This is Hammer’s sequel to Curse of Frankenstein, which we reviewed a few days ago. At the conclusion of that earlier film, Victor Frankenstein (ably played by Peter Cushing) was on his way to the guillotine to pay for his crimes against humanity. In this sequel, we find that Frankenstein (again played by Cushing) managed to escape the guillotine by bribing the executioner.
Many consider this sequel to be superior to the original. I think the script is definitely better, but I’m not a big fan of Hammer’s growing obsession with pushing the envelope on gore. But let’s talk about the plot first.
The Plot: This movie takes place three years after Frankenstein had been sentenced to death. We learn that he’s moved to a small town in Germany (where, for some reason, everyone speaks with an English accent) to start his life afresh. In order to escape his past, he adopts an alias: “Dr. Stein.” (Surely no one will ever see through that.)
“Dr. Stein” has set up a medical clinic that serves the poor and destitute in his new community, and he is loved and respected by the townsfolk. He’s quite skilled at tending to the needs of his patients. So what if once in awhile he finds a need to amputate….and then keeps the severed limb for himself? Yes, it turns out that Frankenstein is secretly up to his old tricks, creating living beings by stitching together dead body parts.
With his assistant, Hans, Stein completes a strong and healthy body, and then animates it with the brain from a kind and intelligent (though physically deformed) man. In fact, this man (Karl) is completely supportive of the plan to transplant his brain. Once the operation is completed, Karl must recuperate for a few days in a locked room. But when he learns that “Dr. Stein” is going to take him on tour, along with the preserved, misshapen body he’d until recently inhabited, Karl escapes. He finds his old body in Frankenstein’s closet and throws it into a fire, and then kills a man (who definitely had it coming).
Eventually, with all the killing and disappearing bodies, the town leaders finally figure out that Dr. Stein is actually Frankenstein. And once Dr. Stein’s patients learn the truth, they beat him within an inch of his life in a horrific scene. Stein’s assistant takes him to the operating room, and tries to save Stein’s life. But Stein says “It’s no good. You know what to do.” “Yes,” says Hans, “I know what to do.” And he proceeds to transplant Stein’s brain into a preserved body that Stein had prepared “just for this eventuality.” And that leads to the final scene where, in another new town, a “Dr. Frank” appears, looking very much like Peter Cushing… (I’m not making this up.)
The Monster: This is one of the least scary-looking monsters you’ll find in a Frankenstein movie. He looks like a normal guy, except for the telltale scar across his forehead.
The monster is played by Michael Gwynne, who’d cut his teeth on the Shakespearean stage. He comes across as very sensitive and likeable. In fact, he’s befriended by the obligatory Hammer babe. You really feel for this guy, who’d been trapped in a misshapen body, and now he (or at least his brain) resides in a homemade body created by Dr. Frankenstein. But when he learns that Frankenstein is going to take him on tour as little more than a sideshow exhibit, he understandably freaks out.
After he takes a beating from a sadistic janitor, his brain seems to become damaged and his body begins to regress. The result is actually far scarier, in effect, than Karloff’s monster had been.
The Atmosphere: This film outdoes its predecessor (Curse of Frankenstein) for its lurid look. The colors are garish, the gore is gratuitous, and the musical score is melodramatic (though effectively so). The scenes of Dr. Stein’s medical ward show dirt, filth, and bloodstains marking most surfaces. His laboratory is full of freshly-cut body parts and disembodied eyeballs. Overall, I think Hammer successfully achieved the look they were shooting for, which I assume was intended to show the viewer the horror of Frankenstein’s experiments. Still, it was a little much for this viewer.
General Comments: I’m of two minds about this movie (if you’ll pardon the brain-transplant reference). On the one hand, this movie begins the movement of horror movies toward substituting blood and gore for creepiness, which I think is a huge mistake. On the other hand, it has an imaginative script and very good acting. In fact, Peter Cushing may be becoming my favorite Dr. Frankenstein.
It turns out that this movie represents the high water mark for Hammer’s Frankenstein ventures. Tomorrow we’ll see supporting evidence of the decline, which is The Evil of Frankenstein. You can watch it for free on YouTube. (Note that, in order to evade YouTube’s bots that can detect copyright infringements, this video shows the movie on half the screen, and random swirling stars on the other half. It’s a little distracting, but it’s the cost of not having to pay to watch this movie.)
Chasing Phantoms 