The Last Frankenstein (2021) User Reviews (3)

There's something here

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 22 February 2022]

Between a depressing life and a dead-end relationship with Penny (Jana Szabela), Dr. Jason Frankenstein (William Barnet) finds himself as the last of his family, stuck working in a hospital job that's beneath him and far away from every finishing the experiment that his family has worked on for generations.

Fate has different plans when a very strange patient arrives and he gains the help of two drug-addicted paramedics and a nurse called Paula (Keelie Sheridan) who is quite eager to make life out of death, no matter how many people need to get murdered along the way. But when the creature they create (Michael Wetherbee) escapes, things get bad quick.

Robert Dix (Forbidden Planet, Frankenstein's Daughter) came out of retirement to be in this movie, so that's pretty cool. As for the film, it may move slow in parts, but it has an incredible degree of practical effects that blew me away, from the surgical moments to the look of its monster to blood spray and beheadings. Yes, two of them.

Director and writer David Weaver is making his first feature here and while there are some pacing issues, characters that seem to disappear and long stretches where you want something to happen, it also has some great effects from Jared Balog and Shawn Maloy, as well as the sheer power that comes from a moment when its Frankenstein's Monster goes one on one with a bear, and if there's anything Leslie Nielsen taught us, it's that when a man fights a bear barehanded, it's always the best thing ever.

I'm excited to see what Weaver makes next, because even with my minor issues with the movie, I stayed with it, which is way more than I can say for bigger movies with better budgets. Between the art direction, the look and having an actual idea, this movie begs for your attention.

What was the point?

[voliveri · 3/10 · 17 October 2023]

3/10

This movie is highly rated on this site, but I can't figure out why. To be fair, the acting, pacing, effects, and music all work; however, by the end of the movie, I asked myself, what was the point? As far as I could tell, the protagonist was no different after the events of the movie--he didn't seem to have learned any lessons nor had he faced any justice for his actions, even as everyone involved with his experiments meets a bad end. The confrontation between the protagonist and the antagonist was anti-climatic, and because the antagonist's motivations were never made clear, it was also seemingly unnecessary. One of the characters, an actress, makes no obvious contribution to the film. In sum, I simply can't find a point to this movie. Had this been an exploitation flick, with gore, sex, and nudity, I could understand other elements lacking. Unfortunately, by horror movie standards, there was relatively little blood, and no sex or nudity to speak of. So what we're left with is a plot that goes nowhere, making the slow pacing frustrating. I wanted to like this movie but I can't recommend it.

1-3 Don't bother 4-6 Good 7-9 Great 10 Outstanding.

A surprising addition to Frankenstein franchise

[starving_vampire · 8/10 · 28 February 2024]

Low budget and slow to start,but I found myself wrapped up in the film as it went on. An impressive score of industrial ambient music pairs well with one of the better Frankenstein films of the past several years. Some plot elements need to be figured out as I watched but I prefer that to films that beat you over the head with them,there's some openness to interpretation that I got a kick out of. The photography is impressive for such a low budget film as is the casting of the late veteran Robert Dix (Forty Guns,Forbidden Planet,even Frankenstein's Daughter!)as the Frankenstein grandfather ...Also got a kick out of the 'Thanks to...' Credits that list Mary Shelly.