The fifth of Hammer’s Frankenstein movies. Clearly they’ve milked the “traditional” Frankenstein story as much as possible, so they’ve been moving into other territory. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; the themes definitely have some interesting or provocative elements. But Peter Cushing seems to be becoming a caricature of himself.
The Plot: Victor Frankenstein had been conducting his usual experiments to bring life to dead tissue, and he’s been corresponding by mail with a like-minded doctor named Frederick Brandt. Brandt, apparently, has unearthed some secrets that have so far eluded Frankenstein. So Frankenstein plans to visit Brandt and get his formula for some (unrevealed) purpose. But when Frankenstein arrives at Brandt’s home, he learns that Brandt has gone insane, is locked in an asylum, is incapable of speech, and is on death’s doorstep. So Frankenstein conceives a plan to kidnap Brandt from the asylum, transplant his brain into a healthy body, and then get the formula from him. What could go wrong?
Once Brandt’s brain is placed in a new body, the new being has all Brandt’s knowledge and memories. But he is (understandably) angry that Frankenstein has conducted the operation: “I have become the victim of everything that Frankenstein and I ever advocated. My brain is in someone else’s body.” So he gets his revenge against Frankenstein by depositing him into a burning building. And thus, abruptly, ends the movie.
The Monster: The creature in this movie (hardly a monster) is totally likable and sympathetic. I guess he technically fits the bill for the creature because he was “created” by Dr. Frankenstein, who placed a brain in a new body. But this isn’t a homicidal or scary monster. He’s a poor schlimazel who finds himself in someone else’s body. You feel his anguish. And he looks like Bruce Willis.,
The Atmosphere: Hammer continues to push the limits on gross-out scenes. There are long and explicit surgery scenes that do nothing to advance the plot. There are needless sound effects of scalpels cutting through flesh, the top being sawn off a skull, etc. In this reviewer’s opinion, such gratuitous gore cheapens the movie. It’s not daring at all, but rather a desperate and misplaced attempt at horror.
This movie also, more than its predecessors, goes overboard making Frankenstein hateful. Dr. Frankenstein is rude, arrogant, murderous, heartless, and perhaps sociopathic. In this movie he even commits a rape, which most reviewers (and Cushing himself) thought was unnecessary and harmful to the plot. (But the murders were fine?)
The usual Hammer sets are starting to look cheap; were the budgets declining at this point in the series? This movie feels more like a “thriller” than a monster movie. In fact, the first 45 minutes play as a detective drama, with a droll police inspector tracking down Frankenstein’s murders.
One effective scene from this movie stands out: A buried body bursts out of the earth when a water main breaks. It’s the kind of scene that Hitchcock would have filmed.
One gets the sense that the producers really were excited about the big climax at the end of the movie, with Frankenstein becoming trapped in a burning house. But the scene plays very flat. It’s not suspensful, and while Frankenstein clearly needed to receive his just deserts, this scene is a ham-handed glorification of revenge bordering on torture, as the creature makes Frankenstein search through burning house for the formula.
All that said, I need to give a shout-out to the musical score, that was very effective.
General Comments: Dr. Frankenstein is more unsympathetic, even hateful, than in the earlier Hammer efforts. He commits rape, blackmail, and murder, all with his polished and refined manners. Dr. Frankenstein has come a long way from Colin Clive in 1931’s Frankenstein. But that’s what makes the Hammer films interesting. Each installment takes Peter Cushing to a more complicated and twisted level. Few actors can keep this going without making the character seem cartoonish and unbelievable. But somehow, Cushing convinces.
Tomorrow, we turn to Hammer’s sixth Frankenstein movie, which does not feature Peter Cushing! It’s quite a departure in some ways, while in others it’s very derivative. Check out Horror of Frankenstein for free on YouTube!
Chasing Phantoms 