''Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell'' is a 1974 British

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...

, directed by

Terence Fisher Terence Fisher (23 February 1904 – 18 June 1980) was a British film director best known for his work for Hammer Films. He was the first to bring gothic horror alive in full colour, and the sexual overtones and explicit horror in his films, ...

and produced by

Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve class ...

. It stars

Peter Cushing Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage, and radio roles. He achieved recognition ...

Shane Briant Shane Briant (17 August 1946 – 26 May 2021) was an English actor and novelist. Briant studied law at Trinity College Dublin but became a professional actor playing the lead in '' Hamlet'' at the Eblana Theatre, Dublin. Briant is best known ...

and

David Prowse David Charles Prowse (1 July 1935 – 28 November 2020) was an English actor, bodybuilder and weightlifter. He portrayed Darth Vader (voiced by American actor James Earl Jones) in the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy and a manservant in Stanle ...

. Filmed at

Elstree Studios Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...

in 1972 but not released until 1974, it was the final chapter in the Hammer ''Frankenstein'' saga of films as well as director Fisher's last film. The film was released on U.K. DVD+Blu-ray on 28 April 2014, with all previously censored scenes restored to the film.

Plot

Baron

Victor Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein is a fictional character and the main protagonist and title character in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''.. He is an Italian-Swiss scientist (born in Naples, Italy) who, after studyin ...

, having survived the fire at the end of the previous film, lives and works in an insane asylum as a surgeon and is given a number of privileges, as he holds incriminating evidence on Adolf Klauss, the asylum's corrupt and perverted director. Frankenstein, using the alias of Dr. Carl Victor, uses his position to continue his experiments in the creation of man. When Simon Helder, a young doctor and an admirer of Frankenstein's work, arrives as an inmate for the crimes of ‘sorcery’ and body-snatching, the Baron is impressed by Helder's talents and takes him under his wing as an apprentice. Together they work on the design for a new creature. Unknown to Simon, however, Frankenstein is acquiring body parts by murdering his patients. Frankenstein's new experiment is the hulking, ape-like Herr Schneider, a homicidal inmate whom he has kept alive after a violent suicide attempt and on whom he has grafted the hands of a recently deceased sculptor. Since Frankenstein's hands were badly burned in the fire, all shabby stitchwork must be done by Sarah, a beautiful mute girl who assists the doctor, and who is nicknamed "Angel". Simon tells Frankenstein that he is a surgeon and the problem is solved. Frankenstein reveals that Sarah is Klauss' daughter and has been mute ever since he tried to rape her. Soon new eyes and a new brain are given to the creature. When The Monster – lumbering, hirsute and mute – is complete, it becomes bitter and intent on revenge. It ultimately embarks on a killing spree in the asylum, with Klauss as one of his victims. Eventually, it is fully overpowered and destroyed by a mob of inmates. Simon is devastated by the loss of life and reports to Frankenstein; however, the Baron feels that it was the best that could happen to such a creature, and is already considering a new experiment with other involuntary donors. Simon and Sarah watch silently as Frankenstein starts tidying up the laboratory while pondering who should be first to "donate".

Cast

as Baron Victor Frankenstein / Dr. Carl Victor *

as Dr. Simon Helder * Madeline Smith as Sarah "Angel" Klauss *

as the Creature / Herr Schneider * John Stratton as Asylum Director Adolf Klauss * Michael Ward as Transvest * Elsie Wagstaff as Wild one *

Norman Mitchell Norman Mitchell Driver (27 August 1918 – 19 March 2001), known professionally as Norman Mitchell, was an English television, stage and film actor. Born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, his father was a mining engineer and his mother a ...

as Police Sergeant * Clifford Mollison as Judge *

Patrick Troughton Patrick George Troughton (; 25 March 1920 – 28 March 1987) was an English actor who was classically trained for the stage but became known for his roles in television and film. His work included appearances in several fantasy, science fiction ...

as Bodysnatcher *

Philip Voss Philip James Voss (20 August 1936 – 13 November 2020) was a British stage, radio, film and television actor. Early life Voss was born in Leicester, the elder son of James Voss, a pharmacist, and his wife, Viola (née Walmsley). He had a yo ...

as Ernst * Christopher Cunningham as Hans *

Charles Lloyd-Pack Charles Lloyd-Pack (10 October 1902 – 22 December 1983) was a British film, television and stage actor. Life and career Lloyd-Pack was born at Wapping, East London, to working-class parents. He was seen in several horror films produced by the ...

as Professor Durendel *

Andria Lawrence Andria Lawrence (born Maureen Smith, 20 June 1936) is an English actress, best known for her roles in ''On the Buses'', and in ''Coronation Street'' as Janet Stockwell. Career Andria Lawrence is best remembered for her appearances in both the T ...

as Brassy girl * Lucy Griffiths as Old hag * Bernard Lee as Tarmut * Sydney Bromley as Muller * Jerold Wells as Landlord * Sheila Dunion as Gerda * Mischa de la Motte as Twitch * Norman Atkyns as Smiler *

Victor Woolf Victor John Woolf (1911–1975) was an English people, English actor, both on stage and on screen. Stage credits include the stage manager in the 1969 West End theatre, West End production of ''Mame (musical), Mame''. Select appearances Film * ...

as Letch * Winifred Sabine as Mouse * Janet Hargreaves as Chatter * Peter Madden as Coach driver

Production

This was the sixth and last time that Peter Cushing portrayed the role of Baron Victor Frankenstein, a part he originated in 1957's '' The Curse of Frankenstein''. Cushing had long been known throughout his career for his meticulous attention to detail, even in the planned handling and usage of props. For this film, he helped to design the wig that he wore, but years afterward regretted the outcome, and apparently quipped that it made him look like the American stage and screen star

Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...

. Cushing's dedication to the role was never truly dampened, however; even at the age of 59 and in poor health, he still insisted upon performing a stunt which required him to leap from a tabletop onto the hulking creature's back, spinning wildly in circles to subdue the monster gone amok with a sedative. Apart from an uncredited cameo in the 1967

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

spoof '' Casino Royale'', David Prowse made his second appearance as a Frankenstein laboratory creation in this film, his first having been in ''

The Horror of Frankenstein ''The Horror of Frankenstein'' is a 1970 British horror film by Hammer Film Productions that is both a semi-parody and semi-remake of the 1957 film ''The Curse of Frankenstein'', of Hammer's ''Frankenstein'' series. It was produced and directed ...

''. He is the only actor to have played a Hammer Frankenstein's monster more than once. During the DVD commentary session for this movie, Prowse said that his daily transformation into "the Monster from Hell" went fairly quickly, being able to suit up and pull on the mask in only about 30 minutes – whereas his time in the make-up chair for his previous Hammer monster role typically required several tedious hours. Prowse and Cushing later costarred in 1977's '' Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope'' as

Darth Vader Darth Vader is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. The character is the central antagonist of the original trilogy and, as Anakin Skywalker, is one of the main protagonists in the prequel trilogy. ''Star Wars'' creator George ...

and

Grand Moff Tarkin Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise, introduced as the main antagonist of the original 1977 ''Star Wars'' film (played by Peter Cushing). In the film, Tarkin is depicted as a high-ranking officer o ...

, respectively.

Critical reception

''Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell'' has received a mixed reception from critics. Of the film, ''The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films'' wrote: "Terence Fisher's haunting, melancholy swansong would be an epitaph for Hammer horror itself." ''

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an engine ...

'' wrote, "Fisher's last film is a disappointment." The film itself performed poorly at the box office. It was released in certain markets as a

double feature The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera h ...

with another Hammer film, ''

Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter ''Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter'' is a 1974 British swashbuckling action horror film, written and directed by Brian Clemens, produced by Clemens and Albert Fennell for Hammer Film Productions, and starring Horst Janson, John Carson, Shane ...

''.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

* * {{Terence Fisher 1974 films 1974 horror films 1970s science fiction horror films British science fiction horror films Films shot at EMI-Elstree Studios Frankenstein films Hammer Film Productions horror films Films directed by Terence Fisher Films scored by James Bernard Films set in Europe Grave-robbing in film Paramount Pictures films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films