Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974)

dir Terence Fisher cast Peter Cushing, Shane Briant, Madeline Smith, David Prowse

Simon Helder, a young 19^th Century German doctor, is convicted of sorcery for attempting to revive the dead. Sent to the same asylum for the criminally insane as was Dr. Frankenstein, he hopes to meet his idol, but is told that the Baron is dead. Helder soon learns, however, that Frankenstein is not only very much alive, but has taken over the asylum. Despite the fact that the fire at the end of Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed has rendered his hands useless for surgery, he is attempting to carry on his experiments with the help of the beautiful Sarah, an elective mute. Frankenstein, calling himself “Dr. Victor”, accepts Helder as his assistant. The young doctor learns that Frankenstein has revived the body of a brutish murderer who died by suicide, and plans to harvest necessary replacement parts, including a brain, from other inmates. His plans for Sarah, however, lead Helder to question the Baron’s sanity.

Hammer’s last gothic horror film, this does not quite measure up to their best, but still is worthy. Cushing gives another outstanding performance as Victor Frankenstein, projecting strength and authority in his early scenes, but soon showing signs of an irreversible instability. As always, Cushing is magnetic, making us care about a quite unlovable character. Smith (better here than as Ingrid Pitt’s love slave in The Vampire Lovers (1970)) and Briant provide able support. David Prowse does well as the creature for this outing, giving some pathos to his role as a genius trapped in an ugly, subhuman hulk of a body. As usual for Hammer, the film’s production designs, sets, and costumes are outstanding, lending an authentic air to a fantastic story.

On the other hand, the film is badly let down by the design of the monster. Asking us to accept the hairy, apelike figure as a human body stretches credulity a bit too far. The monster makeup is obviously just that and does not lend itself to suspension of disbelief (according to Tom Johnson and Deborah Del Vecchio’s excellent Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography, it was imposed on Fisher because of a promise made to the American distributors). The exterior cutaways to the asylum building are of a laughably obvious model. And, as with many Hammer Films, it doesn’t pay to examine the plot too closely.

Still, this is a worthy finale for a great series. In the 1970’s, Hammer desperately tried to tinker with their formula for the Dracula series, updating it to the present (Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972); The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1974)) and even trying to marry it with the trendy Kung Fu genre (The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)). But, with the Frankenstein series, Hammer stuck with what they did best: atmospheric, Victorian-era Gothic horror. Cushing’s performance adds a note of poignancy to the film. Although the ending is left open for further sequels, it is obvious that Frankenstein is insane, and that he will never be accepted by the world in which he lives. It’s a sad goodbye to the character, as well as the studio.

Trivia Note: As fans of fantastic films will no doubt be aware, Cushing and Prowse reunited three years later, to portray (with an assist from James Earl Jones) the primary villains in Star Wars (1977).