Towards the end of World War II, a group of Soviet Union soldiers pushing into eastern Germany get a distress signal from one of their own. They pursue it and stumble across a secret Nazi lab, one that has unearthed and begun experimenting with the journal of one Dr. Victor Frankenstein. The scientists have used the legendary Frankenstein's work to assemble an army of super-soldiers stitched together from the dead body parts of their fallen comrades and with enhanced mechanical parts to make them the perfect killing machines - a desperate Hitler's last ghastly ploy to escape defeat.
If you're a purist, then there are a lot of things that you'll hate in this movie. This is fundamentally a found footage horror/sci-fi hybrid that is set in the 1940's. No black and white footage, everybody speaking in English, a camera that wasn't invented until a couple of decades later and the regular widescreen footage that are all supposed to be from the 40's might annoy the hell out of you. The found footage genre in itself is very contrived, especially during the second half of most movies. But, once you get past all that, there's a beautifully realized movie underneath. The creature designs - OH, MY GOD - the creatures were so fantastically terrifying. Terrifying is not the word though. They're just so captivating. It has just the perfect mix of necessary cgi and practical effects which brings these gruesomely gorgeous beasts alive.
The war tropes are all there though and a couple of the actors seem amateurish. Aside from that, the Frankenstein lore was very deftly integrated into the proceedings. The doctor was gleefully insane who made me uneasy with his gross Russian and Nazi brain experiment. The atmosphere is appropriately dreary throughout. In the end, the movie is worth it for the creatures alone. This is what clever and innovative filmmakers with a low budget can bring to the table. This movie slaps those obscenely big budgeted blockbusters across their faces. It is a flawed, but underrated gem among B-movies.
7/10
If you're a purist, then there are a lot of things that you'll hate in this movie. This is fundamentally a found footage horror/sci-fi hybrid that is set in the 1940's. No black and white footage, everybody speaking in English, a camera that wasn't invented until a couple of decades later and the regular widescreen footage that are all supposed to be from the 40's might annoy the hell out of you. The found footage genre in itself is very contrived, especially during the second half of most movies. But, once you get past all that, there's a beautifully realized movie underneath. The creature designs - OH, MY GOD - the creatures were so fantastically terrifying. Terrifying is not the word though. They're just so captivating. It has just the perfect mix of necessary cgi and practical effects which brings these gruesomely gorgeous beasts alive.
The war tropes are all there though and a couple of the actors seem amateurish. Aside from that, the Frankenstein lore was very deftly integrated into the proceedings. The doctor was gleefully insane who made me uneasy with his gross Russian and Nazi brain experiment. The atmosphere is appropriately dreary throughout. In the end, the movie is worth it for the creatures alone. This is what clever and innovative filmmakers with a low budget can bring to the table. This movie slaps those obscenely big budgeted blockbusters across their faces. It is a flawed, but underrated gem among B-movies.
7/10