March 10, 2008

The Hand of Frankenstein


One of the best things about blogging is reading the comments that you, the readers, add to the posts. Reacting to my recent Frankenstein of 1958 posts, Tim Lucas of Video Watchblog reflected on the use of the menacing claw imagery in advertising campaigns, the same year, for both The Revenge of Frankenstein and Frankenstein 1970. Here’s the evidence.

The claw pointing at a victim was a striking element of the Revenge poster (at right, and another one here).

As for the twisted claw on the Frankenstein 1970 poster (seen above, augmented with stitches, clamps and bolts!), it was suggested by the film’s opening sequence, a real pulse-pounding attention grabber, where a hulking Frankenstein Monster stalks a panicked woman. It turns out to be a trick sequence, a scene for a horror movie being shot on the grounds of Frankenstein’s estate.

I think many viewers came away from the film wishing the “real” monster in this one had been half as cool as the “fake” monster in the opening sequence.

The French poster for Frankenstein 1970 reads, "A Monster For Tomorrow... The New Demon of the Atomic Age!"


Posters courtesy Jean-Claude Michel.


3 comments:

rob! said...

i know i say this every time, but...WOW, WHAT A POSTER!

blue is not a color i'd immediately think to use for a Frankenstein piece but this works so well...

Tim Lucas said...

Incidentally, the "monster" seen in the opening moments of FRANKENSTEIN 1970, and also in bandages later in the film, was played by Mike Lane. Lane also plays one of Karloff's castle caretakers in the movie sans makeup and bandages.

Monsters HD ran the film recently and their scope print was so sharp, I could see that the "monster" not only had claws and hairy hands, but stitching on its wrists. It's an interesting monster, in that it combines the basic physiognomy (and boots) of Universal's monster, the hairy claws of their Wolf Man, and the dragged foot of their Mummy!

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