Looking for different ways to get extra juice out of the Frankenstein story, Hammer came up with a solid idea – reboot the franchise, tell the story of Young Frankenstein (i.e. the doctor at school) – but once this is introduced, it’s thrown away almost as quickly, and the rest of the action is a retread of the same material as Curse of Frankenstein, i.e. Frankenstein and his mate mess around in a lab, they collect body parts, build a creature, bring it to life, creature goes on rampage, etc.
Ralph Bates replaces Peter Cushing in the lead role and makes a fair fist of it – he’s got the right looks and sense of “bigness”. But it’s a fuzzy role – we never see why Frankenstein is so driven, or what made him is, or any formative experiences, for that matter. He’s simply a younger version of the established character. And he’s required to drive too much of the action – this badly needed a subplot driven by another character. Also, said character is confused by the fact Frankenstein has this horny side – on one hand he’s driven to bring creatures back from the dead, so much so he’ll commit murder, but on the other he takes time out to bang the (admittedly hot) maid (Kate O’Mara), and make this silly comments.
Indeed, there’s an element of silliness throughout the whole film – lots of throwaway gags, double entendres – which robs the story of any emotional point. There’s no pathos about the monster (David Prowse, running around bare chested and in long pants), or Frankenstein’s friend or lady friends (Veronica Carlson is given nothing to do except show her cleavage, which is great, but the purpose of a girl in a Frankenstein film is to love Frankenstein). So for most of the time this drags. It doesn’t look good either – the photography and art design, normally delights of Hammer films, is third rate. Jimmy Sangster wrote and directed this but despite his fine record he doesn't do well in either category here.
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