Frankenstein's Daughter/Fun Facts

The full monster make-up was actually being worn by a man, Harry Wilson. Because of this, makeup creator Harry Thomas did not realize that the creature was supposed to be female. All he could do at the last minute was apply lipstick to the creature.

Make-up artist Harry Thomas has said that when he was given the assignment to make a mask for the "monster", he was not told that the monster was to be a female, so he made the mask to be a male. By the time he was notified that the monster was to be a female, the mask had already been done, and there was no money in the make-up budget left to do another one. Thomas claims that director Richard E. Cunha's alleged statement giving Paul Stanhope credit for the make-up is false, as Thomas was the film's only make-up man. Thomas also discredits Cunha's claim that he wanted Jack P. Pierce to do the make-up, as Pierce was notorious for taking a long time to apply his creations. Thomas claims the gender problem of the monster would never have occurred if the filmmakers had bothered to give him a $2 copy of the script.

Director Richard E. Cunha recently recalled that, upon seeing the make-up for the title creature just before filming, he was so disappointed he left the set and broke down in tears.

Sally Todd's scream at the beginning of the film is that of Allison Hayes from the soundtrack of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958).

The 'Screen Star' magazine Trudy reads features an illustration of Janet Leigh on the cover.

John Ashley had just made a number of films for American-International Pictures. He later recalled, "AIP was low budget --100 grand a movie--but at least they shot on sound stages and the size of the crew was bigger.' Frankenstein's Daughter' was really rock-bottom. But the people were very nice, especially Richard E. Cunha, the director . . . but it was quick, a little more down and dirty than AIP". Ashley later said he remembered two things about the film: "the monster, which was a man because the makeup artist didn't know it was supposed to be a woman, and that we shot the ending at Harold Lloyd's estate, because Harold Lloyd Jr. played a teenager in it".

This film is listed among The 100 Most Amusingly Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE.

Shot over six days for approximately $65,000 and sold to Astor Pictures for $80,000. It was filmed at Screencraft Studios in Hollywood, although the house in which much of the action takes place was the home of producer Marc Frederic. Production wrapped in May 1958.

Layton Films was a company established by director Richard E. Cunha, who had just left Screencraft Productions, and Marc Frederic, an investor. In April 1958 it was announced that Layton would make ten films in just over 24 months for distribution by Astor Pictures, starting with this film. In actuality, only two other films were made by Layton: Missile to the Moon (1958) and Girl in Room 13 (1960).

At some point the film played in the UK as the first feature on a double bill with The Giant Gila Monster (1959). 'Frankenstein's Daughter' was given an X-certificate by the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC), restricting its viewing to adults age 16 and over, while "The Giant Gila Monster" got an A-certificate, which meant that the film was considered more suitable for adults than children.

Film critic Bill Warren notes that the film was titled "She Monster of the Night" when it was available in mm format and that it "may have been retitled 'The Wild Witch of Frankenstein' for a Chicago Theater." Although he does not name the theater or provide a reason for the change in title, he writes that other films were also retitled when they were shown in Chicago at about the same time. British critic Phil Hardy also refers to the film as "'Frankenstein's Daughter' a.k.a. 'She Monster of the Night'."

The film has been referred to, had clips from it used or been shown in its entirety on television numerous times over the years. For example, it was referenced in My Secret Identity: Reluctant Hero (1990) in February 1990. Clips from the film were used in presenter, Johnathan Ross' U.K. T.V. series 'Mondo Rosso', 'Blood and Guts' episode (comedian Eddie Izzard as guest selected the clip); 100 Years of Horror: Frankenstein's Friends (1996) in December 1996 and in Cinemassacre's Monster Madness: Dracula vs. Frankenstein (2010) in October 2010. The entire film was shown on FrightMare Theater (2015) in May 2017. It has also been included in at least one theatrical film series. In December 2011 it was shown, along with Lady Frankenstein (1971), as part of Michael W. Phillip's "Shock Theater" film series, which specialized in showing 16mm prints of "drive-in movie horror fare". The series ran on Friday nights at the Wicker Park Arts Center in Chicago.

The film has been available in the US for individual home viewing since 2000, when Vintage Video released it on VHS. Both Englewood Entertainment and Image Entertainment released it on DVD. Synergy Entertainment distributed the film worldwide on DVD starting in 2008, and it has been available in France on DVD from Bach Entertainment since 2009; It has been available in Spain on DVD from L'Atelier since 2009 and in Germany on DVD from Edel Media & Entertainment since 2013.

Whether by accident or deliberate: at the poolside music numbers interlude, the brunette girl (uncredited) behind the lead singer has a shock of white in her hair; in the original Frankenstein sequel, 'Frankenstein's Bride', (Elsa Lanchester) famously had shock of white running down her hair.

The film's specific US release date is somewhat confusing. The American Film Institute (AFI) simply states that it was released in November 1958, while IMDb gives a more precise date of 15 November 1958 for its New York City premiere. However, film critic Bill Warren writes that the release date was "December 15, 1958 (March 4, 1960 in Los Angeles)". It was released theatrically in Canada and West Germany in 1959, Mexico in 1960 and France in 1962, as well as on unspecified dates in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Italy, Spai, and the UK. The film was distributed theatrically in Canada by Astral Films; by Sunderfilm Zwicker in West Germany and by Benelux Films in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.