Review of Frankenstein's Army (2013) by Allan C — 26 Apr 2014

Terrifically gonzo low-budget horror flick about a group of Russian soldiers during WWII stumbling upon the good Dr. Frankenstein's army of freakish Nazi monsters. Sadly, the this is yet another found footage film, which I am so tired of, though I suppose it is an okay device for low-budget films to spend their limited funs on others aspects of filming.

In this case, I think the filmmakers spent all their money on creating some of the best monsters I've seen outside of a Guillermo del Toro movie. They're all clearly guys-in-monster-suits, but the costumes are super imaginative and I continued to be excited to see what the next monster would look like; helmets snapping open and shut helmets, propeller heads, giant mechanical claws, long insect-like arms and legs, all dressed in Nazi attire.

There's also some wonderfully icky special effects, if that's your sort of thing. The film plays out like a well made campy SyFy channel movie, but what this film gets right that many similar films, like "Iron Sky," get wrong is that the characters in the film play the ridiculous situation straight and avoid purposefully winking at the audience and acting like they are all in on the big joke.

The film is silly to be sure, but it also manages to be suspenseful and scary, which is exactly what you want for a film of this sort. The only real weak points of the film are a slow start until they finally stumble upon the ritual army, the annoying found footage conceit, and the films small budget.

However, those are all forgivable and the films strengths make it a crazy monster movie that's well worth watching for fans of low-budget horror, Naziploitation or smart horror camp (think "Dead Snow").

This film is writer/director Richard Raaphorst's first feature film and I cannot wait to see what he comes up with next!