There are movies that we lovingly declare to be among the worst of all time, ranging from the works of Edward D. Wood Jr. (Plan 9 from Outer Space) to the filmography of Uwe Boll (Alone in the Dark) to standalone efforts like Manos: The Hands of Fate and Troll 2. We watch these films in baffled amusement, pondering the misplaced ambition of the filmmakers behind them and celebrating the sheer depths of awfulness to which they descend. One such title that regularly shows up on those lists, as we commemorate the 60th anniversary of its release, is 1965’s Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster.
Filmed in Puerto Rico and Florida by director Robert Gaffney, Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster could be mistaken for an Ed Wood movie if you didn’t know better. The first thing to understand about the film is that while there have been a lot of strange movies starring Frankenstein or his monster (including the Japanese kaiju curio Frankenstein Conquers the World), there is no one named Frankenstein in this movie, nor does Frankenstein’s monster ever appear. The story uses some tortured logic to get to that title, and the 77-minute slice of moldy Z-movie cheese is still a hoot to watch.
