The Horror of Frankenstein (1970)
Hammer revisited the Frankenstein tale on numerous occasions, with The Horror of Frankenstein generally regarded as one of the worst. But wait...it's not all that bad.
Without any of the Hammer big guns on the cast list, it stars Ralph Bates as Victor Frankenstein, skipping the misunderstood genius role in favour of the evil, sadistic madman. After bumping off his father, Frankenstein heads to university in Vienna to learn his trade as a doctor, then returns to the family castle to expand his interest in anatomy.
However, anatomy needs body parts - cue an arrangement with the local graverobber (Dennis Price) and a few dastardly deeds by Frankenstein to top up the numbers.
Despite a mishap with a brain, the monster (played by David Prowse - best-known as Darth Vader and the Green Cross Man) is created, but due to that mishap with the brain, not as intended. Enter a monster with a square head with an interest in killing the locals and eating pigeons and a doctor desperately trying to cover it all up.
It's no classic, but Bates does an adequate job of the playing the mad doc, Kate O'Mara a better job of the amorous servant girl and the whole cast do well keeping straight faces playing out a tale with very little in common with the original novel.
But that doesn't mean it's a bad film. It's no classic, but it is entertaining, sometimes (unintentionally) funny and occasionally shocking. Which just about sums up Hammer from 1970 onwards.
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