Movie review – “Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell” (1974) **

The final Hammer Frankenstein film – as well as being the last work from director Terence Fisher. Shane Briant’s romantic, androgynous good looks are well put to use as a young scientist who is a fan of Dr Frankenstein (although his acting ability was still a little raw at this stage). He is busted in a room full of body parts and is shunted off to a lunatic asylum – where the resident doctor is none other than the doctor himself.  

 

The idea of Frankenstein in hiding, and an admiring younger doctor “fan” who becomes his assistant was used in Revenge of Frankenstein, but since that was a pretty good film so what? John Elder/Tony Hinds was never the most original writer in the world, but he was better ripping stuff off than going his own way (eg Kiss of the Vampire script rips off The Black Cat and is better than his new take on Phantom of the Opera). Other elements re-heated include a mute servant girl (the pretty Madeleine Smith – Elder also used a mute girl in Evil of Frankenstein), a body snatcher (Patrick Troughton takes a break from his work as Dracula’s assistant)

 

There are some new ideas – at least, I think they’re new: the asylum setting; Frankenstein’s hands are disfigured, making it impossible for him to operate; the creature in this case is a Neanderthal man; Cushing accidentally steps on a brain during an operation; gory brain surgery footage.

 

But the film is most notable for the opportunities it throws away eg Briant’s initial arrest could have been exciting but is very flat; ditto his arrival at the asylum; Smith is shamefully under-used (and over-dressed) – she spends most of the film just staring at things like an idiot; the revival of the creature (why doesn’t Frankenstein ever have a contingency plan for the monster reviving and going nuts? You’d think by now surely he’d expect that to happen); the rising of the inmates; a flat ending. It remains watchable enough, though – the creature is touching, the structure solid. It could have been a lot better though – more vigorous handling and it could been quite good.