The Curse of Frankenstein

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Cast & Crew

Peter Cushing
Victor Frankenstein

Christopher Lee
Creature

Hazel Court
Elizabeth

Robert Urquhart
Paul Krempe

Valerie Gaunt
Justine

Noel Hood
Aunt

Terence Fisher
Director

Jimmy Sangster
Writer (Screenplay)

Anthony Hinds
Producer

Anthony Nelson Keys
Associate Producer

Michael Carreras
Executive Producer

Jack Asher
Cinematographer

James Needs
Film Editor

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Critic Reviews for The Curse of Frankenstein

Audience Reviews for The Curse of Frankenstein

• Nov 05, 2018

  Moving quite far from the original story in so many ways, this is a perfect example of a very loose Frankenstein adaptation that manages to be excellent on its own merits, with strong performances and an intelligent ending whose morality is subtly disturbing when you think about it.
  Carlos M Super Reviewer
• Oct 15, 2013

  This was the breakthrough film for now legendary British film studio Hammer. This was their first color film, and the first of their films that rebooted classic Universal horror franchises, starting with this slick retelling of Frankenstein. Set up as a flashback driven frame story we follow Baron Victor Frankenstein, an overly ambitious and truly mad scientist who takes it upon himself to play god. His experiments with bringing the dead back to life spiral out of control when his first reanimated human goes on a rampage. Hammer was practically forced (by threat of lawsuit) to make this as different as they could from Universal's Frankenstein. So they did it by shooting it in color, giving it some supremely awesome gothic touches, having a different looking creature, and favoring some more gruesome aesthetics, even though by today's standards they're pretty tame. Peter Cushing's portrayal of Frankenstein is also a lot more callous, cold-blooded, and evil...and it's a strong, memorable turn as well. Christopher Lee isn't quite as iconic as Karloff as the Creature, but, along with CUshing, this film nevertheless cemented them as Hammer's go-to actors for their various horror films. Director Terence Fisher does a really good job here, and I love the stylish gothic touches that he uses to enhance the mood and atmosphere. This film is admittedly a bit on the slower side, and is sometimes uneventful, but the build ups do lead to some nice payoffs, so it's not that big of a deal. Overall this is a fun and creative reboot, and it kicked off it's own lengthy series, so, if you want to see how the Brits brought their own unique touch to a classic, then give this a watch.
  Chris W Super Reviewer
• Oct 09, 2013

  Karloff may have delivered the seminal performance as Frankenstein's monster, but the Hammer horror films were always delectable revisionist versions of the Universal classics. Rather than a titular character with an obsessive tenacity for his experimentation, Cushing portrays Frankenstein as a deranged scientist who is so amoral he is willing to murder oblivious victims to gratify his perverse God complex . After a strong buildup where it is incontrovertible that Frankenstein won't heed his mentor Paul's advice about a "revolt of nature", the reveal of Lee as the malformed monster is extraordinarily spine-tingling. The explanation behind the grisly, cobbled amalgamation of the monster is pretty ingenious with the main framework being a hung man whose face has been savaged by crows (and therefore Frankenstein discards of the heinous visage). The gothic atmosphere looms over the film like an ominous cloud and with the advent of film colorization, the disjointed limbs and body accessories are truly galvanizing to behold in their visceral glory. 'The Curse of Frankenstein' is an intelligent, rococo and grandiloquent rendition of the Mary Shelley novel and it expertly psychoanalyzes the ceaseless inquisitiveness of scientists ("The problems with us scientists is we quickly tire of our discoveries.").
  

  Cory T Super Reviewer
• Oct 20, 2012

  The film that made Hammer a global contender and decided their genre from then onwards 'The Curse of Frankenstein' is still one of their best and the first to star both Cushing and Lee. Cushing gives one of his greatest performances here as Victor and although he would repise the role many times this film probably allowed him the greatest range and arc of the whole series. Lee is the mute monster and although he doesn't possess the make-up design of the Universal classics (due to them being copy-righted) his monster is ultimately more terrifying as it actually looks like it has been cobbled together from different bodies. The film still looks great and the focus on the doctor rather than the monster means it sticks pretty closely to the essence of Shelley's original. Hammer would often try to repeat this material with Cushing with mixed results but this should still rank as one of the greats of the British film industry.
  

  David S Super Reviewer

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