WTF? Frankenstein’s Army (2013)

               

                “Frankenstein’s Army” is the rare horror war movie.  As though war is not horrible enough, right?  This hybrid of two genres is a Netherlands film that was directed by Richard Raaphorst.  It was his first feature length film.  It stars no one you have ever heard of.  They did not spend the production money on actors.  The movie is of the “found footage” school.  It is reminiscent of “84 Charlie MoPic”.

                The movie starts with a Soviet patrol behind enemy lines in Nazi Germany in the latter days of WWII.  They are accompanied by a documentarian named Dmitri who is filming and interviewing them along the way.  Their mission is to locate the source of a radio distress call from a surrounded Soviet unit.  When they reach the site, they discover a pile of nun corpses.  The nearby church is some type of bizarre factory.  In it they encounter a weird monster which kills their commander.  Dmitri reveals that the real mission is to find and capture a Nazi scientist who is creating “zombots” for Hitler.  The monsters come in a wide variety and are increasingly jawdropping.  Some that were featured included:  wall zombot, crypt monster, moxquito, machete, dragger, propellerhead, grinder, and razor teeth.  There is one with a propeller for a face.  All of them are belligerent.  The basement of the “factory” is a maze in the best tradition of a cinematic haunted house.  The claustrophobic setting lends itself to some gonzo action scenes.  Doctor Frankenstein (a descendant of you know who) is moving on to an experiment that attempts to combine the brain of a Nazi and the brain of a communist.  What could be worse?  Let me suggest the combining of the brain of a war movie lover with that of a horror movie fan.

                “Frankenstein’s Army” is a throwback to the old drive-in movies.  It is weird and different.  And entertaining if you are of the right frame of mind.  Since I do not watch a lot of found footage movies, I found the POV to be intriguing.  Without it, the movie would have been nothing special.  Oh, that and the monsters.  Amazingly, no CGI was used to create the creatures.  Whoever designed them must be hell to sleep with.  One thing is for sure – most of the budget was spent on the monsters.  Little was left for the cast.  The actors are stiffer than the creatures.  The movie does not bother with character development, but who cares when you have such cool monsters?  Although the movie fits into the “who will survive?” subgenre, I did not care who would survive.  And that was not because they were godless communists.  The movie makes up for plot with gore and violence.  It is pretty graphic and bloody.  For example, Dr. Frankenstein removes the skull of a living person and then plays with the brain.  Don’t eat anything while watching this movie!  You really can’t ask for much from a movie like this, but it could have used a little humor to add to the camp value.  It takes itself a bit too seriously.  I guess the director did not want death threats from the zombotics.  On the surprising side, it is not very clicheish or predictable.  It could care less about females, children, or rabbits in distress.

                I rewatched “Frankenstein’s Army” since I recently watched the similarly plotted “Overlord”.  It is the better movie, although it did not get a major release and was not associated with JJ Abrams.  It is simply more fun and horrific.  I could not believe what I was seeing most of the time. 

Grade =  B