A super derivative horror movie of the early 60s, the Manster has a title that should go down in history. Not the actual motion picture itself- for all mansters out there, this should be the pioneer. Once there was a man who dreamed himself a manster, and loved it, but now that's gone and the man is awake again...Whoops, had a Fly flashback. At any rate, The Manster is cheesiness indeed, but oddly enough there isn't a good quota. Of course it's funny watching Dynegly cut a rug doing Japanese dance, and seeing the eye pop out of the shoulder (accompanied, whenever there's an itch, by the sound of a whiny harp), or the occasional glimpses of the doctor's ex-wife-cum-womanster. But these are only glimpses of the cheesy and over-the-top like "LEAVE ME ALONE!"
The rest is just old hat: Frankenstein doctor just wanting to make the world a better place with his mansters; Jekyll and Hyde situation (with a little innuendo thrown in as adultery is at least suggested with the 'geisha'); police in pursuit as the manster goes on, back to Frankenstein monster all over again. So it is fun, from time to time, but it's also become turgid over 45 years time, and it's star actor (come to think of it, ALL of the actors) haven't aged well either, with Dynegly coming off like some everyman who doesn't have a lick of conviction in his voice.
Still, it should be required viewing for B-movie buffs, or just those who wonder why this isn't (or is it) included in the MST3000K series. It's got a second head that makes the Zaphod Beeblebrox head in the Hitchhiker's Guide miniseries look like it came from Rick Baker, it's got a climax on a volcano where the split half of the manster is a gorilla (and our hero Larry turns back to normal in a flash!), and it did inspire one of the funniest sequences in the Evil Dead series. Se la vie, Manster!
The rest is just old hat: Frankenstein doctor just wanting to make the world a better place with his mansters; Jekyll and Hyde situation (with a little innuendo thrown in as adultery is at least suggested with the 'geisha'); police in pursuit as the manster goes on, back to Frankenstein monster all over again. So it is fun, from time to time, but it's also become turgid over 45 years time, and it's star actor (come to think of it, ALL of the actors) haven't aged well either, with Dynegly coming off like some everyman who doesn't have a lick of conviction in his voice.
Still, it should be required viewing for B-movie buffs, or just those who wonder why this isn't (or is it) included in the MST3000K series. It's got a second head that makes the Zaphod Beeblebrox head in the Hitchhiker's Guide miniseries look like it came from Rick Baker, it's got a climax on a volcano where the split half of the manster is a gorilla (and our hero Larry turns back to normal in a flash!), and it did inspire one of the funniest sequences in the Evil Dead series. Se la vie, Manster!