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Frankenstein
and the Monster from Hell (1974)
Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1972
Running Times: 93m (USA)/99m (UK)
Length: 8,775 ft
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: Technicolor
Ratio:
Sound:
DIRECTION
Director: Terence
Fisher
CREDITS
PRODUCTION
Production Company: Hammer Films
Producer: Roy Skeggs
Production Manager: Christopher Neame
SCRIPT
Script: John Elder (real name: Anthony Hinds)
DIRECTION
Assistant Director: Derek Whitehurst
Continuity: Kay Rawlings
PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Brian Probyn
Camera Operator: Chick Anstiss
Laboratory: Studio Film Laboratories
EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: James Needs
MUSIC
Music: James Bernard
Musical Supervisor: Philip Martell
SOUND
Sound Recording: Les Hammond
Sound Editor: Roy Hyde
Dubbing Mixer: Maurice Askew
Sound System: RCA Sound Recording
COSTUMES AND MAKE UP
Wardrobe Supervisor: Dulcie Midwinter
Make Up: Eddie Knight
Hair: Maud Onslow
DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Scott MacGregor
Assistant Art Director: Don Picton
Construction Manager: Arthur Banks
LOCATIONS
Locations: EMI/MGM Elstree Studios, Boreham Wood, Hertfordshire, England,
UK
CASTING
Casting Director: James Liggat
CAST
Peter Cushing
(Baron Victor Frankenstein/Dr Carl Victor)
Shane Briant (Dr Simon Helder)
Madeline Smith (Sarah/The Angel)
Bernard Lee (Tarmut)
Dave Prowse (The Creature)
John Stratton (asylum director)
Philip Voss (Ernst)
Charles Lloyd Pack (Professor Durendel)
Michael Ward (Transvest)
Elsie Wagstaff (Wild One)
Norman Mitchell (police sergeant)
Clifford Mollison (judge)
Patrick Troughton (bodysnatcher)
Chris Cunningham (Hans)
Lucy Griffiths (old hag)
Sydney Bromley (Muller)
Andrea Lawrence (brassy girl)
Jerrold Wells (landlord)
Sheila Dunion (Gerda)
Mischa De La Motte (Twitch)
Norman Atkyns (Smiler)
Victor Woolf (Letch)
Winifred Sabine (Mouse)
Janet Hargreaves (Chatter)
Peter Madden (coach driver)
UNCREDITED CAST
Hugh Cecil, Ron Eagleton, Lianne Gilmore, Beatrice Greek, Toni Harris,
Peter Macpherson (inmates)
Gordon Richardson (aggressive)
Nicholas Smith (death wish)
PLOT SUMMARY
Dr Simon Helder an ambitious young surgeon, employs a sleazy grave-robber
to obtain the raw material for his unorthodox researches and is soon
caught out and imprisoned in an asylum for the criminally insane near
Carlsbad. There he discovers that the director is a stooge for Baron
Frankenstein, here passing himself off as Dr Karl Victor, who is up
to his old tricks again, aided by beautiful mute Angel. With the world
believing that he's dead, Frankenstein is free to carry on his researches,
taking on Helder as his apprentice and involving him in the creation
of his latest 'experiment', a hirsute, hulking monstrosity with the
body of a brutish inmate named Schneider.
CAPSULE REVIEW
Hammer's Frankenstein series came to an end with this often under-valued
film, also sadly Terence Fisher's swan song. It's one of the best films
in the series, one which has deservedly grown in critical stature since
its release. Fisher works his usual magic with the most meager of resources,
creating a claustrophobic and rancid atmosphere with only a handful
of cramped sets. It was a much darker and nastier film than any other
film in the series, certainly more violent than anything Hammer had
tried recently. Fisher manages to walk a fine line, nudging Hammer belatedly
into the increasingly fashionable gore arena while retaining the gothic
ambience that had become their trademark. (Full
Review)
AVAILABILITY
Netherlands
Video Distributor: Standard Video
UK
Theatrical Distributor: Avco Embassy
Video Distributor: Beyond Terror
USA
Theatrical Distributor: Paramount
Video Distributor: Paramount / Gateway
CENSORSHIP HISTORY
Norway
Rating: 18
UK
Rating: X; 15
USA
Rating: R
TIMELINE
1972
September
18: UK - principal photography begins
October
27: UK - principal photography ends
November
14: UK - rated X by the BBFC (with cuts, for theatrical release)
1974
May
2: UK - theatrical release (in London)
12: UK - wider theatrical release (on double bill with Fists
of Vengeance)
October
Day Unknown: USA - theatrical release (on double bill with Captain
Kronos, Vampire Hunter (1974))
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Frankenstein e il mostro dell'inferno
- Italian title
Frankenstein e o Monstro do Inferno - Portugese title
Frankenstein ja vampyyrin kosto - Finnish title
LINKS
SEQUEL TO
The Curse of Frankenstein
(1957)
The Revenge of
Frankenstein (1958)
The Evil of Frankenstein
(1964)
Frankenstein Created Woman
(1967)
Frankenstein Must
Be Destroyed (1969)
The Horror of
Frankenstein (1970)
FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
Bikers, Blondes and Blood (1993)
It Came from Hollywood
(1982)
Peter
Cushing A One-Way Ticket to Hollywood (1989)
REFERENCES
MAGAZINES
The Dark Side no.55 p.27 (UK)
review
Is It Uncut? no.5 p.15 (UK)
review
Shivers no.52 p.8 (UK)
review
Video Junkie no.1 p.26 (USA)
review
Video Watchdog no.14 p.10 (USA)
review
BOOKS
English Gothic (2nd edition) pp.209-210
credits, review (by Jonathan Rigby)
The Hammer Story pp.160-161
illustrated article, review (by Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes)
Hoffman's Guide to SF, Horror and Fantasy Movies
1991 - 1992 p.142
credits, review
Horror and Science Fiction Films Volume II p.141
credits
Ten Years of Terror pp.149-150
illustrated credits, review (Jonathan Sothcott)
OTHER SOURCES
screen
credits
KEYWORDS asylums, Frankenstein, human experiments, mental institutions, monsters,
scientists, sequels
Last Updated:
15 October, 2008
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