Flesh for Frankenstein is a 1973 horror film written and directed by Paul Morrissey. It stars Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Monique van Vooren and Arno Juerging. Interiors were filmed at Cinecittà in Rome by a crew of Italian filmmakers.
In West Germany and the United States, the film was released as Andy Warhol's Frankenstein, though only the title Frankenstein appeared on the print itself, and was presented in the Space-Vision 3D process in premiere engagements. It was rated X by the MPAA due to its explicit sexuality and violence. In the 1970s, a 3-D version played in London and Stockholm. A 3-D version also played in Australia in 1986, along with Blood for Dracula, its obvious pairing. The gruesomeness of the action was intensified in the original release by the use of 3D, with several disembowelments being shot from a perspective such that the internal organs are thrust towards the camera.
Plot[]
Baron von Frankenstein neglects his duties towards his wife/sister Katrin, as he is obsessed with creating a perfect Serbian race to obey his commands, beginning by assembling a perfect male and female from parts of corpses. The doctor's sublimation of his sexual urges by his powerful urge for domination is shown when he utilizes the surgical wounds of his female creation to satisfy his lust. Frankenstein is dissatisfied with the inadequate reproductive urges of his current male creation and seeks a head donor with a greater libido; he also repeatedly exhibits an intense interest that the creature's "nasum" (nose) have a correctly Serbian shape.
As it turns out, a suitably randy farmhand, Nicholas, leaving a local brothel along with his sexually repressed friend, brought there in an unsuccessful attempt to dissuade him from entering a monastery, are spotted and waylaid by the doctor and his henchman, Otto (Arno Jürging); mistakenly assuming that the prospective monk is also suitable for stud duty, they take his head for use on the male creature. Not knowing these behind-the-scenes details, Nicholas survives and is summoned by Katrin to the castle, where they form an agreement that he will gratify her unsatisfied carnal appetites.
Under the control of Frankenstein, the male and female creatures are seated for dinner with the castle's residents, but the male creature shows no signs of recognition of his friend as he serves the doctor and his family. Nicholas realizes at this point that something is awry, but himself pretends not to recognize his friend's face until he can investigate further. After a falling-out with Katrin, who is merely concerned with her own needs, Nicholas goes snooping in the laboratory and is captured by the doctor. Frankenstein muses about using his new acquisition to replace the head of his creature, who is still showing no signs of libido. Nevertheless, Katrin is rewarded for betraying Nicholas by being granted use of the creature for erotic purposes, but is killed during a bout of overly vigorous copulation.
Meanwhile, Otto repeats the doctor's sexual exploits with the female creature, resulting in her graphic disembowelment. Frankenstein returns and, enraged, does away with Otto. When he attempts to have the male creature eliminate Nicholas, however, the remnants of his friend's personality rebel and the doctor is killed in a gruesome fashion. The creature, believing he is better off dead, then disembowels himself. Frankenstein's children, Erik and Monica, then enter the laboratory, pick up a pair of scalpels and proceed to turn the wheel of the crane that is holding Nicholas in mid-air. It is not clear if the scalpels are there in order to release him, or take over where their father left off.