**Peter Cushing as the obsessed doctor and Christopher Lee his hideous creation**
This was the first Hammer horror flick in color and its success resulted in a resurgence of the classic Universal monsters reinterpreted from the British perspective with Hammer’s renowned lush colors. Speaking of Universal, the studio threatened a lawsuit if Hammer copied any elements from their classic version. This helped prevent the movie from copping a same-old, same-old vibe.
Its popularity led to six sequels. The franchise includes: "The Curse of Frankenstein" (1957), "The Revenge of Frankenstein" (1958), "The Evil of Frankenstein" (1964), "Frankenstein Created Woman" (1967), "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed" (1969), "The Horror of Frankenstein" (1970) and "Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell" (1973).
Cushing played the Baron in each of these except "The Horror of Frankenstein" since it's a remake of this one 13 years later and they needed a much younger actor for the role (they chose Ralph Bates).
Unlike that remake, there’s no touch of humor to the proceedings here. This is totally serious Victorian horror with the main story taking place in 1860. Being a loose redo of the original Frankenstein tale, it's predictable to some degree, but there are enough changes to keep things interesting. For instance, Baron Frankenstein isn’t just an obsessed academic with misplaced priorities, he’s a womanizing, homicidal maniac.
One-note evil characters are relatively boring. What makes Dr. Frankenstein interesting in this series is that his gruesome work has a positive side despite the crimes he commits in order to carry it out. For instance, his desire in “Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed” to benefit humanity by preserving the brains of brilliant individuals so that their knowledge doesn't go to waste and thus blessing future generations.
The problem of course is the immoral extents he's willing to go to reach his goals. Then there's his taking advantage of Justine in this film (Valerie Gaunt) and his rape of someone in the aforementioned “Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed,” which reveals gross arrogance, as if he thinks he's so great he deserves any beautiful woman he happens to crave at the moment, no strings attached.
While "Frankenstein Created Woman" and, especially, "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed" are my favorites in the series, this is the one that started it all and inspired Hammer’s Dracula series the next year, not to mention the Mummy series the year after that. It was Cushing’s debut as a lead actor and he met Christopher Lee on set, which led to their close friendship and 22 cinematic collaborations.
It’s short ‘n’ sweet at 1 hour, 22 minutes, and was shot just west of London at Bray Studios in Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire.
GRADE: B
