia 13 right after The Terror, as that was its original U.S. co-feature.

On the commentary, which I recommend if you've got the time, it was said that the date marked an anniversary of the book's first appearance. 200th, I think.

That is correct. I think it was also mentioned (or I read) that it was going to be called Frankenstein 1960 but that didn't seem far enough in the future. so they went with 1970 for the "future" and the anniversary.

Okay, I watched a crummy transfer of The Terror on one of my Mill Creek collections. I thought it was okay but nothing special. Kinda sad when the worst actor is Jack Nicholson. The talking mute was better than him. He is just horrible in this and sounds like he is just read lines in a book. Actually, all the dialogue came across as a stage play more than a movie.

My question, was it explained how the lover came to possess the body of the Baron? That seems like an important storyline and somehow I only seemed to hear about it with a quickly delivered line toward the end. But I missed the explanation on how and/or why?

And by the way, I was going thru the Exploitation channel on my roku (unfortunately after I had already watched The Terror) and they have a nice looking widescreen transfer streaming if you have a subscription.

You're right about Frankenstein 1970 being a dud. I think it's mainly the tired story. The acting and technical aspects seem fine, it's just so dull.

I forgot I owned that Karloff/Lugosi set, unopened even, and streamed the film instead. I'll have to get to that next year.
Agreed. Anyone watch that documentary on him?

Glad someone else thought that! I was thinking the whole time about how he went on to have the career he did after such inauspicious early roles. He was dire, and the film little better.

In fact, for all the negative comments here about Frankenstein 1970, I found The Terror both duller, more inconsistent and generally the worse of the two films.

Ah... the talked about Walking Dead and commentaries are on the K/L set. That makes it easier to find..

?

^That Guy Dick Miller

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2529132/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

I ended up listening to this on youtube last night. Too bad only a condensed version seems to survive. I would have loved to have heard the whole thing.

For those confused about what I'm talking about, the idea of Frankenstein '70 was mostly green-lit by this radio-broadcast:

It's almost like Welles' War of the Worlds (Both, ironically, airing on Halloween) but the broadcaster wasn't aware of the joke and damn near died of a heart attack.

I opted to watch The Terror yesterday night, even though I've already seen it multiple times (BTW, Chad, Youtube link 2 in the first post actually links to Dracula vs. Frankenstein and not Frankenstein 1970). It does tend to plod along, but there are some lively moments here and there. I always enjoy the scene where Dick Miller's character interrogates the old witch. It's like he turns into a police inspector. I also enjoy how almost nobody attempts to affect a European accent of any kind. The face melting at the end always gets me cackling. Finally, I can't help but feel a little sorry for poor old Boris while he's being deluged with all that water. The guy was pushing 75 by that point!

Joe Dante speaks about Frankenstein 1970 for Trailers From Hell (Warning: Spoliers):

Thanks. I was concerned that it seems pricey, but then saw that it's streaming free at Amazon! Can I assume it's horror-y enough to watch this month...?

Didn't the face also melt at the beginning, rather lessening the surprise...? (Or did I imagine that in a lack-of-sleep fugue..)

The Terror makes no sense, it has never made sense, The Terror and sense have never met. It's entertaining, lots of scary castle shots, but I dare anyone who has watched it to be able to summarize the plot. Frankenstein 1970 is a gigantic snooze, incredibly dull hackwork when compared to Hammer;s The Curse of Frankenstein released the previous year..

I'm posting from the future where WAC has released The Walking Dead on a sparkly new Blu-ray that looks like it was made yesterday. I'm glad that the movie has been discovered by fans as a horror classic. Despite being made by a Poverty Row studio, it is every bit as good as The Mummy or Frankenstein. Highly recommended.