The Horror of Frankenstein

1970

Action / Comedy / Drama / Horror / Sci-Fi

10
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 55% · 11 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 41% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 5.8/10 10 2915 2.9K

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Plot summary

Young Victor Frankenstein returns from medical school with a depraved taste for beautiful women and fiendish experiments.


Uploaded by: FREEMAN
August 20, 2018 at 10:55 PM

Director

Top cast

Kate O'Mara as Alys
Jon Finch as Lt. Henry Becker
Veronica Carlson as Elizabeth Heiss
David Prowse as The Monster
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
778.87 MB
1204*720
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 35 min
Seeds 3
1.5 GB
1792*1072
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 35 min
Seeds 5

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by AlsExGal 6 / 10

This may have been intended as parody...

... but I was mostly laughing at the film instead of with it.

As the film opens, Victor Frankenstein (Ralph Bates) is in medical school in 19th century Austria. After he makes a fool out of a professor and class ends, a classmate asks him "What's hypochondria?" A female classmate volunteers to help him in anatomy; a male's offer is declined. After Victor's father (George Belbin) says he'll die before he wastes money to send Victor to Vienna to study, Victor arranges for his death. After Victor becomes Baron Frankenstein, he goes off to Vienna to study. The film follows a well-worn, mostly predictable path from here.

The picture has elements that had to be intentional parody. There's a team of husband-wife grave-robbers (Dennis Price and Joan Rice) who do battle while they dig into graves, and complain they aren't getting paid enough. Alys (Kate O'Mara), who is maid and mistress for the father and later his son, is made to be a dreadful cook who all the characters complain about in the course of the movie.

But then there are things like characters who live in the castle forgetting where Frankenstein's laboratory is (upstairs); the maid refers to it being upstairs and downstairs. The creditors of a victim's father refers to her owing "about $12,000 bucks" . The victims are all predictable; just listen to their lines. For those in the audience who needed more help, the women with the lowest cut dresses in the thinnest material are sure to die. Director Jimmy Sangster makes sure there are plentiful bosom shots.

The Monster's (David Prowse) appearance is unique. He's blond, is wearing only what looks like a iron dog collar around his neck and white underwear, has stitches all over and looks like he's spent all his time working out at the local gym. Was he Mel Brooks' inspiration for the Monster in 1974's "Young Frankenstein" and the inspiration for the Monster in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1976)?? Don't feel too bad for Prowse. In 1977 he is the physical presence of Darth Vader in Star Wars even if James Earl Jones is his voice.

Bates, O'Mara, and Carlson deliver professional performances, although Veronica Carlson seems to be fighting a case of the giggles. Price and Rice are the intentional delights of the film as the bickering grave-robbers.

The film still has the expected Hammer elements, and looks good. This should be a terrible film, but it's more entertaining than it has any right to be. I laughed more at this than at some so-called comedies.

Reviewed by Bunuel1976 6 / 10

THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN (Jimmy Sangster, 1970) **1/2

This was top Hammer screenwriter Jimmy Sangster's first directorial effort for the company (incidentally, I watched the other two - LUST FOR A VAMPIRE [1971] and FEAR IN THE NIGHT [1972] - in quick succession). I hadn't picked this up on DVD earlier because of its much-maligned reputation: however, I was extremely surprised to find it quite effective!

Given that it's basically a remake of THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957), Sangster took a radically different approach - treating the events as black comedy; the resulting film is very funny indeed at times (though it almost feels like "Carry On Frankenstein": witness the disembodied hand coming to life to give the two-finger gesture and Ralph Bates' comments at Kate O'Mara's cleavage!). The film features an abrupt, doubly ironic ending - while, as opposed to STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING (1972), there's plenty of gore here but no nudity. Still, despite being made on the cheap, it all looks pretty decent (a virtue common to most Hammer product, in fact).

Bates (who showed real promise but, essentially, came to Hammer too late) and Dennis Price (as a cheerful body snatcher who likes to have his pregnant wife do the dirty work for him!) are very good; from the rest of the cast - which includes Jon Finch as a dogged police lieutenant who happens to be a former colleague of Frankenstein's - O'Mara as Bates' sexy but conniving housekeeper/lover comes off best (though Veronica Carlson, who's somewhat underused here, also proves undeniable eye-candy).

There are faults, however: Bates's scientist is, ultimately, too glum in comparison to Cushing's animated characterization; the monster itself is an unfortunate creation (pun intended) - Dave Prowse's physique is certainly ideal for the role (in fact, he returned for FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL [1974] and proved far more successful at it) but, as depicted here, it comes across as a mere killing machine, showing no emotion or curiosity at its surroundings (such as when the monster kills the O'Mara character or when it ventures outside into the countryside).

Essentially, then, the film emerges as an interesting but not entirely successful reinvention of the Frankenstein saga and, actually, a curious attempt on Hammer's part at this particular stage - given that it followed closely on the heels of one of their finest (and bleakest) efforts! That said, having now watched Hammer's entire Frankenstein series, I can safely say that it's superior overall to their Dracula films.

The extras include a 14-minute career overview by Hammer starlet/beauty Carlson - she feels lucky and privileged to have worked three times for the studio and in the company of such talented people as Freddie Francis, Christopher Lee, Terence Fisher, Peter Cushing, Jimmy Sangster and Ralph Bates. Sangster describes in the Audio Commentary how, when he started as a screenwriter, he was careful not to overstep the limitations set by the budget - which he learned from having been a Production Manager for Hammer for the previous several years; as a director, then, he often consulted with his editor to determine whether the latter got all the necessary coverage for any particular scene. He also discusses the rest of his career, going into some detail on the making of such films as TASTE OF FEAR (1961) and THE ANNIVERSARY (1968), and seems baffled - but, at the same time, amused - by the critical about-turn Hammer's output has enjoyed in recent years. With respect to THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN itself, he admits that he was initially averse to the idea of Ralph Bates as Baron Frankenstein - but, eventually, the two became very good friends and, in fact, Bates appeared in all three films Sangster directed! By the way, Travis Crawford's interesting liner notes compare the film's self-mocking attitude to the even more radical 'revisionist' approach to the Mary Shelley tale seen in FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN (1973).

Reviewed by mark.waltz 5 / 10

I never realized how sexy the monster could be!

When you first see David Prowse as Frankenstein's creation, the first thing you may think of is how true Inga's description of what the monster would look like in "Young Frankenstein". He may be violent and scary, but oh what a stud! Ralph Bates gets to be funny and arrogance as the Baron von Frankenstein, but one thing that I didn't accept so easily was how him standing up to authority figures easily got him to get what he wanted. A scene in his class has him basically avoiding slaps on the wrist by putting the professor down by telling him that he's ill and all of a sudden, the professor does indeed admit that he's sick and dismisses the class. It's as easy as that, and he does it later in a scene with his own father.

So we are supposed to believe that Victor is a sensational manipulator, and thus able to get away with the scientific experiments that creates this monster. The setting and costumes and scenery are perfect for the time it is set in and thus the film is attractive to look at. You also have two beautiful ladies, Kate O'Mara and Veronica Carlson, providing additional eye candy along with Bates and prows. Veteran British actor Dennis Price is also along for the ride, as is Jon Finch as a law enforcement officer.

This of course lacks the subtlety a previous Frankenstein films because of the use of violence and absolutely no tact as one victim confronted by the monster gets a horrifying death with the sound of a neck snapping. But the colorful photography and fast pacing does make it interesting even though other elements make you long for earlier versions even some of the silly sequels to the 1931 James Whale/Boris Karloff classic. Bates does a credible job of creating a magnetic Baron Von Frankenstein with many fascinating elements that shows his progression to madness.

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