Frankenstein's monster is the quintessential horror character. When Mary Shelly's book Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, was released in 1818, it sent waves around the world and led to a whole new genre of storytelling. The story Shelly created has been retold in many books, movies and television shows over the years. However, one of the weirdest versions of Frankenstein was made by Marvel and Toei Animation.
In the 1970s, Marvel and Toei made a deal that allowed both companies to use each other's characters. The most famous result of this deal is Toei's live-action Spider-Man series. However, it also spawned two films based on Marvel's line of horror comics. The first movie, Dracula: Sovereign Of The Damned, was released in 1980. The following year, Toei decided to follow it up with another horror icon. This second film was Kyoufu Densetsu Kaiki! Frankenstein, which translates to Mystery! Frankenstein: Legend of Terror. This series is partially inspired by the original Mary Shelly novel and the mid-1970s Marvel comic The Monster of Frankenstein. However, the movie has few links to the comic's story and is closer to the plot found in the 1931 Universal film.
The plot follows Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his assistant Zuckel. After bringing a creature to life, the two men realize what they've done. They flee the monster, and during the chase, Victor abandons Zuckel. Zuckel, fearing for his life, shoots the creature, causing it to fall off a cliff, likely to its doom. Victor returns to Switzerland and reunites with his wife. She tells him that his daughter, Emily, is staying with her grandfather in the mountains. However, when the area is rocked by a series of violent murders, Victor learns that the monster might not be dead and that Zuckel is out for revenge. And to make it worse, Emily befriends the creature without realizing what it really is.
The film is graphic in places, with a decent amount of gore and a generally heavy atmosphere that builds to a surprisingly tragic ending. However, in the eyes of many, the film is let down by its pacing. This often leads to the film slowing to a crawl for extended periods, and its clumsy merging of several different versions of the story leads to some confusing plot points. However, others praise the animation's quality, despite its being a made-for-TV movie.
The movie was initially broadcast on TV Asahi in 1981, and in 1984 the infamous Harmony Gold brought the film and dubbed it for the American market, calling it both Monster of Frankenstein and Frankenstein Legend of Terror, depending on the release. The voice cast will be familiar to Robotech fans as Harmony Gold hired many actors from that cast to dub this movie, including Greg Finley and Rebecca Forstadt. The dub isn't the worst that Harmony Gold has worked on, and while it can be clunky, it is considered a decent adaptation.
However, this English dub had some weird releases, especially in the UK, where Mountain Video released it with an inappropriate cover. The cover made the movie look like an innocent kids' film, so children who bought the tape looking for a fun adventure movie were instead greeted by this dark, foreboding, gory tale.
Kyoufu Densetsu Kaiki! Frankenstein is a fun curiosity as its story combines two massive companies (Toei and Marvel) and one infamous one (Harmony Gold) into one captivating story that gives us a fascinating look at the early 1980s anime scene. While the film is heavily dated today, it does present an interesting take on the Frankenstein story, one that is a shade darker than many other movie versions of the story. So if you're looking for a more violent version of this classic tale, Kyoufu Densetsu Kaiki! Frankenstein is a unique option, quite unlike anything else on offer.
