cinema history class: blackenstein (1973)

  

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Session: Black Vampires Matter (Week 3)
Movie: Blackenstein (1973)
Directed by William A. Levey

Plot:

Dr. Stein attempts experimental surgery on Eddie, a quadriplegic Viet Nam vet. But things don't go as planned. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

Of the three blaxploitation films Keith has shown us so far, this was the least blaxploitationy. The monster himself is black, and woman he loves is black. But their blackness isn't really fundamental to the story. They just happen to be black. By contrast, Blacula and Sugar Hill both incorporated a lot of overt exaggerated black culture, and had plot elements focusing on a righteous black avenger serving justice to racist whites. In Blackenstein, there's really no revenge issue, and the black culture aspect is limited to a short nightclub scene. And, I guess, the title. On that score, it should be noted that somewhere along the line they added the subtitle, "The Black Frankenstein" for those who didn't quite catch the subtle implication from the main title.

Blackenstein plays more like a bad 1950s scifi flick than horror. Which, I guess makes sense, since the whole Frankenstein character is kind of a blend of horror and science fiction. But this is executed particularly badly. The acting is bland and boring, and the characters aren't really interesting. And the whole story is told in a very clumsy manner.

I was also kind of annoyed about the mismatch of Dr. Walker (a physics PhD) assisting Dr. Stein (an MD, and possibly -- I'm speculating here -- a biology PhD). Walker mentions her PhD very early on, and I was thinking that that meant it would be useful for the plot. But, sadly, it wasn't. There's no reason that she couldn't have said "my PhD in biology" or simply "my PhD." Adding "in physics" was, scriptwise, an unforced error.

All that said, there were some things to enjoy. The ending was creative, and I don;t recall seeing the like before. And I did like that talking dog joke from the nightclub scene. But things like that weren't enough to save this thing.

Ratings

Me: 3.5

Bob-O: 4.5

Christina: 4.3

Dave: 8

Ethan: 3

Sharon's reaction to the trailer: "That looks awful! It makes me not want to see it."

Cats: No cats. Plenty of dog action though, if you're into that kind of thing.