Villian(s)  Mad scientist, reanimated corpse

Actor(s):  John Hart, Ivory Stone, Andrea King, Roosevelt Jackson

Brief Description  Blackenstein (also known as Black Frankenstein) is a 1973 American blaxploitation horror film directed by William A. Levey and written and produced by Frank R. Saletri. Produced on a meager budget of $80,000 to cash in on the massive success of 1972's Blacula, the film loosely adapts Mary Shelley's classic Frankenstein novel into a contemporary 1970s setting, substituting reanimated corpse parts for DNA therapy and laser graft technology.

Plot:
The story opens as Dr. Winifred Walker (Ivory Stone), a brilliant physicist, arrives in Los Angeles to seek out her former professor, Dr. Stein (John Hart). Winifred is desperate to help her fiancé, Eddie Turner (Joe De Sue), a tragic Black veteran who lost both of his arms and legs to a landmine during the Vietnam War. Dr. Stein is not a typical "mad scientist" but a well-meaning, older white researcher operating out of a castle-like mansion in L.A. equipped with high-tech equipment—including real electrical lab props designed by Hollywood legend Ken Strickfaden. Stein has developed a revolutionary breakthrough using laser surgery to fuse amputated limbs and specialized DNA injections to prevent tissue rejection and promote advanced cellular healing. Eddie reluctantly agrees to the highly experimental operation

The surgical graft is a massive success, and Eddie begins to heal, looking forward to his wedding with Winifred. However, tragedy strikes due to Malcomb (Roosevelt Jackson), Dr. Stein's deeply resentful lab assistant. Malcomb has fallen intensely in love with Winifred, but after she rejects his romantic advances, his jealousy turns malicious. To spite the couple and ruin the doctor's experiment, Malcomb deliberately sabotages Eddie's mandatory, post-surgery DNA chemical regimen by switching his injections with a crude, unstable formula. The altered injections trigger a horrific, uncontrolled mutation. Instead of healing smoothly, Eddie transforms into a towering, mindless, and cannibalistic brute. Sporting a massive square-shaped afro (evoking the silhouette of the classic Frankenstein monster), Eddie loses his speech, his cognitive functions, and his humanity.

Now a rampaging monster, Eddie escapes Dr. Stein's compound under the cover of night. He embarks on a slow, plodding, yet brutal killing spree across the city. His victims include a variety of local archetypes, including a blonde woman in her bed (played by famous former mob moll and stripper Liz Renay) and various citizens caught in dark alleys or cars. The chaos inevitably leads back to Dr. Stein’s estate. In the final, grim confrontation, the rampaging Blackenstein monster turns on his creators, brutally murdering Malcomb and his own savior, Dr. Stein. The film culminates in a tragic and abrupt finale where the monster is finally hunted down and torn apart by police attack dogs, leaving Winifred to mourn her twice-lost love.