1974’s Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell is the sixth and last time Peter Cushing would play the mad doctor for Hammer Films. This is a curious film, and not just because I thought the first version of his creation was supposed to be the monster from hell. And the second, and the third, and so on. But this one is the supposedly the worst of the bunch?
It has the worst makeup of the lot, at least. Hard to believe the makeup on Christopher Lee’s monster in the first installment a decade and a half earlier was probably the best. This, even when those effects were rather sad, yet it was Lee’s performance which really sold it. To have arrived at this sad ending of the Cushion series with From Hell provides a sharp contrast to how much effort the studio used to put into its pictures.
One memorable takeaway concerning this version’s monster is it is the most hirsute. The sorry thing David Prowse is stuck in has more hair on it than I think I’ve seen on some bigfoot costumes. The face is especially bad, with an inelasticity making it a testament to Prowse’s acting abilities that he can emote through it at all.
This time, the monster is an amalgamation of at least three inmates of an asylum where Cushing is the doctor, having faked his own death. Although the doctor appears to genuinely care for his patients, he is also true to his nature and, conveniently, he has fresh material for his experiments whenever one of the patients meets their demise. Of course, he is not above expediting that process, despite his protestations to Shane Briant that he is not a murderer. I would like to enter into evidence as exhibit A the previous five films of this series in which he starred.
Briant is a conceited aristocrat who had been trying to follow in the doctor’s footsteps when he was convicted of sorcery and sentenced to this asylum. Cushing interrupts a “bath” the newest inmate is being subjected to (administered by the cruel keepers via a fire hose), taking him under his wing as an apprentice. Really, he just needs somebody to do his rounds, so that he can devote more time to his usual hobby.
The fire hose was powerful enough to tear strips of skin off the fancy lad’s back, and that is just a hint of the surprisingly strong gruesomeness to be found here. Of note is a great deal of unpleasantness involving eyeballs. While Hammer Films were known for being gorier than similar fare of the time, this one is surprisingly strong. The version I watched was the US cut, which apparently was edited to tone down the gore to get an R rating. While nowhere near as strong as today’s films, it will still surprise fans of this kind of cinema.
The unpleasantness extents to other aspects of the production. John Stratton, as the director of the institution, has been taking advantage of the female patients, though Cushing tries to put an end to it. The director even tried to rape his own daughter (Madeline Smith), rendering her mute and interred in his institution. He has recruited her to be his hands in his work and has a fatherly demeanor around her. But this poor girl can’t seem to escape bad father figures, as Cushing eventually has a plan for her to mate with his creation.
In addition to that being an appalling idea in general, I also wondered why he thought that would work. His rationale involves some sort of mumbo jumbo about the body rejecting the brain and that employing the usual process of reproduction will result in a new being that will have successfully combined the elements of his patchwork creation. But that doesn’t make any sense, as DNA from transplanted organs does not change that of the host.
Despite reveling in a few varieties of gruesomeness, this is a rather low-key and somber affair. Simply put, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell isn’t entertainment. In some regards, it seems to have been encouraged by the prior year’s Flesh for Frankenstein to have more gore than Hammer’s previous films. Without that picture’s winking, camp self-awareness, the viewer is baffled by a climax in which the inmates tear apart the monster and, basically, have a food fight with its organs. Then, after this, the doctor starts tidying up and it is implied business as usual will continue. The Hammer series, perhaps mercifully, did not.
Dir: Terence Fischer
Starring Peter Cushing, Shane Briant, Madeline Smith
Watched on Shout Factory blu-ray