From my favorite movies..

Excellent adaptation.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

I couldn't understand a damned thing anyone was saying in this ugly, occasionally-imaginative horror flick. Didn't stop me. I just watched.Remember the Nazi Pig-Troopers who come crashing into David Kessler's house in An American Werewolf in London? Multiply those squealing nasties by about a dozen--and sprinkle in the one critter from the various Hellraisers with the clicking, chomping choppers-- and you've got the latest creations by the fashionista of Fascism, Dr. Viktor Frankenstein (crazy as his cousin, Peter Cushing). I loved the first Zombot-thingy that the Soviet soldiers find in the generator room. That one scared me--androgynous, sightless, totally aware, and, well, yech!I found moments of real horror mixed in with the film. One of the Russian squad members is a psychopath. We'd like to think he runs his fighting knife into a whimpering woman's chest cavity because he wants to put her out of her third-degree pain, but we know he just wanted to shut her up, to tie up a loose end before moving on. That was the most unpleasantly believable moment in this sci-fier. As the Roosians dig deeper into this convent from hell, we get to see ever-weirder creations from Frankenco Enterprises (I loved the one with the propeller for a face--vroom!) and, even though what little story there was breaks down, and is replaced by guts, gore, and, I swear, Karo Syrup for brain lube, I couldn't help but watching to see who-- or what--makes it out of Viktor's Haus of Horrors.I just sat there with my mouth hanging open, guffawing and eeyoooing when the one soldier (unarmed--sorry) keeps fungooing Dr. Frank cuz that's all he can throw at him, when the Polish noncom gets a new outlook on the blending of Marxism and Hitlerian goose-stepping, and when it looks as if the only uninjured squad member is about to lose something vital, not by Frankenstein's hands but by Soviet artillery.It all made just about zero sense--and there were so many fun things the art director could have cooked up in order to add to the freakshowism of Frankenstein's Army--but by the end, I had given up on worrying about that which was lackluster and thought about how R2-D2 would look in a coal-scuttle helmet and a German greatcoat.What makes Frankenstein's Army lose its battle is the fact that Viktor's creations aren't recognizably human (for the most part). If you've struggled through Mary Shelley's novel or seen a bunch of movies (including the NBC movie from 1973), you know that the story of Frankenstein's creature works because the audience feels sorry for it, wants its pain to be assuaged. Here, the monsters are just another variation of zombies. We feel no pain for them--even the ones who look sort of human--and therefore, we don't care for them. Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't want to meet the creature from the novel or Michael Sarrazin as his face starts to unravel in the TV- movie way back when, but I felt sorry for all the moaning, screeching critters, in the 1930 original to one of those poor dumb things Peter Cushing cooked up and then had to cook.It's weird. I think I wanted more campiness. You know . . . Ziggy Disgust.

I love horror movies from the great ones to the cheesy, but this movie is truly one of the worst films I've ever seen. Now I hear you thinking to yourself, is it really that bad? Please allow me give you synopsis of what to expect, without giving any spoilers. The worst part of this film was the shaky, found footage style, hand-held camera work. The camera couldn't be any shakier if it was bolted on to a jackhammer being run during an earthquake. This is honestly the worse camera work I've ever seen. The opening 10 minutes of the film I was actually starting to feel nauseous from the way it shook and whirled around. Make sure you have your Dramamine handy if you decided to watch this film or you may feel as if you're on a small ship in the middle of El Nino.The "monsters" in this movie are just guys in rubber suits that are supposed to be some sort of steam-punk-esque Nazi zombies. Now this is not a new concept by any means, but this is certainly the worst that I've ever seen presented. The monsters waddle around like creatures from an old Godzilla movie from the 1950's or a alien from the original Star Trek series. It's downright comical at times how they shuffle and wildly swing their arms about hitting nothing. My grandmother would like a track star if she was in this film. Normally I love practical effects, but this film makes a strong argument for the use of CGI, even if it's bad Sci-Fi/SyFy Channel, made for TV movie, levels of CGI. If even some computer graphics had been used to enhance the monsters, it might have looked presentable, but instead we're left with guys in cos play style, comic con/haunted house, costumes chasing people around in well lit areas. The result is it just looks like a guy in a foam rubber suit who's legs and arms have fallen asleep and can't see out of his Halloween costume while he's having a stroke. The only even slightly redeeming quality of the film is the 1940's camera that the camera operator uses manually flips between different lenses for an interesting effect. This vintage camera effect too comes at a price, however. There are constant "film effects" such as frame skipping, bad gating, and other various visual "noise" that one would expect if filming on a hand-held 8mm camera such as grainy looks, scratches and dirt on the film, etc. This novelty quickly wears out it's welcome like the 100th time you heard that Chumbawumba song about getting knocked down in the 90's. The sound of the film also suffers from the simulated short comings of a vintage camera, such are hearing the whirring effects of the reels, the sound sometimes becomes muffled and unintelligible due to the camera's poor microphone which gets banged around a lot, The other sound effects in the film appear to have been lifted from various sound effects CD's that were purchased from clearance bins at the local Halloween super store.Then there's the plot, which is predictable and boring. I won't spoil anything here, but there's nothing earth shattering. No big surprises. No twists. Bruce Willis does not turn out to have been dead the entire time. The worst offense of the film however, is it's inability to recognize itself. Instead of having some fun with it's low budget presentation and providing a wink to the audience hear or a slight gag there, it instead tries to present itself as a serious film throughout. The lack of self awareness is painful at times. Instead of feeling as if I was laughing with the director or sharing his vision, I felt as if I was cringing like I was watching a wedding guest give a toast that turned into his blackout, drunken confession of love to the uncomfortable bride.Watch this movie at your own peril. It has all the charm of a made for TV, low budget, B movie from 80's. Just without the campy fun parts.

I must admit, the concept of World War II found footage film, although slightly absurd, makes for an interesting back story. The execution, however, is downright preposterous. Visual looks intentionally grainy, and while this may represent the antique vibe, it's not very pleasing to witness. Plot and characters are corny, quite predictably so since a mesh of mockumentary set in war time and the namesake Frankenstein doesn't ensure gritty realism. However, as it gains momentum, the movie manages to grab my attention with some truly bizarre gory scenes.Story follows a team of Russian recon as they ventures to a desolated village where, as the name suggests, an enigmatic army is being assembled. Unbeknownst to them, Nazi isn't the main threat to their earthly continuity as odd occurrences and clues are found along the village. The very movie itself oozes B-movie air, the old filter is a poor excuse for the muddy graphic. The main disbelief is the cast as these so-called soldiers, they lack fundamental discipline and seems to be in much disarray to be a reconnaissance team in the first place.Costumes of the titular army are completely strange. Perhaps it tries to display a creature so close to be human but still not nearly enough to be viewed as one, but they come off like the rejects from circus or modern art gallery. One even has fan for head, at least that's a point scored for authenticity. With everything is done by CG, these real life looking monster uses their odd nature as strength. Even though there isn't much characterization or convincing plot, the latter arc is still interesting. Tension rises significantly as they face their fate and some mysteries are deciphered.The use of gore is silly, excessively so. They applied generous amount of fake limbs and blood to various scenes. This approach is a bit shameless, but surprisingly competent later on. Its reliance of heavy gore and many plot holes throughout the movie makes it just barely a watchable horror flick. Addition of the found footage gimmick, while it has some perks, but ultimately it's not compelling enough to add anything new.Thanks to its more vivid third act, Frankenstein's Army is a barely decent horror film.

This is a found footage indie horror film about a group of Russian soldiers on a mission in Germany during the last days of World War II. Believing themselves to be on a mission to rescue a group of fellow soldiers, things start turning weird when they discover the skeleton of a "something. Soon they encounter a pile of burnt nuns and believe it to be the work of those evil Nazis. Nothing would prepare them for what they are about to encounter, though, as they find the lair of a mad scientist who's been creating an army of bio-mechanical monsters for the Nazi regime. All of this is filmed by one of the Russians, who is supposed to be capturing events for propaganda production.Many people complain about the found footage aspect, but I'm not going to waste my time on that. Look people, if you know a movie is found footage going into it and you know you hate that style, just don't watch it. Why go to an Italian restaurant, then complain that they served Italian food if you know what I mean? The style is not going to go away and it's an effective tool for low-budget horror directors, so get used to it.Clearly, the strength of this movie is the creature designs. The monsters created by Dr. Frankenstein are simply amazing. Each one is completely unique, with its' own look and weapons, coming across as the hellish hybrid of Clive Barker and Silent Hill. The movie never really establishes any real atmosphere or scares, but does carry with it a very nightmarish quality due to these monsters. Where some movies would be content to make them all similar this movie really unravels like a nightmare, as each monster is more horrifying than the last.The problem with this movie is a real lack of plot or momentum. The beginning of the movie is fairly forgettable, giving us random sequences of soldiers trooping through towns or woods. Occasionally, they encounter something bizarre, but these events never really build any mood. The director misses a real chance to create a feeling that something ominous is coming. Instead, it feels like a generic war movie that suddenly changes gears without warning.Once the soldiers enter the bunker of Dr. Frankenstein, the monsters revealing themselves. At this point, the movie really starts to feel like a walk through a haunted house attraction to me. There is little dialog beyond "look behind you, aaaiiieee". There is no real plot development going on. There is no gradual establishment of atmosphere. The found footage aspect does not help this, either, because the camera is very often one angle, one perspective. The end result is that it truly feels like you are the viewer walking through a scary theme park attraction. Each corner and turn reveals a new scene, or a new monster, all of which are impressive, but you never feel that there's a connection from scene to scene, it's just moving on from one to the other. Many have compared this to a first-person shooter game, which would, also, be an apt comparison. Even when we finally meet the doctor, this trend continues. There is a little exposition into why or how he is doing these things, but it generally only serves to continue this trend of cutting from one monster scene to another, with little to connect them.There is a review on RogerEbert.com which states that this movie feels more like a promo reel than a finished product and it's true. It's almost like the creature designers sent a production company this reel with the intention of "look at these creatures we've designed for a potential movie", then someone just tacked on a beginning and said "that's a wrap, release it". As an advertisement for what this creature efx company is capable of doing, it's impressive. As a movie, it leaves a lot to be desired.