Night 23: ‘The Curse of Frankenstein’ (1957)

This is part of the ‘31 Nights of Horror Classics’ series, which I’ll be doing for Halloween 2017. Every night of this month, I’ll be watching a horror film made before the 90s and I’ll be posting a short review here.

There’s a monster walking around the city, murdering people and stealing body parts. The thing is…he might be hiding in plain sight.

Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) has grown up mostly on his own, except for his tutor, Paul Krempe (Robert Urquhart). The latter has taught him a lot about science, and together they have engaged in a successful resuscitation experiment. Frankenstein is ready to take it further, but as he becomes increasingly manic, Krempe leaves him. However, the arrival of Frankenstein’s cousin and Victor’s success in creating a demonic creature, will force him to get involved once more.

By now, I have seen many attempts of adapting and reinventing the story of Frankenstein and his creature, with various degrees of success. Since I’m very fond of Karloff’s version, I was a little apprehensive going into this one. Yet, it surprised me!

This film focuses mostly on Victor, who is a deliciously and unabashed monster. He mistreats his peers, he lies, murders, steals…and all with the calmness and charm that only Cushing could give him. I was absolutely fascinated!

The monster itself, played by the wonderful Christopher Lee, is barely in the movie. Therefore, the true horror is not in the creature, but the devilish actions and numerous infringements committed by Frankenstein. The man is truly willing to go as far as he has to in order to fulfill his mission with unhealthy singlemindedness.

In this version, Victor is the monster that will haunt your nightmares, despite the creature’s petrifying appearance.

Visually, The Curse of Frankenstein is also a very impressive film. Every set is delightful, detailed and lush. The camera moves around this world trying to shelter us from certain horrors, and leaving much to our overactive imagination. It’s effective and very entertaining!

If there’s a downside, it’s in some of the secondary characters. For example, we don’t spend enough time with Krempe, even though the latter becomes, in some way, the hero. As for the monster, it’s terrifying, but dismissed too easily in favor of other plots. In the end, I expected a little more from it.

Also, Elizabeth (Hazel Court) is too stereotypical and mindless to be interesting or make me sympathize with her. Her affection and devotion to Victor comes out of nowhere, and I ended up caring much more about Justine (Valerie Gaunt) than her.

Still, I confess that the ending redeemed the story from these faults! I enjoyed the turnaround in Krempe’s attitude, and by the end I think everyone got what they deserved.

And now I have another great version of Frankenstein to add to my list!

Grade: 8/10.

Scare Factor: tension filled with a couple of creepy moments.

Gore/Violence: not too graphic.

Nudity/Sexual Situations: hinted at.

Previous Night: ‘Creepshow’ (‘82)

Next up: ‘Werewolf of London’ (‘35)