In the early 1970s, Hammer introduced a new Frankenstein in the casting of a youthful Ralph Bates in place of the veteran Peter Cushing who had already fulfilled five outings as the Baron. Having penned Hammer's earliest gothic excesses, Jimmy Sangster was approached to revise a script by TV writer Jeremy Burnham. Sangster agreed, but on the condition that he was to also produce and direct it. The result is a semi remake of CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (the original script was blatantly obvious about this) which Sangster intended as a comedy, giving moviegoers what is easily one of Hammer's most criticized gothics.

Already making a great impression in a smaller role in TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA the previous year, Bates here stars as the young Victor Frankenstein. Refusing him the privilege to go to a university, Victor kills his father – making it look like an accident – and procures his title of Baron. After getting the headmaster's daughter pregnant, Victor returns to his castle with school chum Wilhelm (Graham Jones, BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB) to perform advanced experiments. Victor shoots a highway thief, protecting his beautiful former schoolmate Elizabeth (Veronica Carlson, THE GHOUL) and her father from being robbed. When nobody is looking, Victor decapitates the head and brings it back to the lab. In his castle abode, Victor gets satisfaction from the luscious housekeeper (Kate O'Mara, THE VAMPIRE LOVERS) with her cleavage-heavy curtsey being quite the vision. Anyway, Victor first experiments on animals (re-animating a dead tortoise), and then decides to move on to bigger and better things (people). He literally builds a monster by the numbers, receiving an ample amount of fresh corpses by a crafty grave-robber (Dennis Price, HORROR HOSPITAL) who makes his pregnant wife (Joan Rice, THE STORY OF ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRIE MEN) do all the digging. The result of the Baron's work is a bald, square-headed muscular hulk played by Darth Vader himself, David Prowse.

Originally playing on a double bill with its horror brother SCARS OF DRACULA (in both the U.S. and the UK), HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN is the least of Hammer's Frankensteins. That said, it works as an enjoyable offshoot to a classic series that Peter Cushing made his own. Bates' showcase turn as the Baron can be a delight to watch since he plays him as a spoiled snarky conniver who always gets his way just by opening his mouth; he becomes increasingly psychopathic, killing anybody that looks at him the wrong way. Carlson and O'Mara are so easy on the eyes that they actually draw your attention away from what's going on. The grave-robbing husband and wife team of Rice and Price (hey, that rhymes) is a nice touch, and cult favorite Jon Finch (who had just been in Hammer’s THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and would soon go on to Polanski’s MACBETH and Hitchcock’s FRENZY) is good in a supporting role as a police lieutenant rival of Victor.

Not so impressive is the monster, looking like a poor man's take on the Universal Studios Karloff creature, with a flat head full of heavy duty staples, and makeup resembling lipstick etched on his body to indicate the recent scars of limb attachments (in his commentary, Bruce Hallenbeck describes him as looking like “a baby in a diaper”). Prowse plays the monster as an awkward killing machine with little personality (it would take Terence Fisher's FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL for the actor to inject any real empathy into the monster role), but that is the way he was meant to be portrayed. Sangster attempted comedy (some of it quite sophomoric), but the film only achieves some dry black humor, mainly at the hands of Bates and his slick delivery. Here you have such sight gags as a reanimated severed arm giving a “two finger” salute (in U.S. prints of the film, it actually held up a “middle finger”!) and as Frankenstein paints numbers on the various body parts he intends to use, he zones out and envisions the number 25 on the forehead of Elizabeth’s father (Bernard Archard, CORRIDORS OF BLOOD) as the ideal brain for his new creation. Shot at the EMI-MGM Elstree Studios, there’s no hiding the recycling of sets from THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and SCARS OF DRACULA, and it’s economically-challenged appearance has often been chalked up to the cinematography of Moray Grant or the production design of Scott MacGregor, but (especially on this Blu-ray) it still carries an enchanting lurid appearance, even if you might deem it cut-rate gothic. Compared to Terence Fisher's masterpiece FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (made the year before), first-time director Sangster’s film looks like a stagy amateur hour, but as a standalone black comedy take on the Mary Shelley legend, it can still be entertainingly amusing, albeit nowhere near as funny as intended. The score is by Australian-born Malcolm Williamson (who earlier did Hammer favorite THE BRIDES OF DRACULA as well as their 1969 psycho thriller CRESCENDO), which is distinctively different than the familiar grand James Bernard treatment; it’s still gently melodic as well as fierce when the on-screen action calls for it.

Scream Factory has here licensed HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN from Studio Canal, and the transfer appears to be identical to the one used for the UK Blu-ray, which is a good thing. This “Zone A” Blu-ray is presented in 1080p HD, and looks beautiful. The color palette of the transfer is quite impressive with realistic flesh tones, while the detail is exceptional. Age-related blemishes are minimal, while the grain levels and black levels look perfect, and nighttime scenes have the proper amount of clarity. The elevated detail for the most part compliments the film’s aesthetic value, but makes some budgetary limitations painfully obvious, namely a miniature tripod-topped lighting rod protruding from the castle’s highest point. The English DTS Master Audio mono mix is perfectly solid with dialogue, music, and sound effects all being clear and distinguished. Optional English subtitles are also included. The film is viewable in two different aspect ratios: 1.85:1 and 1.66:1 (the latter can be navigated from the “Bonus” menu option). The preferable 1.66:1 option opens up more picture information on the top and bottom of the screen.

Carried over from the 2001 Anchor Bay Entertainment DVD is the commentary with the late Jimmy Sangster, moderated by Hammer historian Marcus Hearn. Sangster doesn't seem to remember much about the film (other than the fact that he had a grand time making it), so his talk concentrates on his entire career with Hammer and other film work, and it's definitely an interesting listen. There’s a second new commentary with author and film historian Bruce G. Hallenbeck. Hallenbeck mentions how the film was made in the wake of FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED being largely ignored at the box office, and goes on to describe Burnham’s original outline concept (which was simply called, “Frankenstein”) and how Sangster (living in Hollywood at the time) came to re-write it and became involved in the production. Hallenbeck’s examination of the movie is very thorough and makes for pleasant listening, as he describes the changes in the film industry and how it affected Hammer at the time (and how they wanted a younger, “sex symbol” in the role, not that they had any real intentions of getting rid of Cushing entirely). He analyzes the movie in largely a very favorable fashion, points out all the great supporting character actors we didn’t get to mention in this review (including James Cossins, George Belbin and James Hayter) and draws from a radio interview he did with the late Bates back in 1984, as well as other interviews with some of the film’s main players. He talks a great deal about the central character of Frankenstein – one of the film’s biggest assets as portrayed by Bates – and has a great line in response to fans’ argument that Bates is no Cushing: “I can’t argue with that, but he’s Ralph Bates, and that’s good enough for me”.

Also carried over from the Anchor Bay DVD is “Frankenstein, Dracula and Me: A Conversation with Veronica Carlson (13:43), which has the actress discussing this film and her other two Hammer roles (in DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE and FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED) and as always, seems delighted to have worked for the company and people like Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Freddie Francis, Terence Fisher, Ralph Bates and Jimmy Sangster. “Veronica Carlson: A Portrait Of Hammer” (23:16) is Constantine Nasr’s newer (and better) interview with the actress, who recalls her early years and getting into acting, and then getting the job in the Dracula film after meeting director Freddie Francis and producer Aida Young. She has nice things to say about Hammer head James Carreras (“he was a happy, kind man”), tells of being present the day when Hammer won the Queen’s Award, getting signed to do the two Frankenstein movies and she shares some fond recollections of Lee, Cushing and Terence Fisher. She also discusses the rape scene from FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED and ends the conversation on HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN. There’s a new interview with HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN’s assistant director Nicholas Granby (7:14) who confirms how important it was to get the film done on schedule, and he goes on to reminisce about cinematographer Moray Grant, actor Dennis Price, and Dave Prowse as the monster.