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The Horror of Frankenstein

Play trailer Poster for The Horror of Frankenstein R 1970 1h 35m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
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64% Tomatometer 14 Reviews 40% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Frankenstein's son (Ralph Bates) seizes his father's castle and housekeeper (Kate O'Mara) and builds his own monster.

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The Horror of Frankenstein

Critics Reviews

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Kim Newman Empire Magazine 09/04/2013
2/5
Poor attempt by Hammer to create their version of Frankenstein, featuring the usually reliable Bates offering a rather irritating performance as the scientist who goes beyond the call of science. Go to Full Review
Howard Thompson New York Times 05/10/2005
2.5/5
The film shatters, with awkward horror pitted against rather bland sheepishness. But it was good fun while it lasted. Hammer almost had something special. Go to Full Review
Chris Ward Flickering Myth Dec 2
The Horror of Frankenstein is perfectly serviceable, but pales in the shadow of all the other Frankenstein movies Hammer made, making it the weakest entry in the series. Go to Full Review
Eddie Harrison film-authority.com Nov 25
4/5
…turning up the horror and the humour, Horror of Frankenstein is a great example of what audiences loved about Hammer horror…non-nonsense action and deft, knowing, self-parody… Go to Full Review
Mike Massie Gone With The Twins 08/25/2024
6/10
Deliriously humorous, not only in abrupt editing techniques and figurative dialogue, but also in the various events that lead to death and destruction. Go to Full Review
Alberto Abuín Espinof 08/27/2019
Here, with the face of the emerging Ralph Bates at that time, a strange exercise is performed that works as remake and prequel. [Full Review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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DanTheMan 2 10/16/2023 Offering a Young Frankenstein before Young Frankenstein, Horror of Frankenstein is the penultimate entry in Hammer's series on the good doctor, swapping the sauve sociopathic tendencies of Peter Cushing for an arrogant psychopath portrayed by Ralph Bates. An often awkward and anaemic affair with an occasional lighthearted touch, writer-director Jimmy Sangster tries his hand at turning the Baron into a sexually voracious anti-hero with a macabre sense of humour that is sold on Bates' great if irritating performance. The other performances I would have to single out are easily, the always-gorgeous Veronica Carlson, Kate O'Mara's Alys (The Rani herself) and Graham James' Wilhelm, oh and there's even David Prowse outside of the Darth Vader costume as the Monster; it's certainly offputting but the man does at least carry an imposing stature that is befitting the role. There's plenty of blunt and dark humour found throughout but it crumbles towards the end with awkward horror pitted against rather bland sheepishness where the monster is nothing more than a robotic killer. But it was good fun while it lasted. Hammer almost had something special. See more 03/25/2021 Rated R version of home alone See more 02/04/2016 Victor FRANKENSTEIN is depicted as a sociopath obsessed by his scientific experiments in this movie adaptation of the classic story, which is told in a dark yet carefree manner. See more 10/02/2015 The only Hammer Frankenstein film to not feature Peter Cushing in the title role, and that fact hurts it immensely. Ralph Bates isn't horrible, but he just isn't Peter Cushing. He also portrays the Baron as a womanizer, which just doesn't fit the part to me. I always think of Frankenstein and romance as something he puts on the back burner, and has it destroyed in some ways due to his horrific experiments. The plot of this is similar in many way to the first Hammer Frankenstein film, which makes it easy to say: watch "The Curse of Frankenstein" instead, for a better execution of this plot and a better actor in the title role. See more 05/16/2015 A bit shallow for a Frankenstein retelling, it takes a while to get going and the ending is unremarkable. Decent characters, but not Hammer's most memorable. The monster's make up is quite decent, though we only see the monster in the last 30 minutes of the film. See more 11/12/2014 this is where i stopped goin 2 see See more Read all reviews
The Horror of Frankenstein

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Movie Info

Synopsis Frankenstein's son (Ralph Bates) seizes his father's castle and housekeeper (Kate O'Mara) and builds his own monster.
Director
Jimmy Sangster
Production Co
Hammer Films, EMI Films
Rating
R
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 1, 2014
Runtime
1h 35m
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