Editorials
‘Flesh for Frankenstein’ – The Good Doctor Gets Naughty in This Must-See Exploitation Adaptation
Oh boy. This movie.
Paul Morrisey’s 1973 feature Flesh for Frankenstein (AKA Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein) is quite the dip into genre absurdity. Initially the film may look like a more sexed up Hammer production, but it quickly establishes itself as something far more perverse and darkly comedic than any of Hammer’s stately, gothic curios.
The plot is standard Frankenstein fare, just with a nice dollop of exploitation sleaze thrown into the mix. Played by indomitable international icon Udo Kier, Baron Frankenstein is an openly fascistic figure who is determined to create two perfect “zombies” from pillaged human remains. Once these zombies are complete, he plans to have them mate to create the perfect master race that will obey his every command.
Little does the Baron know that all is not well in the house of Frankenstein, as sexual deviancy and twisted desires work to undermine his grand designs.
Flesh for Frankenstein is campy with a capital C. The dialogue is exceedingly silly and the delivery from the cast is more than a little hysterical throughout.
Considering the film’s tone however, this Grand Guignol of near-farcical proportions feels largely intentional. Morrisey is keen to have you squirm as much as possible and giggle at the absurdity being displayed – sometimes both at once.
The sexuality in Flesh for Frankenstein is the driving theme. Phallic and yonic imagery abound in the film – one particular visual gag during the climax involving a wooden pike and an internal organ is so loaded with meaning I genuinely laughed out loud.
The good doctor is married to his own sister Katrin (Monique van Voreen) in a loveless relationship that bore them two children. Neither party are particularly interested in fulfilling their carnal desires with each other and seek it through other means – all the while casting damnation and judgment on everybody else’s sexual choices. Katrin lords her status about the castle, chastising hired hands for their sexual proclivities all the while indulging in her own under the nose of her husband-brother.
Frankenstein isn’t just interested in building his master race, he is also interested in screwing it. Literally. “To know death, Otto – you have to f**k life! In the gallbladder!”
For 1973, the sexual acts depicted in the film are enough to give you the vapors if you weren’t prepared beforehand.
While hardly the most explicit or shocking genre film to deal with the themes of death and sex, Flesh for Frankenstein still packs enough queasy perversity to make you uneasy.
Underneath the nudity, overacting, and vibrant splashes of gore – just what is Flesh for Frankenstein about?
Paul Morrisey hailed from Warhol’s Factory, so it’s safe to assume the social satire present in this film is no fluke. The narrative plays as one big piss take on the hypocrisy and moral decay of the wealthy elite.
Throughout the film both the Baron and Katrin are seen exploiting and manipulating the working class for their own gain. The two quite literally see these people as nothing but flesh to do with as they will. The Baron is convinced of his own ethnic and intellectual superiority and feels it is his innate right to conquer and rule. Morrisey takes the principle Frankenstein conceit Mary Shelley introduced in her seminal novel and stretches it to its extreme conclusion with all the trimmings lovers of exploitation cinema groove to.
If you haven’t seen Flesh for Frankenstein, do yourself a favor and seek it out. It’s full to bursting with camp entertainment, delightful gore gags, and enough satirical merit make it stand severed heads and maimed torsos above many other Frankenstein adaptations.
You can grab Flesh for Frankenstein in 4K Ultra HD from Vinegar Syndrome.
Comics
‘Spider-Noir’ Comic Changes Explained: How the TV Series Reinvents Marvel’s Darkest Spider-Man
A little while back, I wrote an article chronicling the Hellraiser franchise’s affinity for Film Noir and touched on how that genre has, historically, always been connected to horror.
This connection can be observed in everything from the cannibalistic serial killers of Frank Miller’s Sin City to the disturbing criminal plots fueling neo-noir thrillers like Stuart Gordon’s underrated King of the Ants. That’s why it came as no surprise when I finally sat down to watch all eight episodes of Prime Video’s recently released Spider-Noir series and was confronted with plenty of classic horror tropes.
What did come as a surprise, however, was how showrunners Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot approached these horror elements when compared to the 2009 comic book that the show is based on. From the heavily altered rogue’s gallery to an equally terrifying yet completely different origin story for Nicolas Cage’s take on the webslinger, there are plenty of changes here that I feel might be of interest to genre fans.
With that in mind, I’d like to invite readers to take a closer look at all the adjustments that Spider-Noir made to the story in order to bring this incarnation of Spider-Man to life in all of its monochromatic glory (unless you watched the True-Hue color version of the show, in which case you’ll be treated to a surprisingly comic-booky palette that you don’t usually see on television).
The Dark Origins of Marvel’s Spider-Man Noir
Our first order of business should be to examine the origins of the Noir comics themselves. Originally published as part of the Marvel Noir alternate universe that reimagined several characters as hard-boiled crime-fighters, Spider-Man Noir became the most successful book in the entire run. This highly politicized story about Peter Parker coming to terms with the capitalist evils of the Great Depression seemed to have struck a nerve with audiences looking for a darker take on the wall-crawler, which is likely why we’d soon see several sequel stories as well as a video game adaptation of the character in 2010’s underrated Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.
Of course, it wasn’t just Spider-Man’s darker disposition that made this version of the character a hit, as 1930s New York City was depicted as being much more hostile than what we generally see in the standard Marvel Universe. From Peter’s powers coming from an Eldritch Spider God that spawns man-eating arachnids to Vulture being an ex-Freak-Show Gimp with a taste for human flesh, you can definitely understand why this Web-Head isn’t pulling his punches.
Unfortunately, this alternate universe was a little too popular for its own good, with each subsequent sequel/adaptation further diluting the political anger and classic horror influences that fueled the original comic-book run in order to appeal to a wider audience. Spider-Man Noir was nearly unrecognizable once we got to the Spider-Verse crossover that turned the character into a household name, though this would at least lead to an interesting adaptation in 2018.
The Classic Horror Influences Hidden Throughout Spider-Noir
Jack Huston as Sandman in ‘Spider-Noir’
When Phil Lord and Chris Miller finally translated Spider-Man Noir to the big screen, with Nicolas Cage bringing the character to life in an unexpected case of pitch-perfect casting, he was still mostly relegated to comic relief as his nazi-punching antics and over-the-top edginess were played for laughs. However, while this version of the character had little to do with the comics that spawned him, Spider-Noir’s newfound popularity eventually resulted in the announcement of a darker live-action spin-off – a spin-off that I was cautiously optimistic about.
While the showrunners ultimately decided to go in a completely different direction than the 2009 comic, the new team of writers appeared to understand Noir as a genre in ways that even the folks at Marvel Noir couldn’t quite grasp. That’s likely why 2026’s Spider-Noir boasts plenty of horror elements, just not in ways we’ve seen them before.
The series is obviously borrowing tropes and aesthetics from period-accurate monster movies, with Universal’s 1930s output being a particularly big influence. From the re-imagining of Sandman and Tombstone as tragic figures to The Spider even being operated on by a mad scientist with hilariously antiquated techniques, this bizarre collection of super-powered freaks could have easily shown up in a classic creature feature.
The scares aren’t all retro, however, as the showrunners also injected plenty of body-horror into the mix during their attempt at unifying the origin stories for all these larger-than-life characters. Hell, the Spider himself is now revealed to have gained his powers after being bitten by a half-mutated Man-Spider during World War I, and the aforementioned mad scientist keeps a disturbing collection of failed experiments in her basement, proving that not all of her patients were lucky enough to simply gain superpowers after being experimented on.
Nicolas Cage Reinvents Spider-Man Noir for Television
Ben Reilly/Spiderman (Nicolas Cage) in SPIDER-NOIR
Photo: Aaron Epstein/Prime
© Amazon Content Services LLC
I also really appreciate how Cage insists on depicting Ben Reilly as an arachnid trapped inside of a human body, with his uncanny physical performance and classic Hollywood impressions keeping your eyes glued to the screen while also providing some of the show’s funniest moments.
I still think it’s a shame that the character is no longer politically motivated, and I miss the detail about Uncle Ben having been cannibalized by Vulture after his social activism ruffled too many feathers, but at least this time our protagonist actually feels like someone who could have been written by Raymond Chandler if he were a fan of Superheroes.
In fact, the writers nailed the snappy back-and-forth that Noir authors like Dashiel Hammett used to refer to as the “riposte”, and it’s fun to see supervillains being depicted as horrific movie monsters instead of specialized henchmen – with The Spider feeling like just as much of a Freak Show attraction as the rest of them. Purists might be put off by the lack of reverence for the source material, but I think that’s a small price to pay when even the show’s most clichéd moments intentionally harken back to the golden age of Hollywood.
That’s why I’d argue that Amazon’s Spider-Noir isn’t really an adaptation, but rather an equally valid take on the same premise that inspired Marvel back in 2009. And in a world filled with recycled storylines that only serve to advertise future releases, I’d rather have two completely different visions of the same character than a straight-up retelling of the same handful of ideas.
At the end of the day, there’s enough space inside this comic fan’s heart for both man-eating Vultures and a Cronenberg-inspired Man-Spider. And if you’re also a fan of nostalgic creature features with comic book flair, I’d highly recommend this street-level superhero story with a spooky twist.
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