The Horror of Frankenstein (1970)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1970
Running Times: 95 mins
Length: 8,591 ft
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: Technicolor
Ratio:
Sound:

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: E.M.I. Film Productions Limited present  A Hammer Films production
Copyright: MCMLXX  E.M.I. Film Productions Limited
Produced by: Jimmy Sangster
Production Manager: Tom Sachs

SCRIPT
Screenplay by: Jeremy Burnham and Jimmy Sangster
Based on Characters Created by: Mary Shelley

DIRECTION
Directed by: Jimmy Sangster
Assistant Director: Derek Whitehurst
Continuity: Betty Harley

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Moray Grant
Camera Operator: Neil Binney

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Chris Barnes

MUSIC
Music Composed by: Malcolm Williamson
Music Supervisor: Philip Martell

SOUND
Recording Director: Tony Lumkin
Sound Recordist: Claude Hitchcock
Dubbing Mixer: Bill Rowe
Sound Editor: Terry Poulton
RCA Sound Recording

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Wardrobe Mistress: Laura Nightingale
Make Up Supervisor: Tom Smith
Hairdressing Supervisor: Pearl Tipaldi

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Scott MacGregor
Construction Manager: Arthur Banks

LOCATIONS
Produced at: E.M.I.-M.G.M. Elstree Studios, Hertfordshire, England

CAST
Starring
Ralph Bates (Victor Frankenstein)
Kate O'Mara (Alys)
Veronica Carlson (Elizabeth Heiss)

and
Dennis Price (graverobber)

with
Jon Finch (Lt Henry Becker)
Joan Rice (graverobber's wife)
Bernard Archard (Professor Heiss)
Stephen Turner (Stephan)
Graham James (Wilhelm)
Neil Wilson (schoolmaster)
James Hayter (bailiff)
James Cossins (Dean)

And
Glenys O'Brien (Maggie)
Geoffrey Lumsden (instructor)
C. Lethbridge Baker (priest)
Terry Duggan (1st bandit)
George Belbin (Baron)
Hal Jeayes (woodsman)
Carol Jeayes (little girl)
Michael Goldie (workman)

and
David Prowse as the monster

Uncredited
Sue Hammer (maid)

PLOT SUMMARY

Having engineered the death of his father and inherited his fortune, the ambitious young Victor Frankenstein relocates to Vienna where he attends university. After graduation - and after getting the dean's daughter pregnant - he returns to the family home and, with his fellow student Wilhelm, begins his experiments in reanimating dead tissue...

A truly terrible attempt by Hammer to lampoon its own house style. Ralph Bates is badly miscast as Frankenstein. Dave Prowse is an imposing but unconvincing monster and Jimmy Sangster should have stuck to writing. Embarrassingly juvenile, hopelessly unfunny and clumsily directed, Horror of Frankenstein was a terrible mistake - and sadly it wasn't the only one that Hammer was making at the time.

UK
Theatrical Distributors: Anglo-EMI Film Distributors Ltd. released through M.G.M.-E.M.I. Film Distributors Ltd.
Video Distributor: Thorn-EMI

USA
Theatrical Distributor: American Continental Films Inc
Releasing Agent: Levitt-Pickman

Australia
Rating: M

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating: X

USA
Rating: R
MPAA: 22522

1970
May
13: UK - rated X by the BBFC (for theatrical release)

November
8: UK - theatrical release

1971
March
22: Sweden - theatrical release

1986
September
5: UK - television Broadcast (on Thames Television)

2000
February
18: UK - television broadcast (on ITV)

2001
January
13: UK - television broadcast (on ITV)

Frankensteins Schrecken - German title
Frankensteins skräck - Swedish title
Der Greuel von Frankenstein - German title
Les horreurs de Frankenstein - Belgian title
El horror de Frankenstein - Spanish title
Horror Frankensteina - Polish title
Gli orrori di Frankenstein - Italian title

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)

SEQUEL
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974)

REMAKE OF
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

MAGAZINES

Flesh and Blood no.2 pp.19-20 (UK)
credits, review

Halls of Horror no.27 p.22 (UK)
note

Monthly Film Bulletin November 1970 p.226
credits, synopsis, review

Variety 21 October 1970 (USA)
credits, review

BOOKS

English Gothic (end edition) p.174
review (by Jonathan Rigby)

The Hammer Story p.138
illustrated article, review (by Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes)

Horror and Science Fiction Films Volume II p.175
credits

Reference Guide to Fantastic Films p.200
credits

Ten Years of Terror pp.30-33
illustrated credits, review (by Harvey Fenton, Jonathan Sothcott)

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

KEYWORDS

frankenstein, monster, remakes, scientists

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008