The Horror of Frankenstein (1971)

Thanks for the memories!

People are voting emotionally.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

A Major Disappointment

I really enjoy "The Horror of Frankenstein." Despite the consensus on this forum (and, sadly, on nearly all movie sites), this is a rewarding and entertaining retelling of the Frankenstein tale. By 1970, Hammer had pretty much mined Shelley's story, releasing films in this series every few years. The Hammerheads were looking for a new direction and "The Horror of..." was born. They enlisted the author of the screenplay for their original Frankenstein film (The Curse of...) to helm this production. Instead of rehashing old ground, they decided to make the Doctor a cruel determined man (who is no doubt more frightening than the monster) and add a healthy dose of black humour to the proceedings. As far as I can tell, the detractors of the film find the addition of the humour to be the deal-breaker. Added to that, the film revels in an almost campy atmosphere. This may be a surprise to those who vehemently disregard the film but the atmosphere created is deliberate. Sure, it's not like the other Hammer Frankenstein film, it's a new direction.What's not to like about Dennis Price as the grave robber? Who could complain about the beautiful Kate O'Mara? (Or her ample cleavage, continually on display.) Perhaps I like the film because it was one of the first horror movies I saw in a cinema (doubled with "Scars of Dracula" no less!). Maybe I just like horror movies. It could be for any of those reasons but I keep coming back to it every few years because just the look of Hammer turns me on. If you watch in the spirit in which it is presented, I think you too will have an old-fashioned good time.

Jimmy Sangster, Hammer's best screenwriter, sadly passed on a short time ago. 'Horror Of Frankenstein' ( 1970 ) was his first film as director, and not one I imagine he was particularly proud of. We are used nowadays to movie franchises getting rebooted almost as soon as they are established - it saves Hollywood from having to do anything drastic such as coming up with new ideas, and there is a gullible audience waiting to lap up the new version so they can go on internet movie forums afterwards and give the old one a right kicking. It may surprise some to learn that 'rebooting' is not a new concept. After five films starring the excellent Peter Cushing as 'Baron Victor Frankenstein', Hammer decided to 'freshen up' the series by bringing in a younger actor - the handsome, charismatic Ralph Bates. Furthermore, the script for 'Horror' would follow the plot of 'Curse of Frankenstein' - the first film in the series - closely. But the Cushing version was a misguided genius who only wanted to help Mankind, whereas Bates' Victor is a caddish swine out for personal glory, who seduces maids and electrocutes his best friend Wilhelm ( Graham James ).The first draft was by Jeremy Burnham, an actor who wrote some fine episodes of 'The Avengers'. Sangster rewrote it but with no improvement noticeable. The idea seems to have been to make a Frankenstein film in tune with the sensibilities of the late '60's/early '70's, hence Victor's sleeping around and cynical 'get-rich-and-famous-quick' attitudes, but the end result does not gel. Despite the title, there is little horror. The creature Victor stitches together is a lumbering, bald-headed giant ( Dave Prowse, the future 'Darth Vader' from 'Star Wars' ) who looks as though he has wandered out of an episode of 'Eastenders'. Victor eventually uses him as a killing machine. No attempt whatever is made to give the creature a character, as happened in James Whale's celebrated 1931 version with Boris Karloff. Frankly, 'Oddbod' from 'Carry On Screaming' ( 1966 ) was scarier.Some good actors - Jon Finch, James Cossins, Bernard Archard, and Dennis Price ( as a grave robber ) - are around, but aren't able to save the picture. It is never sure what it wants to be - a comedy or a straight horror flick. In the former department, a severed arm makes a V-sign when Victor puts electricity through it, and the final scene sees the creature's boots bobbing to the surface of a vat of acid ( how could that happen? ). Not only are these the best jokes in the film, they're the only jokes in the film! The main reasons to see this are Kate O'Mara and Veronica Carlson, whose heaving bosoms prevented me from nodding off. Carlson had appeared in the most recent Hammer Frankenstein - the vastly superior 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' ( 1969 ). O'Mara is very good as the sexy, blackmailing maid 'Alys'.'Horror' flopped to no-one's great surprise, and Cushing was brought back three years later to star in the Terence Fisher-directed 'Frankenstein & The Monster From Hell' which was better, but not much. Prowse returned to play a different monster. Sangster made one more film - 'Lust For A Vampire' - which showcased the talents of my favourite Swedish actress of the time - Yutte Stensgaard. After that, it was back to the typewriter for him.

Victor Frankenstein is a gifted but zealous medical student, researching into the mysteries of existence. Whilst on a summer break, he determines that he will create a man from the body parts of dead people and give him life. Can this madness succeed ?This is an engaging, straightforward adaptation of the classic Mary Shelley novel, almost like a colour remake of the James Whale / Boris Karloff version. When Hammer Films made The Curse Of Frankenstein in 1957, they weren't allowed to copy Jack Pierce's iconic flat-head-bolted-together look, but Prowse (alias Darth Vader) is an impressive lookalike here; a mute, stomping, creepy, destructive evil force. Despite not being Peter Cushing, Bates is excellent as the Bad Baron, giving a performance which is so direct and unflamboyant (Kenneth Branagh, please take note) as to be stylishly unstylish. He matter-of-factly kills his father, his best friend, his lover, a neighbour, and - most fiendish of all - a pet tortoise for the sake of his black-hearted work, all the while maintaining a clear, unflappably calm, pragmatic, even agreeable intellect. This was the second of five key roles Bates made for Hammer, and he is terrific in all of them (particularly Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde). The only truly original aspect of this version is the new character of the scheming lover/housekeeper Alys, played with great aplomb, a somewhat wobbly accent and a dress that's about to fall down, by O'Mara. The agreeable cast is filled out by the equally ravishing Hammer regular Carlson (check her out also in Dracula Has Risen From The Grave), a rather corpulent Price as a cheery graverobber who meets a grisly end and the always watchable Finch (Frenzy, The Tragedy Of Macbeth) who underplays it nicely in the burgermeister role which is so frequently hammed up. Co-writer, producer and director Sangster was in many ways the backbone of Hammer, penning the scripts and assisting in the production of a great many of these classic British horrors. This is one of his few directorial efforts (though he and Bates made the enjoyable Lust For A Vampire the next year) and is probably the direct, no frills, classic adaptation of the great story he wanted to make. For a tale that's been told so many times, both before and since, this is a well made, faithful and entertaining movie and one of the better versions of Shelley's groundbreaking horror masterpiece.

I want to say, up front, that this is a fine Gothic Frankenstein film. It's actually based upon a fairly straightforward Frankenstein theme, (semi-mad doctor wants to make monster, the brain is damaged, and the monster kills people), but Dr. Victor Frankenstein (very credibly played by Ralph Bates) comes off as a classic, if cultured, psychopath. He cares naught in the slightest about the sanctity of human life, as long as his vision of creating a man (from used parts) is fulfilled.Here are the numerous characteristics (events) which generate most viewers' dark paradigm of this particular Dr. Victor Frankenstein: 1. He has the sex drive of Don Juan and Rasputin combined and any consequences of his amorous advances do not concern him in the least. After impregnating his University Dean's daughter, he just drops her like a hot rock, never giving her a further thought. He also demands double-duty from his lovers... sex slave on demand and housekeeper routinely.2. He really savours killing people (you can tell by the smirk on his face as he does so), including his father, a highwayman (whom he also decapitates), his best friend and assistant, the provider of his corpses, and a local professor (via poison). He even kills an associate's pet tortoise with a smile! 3. He much enjoys setting his monster to killing: the corpse-snatcher's greedy wife, a lover and, a woodsman who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.4. He's really into personal intimidation of those who are supposed to be his superiors while he is a medical student and later on too.This 1970 British story goes like this: Dr. Frankenstein decides (as a student) that his big goal will be to create a man (basically from corpse parts) so he takes on a pal whom eventually becomes more and more skittish as the experiments with body parts become more and more audacious and heinous. People who get into the way of the young Doctor's plans are snuffed without a second thought. So, what I'm saying here is that there are no huge surprises.True to the Hammer philosophy, this film is not hair-raising scary like, say, "The Exorcist," "Halloween," or Hitchcock's "Psycho," albeit it's a much darker film than all the other Hammer Frankenstein flicks. This is clearly due to the fact that this movie was directed by Hammer's fair-haired horror writer, Jimmy Sangster, who had clearly been drooling to actually direct one of these films. It's really all just quite entertaining.There are even intermittent moments of sly humor to be found throughout the movie. At one point, a buxom lass of the Doctor's former acquaintance is practically displaying her mammalian wares for him and he wryly comments, "You've gained weight in a couple of places." Nicely put! The monster is a bit of an enigma. Played by David Prowse, his face is left pretty much unchanged, make-up-wise -- there is just the add-on to the top of the head. The monster thus looks a lot like one of my larger neighbors. He's not a very shrewd monster as the brain, of course, was damaged somewhat by the corpse-snatcher having dropped it. Just your basic killer who generally follows his master's instructions in order to get fed. This particular brain, by the way, was a sort of steel-blue in its hue and I thought that was a little strange.The filmscore is superb, composed and conveyed by Malcolm Williamson. It embraces that late 60s atmospheric ambiance which goes along so well with period monster flicks, akin to the themes of the great Les Baxter. The film is shot in letterbox and the sets and locations are outstanding. The long shot of the ominous castle is simply timeless. The color saturation is of equal high-quality.In summary, we do somewhat miss the great Peter Cushing in this Hammer entry; however, it's a fine performance by Ralph Bates and his supporting cast and I think, overall, is one of the best Frankenstein films that I've seen anywhere.