Tales of Frankenstein Blu Ray Review (Leomark Studios)

Tales of Frankenstein is a 2018 horror anthology written, executive produced, and directed by Donald F. Glut (The Adventures of the Spirit, Hollywood Goes Ape!, Dinosaur Valley Girls, The Vampire Hunters Club, The Erotic Rites of Countess Dracula, The Mummy’s Kiss franchise, Countess Dracula’s Orgy of Blood, Dances with Werewolves, Blood Scarab, and Dinosaur Movies). It was produced by Edward L. Plumb (Voyeur Eyes Only, Auteur, The Last Act, The Erotic Rites of Countess Dracula, Boogie with the Undead, Her Morbid Desires, Dances with Werewolves, The Dead Undead, and Alien Hunger). “My Creation, My Beloved” follows a deformed descendant of Victor Frankenstein named Dr. Gregore Frankenstein (played by: Buddy Daniels Friedman from 2 Broke Girls, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Cheers, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, and Dollman) that creates the perfect man and woman in a risky experiment. Next in “Crawler from the Grave” has one of Frankenstein descendant’s Helmut Frankenstein (played by: Swamp Thing creator Len Wein from The Laughing Dead, Savageland, and X-Men: Days of Future Past) disembodied and plague-infected arm that returns from the grave for brutal revenge. After that, there’s “Madhouse of Death” that has a private detective Jack Anvil (played by: Jamisin Matthews from Will and Grace) that winds up in an old dark house filled with crazed loonies and a mysterious gorilla lead by the sadistic Dr. Mortality (played by: Mel Novak from Black Belt Jones, The Ultimate Warrior, Game of Death, An Eye for an Eye, Force: Five, and A Force of One). Finally, we have “Dr. Karnstein’s Creation” when a mad scientist Dr. Karnstein (played by: Jim Tavaré from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Californication, KillJoy franchise, The Houses October Built, I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu, and The Sketch Show) creates a vicious monster in vampire-haunted Transylvania with gruesomely unexpected results after it’s achieved. What will happen next for the legacy for the infamous Frankenstein???? Donald F. Glut was mainly known for writing for television for such projects as Shazam!, Land of the Lost, RoboCop, The Scooby-Doo Show, X-Men, The Transformers, G.I. Joe, Spider-Man, and Super Friends back in the day before he started making his own low budget features. All 4 of these short stories are from his book “Tales of Frankenstein”. I never expected to see an entire horror anthology based on the legendary Frankenstein and his iconic monster. It has a nice variety of different concepts and shorts here. It covers several sub-genres and themes. I think it’s goes from the best to the worst in the order that they actually appear for Tales of Frankenstein. My Creation, My Beloved was my personal favorite. It could have easily be adapted into a full length. Crawler from the Grave was the next best entry from this independent production. It had a familiar revenge aspect to it. I honestly thought Madhouse of Death and Dr. Karnstein’s Creation could been much better but I did appreciate how they both stood out of their own. Character actor Mel Novak as the psychotic Dr. Mortality had the best performance in this. He kinda had a Boris Karloff vibe to him in Tales of Frankenstein. So there’s so many familiar faces and names when it comes to the cast. It has some cameos from Len Wein, Buddy Daniels Friedman, Jamisin Matthews, Jim Tavaré, Beverly Washburn (Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told), Ann Robinson (The War of the Worlds), T.J. Storm (Mortal Kombat), Jerry Lacy (Dark Shadows), Stanley Dyrector (Two Thousand Maniacs!), John Blyth Barrymore (Trick or Treats), Eliot (Stand and Deliver), Tatiana Neva (Rush Hour), Justin Hoffmeister (Unusual Suspects), Jena Sims (Dexter), Lilly Lev (Acceleration), Douglas Tait (Hellboy), Tad Atkinson (Star Trek), Robert Axelrod (The Blob), Ashley Caple (General Hospital), Linda Bella (Tropic Thunder), Serena Sun (Slim Crazy), Ban-ya Choi (The Blood Bond), Amy Shi (Shameless), Frank Arend (Nosferatu), Kevin Caliber (Future Man), Adam Meir (Ray Donovan), and Scott Fresina (Angel with a Gun). It has a variety of descendants from the infamous Victor Frankenstein that are all connected in some way. For such a smaller feature, Tales of Frankenstein has some impressive special fx from artist John Goodwin (The Thing, Critters, Legend, The Incredible Hulk franchise, Men in Black, and Spaceballs). Those are some of the biggest highlights when it comes to this. It has everything from Body Horror, Revenge, Noir, Science Fiction, Drama, and Dark Comedy are displayed during these segments. I do wish it had a better flow and pace to it because it does drag a little bit at times. Tales of Frankenstein reminds of that old school Hammer Films atmosphere with their gothic vibes. It doesn’t shy away from being campy and it fit all of the elements here. It’s a no budget production but they used their money wisely where it was needed. I think it’s much better than it’s reputation. It’s an excellent love letter to the Frankenstein universe!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Leomark Studios! This 1080p (2.35 :1) transfer looks bigger than it’s actual budget. It changes it’s cinematography for a variety of different styles for each unique segment for Tales of Frankenstein plus the special fx are better than expected so they are the best aspects of the grotesque visuals. It has an English: Dolby Digital 5.1 track on the disc. The score really shines when it comes to this department. All of the dialogue is crystal clear, the chaos is elevated, and the music has a nice boost to it. It has an “Audio Commentary” with Donald F. Glut, Edward L. Plumb, John Goodwin, and Tony Malanowski. Glut explains his logo and production company name. He says that it was already supposed to be done by someone else but it fell through so he decided to direct it himself. They chat about it originally having 5 stories instead of 4 but they had to cut it down to 4. They talk about the cast, characters, crew, locations, special fx, using real brains, and various things from Tales of Frankenstein. It’s very detailed with their information and inside stories about this horror anthology. The extras here are a little strange. They all play after the movie. It has a little over 40 minutes total between all of these. It has the “Die Monster Die”. It has “Amateur Videos”. It has then”Radio Drama 1″. It has the “Radio Drama 2”. Lots of different material related to this production shows up after it’s over. It’s a professionally made on demand BD-R. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!