Review of The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) by Stefan G — 07 Oct 2014

The breakthrough for Hammer horror, though hardly the best of what was to come. The adaptation takes liberties, which isn't a problem, but many of those liberties slow down the story, lower the stakes, and muddy what was interesting about Frankenstein in the first place, which is.

Still, Cushing is tremendous in the role, and Terence Fisher's production has the kind of offhanded artfulness that would become a trademark of all his work with the studio. Though it's not particularly scary, "Curse" is pretty shocking and unsettling to this day, and one can only imagine the effect it must have had on British audiences in 1957.

Not a great film, but a fairly interesting one, and an incredibly important one.