Review of The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) by Rafael C — 12 Nov 2009

Hammer studios' loose adaptation of the Mary Shelley classic starring Peter Cushing as the Baron Victor Frankenstein and Christopher Lee as the monster. The movie starts as Victor Frankenstein is in prison for murder, and is confessing to a priest how he and his childhood mentor had conducted a scientific experiment that brought a dead body back to life and how it was not he who killed several people but the monster. Frankenstein's mentor who had pleaded with him throughout the whole ordeal to abort the experiment and kill the monster denied Frankenstein's story in the end. Since the mentor was the only witness to the story, and the monster fell into a vat of acid melting away without a trace the authorities had no choice but to sentence Victor Frankenstein to be beheaded.

This film by Hammer Studios was important because it brought back classic horror in a time (1950s) where sci-fi movies were dominating popculture. I liked this film because it has classic written all over it, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were amazing, as always and the very beautiful Hazel Court gave a good performance as well. The storyline dragged a bit in the beginning, and the monster's look wasn't too good because I believe Hammer Studios didn't have the rights to replicate the original "Boris Karlov" look on the monster. All in all, the movie is worth watching.