Frankenstein's Army is a film that really only exists because director Richard Raaphorst wasn't able to move forward with his dream project--Worst Case Scenario. Those of us who've been following the genre for a while may remember a couple amazing promotional trailers for Worst Case Scenario years ago depicting some strange looking Nazi zombies either parachuting from the sky or making their way to land from the sea. It never happened because Raaphorst couldn't find enough funding, so he chose to do another similar smaller-budgeted project called Army of Frankenstein (original title).

If it wasn't for those financial upsets this movie might not've been made, but then we would've had Worst Case Scenario instead, which may or may not've been an improvement over this. Either way, as flawed as this is, Raaphorst does manage to dish out some nice practical effects for the various creative abominations seen throughout the pic. Sadly, the creatures and effects are the only thing worth watching from this otherwise standard genre effort.

The story is set sometime after WWII, where a squad of Russian soldiers discover a secret underground lab where German scientists (using the journal of Dr. Frankenstein) once stitched together and experimented on the bodies of the fallen in an attempt to create an army of super-soldiers. As promising as this movie sounds, it's nearly ruined by the fact that the filmmakers chose to go the found footage route instead of a traditional way of filming. This naturally makes no sense considering the time period it's supposedly set in, especially when the footage is not only clear and in color, but also in HD, WTF??

I like the concept and feel there's a lot of genre potential to come from the idea behind Hitler's secret experiments and this is definitely one of the more creative efforts, but aside from the concept the rest of the film is predictable and full of holes. Then again, who really sees a movie called Frankenstein's Army for the brilliant storyline anyway? Chances are you went in expecting some crazy and illogical monstrous creatures and that's where this delivers. It just wasn't quite enough for me to like it.

If you can ignore the many unanswered questions relating to this being "found footage", you may enjoy it to some extent, especially since we're treated to some great looking practical creature effects. Though, don't expect much more than that, because you'll likely be disappointed.