Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell
Encyclopedia
Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell is a 1974 British horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

 from Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...

. It was directed by Terence Fisher
Terence Fisher
Terence Fisher was a film director who worked for Hammer Films. He was born in Maida Vale, a district of London, England.Fisher was one of the most prominent horror directors of the second half of the 20th century...

 and starred Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...

, Shane Briant
Shane Briant
Shane Briant is an actor and novelist. Briant studied Law at Trinity College Dublin but became a professional actor playing the name role in Hamlet at the Eblana theatre...

, and David Prowse
David Prowse
David Prowse, MBE is an English former bodybuilder, weightlifter and actor, most widely known for playing the role of Darth Vader in physical form. In Britain, he is also remembered as having played the Green Cross Code man...

. Filmed at Elstree Studios
Elstree Studios
"Elstree Studios" refers to any of several film studios that were based in the towns of Borehamwood and Elstree in Hertfordshire, England, since film production begun in 1927.-Name:...

 in 1972 but not released until 1974, it was the final chapter in Hammer's Frankenstein series of films and director Fisher's last film.

Production

This was the sixth and last time that Peter Cushing portrayed the role of the obsessively driven Baron Frankenstein, a part he originated in 1957's Curse of Frankenstein. Cushing had long been known throughout his career for his meticulous attention to detail, even in the planned handling and usage of props. For this film, he helped to design the wig that he wore, but years afterward regretted the outcome, and jokingly quipped that it made him look more like stage and screen actress, Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...

. But Cushing's dedication to his role was never truly dampened, and at age 59, looking somewhat gaunt and fragile, he still insisted upon performing a daring stunt which required him to leap from a tabletop onto the hulking creature's back, spinning wildly in circles in order to subdue the monster gone amok with a sedative.

David Prowse makes his second appearance as a Frankenstein laboratory creation in this film, his first having been The Horror of Frankenstein
The Horror of Frankenstein
The Horror of Frankenstein is a 1970 British horror film by Hammer Film Productions that is both a semi-parody and remake of the 1957 film The Curse of Frankenstein. It was produced and directed by Jimmy Sangster, starring Ralph Bates, Kate O'Mara, Veronica Carlson and David Prowse as the monster...

. He's the only actor to have played a Hammer Frankenstein's monster more than once. During the DVD commentary session for this movie, Prowse said that his daily transformation into "The Monster From Hell" went fairly quickly, being able to suit up and pull on the mask in only about 30 minutes -- whereas his time in the make-up chair for his previous Hammer monster role typically required several tedious hours.

Plot

In this final film in the series, Baron Victor Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...

 (Cushing) is housed at an insane asylum. He has been made a surgeon at the asylum, and has a number of privileges, as he holds secret information on the asylum's corrupt director (John Stratton). The Baron, under the alias of Dr. Carl Victor, uses his position to continue his experiments in the creation of man.

When Simon Helder (Briant), a young doctor and fan of the Baron's work, arrives as an inmate, the Baron takes him under his wing as an apprentice. Together they work on a new creature. Unbeknownst to Simon, however, Frankenstein is acquiring body parts by murdering his patients.

The Baron's new experiment is the hulking, ape-like Herr Schneider (Prowse), a homicidal inmate whom he has kept alive after a violent suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 attempt and on whom he has grafted the hands of a recently deceased sculptor (Bernard Lee
Bernard Lee
John Bernard Lee was an English actor, best known for his role as M in the first eleven James Bond films.-Life and career:...

). Since Frankenstein's hands were badly burned in the name of science (perhaps in either The Evil of Frankenstein
The Evil of Frankenstein
The Evil of Frankenstein is a 1964 British horror film made by Hammer Studio. Directed by Freddie Francis, the film stars Peter Cushing and New Zealand wrestler Kiwi Kingston....

or Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed is a British horror film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Film Productions from 1969. The cast includes Peter Cushing, Freddie Jones, Veronica Carlson and Simon Ward. The film is the fifth in a series of Hammer films centering on Dr...

), the shabby stitch-work was done by Sarah (Madeline Smith
Madeline Smith
Madeline Smith is an English actress and comedienne. She was a model in the 1960s, and appeared in many comedy films Madeline Smith (born 2 August 1949 in Hartfield, Sussex) is an English actress and comedienne. She was a model in the 1960s, and appeared in many comedy films Madeline Smith (born 2...

), a beautiful mute girl who assists the surgeon, and who is nicknamed "Angel". Simon tells the Baron that he is a surgeon, and the problem is solved.

Soon new eyes and a new brain are given to the creature in horror gore fashion. When the creature - lumbering, hirsute and dumb - is complete, it is bitter and intent on revenge. It ultimately runs amuck in the insane asylum, until it is eventually overpowered and destroyed by a mob of inmates. Simon is devastated by the loss of life and reports to Frankenstein; however, the Baron feels that it was the best that could happen to such a creature, and is already considering a new experiment with other involuntary donors.

Cast

  • Peter Cushing
    Peter Cushing
    Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...

     (Baron Victor Frankenstein)
  • Shane Briant
    Shane Briant
    Shane Briant is an actor and novelist. Briant studied Law at Trinity College Dublin but became a professional actor playing the name role in Hamlet at the Eblana theatre...

     (Dr. Simon Helder)
  • Madeline Smith
    Madeline Smith
    Madeline Smith is an English actress and comedienne. She was a model in the 1960s, and appeared in many comedy films Madeline Smith (born 2 August 1949 in Hartfield, Sussex) is an English actress and comedienne. She was a model in the 1960s, and appeared in many comedy films Madeline Smith (born 2...

     (Sarah, "the Angel")
  • David Prowse
    David Prowse
    David Prowse, MBE is an English former bodybuilder, weightlifter and actor, most widely known for playing the role of Darth Vader in physical form. In Britain, he is also remembered as having played the Green Cross Code man...

     (Monster)
  • John Stratton (Asylum director)
  • Michael Ward
    Michael Ward (actor)
    Michael Ward was an English character actor who appeared in nearly eighty films between 1947 and 1978.-Early life:...

     (Transient)
  • Elsie Wagstaff (Wild one)
  • Norman Mitchell
    Norman Mitchell
    Norman Mitchell was an English television, stage and film actor.Born in Sheffield, his father was a mining engineer and his mother a concert singer. He attended Carterknowle Grammar School and the University of Sheffield, before appearing in repertory theatre and with the Royal Shakespeare Company...

     (Police Sergeant)
  • Clifford Mollison
    Clifford Mollison
    Clifford Lely Mollison was a British film and television actor. He was married to the actress Avril Wheatley. His younger brother was the actor Henry Mollison.-Selected filmography:* The Lucky Number...

     (Judge)
  • Patrick Troughton
    Patrick Troughton
    Patrick George Troughton was an English actor most widely known for his roles in fantasy, science fiction and horror films, particularly in his role as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which he played from 1966 to 1969,...

     (Bodysnatcher)
  • Philip Voss
    Philip Voss
    Philip Voss is an English stage, radio, film and television actor. He has played small roles since the 1960s, but more notable ones include roles in such as the 1964 Doctor Who serial, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, the 1981 Lord of the Rings radio series, Indian Summer, an RSC 1996...

     (Ernst)
  • Chris Cunningham
    Chris Cunningham
    Chris Cunningham is an English music video film director and video artist. He was born in Reading, Berkshire in 1970 and grew up in Lakenheath, Suffolk....

     (Hans)
  • Charles Lloyd-Pack (Professor Durendel)
  • Lucy Griffiths
    Lucy Griffiths (actress born 1919)
    Lucy Griffiths was a British character actress whose work spanned from the early 1950s through to the early 1980s....

     (Old hag)
  • Bernard Lee
    Bernard Lee
    John Bernard Lee was an English actor, best known for his role as M in the first eleven James Bond films.-Life and career:...

     (Tarmut)
  • Sydney Bromley
    Sydney Bromley
    Sydney Bromley was an English actor. He appeared in more than sixty films and television programmes. On stage, he appeared in St. Joan, by George Bernard Shaw, in 1924...

     (Muller)
  • Andrea Lawrence (Brassy girl)
  • Jerold Wells
    Jerold Wells
    Jerold Wells was an English actor. He appeared primarily in British comedies. Some of his best-known roles were in Time Bandits, where he played Benson, a mentally disturbed follower to Evil, and in Jabberwocky, where he played a footless man known as Wat Dabney.He starred in films including '...

     (Landlord)
  • Sheila Dunion (Gerda)
  • Mischa de la Motte (Twitch)
  • Norman Atkyns (Smiler)
  • Victor Woolf (Letch)
  • Winifred Sabine (Mouse)
  • Janet Hargreaves (Challer)
  • Peter Madden
    Peter Madden (actor)
    Peter Madden was a British actor who was born in Kuala Lumpur in Malaya.Madden was a character actor who made several notable appearances in Hammer films...

     (Coach driver)

Credits

  • Directed by Terence Fisher
    Terence Fisher
    Terence Fisher was a film director who worked for Hammer Films. He was born in Maida Vale, a district of London, England.Fisher was one of the most prominent horror directors of the second half of the 20th century...

  • Screenplay by Anthony Hinds (aka John Elder)
    Anthony Hinds
    Anthony Hinds , aka Tony Hinds, aka John Elder, is a British screenwriter and producer. He is the son of the founder of Hammer Film Productions, William Hinds.-Early life:Tony Hinds was educated at St Paul's School...

  • Produced by Roy Skeggs
    Roy Skeggs
    Roy Skeggs is a former film producer for Hammer Films who is credited along with Brian Lawrence for revitalising the film company following receivership in 1979....

  • Director of photography: Brian Probyn, B.S.C.
  • Music by James Bernard
  • Musical supervisor: Philip Martell
  • Edited by James Needs
  • Art direction by Scott MacGregor
  • Production manager: Christopher Neame
    Christopher Neame (writer/producer)
    Christopher Elwin Neame was a British film producer and screenwriter. He was the son of film director Ronald Neame and of Beryl Heanly...

  • Make-up by Eddie Knight
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