Director Guillermo Del Toro 2002 (c) New Line, Courtesy Everett Collection
Guillermo del Toro is a dedicated cinephile with taste that spans the highbrow, the lowbrow, and everything in between. He can hang with the arthouse crowd, but he’s equally comfortable slumming it in the grindhouse space. We’ve previously showcased a number of his film recommendations here at Dread Central. Now, we are back with another del Toro-endorsed effort. This time around, it’s a genre-bending picture that bridges the vast expanse of the filmmaker’s tastes by juxtaposing arthouse conventions alongside sexploitation tropes.
This recommendation features a storyline loosely based on a character from classic literature. A character del Toro is notoriously fond of and one he would eventually bring to life in one of his own films. If you haven’t guessed, I’m talking about Frankenstein’s Monster.
See below for the filmmaker’s thoughts on the horror comedy Flesh for Frankenstein:
Film (s): Flesh for Frankenstein by Paul Morrisey An oddball, strangely elegant, kinky and provoking riff on the monster classic.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 6, 2016
Paul Morrissey wrote and directed this outlandish effort, which critics praised for simultaneously subverting genre tropes and playing into them. Many also lauded the flick for its striking visuals and a standout performance from Udo Kier as Baron Frankenstein.
This is the setup for Flesh for Frankenstein:
Baron Frankenstein (Kier) dreams of restoring Serbia to glory, so he builds male and female monsters whose children will become the new master race. Determined that they be fruitful, he aims to equip the male body with the brain of someone possessing a powerful libido. Thinking local stable boy Nicholas (Joe Dallesandro) will be perfect, he mistakenly gets the head of Nicholas’ pious friend (Srdjan Zelenovic) instead. Meanwhile, Nicholas seduces the baron’s wife (Monique van Vooren).
Although he wasn’t overly involved on the creative side, the film has an Andy Warhol connection. The late artist and filmmaker worked as a producer on the project, and much of the marketing bears his name.
If you are in the mood for a film that straddles the line between sleazy and artistically rendered, Flesh for Frankenstein will almost certainly scratch that very itch. As luck would have it, the picture is now available to stream for free (with ads) on Pluto.
If you are still on the fence about this one, you should check out the trailer in the player below to see if it catches your interest.
That’s all that we’ve got for you at present, dear reader. Stay tuned to Dread Central in the near future for more recommendations from your favorite filmmakers in the genre space.
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