The Hell of Frankenstein (1960) User Reviews (3)

Odd Frankenstein horror.

[insomniac_rod · 6/10 · 8 May 2010]

Ehh, this is not exactly a movie. It's a four chapter t.v. mini series. Still, I watched it on a classic movie channel from Mexican cable and it was featured as a complete movie. You see, they didn't separate the chapters and made a single movie.

The dialogs are the best feature about this one. You see, according to the script, we are in front of a master evil mind that should terrorize Frankenstein!

Sadly, the lack of suspense and action makes this a forgettable effort. Joaquin Cordero was the best feature about it. The man is a great actor.

Still, I strongly recommend you not to seek after this title. It gets odd and boring pretty fast. Watch it only on cable or if your hunger for b-classical entertainment is ferox.

Mexican potboiler

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 15 December 2022]

THE HELL OF FRANKENSTEIN (1960, original title Orlak, el infierno de Frankenstein) is a Mexican potboiler whose main character is Jaime, a criminal who is released from prison at the film's outset. He busts Dr. Frankenstein from the clink and aides him in the creation of a new man with the aide of a horrifically-scarred assistant desperate for a new face. Soon, the box-headed monstrosity has a metal skeleton a la Wolverine and is busy taking down rivals and committing acts of larceny and murder...

Like many low budget Mexican features of this era, this is a cheap and cheerful effort, and very slow for the most part which stops it being hugely entertaining. It turns into a doppelganger movie halfway through, giving the antagonist a perfect alibi for the many crimes that take place, and is more thriller than sci-fi or horror. Some of the staging and characters favourably recall the Universal greats, and it does pick up for a traditional rooftop chase climax that doesn't disappoint, but overall this is one for hardcore fans only.

Mexican Frankenstein

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 30 June 2020]

Rafael Baledon was an actor and director who also created the 1963 film The Crying Woman. Here, he makes his own take on the Universal Frankenstein mythos with a film that is broken into four parts, as by splitting it up into four sections like a movie serial, Baledon was able to get around some Mexican union laws.

Jaime Rojas (Joaquin Cordero, Vacation of Terror 2, Dr. Satan) has just been released from jail when he helps Dr. Frankenstein escape from prison. The scientist succeeds one more time in making new life in the form of the bestial Orlak, a monster with Rojas' face that the evil doctor controls via radio waves to kill numerous men, women and even a baby.

Orlak, The Hell of Frankenstein was written by Carlos Enrique Taboada, who would go on to become perhaps one of the most important voices in Mexican horror. I'd point to his movies Even the Wind Is Afraid, Poison for the Fairies, The Book of Stone and Darker than Night is examples of prime storytelling and talent.