Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

Lady Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 25, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Severin's Danza Macabra: Volume One — The Italian Gothic Collection.

Severin has fired up its trusty candelabra and gone exploring in another bunch of nooks and crannies in whatever castle it keeps it stash of Italian Gothic horror films, and come up with this interesting quartet of offerings, two from the mid-sixties and two from the early seventies, though rather interestingly given this set's title of Danza Macabre, there's no inclusion of Castle of Blood, which, as of the writing of this review, is available only as a bonus feature on Severin's release of Nightmare Castle. While the films themselves in this set may be hit and/or miss for some (maybe even many), they all have moodiness and even style on occasion, and as usual, Severin has aggregated some really interesting supplemental features to help sweeten the pot (cauldron?). The fact that this collection has been branded with a noticeable Volume One probably suggests more exploring in dim, dusty, cobweb laden corners may be in store, though wearing sheer negligees may be optional, based on your own preferences with regard to apparel.

There may be the most perceived "marquee value" to this offering in the Danza Macabre set, at least for American filmgoers who will probably instantly recognize the name of Joseph Cotten, and perhaps (at least if they're trivia buffs) that of director Mel Welles, not to mention Roger Corman. Cotten is on hand, if relatively briefly, as this film's version of Baron Frankenstein, who in this case happens to have a rather gorgeous daughter named Tania (Rosalba Neri, billed as Sara Bay). Perhaps a bit like the focal female in Scream of the Demon Lover, Tania is not your everyday shrinking violet "damsel in distress", but a dedicated scientist herself, and of course given this film's title, it's not hard to predict that she's ultimately going to follow her infamous father's footsteps into the "family business".

If Scream of the Demon Lover at least hinted at a little kinkiness, suffice it to say that Lady Frankenstein "goes there" (and then some), as Tania decides to play what might be described as the "flip side" of The Bride of Frankenstein, in that she creates her own "boy toy" which combines the brain of a brilliant but aged scientist with the body of a hunky manchild who has been the Baron's assistant.

Lady Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Lady Frankenstein is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The back cover of this release touts that this is the film's "first official North American release, restored uncut from the negative" and that this was "scanned in 2K from the original negative". This is a very appealing looking transfer for the most part, though perhaps because I watched this right after the extremely grainy 16mm presentation of Scream of the Demon Lover, this had a slightly filtered look at times, despite an at least intermittently visible grain field. As with the other color presentation in this set, the palette is one of the strong points here, with a nicely burnished quality that may skew ever so slightly toward kind of rust red browns. Detail on some of the nicely appointed sets and costumes is generally excellent.

Lady Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Lady Frankenstein offers Italian or English language options delivered in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. There's not a huge difference between these tracks, other than the obvious spoken elements, though I found the Italian track to be ever so slightly fuller sounding. That may be offset by the English track's offering of Joseph Cotten's memorable voice, for what that's worth. Both tracks offer problem free reproductions of dialogue, effects and score. Optional English subtitles are available.

Lady Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Kat Ellinger, Author of Daughters of Darkness, and Annie Rose Malamet, Film Scholar and Host of Girls, Guts, Giallo


• Audio Commentary with Alan Jones, Author of Dario Argento: The Man, The Myths & The Magic, and Kim Newman, Author of Nightmare Movies


• Meet the Baroness (HD; 21:48) features actress Rosalba Neri and film historian Fabio Melelli. Subtitled in English.


• Piecing Together Lady Frankenstein (HD; 35:18) features Julain Grainger discussing the history of the film and offering information about some of the people involved in the production.


• The Lady and the Orgy (HD; 8:08) is a documentary about director Mel Welles (whom fans will know also acted).


• The Truth About Lady Frankenstein (2007) (HD; 43:57) is a German TV documentary. Subtitled in English.


• Clothed Insert Shots (HD; 2:56) comes with some informational text about these reportedly never before seen snippets.


• Video Short Illustrating BBFC Censorship Cuts (HD; 2:52) also includes some explanatory text.


• Italian Opening Credits (HD: 2:42)


• Bigfilm Magazine (1971) - Italian Lady Frankenstein Photo Novel (HD; 2:39) is authored to auto advance, and comes with a warning to have your pause button handy if you want to linger on any given page.


• Extensive Image Gallery (HD; 5:38)


• Home Video Gallery (HD; 5:38) pointed to the same Extensive Image Gallery as directly above, which may indicate a production error that occurred at some point along the way, if I didn't get a faulty disc.


• Radio Spots (HD; 1:33)


• TV Spot (HD; 00:27)


• Trailers (HD; 5:44)

Lady Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Those with more prim and proper sensibilities may want to steer clear of this "liberated" enterprise, but it offers another kind of proto-feminist heroine doing her own thing, in more ways than one. Technical merits are generally solid, and this disc has the most abundant and impressive array of supplements in the Danza Macabre collection. Recommended.