Vinegar Syndrome: Flesh for Frankenstein 3D (1973) - Reviewed

Courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome

While 3-Dimensional film projection technology is fluctuating between being phased out, being discontinued on televisions and blu-ray players amid hints of renewal with the forthcoming Avatar sequels being filmed, Vinegar Syndrome have miraculously unearthed and restored arguably the most important 3D film ever made: Paul Morrissey’s 1973 subversive cult gut-cruncher Flesh for Frankenstein.  Stemming from an original idea of Roman Polanski who met with Morrissey and suggested he would be the right person to direct a 3D Frankenstein film from legendary Italian producer Carlo Ponti, the film initially became known among cinephiles as an Andy Warhol picture though he himself had little if anything to do with the finished product.

 
Billed in the US as Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein and presented using the Space-Vision 3D process, the film was notorious at the time for being an X rated film with rampant sex and nudity as well as a new level of blood and gore previously unseen on the silver screen.  An Italian-English co-production which came at the tail end of the Hammer Horror Frankenstein series, it remains one of the most transgressive and increasingly bonkers horror comedies of the 1970s which even with vague familiarity with the story still feels like a foray into uncharted territory years later. 
 
Baron von Frankenstein (Udo Kier in a toweringly over-the-top performance) and his freakish assistant Otto (Arno Juerging) begin laying out their plans to create a new master race of supreme beings of which Frankenstein will be the leader.  To do this, they snatch body parts from living and dead bodies to patch together a new kind of zombie with the goal of creating a perfect man and perfect woman to procreate and spawn the new race.  However, a local farm hand named Nicholas (Joe Dallesandro) grows suspicious of his friend Sacha’s mysterious disappearance and on his search for him begins a torrid affair with the Baron’s sister/wife, setting the stage for all manner of crimson and entrail spilling to ensue across the panoramic 3D widescreen canvas, creating a new kind of meta-satirical experience like no other before or since.

 
Equal parts trashy, crass with a hint of costumed period classiness, Flesh for Frankenstein while a goofy and perverse experience designed to elicit certain measures of discomfort and/or titillation from the viewer, in 3D form the picture becomes an extraordinary and transcendent work of art that effectively shatters expectations of the text and genre.  Much like the demonic undead creations of the Baron, there are times when the film feels like it is reaching for the sutures and tearing them wide open revealing the internal organs on the inside.  Shot beautifully by Deep Red cinematographer Luigi Kuveiller who lavishes over every open wound, every bare behind and the varying degrees of insane expression that plays out over Udo Kier’s face, Flesh for Frankenstein for all it’s nudity and gross out gags is kind of ornate.
 
Let’s talk about the score by Claudio Gizzi whose emotional orchestral strings give the picture a period vibe while also elevating the more lunatic sequences into untold heights of madness.  In one of the film’s most infamous sequences that surely informed the climax of Nicolas Winding Refn’s (a superfan of Flesh for Frankenstein by the way) much maligned Only God Forgives, the Baron sticks his hand into an open wound in a sexual manner, pleasuring himself by “f***ing life in the gall bladder”.  The soundtrack swells to an oddly romantic passion, making the already transgressive sequence into something we’re just not sure how to deal with other than emitting nervous laughter.  Flesh for Frankenstein is littered with moments like this where the only thing keeping the wild images from flying offscreen figuratively is the music, grounding the insanity inside a 3D bubble of sorts.

 
Effects-wise, this was an early example of animatronics artist Carlo Rambaldi who later went on to such unforgettable work as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien, Possession and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.  While a mid-movie beheading shows the film’s age in a rather goofy moment, most of the rest of the scenes of internal organs falling across the screen are really very gruesome and aren’t softened by the sands of time.  There’s a moment when a pair of lungs are reanimated on their own with wires connected to them, rendered reportedly by Antonio Margheriti and Rambaldi, that comes right into your face in 3D and frankly feels real.  Not to mention the frequent disembowelments and decapitations with the 3D camera peering down headless necks.
 
Joe Dallesandro was already a then-budding star of Paul Morrissey’s Flesh, Trash and Heat all produced by Andy Warhol who plays both sex symbol and archetypical hero of the piece.  Alongside him is Dalila Di Lazzaro from The Pyjama Girl Case as a new female zombie in training, though make no mistake this is most certainly Udo Kier’s movie from top to bottom.  So passionately insanely ferociously over the top is his performance, treading a tightrope walk between high camp and impassioned artistic expression, seen in 3D it becomes like an iconic statue forever etched in cinema history.  Campy acting is tricky business with the performer overplaying the part while also trying to channel an element of truth in the performance but Kier does it so effortlessly here it’s kind of extraordinary to watch.  If nothing else, 2D or 3D, watch the film for Kier’s larger-than-life waltz onscreen.
 
For years despite the legendary 3D promotional campaign of bringing the ‘horror off the screen…and into your lap’, Flesh for Frankenstein languished in damaged 2D prints with rights transferring back and forth while in Italy a lawsuit broke out over director Antonio Margheriti using his name on the credits to keep state financial support flowing in.  For awhile there both films were available on laserdisc via The Criterion Collection before going out of print for expensive prices on eBay.  Circa 2021 however, Vinegar Syndrome has finally righted that wrong and delivered a 3-disc special edition including the film on 4K UHD in 2D as well as the original 3D version in both 3D blu-ray as well as red-blue anaglyph replete with glasses replicated to look like the ones offered in 1973.

 
For years this was always a fun favorite of transgressive European horror but with the 3D version finally available it ascends into the pantheon of some of the greatest horror films of all time, forever changing the once familiar palette into something fresh and curiously timeless.  While ludicrous and often very gross with many sight gags taking full advantage of the 3D technology though even in 2D you can tell which shots are meant for 3D, Flesh for Frankenstein is on its terms a marvelous one-of-a-kind experience not even the most technically proficient 3D pictures today ala James Cameron’s Avatar come close to replicating.  If there’s one movie to demonstrate why anyone should give a damn about 3D film viewing or the limitless possibilities of the format, this is surely it!

--Andrew Kotwicki