The Horror of Frankenstein – 1970 | 95 mins | Horror | Colour

Plot Synopsis

The Horror of Frankenstein, one of Jimmy Sangster’s pictures, was double billed with the undistinguished Scars of Dracula. The Horror of Frankenstein was the first Hammer Frankenstein film not to star Peter Cushing as the Baron and apparently intended by Sangster as a spoof on the original Curse of Frankenstein. Instead of Cushing, the lead role went to jobbing actor Ralph Bates, whom Hammer seemed to be grooming for stardom after spotting him in Granada Television’s acclaimed historical series The Caesars. Bates was a competent actor who nevertheless lacked the presence horror films required, he was however accompanied by a good supporting cast which included Kate O’Mara, Veronica Carlson, Dennis Price and Jon Finch.

The plot essentially recapitulates the first Frankenstein film but is embellished with some macabre touches of sick humour, with the monster being an unsympathetic thug compared to the creature of latent sensitivity portrayed by Karloff in the original.

Victor Frankenstein (Ralph Bates), a descendant of the original Baron, follows in his father’s footsteps, first reviving a dead tortoise, then hiring a grave robber (Dennis Price) to bring him some human parts, including the brain of a professor friend he poisons. The brain is accidentally dropped; it is no wonder then, that the monster (David Prowse), when brought to life during an electrical storm, is some-what deranged and makes off to commit murder before its creator is able to lock it up in the cellar. The monster comes in useful for killing the dead grave-robber’s wife (Joan Rice), and also Victor’s housemaid-mistress (Kate O’Mara) when she threatens blackmail.