View source for Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell

{{Short description|1974 British film by 	Terence Fisher}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Frankenstein<br />and the Monster from Hell
| image          = Frankmonsterfromhell.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Terence Fisher]]
| producer       = [[Roy Skeggs]]
| screenplay     = [[Anthony Hinds|John Elder]]
| based_on       = {{based on|[[Victor Frankenstein]]|[[Mary Shelley]]}}
| starring       = [[Peter Cushing]]<br />[[Shane Briant]]
| music          = [[James Bernard (composer)|James Bernard]]
| cinematography = Brian Probyn
| editing        = [[James Needs]]
| studio         = [[Hammer Film Productions]]
| distributor    = [[AVCO Embassy Pictures]] (U.K.)<br />[[Paramount Pictures]] (U.S.)
| released       = {{Film date|1974|05|02|df=yes}}
| runtime        = 93 minutes
| country        = United Kingdom
| language       = English
| budget         = £137,200<ref name="hearn">{{cite book|first1=Marcus|last1=Hearn|first2=Alan|last2=Barnes|title=The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films|publisher=[[Titan Books]]|location=London, England|date=2007|ISBN=978-1845761851|page=161}}</ref>
| gross          = 88,788 admissions (France)<ref>[https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.boxofficestory.com%2Fbox-office-alain-delon-c22669761%2F39&sandbox=1 Box office information for Terence Fisher films in France] at Box office Story</ref>
}}

'''''Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell''''' is a 1974 British [[horror film]], directed by [[Terence Fisher]] and produced by [[Hammer Film Productions]]. It stars [[Peter Cushing]], [[Shane Briant]] and [[David Prowse]].<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150041246 |access-date=15 April 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> Filmed at [[Elstree Studios (Shenley Road)|Elstree Studios]] in 1972 but not released until 1974, it was the final chapter in [[Frankenstein (Hammer film series)|the Hammer ''Frankenstein'' saga of films]] as well as director Fisher's last film.{{sfn|Hallenbeck|2013|p=208}}

==Plot==
Baron [[Victor Frankenstein]], having survived the fire at the end of ''[[Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed]]'', lives and works in an insane asylum as a surgeon and is given a number of privileges, as he holds incriminating evidence on Adolf Klauss, the asylum's corrupt and perverted director. Frankenstein, using the alias of Dr. Carl Victor, uses his position to continue his experiments in the creation of man.

When Simon Helder, a young doctor and an admirer of Frankenstein's work, arrives as an inmate for the crimes of ‘sorcery’ and body-snatching, the Baron is impressed by Simon's talents and takes him under his wing as an apprentice. Together they work on the design for a new creature. Unknown to Simon, however, Frankenstein is acquiring body parts by murdering his patients.

Frankenstein's new experiment is the hulking, ape-like Herr Schneider, a homicidal inmate whom he has kept alive after a violent suicide attempt and on whom he has grafted the hands of Tarmut, a recently deceased sculptor. Since Frankenstein's hands were badly burned in the fire, all shabby stitchwork must be done by Sarah, a beautiful mute girl who assists the doctor, and who is nicknamed "Angel". Simon tells Frankenstein that he is a surgeon and the problem is solved. Frankenstein reveals that Sarah is Klauss' daughter and has been mute ever since he tried to rape her.

Soon new eyes and a new brain are given to the creature. When [[Frankenstein's monster|The Monster]] – lumbering, hirsute and mute – is complete, it becomes bitter and intent on revenge. It ultimately embarks on a killing spree in the asylum, with Klauss as one of his victims. Eventually, it is fully overpowered and destroyed by a mob of inmates. Simon is devastated by the loss of life and reports to Frankenstein; however, the Baron feels that it was the best that could happen to such a creature, and is already considering a new experiment with other involuntary donors. Simon and Sarah watch silently as Frankenstein starts tidying up the laboratory while pondering who should be first to "donate".

== Cast ==
{{col-begin|width=70%}}
{{col-break|width=70%}}
* [[Peter Cushing]] as Baron Victor Frankenstein / Dr. Carl Victor
* [[Shane Briant]] as Dr. Simon Helder
* [[Madeline Smith]] as Sarah "Angel" Klauss
* [[David Prowse]] as [[Frankenstein's monster|The Creature]] / Herr Schneider
* [[John Stratton (actor)|John Stratton]] as Adolf Klauss
* [[Michael Ward (actor)|Michael Ward]] as Transvest
* [[Elsie Wagstaff]] as Wild One
* [[Norman Mitchell]] as Police Sergeant
* [[Clifford Mollison]] as Judge
* [[Patrick Troughton]] as Bodysnatcher
* [[Philip Voss]] as Ernst
* Christopher Cunningham as Hans
* [[Charles Lloyd-Pack]] as Professor Durendel
{{col-break|width=70%}}
* [[Andria Lawrence]] as brassy Girl
* [[Lucy Griffiths (actress, born 1919)|Lucy Griffiths]] as Old Hag
* [[Bernard Lee]] as Tarmut
* [[Sydney Bromley]] as Muller
* [[Jerold Wells]] as Landlord
* Sheila Dunion as Gerda
* Mischa de la Motte as Twitch
* Norman Atkyns as Smiler
* [[Victor Woolf]] as Letch
* Winifred Sabine as Mouse
* Janet Hargreaves as Chatter
* [[Peter Madden (actor)|Peter Madden]] as Coach Driver
{{col-end|width=70%}}

== Production ==

''Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell'' was the sixth and last time that [[Peter Cushing]] portrayed the role of Baron [[Victor Frankenstein]], a part he originated in 1957's ''[[The Curse of Frankenstein]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/455285/index.html|title=BFI Screenonline: Cushing, Peter (1913-1994) Biography|website=Screen Online}}</ref> Cushing had long been known throughout his career for his meticulous attention to detail, even in the planned handling and usage of props.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQ_-4rekM1oC&q=peter+cushing+meticulous+attention+to+detail&pg=PR10|title=An Actor, and a Rare One: Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes|first=Tony|last=Earnshaw|date=2 July 2001|publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]]|location=Lanham, Maryland|isbn=9780810838741|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2013/05/the-peter-cushing-scrapbook-book-review.html|title=THE PETER CUSHING SCRAPBOOK / Book Review}}</ref> For this film, he helped to design the wig that he wore, but years afterward regretted the outcome, and apparently quipped that it made him look like the American stage and screen star [[Helen Hayes]].{{sfn|Hallenbeck|2013|p=202}} Cushing's dedication to the role was never truly dampened, however; even at the age of 59 and in poor health, he still insisted upon performing a stunt which required him to leap from a tabletop onto the hulking [[Frankenstein's monster|creature]] ([[David Prowse]])'s back, spinning wildly in circles to subdue the monster gone amok with a sedative.{{sfn|Hallenbeck|2013|p=202}}

Apart from an uncredited cameo in the 1967 [[James Bond]] spoof ''[[Casino Royale (1967 film)|Casino Royale]]'', David Prowse made his second appearance as a Frankenstein laboratory creation in this film, his first having been in ''[[The Horror of Frankenstein]]''.{{sfn|Pitts|2010|p=32}} He is the only actor to have played a [[Hammer Film Productions|Hammer]] Frankenstein's monster more than once.{{sfn|Hallenbeck|2013|p=200}} During the DVD commentary session for this movie, Prowse said that his daily transformation into "the Monster from Hell" went fairly quickly, being able to suit up and pull on the mask in only about 30 minutes – whereas his time in the make-up chair for his previous Hammer monster role typically required several tedious hours.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nVq5BAAAQBAJ&q=frankenstein+and+the+monster+from+hell+dave+prowse+makeup&pg=PT200|title=Straight From The Force's Mouth: The Autobiography of Dave Prowse|first=David|last=Prowse|authorlink=David Prowse|date=28 September 2011|publisher=Andrews UK Limited|location=Luton, Bedfordshire, England|isbn=9781908548184|via=Google Books}}</ref>  Prowse and Cushing later costarred in 1977's ''[[Star Wars (film)|Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope]]'' as [[Darth Vader]] and [[Grand Moff Tarkin|Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin]], respectively.

== Releases ==
The film was released on U.K. DVD and Blu-ray on 28 April 2014, with all previously censored scenes restored to the film.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wurm |first=Gerald |title=Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (Comparison: R-Rated - BBFC 15 DVD) - Movie-Censorship.com |url=https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=152374 |website=www.movie-censorship.com}}</ref>

== Reception ==

=== Critical ===
''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote: <blockquote>''Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell'' seems some way below the level of [<nowiki/>[[Terence Fisher]]'s] best work&nbsp;... The film begins promisingly by restoring the Baron to the role of Wildean dandy, with a superbly handled entrance in which Peter Cushing, a gaunt figure dressed entirely in black, silences with a-gesture a howling mob of lunatics. The authority and atmosphere are maintained for most of the first half, notably in the inevitable discovery of the animated underground laboratory, seething with sinister chemical life. But the accumulated suspense is finally dissipated by a script which plunges into the kind of comic-strip melodrama that [[Jimmy Sangster]] – author of the early [[Frankenstein (Hammer film series)|Hammer ''Frankenstein''s]] would never have sanctioned. [[Anthony Hinds|John Elder]] is evidently at a loss to know what to do once he has established the characters and basic situation; and where Fisher was able to exploit the script's general indecisiveness in the last of the series to lend a more personal tone to the whole project, this here proves impossible.&nbsp;... Even so, aficionados will find much in the first half of the film to enjoy, and one would still relish further Fisher journeys through the Gothic landscapes that have made him – fortuitously or not – one of the few instantly recognisable British film-makers.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1974 |title=Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305832898/23452575A181464DPQ/1 |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=41 |issue=480 |pages=71 |via=ProQuest}}</ref></blockquote>''The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films'' wrote: "Terence Fisher's haunting, melancholy swansong would be an epitaph for Hammer horror itself."<ref name="hearn" /> ''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'' wrote, "Fisher's last film is a disappointment."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://timeout.com/film/reviews/67017/frankenstein_and_the_monster_from_hell.html |title=Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell Review. Movie Reviews – Film – Time Out London |work=[[Time Out (magazine)|timeout.com]] |access-date=16 August 2012}}</ref> [[Leslie Halliwell]] said: "Cheaply made and very ghoulish horror comic in the unattractive setting of an asylum; very little entertainment is provided."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Leslie |title=Halliwell's Film Guide |publisher=Paladin |year=1989 |isbn=0586088946 |edition=7th |location=London |pages=375}}</ref>

=== Box office ===
The film performed poorly at the box office.<ref name="hearn" />

==See also==
* [[Frankenstein in popular culture|''Frankenstein'' in popular culture]]
* [[List of films featuring Frankenstein's monster]]
* [[Frankenstein (Hammer film series)]]
* [[Hammer filmography]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{citation|last=Hallenbeck|first=Bruce G.|title=The Hammer Frankenstein: British Cult Cinema|publisher=Midnight Marquee Press|year=2013|isbn=978-1936168330}}
* {{citation|last1=Hearn |first1=Marcus |last2=Barnes |first2=Alan |title=The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films |chapter=Demons of the Mind |publisher=Titan Books |date=September 2007 |edition=limited |isbn=978-1-84576-185-1}}
* {{citation|last=Pitts|first=Michael R.|title=Columbia Pictures Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films: 1928-1982|publisher=[[McFarland & Company|McFarland & Co.]]|year=2010|isbn=9780786457663}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb title|0071519}}
* {{TCMDb title|75588}}

{{Frankenstein}}
{{Hammer Horror}}
{{Terence Fisher}}

[[Category:1974 films]]
[[Category:1974 horror films]]
[[Category:1970s science fiction horror films]]
[[Category:British science fiction horror films]]
[[Category:Films shot at EMI-Elstree Studios]]
[[Category:Frankenstein (Hammer film series)]]
[[Category:Hammer Film Productions horror films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Terence Fisher]]
[[Category:Films scored by James Bernard]]
[[Category:Films set in Europe]]
[[Category:Films about grave-robbing]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:1970s British films]]
[[Category:English-language science fiction horror films]]
[[Category:1974 science fiction films]]