Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Eric Stevenson This movie features the heart of Frankenstein that later grows into a person. Actually, Frankenstein was the name of the doctor. Actually, he was just a medical student and not a doctor. Whatever, this film has Frankenstein's monster grow into a giant. There's a bunch of destruction going on that's blamed on him, but it's then revealed to be caused by another monster. The effects are really bad.We get these scenes that obviously took place on a bluescreen. You can even see the bits of blue coming out of the sides of the screen. It's pretty typical of a Japanese monster movie. I'll give credit that it is a well paced film. The action is set up pretty well, even though it's bad in execution. I don't know how I missed this for Giant Monster Month. **

Nick Faust Rated 10 because this movie does not deserve the 3.9 rating in has (as of the date of this writing). It's detractors here call is preposterous and unbelievable as if Toho Studios had intended it to be realistic! Well, I'll let you in on a secret: they didn't. I just watched the 2007 DVD release, the 90 minute version that was not shown in the United States. With all the connecting scenes intact, one may follow a particular narrative logic, but its just enough to justify the film's wild, out of this world visuals. For once, this series of films starts out with a very human story. After the pre bomb sequence, we jump to (the film's) present and learn that a boy is scavenging the area for food. It is assumed that he is a casualty of the Atomic Bomb, orphaned and left to fend for himself like an animal. Introducing this character into the world of giant monsters, a genre that Toho exploited after the success of GODZILLA, makes explicit what the other films in this series imply. Add to that, the fact that the boy's blood beats through his veins aided by a heart carried across oceans, from Nazi Germany before the end of World War II. This Frankenstein creature is a child born from the unsettling union of war time villains; World War II's two fallen countries. He has been tossed out into a hostile world, destined to tower over all, feared and shot at, like the creature born of dead bodies imaged by Mary Shelley. The monster foe that Frankenstein eventually fights has been awakened from the earth's core. We first encounter it during an earthquake at an oil rig. The implication is clear. The Toho special effects were rather obvious even back then. But if you settle on the notion that the story itself reaches outside anything realistic, one finds widescreen splendor in the surrealistic visuals that grow more and more operatic as the film progresses.

ferbs54 Well, he may not exactly conquer the world in this picture, but at least he gets off his usual home turf! In the very imaginative opening of "Frankenstein Conquers the World" (1965), you see, the living heart of the Frankenstein monster is taken from Germany at the end of World War II and transported by submarine to Japan, where it is promptly exposed to A-bomb radiation at Hiroshima and eventually grows, to become a giant, gap-toothed male waif. This lumbering doofus (who ultimately reveals himself to be the nimblest, most energetic Frankenstein ever shown on film) soon has a dukeout royale with Baragon, a sort of giant, spiny-backed, (heat?) ray-spewing, burrowing armadillo dinosaur, with no holds barred and no quarter given. Anyway, this picture strikes me as being several cuts above the usual kaiju eiga. It has been fairly handsomely produced, features very adequate FX (despite the Maltin book's claim to the contrary; well, that bucking horse excepted), and makes excellent use of its CinemaScope frame. Director Ishiro Honda, composer Akira Ifukube and the great actor Takashi Shimura, who all contributed so much to the original "Gojira" film in 1954, here bring their talents together again, with highly entertaining results, and American actor Nick Adams does his best playing Dr. James Bowen, a scientist working at the Hiroshima International Institute of Radiotherapentics (sic). The picture offers several striking visuals, none perhaps as impressive as the awesome spectacle of Franky and Baragon going at it with a flaming forest as a backdrop. The pristine-looking DVD from Media Blasters that I just watched offers both the "international" and the "theatrical" versions of the film, which differ only in the final five minutes. I much prefer the "international," if only because we get to see Franky (ridiculously) battle yet another monster in it. Either version, however, should provide an evening's worth of good mindless fun.

Jay Harris My above summary does puzzle me. It could be that those that gave this bottom of barrel ratings saw the dubbed American International Release. the running time was also reduced.I saw this last night(rental from NETFLIX) in Japanese with sub-titles & a 93 minute running time.The correct title is FRANKENSTEIN vs. BARAGONGranted the story line is very hokey, BUT there again MOST films of this type are & make no sense what so ever.I liked the background story, it was at least interesting, I have seen more incredible plot twists than shown here.The American actor Nick Adams has a major role & not just cast for Box-Office reasons.The acting is OK for this type of film. One does not expect award winning performances, same for production values.The special effects are good & final scene is the fight between ThE Monster (a mutant boy )& a giant reptile. we have seen these scenes many times. Nothing new or different..My good thumbs up rating is mainly because I enjoyed it. & that is why we see movies, isn't it, to enjoy them.. So my fellow film buffs, be sure to see the Japanese Version & you will think like I do about this film.Ratings *** (out of 4) 82 points out or 100) IMDb 7 (out of 10)