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Customer Reviews of The Horror of Frankenstein

This film isn't so bad.
Yes, we've all see Peter Cushing's and Robert Clive's respective portrayals of Doctor Frankenstein so many times that we could probably build the monster ourselves if we gave it half a try. After having given both Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee's monster portrayals our rapt attention over and over, we could also probably discern the footsteps and grrrrs of each respective actor in monster form-sitting ourselves blindfolded. Thus, in approaching this Frankenstein film, it is of the utmost importance that you turn your mind tabula rosa and forget everything you remember about what a good Frankenstein film should be. One other thing you should be warned of is that this is a tongue-in-cheek version of the tale, which is manifest during the first fifteen minutes of the film as a young Frankenstein talks his instructor into a heart attack and nonchalantly does his father in for threatening to cancel his allowance. At this point you will begin to wonder just what kind of movie you have gotten yourself into. What director Sangster has done is provide us with a satirical minimalist version of the now familiar Frankenstein tale. Like how Gogol does with his chariactures, the main characters have been stripped down to grotesque emphases of some trait or another. The most obvious is Bates' Frankenstein. Gone is the suaveness of Cushing and absent is the fervor of Clive. What's left is a fascinating desolation of a raw, amoral intellect that sees everything in the world-even the life accomplishment of creating life-as boring and blase'. Veronica Carlson's Elizabeth has been reduced from a witty debutante (in previous films) to a doe-eyed gazer. The police are monomaniacal, O'Mara's Alicia is almost as carnal as Frankenstein is machiavellian, and not to forget the monster himself, Prowse's Frankenstein-like his creator-is devoid of any expression and starts killing almost as soon as his muscles can flex. There is one golden moment when Prowse captures the monster's rebellious anger when Frankenstein tries to coerce him to sit like a dog before he gets to eat. Central to this film's success is Ralph Bate's portrayal as the doctor. After having seen his less than enlightened portrayal in Lust For A Vampire, and his almost effeminate Dr. Jeckyl, I had serious misgivings at first about this film===but he really shines in this one! The DVD quality itself is good. There are suitable extras. I didn't listen to the commentary, but the interview with Carlson was good. In most stores, this DVD will be priced very reasonably, so you can be sure to get your money's worth.

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Another great Anchor DVD of disappointing Hammer dud
Believe me, I really wanted to like this movie. I've become a minor Ralph Bates fan from his surprisingly engaging turns in Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde and Lust for a Vampire; writer/producer/director Jimmy Sangster has been responsible for more than a handful of my favorite Hammer horrors, in one capacity or another; and I'd always thought the monster looked pretty cool. But while the problematic Lust can be excused since it was taken out of his hands, Horror of Frankenstein is entirely Sangster's baby and, unfortunately, one of his biggest misfires. A virtual remake of Curse of Frankenstein with more overt emphasis on sex (but no nudity), the film begins with student Victor Frankenstein (Bates) drawing the ire of his professor for marking dotted lines on a picture of a naked woman (like those meat charts in butcher shops). Influenced no doubt by the 'rebellious youth' trend that was currently sweeping Hollywood, Victor is portrayed as insolent and condescending to his professor as well as his boorish father, a sex maniac who thinks Victor's obsession with science rather than carnality is "unnatural," and threatens to cut off his allowance. In short order, Victor arranges his father's 'accidental' death, moves to Vienna to pursue further studies, and impregnates the Dean's daughter. Returning in haste to his castle with loads of laboratory equipment, he proceeds to slowly piece together an artifical man (guided by a numbered chart on the wall) with parts provided by a slimy bodysnatcher (Dennis Price in a wonderfully droll performance, certainly the high point of the movie), who eventually meets his end in Victor's acid bath. In a rare noble (or premeditated?) moment, Victor saves Professor Heiss and his daughter Elizabeth (Veronica Carlson) from some highwaymen, giving him a pretext to draw them into his mad experiment, which angers his jealous, blackmailing maidservant/mistress (Kate O'Mara). There are a few clumsy attempts at humor (e.g. Victor sees the number for "brain" on Prof. Heiss's forehead during dinner). But my real problem with Horror of Frankenstein is that while Bates retains the cold, ruthless, even cruel pragmatism of Peter Cushing's characterization, he lacks Cushing's essential charisma and dry gallows wit, which always allowed us to half-believe that his single-minded, sometimes criminal, obsession was really in the service of science, and that the various burgermeisters, priests, and constables that always disrupted his experiments were simply philistines who just didn't understand the higher purpose underlying his work. In contrast, Horror's Victor isn't so much Cushing's bold transgressor as a vicious elitist, callously preying on basically good and innocent folk for nefarious and ultimately meaningless ends (he even electrocutes and dissects his friend and assistant Wilhelm). Dave Prowse (Darth Vader; Patrick Magee's bodyguard Julian in Clockwork Orange) is imposing as the monster, but he's pretty much a sadistic killer out of the gate, generating zero empathy in the viewer, quite unlike Karloff's touchstone performance or even several prior Hammer transplantees (e.g. Michael Gwynn, Freddie Jones). Ms. Carlson looks radiant amidst all the smarmy goings-on, but is given little to do. Even as the bodies pile up, the gore is curiously scant, and both the monster's creation and effervescent demise are anticlimactic at best. For my money, this is the worst of the Hammer Frankensteins, cold, mean-spirited, and banal, and recommended only to completists (who will probably still want this for their collections).
Anchor Bay spoils us once again with a superb, definitive DVD release. The anamorphic widescreen transfer is matted to 1.85:1 and features a virtually pristine print with excellent brightness, contrast, sharpness, detail, color balance and saturation, and only some sporadic very light speckling. The Horror of Frankenstein UK trailer is also matted to 1.85:1 and looks equally terrific. The US combo trailer (with Scars of Dracula) is letterboxed but looks dupey and soft, with poor color. Also included are a still/poster/ad gallery of approximately 35 images; Veronica Carlson "photo album" of about 55 mostly cheesecake shots; a gallery of 21 of Ms. Carlson's paintings (mostly portraits and still-lifes); relatively comprehensive talent bios of Sangster and Bates; and a 14-minute interview with Ms. Carlson that's interesting but too short to get into any real depth. The audio commentary by Jimmy Sangster and Hammerologist Marcus Hearn is informative, though Hearn has to prod Sangster at times, and they do peter out a bit toward the end. In total, a fine four-star DVD package; too bad the feature attraction only rates a two.

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Disappointing Hammer
Don't get your hopes up for this 1970 Hammer film as it's several rungs below any of the other Frankensteins made by Hammer. Very noticeably absent is any horror(silly monster) and really can't understand the R rating as there was no nudity and very little gore. Film never seems to go anywhere nor generate excitement and by the end your wondering what was the point? Really would have hoped for more from Mr. Sangster, considering his contributions to Hammer's classics. A black humored misfire.