My take: Top-of-the-line Frankenstein story that is now going to be part of my regular rotation of horror films to watch.
Rating: 4 out of 4 stars
I’d heard of Hammer Horror over the years. When you watch a lot of horror movies, you simply can’t avoid it. It crops up in magazines, in documentaries and all over the Internet. But until recently, I had not actually watched a Hammer Horror picture. I knew that Christopher Lee was in them, and I had heard the name Peter Cushing. But I didn’t get it. Now I feel like I do, and I am pissed off at myself for waiting so long to watch one of these.
Frankenstein (right) and Paul Krempe (left), his tutor/partner, creating life in The Curse of Frankenstein.
The Curse of Frankenstein is, obviously, about Baron Victor Frankenstein and his creation of a monster. We all know the story. It’s entrenched in our popular culture. As a result, it is very difficult to tell the story and do anything new or interesting with it. Hammer Film Productions made something new and they did it well.
What makes it different? Frankenstein is portrayed as a driven, obsessed man who will go to any lengths to create a human life from nothing. This includes grave robbing, purchasing of black market body parts and even murder. The monster, played by Christopher Lee is realistically grotesque and utterly different from the classic Boris Karloff version of the creature. The story is rich, complex and thought provoking from beginning to end.
If you have not seen this version of the classic monster story of Frankenstein, I recommend that you do. I would recommend this to anyone who like classic horror, monster movies, mad scientist stories and just plain good horror.
I got a copy of the Curse of Frankenstein from Netflix’s DVD service, and it is also available on DVD. Here’s the trailer from when it was released in the late 50s:
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