Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)

"More monstrous than the monsters he created"

Plot

Baron Frankenstein seeks refuge in a new town with a new identity. He stays at a boarding house but when he finds out that the landlady's fiancé is stealing drugs from the local asylum, he blackmails them into helping him with his new experiments. With the knowledge that an old colleague of his who was also working on reanimation is locked inside the asylum and has gone mad, Frankenstein comes up with a crazy idea to transplant his brain into a new body and carry out some brain surgery to unlock the knowledge. But after the success of the operation, Frankenstein realises his old friend was mad to begin with and the monster hunts the Baron down for a fight to the death.

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Whereas the Hammer Dracula franchise seemed to run out of ideas quickly and saw the character of Dracula receive no development at all over his run, their counterpart Frankenstein series continued to churn out strong, creative films which continued to change the nature of Frankenstein's character, from his misguided debut in The Curse of Frankenstein to his almost psychopathic finale in Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell. Yes, each film was basically the same ‘Frankenstein creates monster, monster gets loose, etc’ plot but in each instalment, a new element was added and over the course of Cushing's Frankenstein films, you can clearly identify the progression of the character as the scripts gave him fresh challenges, with the character slowly losing his sense of reason, his morals and his humanity in each instalment. The studio could quite easily have rested their laurels and regurgitated the same story over and over again but each film took the idea of Frankenstein's experiments in different directions. It's this continuity and evolution of the character which sets the Frankenstein series head and shoulders above the Dracula films, helped in no small part by Peter Cushing. One of Hammer's last hurrahs in the 60s before it started to head into cheaper and cheesier territory in the 70s as the Anglo-horror cycle began to wane, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed is a lot darker and serious than almost anything it had done until that point.

Long-time Hammer stalwart Terence Fisher returned to the series and brought to life some effective sequences, including an opening sequence involving a prowler lurking around a seemingly empty laboratory which could have been taken out of a Jack the Ripper film. There's a classic, almost Hitchcockian sequence, in which the hand of a recently-buried corpse pops out of a flower bed after a water mains bursts beneath, threatening to reveal the whole body to onlookers - there's tons of nervous tension as Anna tries to cover up the mess before anyone sees. And don't think you'll get through a Hammer film without some trademark blood either and with brain surgery being on the menu, you'll get to see a brain transplant taking place. It's one of Hammer's most enduring and controversial scenes which looks tame nowadays but caused uproar back in the day. Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed feels raw, uncompromising at times, and isn't bothered about holding back anymore, which, coming after some lightweight sequels, seems like a sucker punch to the gut.

By the late 60s, the public were that well-acquainted with Cushing as Frankenstein that the films didn't even have to feature the stereotypical nuts-and-bolts monster as the last film, Frankenstein Created Woman, so aptly proved with its femme fatale. Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed does feature a monster but it's not the typical brute we've come to expect from the 'Frankenstein' name. This time the monster is in the shape of actor Freddie Jones who retains most of his former human side, going so far as to return to his home to confront his wife who then proceeds to reject him as his brain now has a new body which she refuses to accept. It's a pitiful, heart-breaking moment but one which embodies the new direction that the monster was taken with this entry. A monster in all but character tag, this near-man has only a visible scar around his skull to give away his past. It's simply a tragic character and not depicted as the usual lumbering zombified hulking mass - certainly one of the most complex incarnations of the monster ever seen. But the monster is only one small part of what makes this film such a great horror film. The real monster is now the Baron himself.

As good as the supporting players are, this is Cushing's show from the get-go and to talk about anyone else would not do this performance justice. Always a master of making even the most rudimentary horror films seem like classy genre pieces, Cushing was at his best when the material he had to work with was just as good. This time Frankenstein is more manipulative, more deceitful, more calculating and more murderous than ever before. He will let nothing and no one stand in his way and is prepared to go to any lengths to achieve his goal. What was once single-minded determination is now an obsession. By attempting to prove that everyone else is mad for not believing in him, Frankenstein has now become borderline insane. Once misguided, Frankenstein is now evil. He'll go through anyone and everyone to achieve his goal and that includes rape and murder. The rape scene is wholly unnecessary and out of character, even for Hammer, and was included at the behest of distributors who wanted to spice up the film for American audiences who were being exposed to more lurid horror outings by this time. It cheapens the film and is a blot on its otherwise almost-impeccable landscape. Likewise, Thorley Walters' detective was also an extra addition to the script and, as good value as he was to any film, his character is pointless and cheapens the film with some comedic moments.

During the scenes where Frankenstein is required to blackmail, Cushing looks so icy and cold that you'd never believe him to be a nice guy. He could have sleepwalked through the role at this point in time but continued to drive further forward, pushing the character for all it's worth. In a film laced with classic Cushing moments, the standout is when he cuts down his fellow physicians inside his drawing room. Scathing and brutally brilliant, it shows both Frankenstein at his most sinister and Cushing at his ever-best. Able support comes from Veronica Carlson and Simon Ward as the put-upon young lovers who are coerced into this fiendish plot and forced to go along with Frankenstein's manipulations. Carlson, in particular, makes such a good impression in her role that with only three Hammer films under her belt, become synonymous with the studio forever after. Her character is such a tragic one, with all of the torture and turmoil that Frankenstein forces her to go through that the end of her arc leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth. In fact, most, if not all, of the characters have some sort of tragic outcome - this is a bleak, grim film where no one is coming out unscathed.

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Final Verdict

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed is one of the best of the Hammer Frankenstein films; certainly one of the best films they ever made. It would be unfair to lavish all of the praise upon Cushing's performance as Frankenstein since the script, the direction and the supporting players are all as equally on top of their game. But it is an intense, compelling portrayal of the mad scientist which would likely get a token Oscar nod nowadays. An absolute must-see horror film.

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Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed Director(s): Terence Fisher Writer(s): Bert Batt (screenplay), Anthony Nelson Keys (from an original story by), Mary Shelley (character: Frankenstein) Actor(s): Peter Cushing, Veronica Carlson, Freddie Jones, Simon Ward, Thorley Walters, Maxine Audley Duration: 101 mins