The science and the military plan to send astronaut Frank Saunders (Robert Reilly) into space to do some exploring; the catch is that Frank is actually a robot. However, Martian villains, led by icy Princess Marcuzan (Playboy Playmate Marilyn Hanold, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die") and her elfin toady Dr. Nadir (Lou Cutell, a.k.a. Amazing Larry from "Pee-wee's Big Adventure"), have arrived on Earth. The women of their planet have been decimated, and they need Earth women for breeding stock. But they didn't count on Frank, who's turned into a monster after receiving damage from a Martian weapon.

"Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster" is fairly amusing 1960s cheese, and is reasonably entertaining for any schlock lover. It can be dull and talky at times, but it does have some fun moments. Of course, ANY movie that features the late, great James Karen (beloved for playing Frank in "The Return of the Living Dead") as a heroic, Vespa-riding scientist CANNOT be all bad. One of a few people from this production who managed to have a solid career after this, Karen is typically solid. Nancy Marshall is mostly just cute as his associate Karen Grant. Hanold and Cutell are entertaining baddies in the schlock movie tradition. Reilly is adequate as the "Frankenstein" of the title. Another great character actor, Bruce Glover ("Diamonds Are Forever"), has two of his earliest screen roles as he plays both one of the Martians and their pet "spacemonster" Mull (wearing a hilarious, fanged and shaggy costume).

A fair amount of stock footage mixes with new material in what is pretty enjoyable material, at least as far as this kind of movie goes. Ultra-cheap sets and special effects likewise make this endearing to the bad movie fanatic. The makeup on Frank (done by John Alese) isn't bad for a movie filmed over 53 years ago on a $60,000 budget.

Partly set in Puerto Rico, although largely filmed in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Costume designer Anna Hill Johnstone went on to bigger and better things; her 1970s credits include "The Godfather", "Serpico", and "Dog Day Afternoon".

Five out of 10.

Once every so often, you encounter a movie that leaves you completely dumbfounded… With a title like "Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster" you can already safely derive that you won't be seeing a highly intellectual work of cinematic art, but still the film was at least five times as demented as I could ever have imagined! This movie is the epitome of cheap & trashy 60's Sci-Fi/horror. No plot was grotesque enough, no set design looked cheesy enough and you simply didn't have a satisfied drive-in audience if the movie didn't feature any extended footage of dancing bikini girls! There's something ridiculous to behold at any given moment during the film, whether it's a passive acting performance or a hilarious attempt at special effects, and the plot appears to get sillier with every minute that passes. Somewhere just outside the our stratosphere, there's a Martian ship floating around and nuking earth's spaceships because they're war declarations. The Martians are all bald guys with pointy ears and there's one queen who stole Cleopatra's wardrobe. The crew is on a mission to capture earth babes (preferably in bikini) because they urgently need to repopulate their planet! Meanwhile, the pointdexters over at NASA are running out of living astronauts and decide to skyrocket an android into space instead. The android's name is Frank and he looks quite nasty when half his face gets blown off, so his creators inventively nickname him Frankenstein. To make the title fully relevant, there's also a hideous monster aboard the Martian ship that Franky has to overthrow before he can rescue the babes. Put all these crazy plot elements together, add a swinging 60's score and some cardboard scenery, and you've got yourself a genuine drive-in favorite. This movie is probably a very unwise choice if you swear by the repertoires of Sci-Fi luminaries like Andrei Tarkovsky or Stanley Kubrick, but it's a delightful treat for us fanatics of kitschy smut.

In outer space, a Martian spacecraft commanded by Princess Marcuzan (Marilyn Hanold) and her assistant Dr. Nadir (Lou Cutell) is traveling to Earth to abduct women to breed a new race, since an atomic war has annihilated Martian women.

Meanwhile in NASA, Dr. Adam Steele (Jim Karen), his assistant Karen Grant (Nancy Marshall) and General Bowers (David Kerman) are in a press conference presenting the astronaut Colonel Frank Saunders (Robert Reilly), who will participate of an extended space travel on the next morning. However they do not disclose to the press that Colonel Saunders is an android developed by the scientists.

The Martian spacecraft lands on San Juan, in Porto Rico and when they see Saunders's capsule on the air, they believe it is an attack and they shoot the Earth ship down. The android is damaged and wanders on the island scaring people and behaving like Frankenstein. Dr. Steele and Karen head to Porto Rico to rescue the android, while the Martians abduct young women to take them to Mars.

"Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster" is a lame film for the younger generations used to colored movies and special effects. But for me, it is delightful to see since it is a journey to my childhood when I used to see sci-fi films like this one and worshiped National Kid.

This film is comparable with "Plan 9 from Outer Space" and other many famous and is underrated in IMDb. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Frankenstein Contra o Monstro Espacial" ("Frankenstein Against the Space Monster")