Film Review
The fifth of Hammer's stylish
Frankenstein
films ups the ante in terms of its explicit horror content and
psychological realism and, as a consequence, is easily the darkest
and most frightening in the entire series.
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed was
a personal favourite of director Terence Fisher who appears to be at
his most inspired here, turning in one of his best films for
Hammer. Armed with a polished script and some fine acting talent,
Fisher ekes ever last drop of suspense from the story and tacitly
avoids the camp silliness and artistic excesses that beset many of
the studio's other horror romps of this period With icky brain
slicing operations and trepanning being a major feature of this film,
it is probably best not to watch it on a full stomach.
Having played the part of Baron Frankenstein four times by this stage,
Peter Cushing is well into his stride and takes the character into even
darker territory. The cold charm is still there but we also see
the character's true malevolence, a capacity for unbridled evil that is
far more chilling than anything the other Gothic icons can evoke.
By this stage, Dr Frankenstein had well and truly become the monster, the man having
lost the last vestiges of his humanity through his obsessive desire to
rip back the frontiers of science and prove himself a new Prometheus. Cushing's portrayal of
Frankenstein in this film is one that absolutely freezes the blood and
makes you wish that he hadn't handed over the part to Ralph Bates for
the next film in the series,
The
Horror of Frankenstein. Owing to public demand, the actor
would be back to play the part one more time, in
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell
(1974), one last Gothic flourish before Hammer began its sudden ignominious descent down the proverbial
plug hole into insolvency.
© James Travers 2009
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Terence Fisher film:
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974)
Film Synopsis
Dr Frankenstein's experiments in brain transplant surgery are
temporarily suspended when the scientist's cellar laboratory is
discovered by an enterprising burglar. To evade capture by the
police, Frankenstein relocates to a London boarding house run by Anna
Spengler, whose fiancé, Dr Karl Holst, works at an asylum for
the insane. When he learns that Karl is stealing drugs from the
asylum to pay for the medical treatment that Anna's mother is
receiving, Frankenstein blackmails the couple into aiding him in his
dastardly schemes. Frankenstein's plan is to remove Dr Brandt, a
once eminent neurosurgeon, from the asylum and transfer his brain into
another body, so that he can cure Brandt of his insanity. If the
operation is a success, Frankenstein hopes that Brandt will provide him
with valuable knowledge that will enable him to preserve human brains
for posterity...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.