‘Frankenstein’s Army’ contains all of the elements of a cult classic. Nazi monsters, a twist on a classic character, creatures and monsters aplenty and high levels of gore… and all the elements to make this a dud. Found footage, set amongst the midst of war and a Russian military unit sent to extract more Russian soviets.

 

Fortunately, ‘Frankenstein’s Army’ manages to, for the most part, stay firmly in the former category and all the better for it.

 

When a soviet unit come across an old castle surrounded by evidence of battles and damage, they enter with caution under the directive they are looking for a lost band of soldiers. But what they find inside, may just be the last thing they see. Coming across a corpse connected to the buildings electricity supply, it’s only when they find the generator they quickly realise that in this building, what dies only gets reanimated. And if this wasn’t enough, the walking copses are now more advanced than before with body mods that make the cast of ‘Silent Hill’ look like Cabbage Patch dolls.

 

Least to say there is lots of death and this one cranks the gore level up to 11. If you like your brains ripped from skulls, your intestines dragged across the floor and walking barrels, this film will certainly put a smile on your face.

 

While the cast are pretty one dimensional and manage to do just enough to keep the story rolling, it’s the masked mutations that are the real stars. The raft and imagination placed on Frankenstein’s monsters need merchandise of their own. When (and if) Top Trumps, at books and figurines go on sale, we’re first in the queue.

 

The unfortunate styling of found footage isn’t the best way to capture the effort that has evidently gone into making the sets and characters, it does bring some tense scenes especially when the unit are directing through narrow corridors escaping an ever growing army of claws, machines and hooks. However, what has all but killed off the sub-genre is the unoriginality of using ghosts or zombies and the same scares regurgitated film after film, ‘Frankenstein’s Army’ has nothing to worry about here.

 

After you’ve seen the fearsome army hidden in the castle, the films fals down when it comes to filling out the film more than a costume design. When Frankenstein finally turns up, his tour of the building is nothing short of beautiful, for a horror fan anyhow, and the ending seems to somehow not know how to close the action and is rather abrupt in ending the events. Maybe, and hopefully a part two can be redeemed because these monsters need to return.

 

‘Frankensteins’s Army’ may not be the most terrifying film of the year but it’s certainly the most entertaining and does really well at what it sets out to achieve. Just shut out the outdoors and enter into the most creative and immersive world this side of ‘Oz’.