# Name this Frankenstein adaption from late 70s or early 80s, maybe made for TV, modern setting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 24, 2017, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614 "2017-08-24T23:40:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/1 "2017-08-24T23:40:43Z")
My memory is that it took place in modern times, and the “monster” was created by accident when a doctor put together donated organs/parts I think just for long-term storage, not expecting it to “wake up”. Kinda sure it was made for TV (not 100 percent). ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/2 "2017-08-25T00:24:06Z")
Could it be Mr. Stitch? From 1995 but otherwise fits a lot of your criteria–made for TV, modern setting, then again I’d assume you’d have remembered Rutger Hauer and Wil Wheaton being in it but you never know. > **[Mr. Stitch (TV Movie 1995) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113864/reference)** > > Mr. Stitch (TV Movie 1995) Reference View ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/3 "2017-08-25T00:27:53Z")
Don’t think so, but thanks **SmartAleq** ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/4 "2017-08-25T00:30:14Z")
There was a Michael Sarrazin-starring movie of the week called [Frankenstein: The True Story](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070074/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_50) that pings some, but not all, of your search criteria. It was set in its familiar period. And despite its purple title, it was a worse than average adaptation of the novel. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/5 "2017-08-25T00:39:50Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > There was a Michael Sarrazin-starring movie of the week called [Frankenstein: The True Story](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070074/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_50) that pings some, but not all, of your search criteria. It was set in its familiar period. And despite its purple title, it was a worse than average adaptation of the novel. And sadly, written by Christopher Isherwood. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/6 "2017-08-25T00:57:15Z")
Don’t think it’s that one either, but thanks **Horatio Hellpop** ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/7 "2017-08-25T01:02:20Z")
Something like … this, perhaps? [Doctor Franken](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080639/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_110) > [@](#): > > Manhattan surgeon Franken rebuilds the broken body of a John Doe patient with spare parts. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/8 "2017-08-25T01:04:52Z")
Very possibly!!! > [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Something like … this, perhaps? > > [Doctor Franken](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080639/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_110) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/9 "2017-08-25T01:25:06Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > And sadly, written by Christopher Isherwood. No SHIT? My god, how embarrassing. I watched that on teevee when I was about 13 and into my Universal Movie Monster Worship period, and I couldn’t believe how shitty it was. Except for the Creation Scene, in which Frankenstein used solar power instead of lightning. That was really cool. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/10 "2017-08-25T11:45:02Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > And sadly, written by Christopher Isherwood. Not really surprising, considering the the gay subtext in that version. Handled with all the deftness of a cadaver plopped down on a seesaw. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/11 "2017-08-25T13:27:54Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > There was a Michael Sarrazin-starring movie of the week called [Frankenstein: The True Story](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070074/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_50) that pings some, but not all, of your search criteria. It was set in its familiar period. And despite its purple title, it was a worse than average adaptation of the novel. At the age of 12, I fell in love with Michael Sarrazin after watching this movie! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/12 "2017-08-25T13:56:51Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > My memory is that it took place in modern times, and the “monster” was created by accident when a doctor put together donated organs/parts I think just for long-term storage, not expecting it to “wake up”. > > Kinda sure it was made for TV (not 100 percent). This sounds like it might be confused recollection of **Frankenhooker** , in which a bunch or Spare Hooker Parts (don’t ask) are stored in a back room and get zapped to life as a monstrous conglomeration of butts, boobs, and legs. It was Frank Henenlotter’s essential remake of _The Head/Brain that Wouldn’t Die_ , the surprisingly gory 1960s flick that MST3K eventually hacked. That movie, too, features a Creature in the Back Room, only it was purposely created, and not from spare boobs and legs and such. (Henenlotter’s film actually featured something that only appeared on the poster for The Head That Wouldn’t Die – a Brain in a Jar with a single huge eyeball in the front) > **[Frankenhooker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenhooker)** > > Frankenhooker is a 1990 American black comedy horror film directed by Frank Henenlotter. Very loosely inspired by Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, the film stars James Lorinz as medical school dropout Jeffrey Franken and former Penthouse Pet Patty Mullen as the title character. > Jeffrey Franken, a young man who lives in New Jersey, is a worker at a power plant and a scientist who specializes in bioelectricity. He is about to marry his fiancée Elizabeth. At the ... > **[The Brain That Wouldn't Die](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brain_That_Wouldn%27t_Die)** > > The Brain That Wouldn't Die (also known as The Head That Wouldn't Die or The Brain That Couldn't Die) is a 1962 American science fiction horror film directed by Joseph Green and written by Green and Rex Carlton. The film was completed in 1959 under the working title The Black Door but was not theatrically released until May 3, 1962, under its new title as a double feature with Invasion of the Star Creatures. > The film focuses upon a mad doctor who develops a means of keeping human body parts al... Brain with Eyeball from Frankenhooker [![](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XjD2Z8mmdrY/Vyr98RNd9bI/AAAAAAAAGAc/bKv7K5G2lrAczoC10eyEnhV94-Se6cPYACLcB/s1600/frankenhooker-2.jpg) ](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XjD2Z8mmdrY/Vyr98RNd9bI/AAAAAAAAGAc/bKv7K5G2lrAczoC10eyEnhV94-Se6cPYACLcB/s1600/frankenhooker-2.jpg) Random pix from Frankenhooker, including spare parts: > **[John’s Horror Corner: Frankenhooker (1990), a raunchy slapstick Frankenstein...](https://moviesfilmsandflix.com/2016/02/07/johns-horror-corner-frankenhooker-1990-a-raunchy-slapstick-frankenstein-throwback-exploitation-film-with-loads-of-exploding-prostitutes/)** > > NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW This article contains images of prosthetic disembodied breasts and prosthetic naked bodies exploding.  No actual human nudity is present.  But, come on guys, you don’… ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/13 "2017-08-25T14:37:41Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > No SHIT? My god, how embarrassing. > > I watched that on teevee when I was about 13 and into my Universal Movie Monster Worship period, and I couldn’t believe how shitty it was. > > Except for the Creation Scene, in which Frankenstein used solar power instead of lightning. That was really cool. Even cooler (if memory serves): Wasn’t the female (Jane Seymour?) brought to life with a chemical bath of some sort? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/14 "2017-08-25T17:11:52Z")
I remember that, vaguely. Similar to the creation scene in Hammer’s _Curse of Frankenstein._ The scene with the female that I REALLY remember after 45 years is Michael Sarrazin ripping her head right off her shoulders in the middle of the formal ball. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/15 "2017-08-25T17:17:34Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I remember that, vaguely. Similar to the creation scene in Hammer’s _Curse of Frankenstein._ > > The scene with the female that I REALLY remember after 45 years is Michael Sarrazin ripping her head right off her shoulders in the middle of the formal ball. Sub-standard stitching. Bravo, Victor! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/16 "2017-08-25T18:08:44Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > This sounds like it might be confused recollection of **Frankenhooker** , in which a bunch or Spare Hooker Parts (don’t ask) are stored in a back room and get zapped to life as a monstrous conglomeration of butts, boobs, and legs. Oh, I’m very familiar with Frankenhooker! It’s definitely not that, but thanks. Pretty sure **CaptMurdock** got it with “Dr. Franken”. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/17 "2017-08-26T02:09:46Z")
If it was “Dr Franken” with Robert Vaughn, my vague memory is that the “monster” wasn’t a reanimated corpse but a man who had been in a coma for years. While he was in the coma, Franken practiced all kinds of experimental transplants on him… So when he awoke, he had someone else’s eyes, someone else’s ears, many organs from many people. When he finally awoke, he didn’t know who he was, but he had memories of things his eye donor had seen, things his ear donor had heard, etc. At the end, I suspected they were hoping to use this movie as a pilot for a series. But the series never materialized. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2017, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/18 "2017-08-26T02:15:46Z")
I vaguely recall that the eye donor had been murdered, and the “monster” brought the killer to justice by remembering what the donor had seen right before being killed. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/19 "2017-08-26T03:23:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > \ It was Frank Henenlotter’s essential remake of _The Head/Brain that Wouldn’t Die_ , the surprisingly gory 1960s flick that MST3K eventually hacked. That movie, too, features a Creature in the Back Room, only it was purposely created, and not from spare boobs and legs and such. \ That creature was scary as shit all through the movie–you only saw a hand/arm at one point–until the end when the door opened up, the creature rescued the DiD and shambled offset. I laughed MY head off. Man, did they drop the ball. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2017, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614/20 "2017-08-27T00:05:16Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > If it was “Dr Franken” with Robert Vaughn, my vague memory is that the “monster” wasn’t a reanimated corpse but a man who had been in a coma for years. While he was in the coma, Franken practiced all kinds of experimental transplants on him… So when he awoke, he had someone else’s eyes, someone else’s ears, many organs from many people. > > When he finally awoke, he didn’t know who he was, but he had memories of things his eye donor had seen, things his ear donor had heard, etc. > > At the end, I suspected they were hoping to use this movie as a pilot for a series. But the series never materialized. Sorry – I think you’re confusing two different science fiction films starring Robert Vaughn. **Dr. Franken** is a TV movie that came out in 1980, but the plot you’re describing is that of **The Mind of Mr. Soames** , an underappreciated 1970 cinema flick that starred Terence Stamp as the comatose Mr. Soames. > **[Doctor Franken (TV Movie 1980) ⭐ 5.4 | Horror, Sci-Fi](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080639/)** > > 1h 40m | Unrated > **[The Mind of Mr. Soames](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mind_of_Mr._Soames)** > > The Mind of Mr. Soames is a 1970 British-American sci-fi–drama film directed by Alan Cooke and starring Terence Stamp, Robert Vaughn and Nigel Davenport about a man who awakens from a 30-year coma with an immature brain. The film is based on Charles Eric Maine's 1961 novel of the same name. > John Soames is a thirty-year-old man who has been in a coma since a brain injury during birth. Now revived, he shows the behaviour of a child and is monitored by two doctors attempting to find out if he ca... [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-frankenstein-adaption-from-late-70s-or-early-80s-maybe-made-for-tv-modern-setting/794614.md?page=2)