Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed is a British film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Film Productions from 1969. The cast includes Peter Cushing, Freddie Jones, Veronica Carlson and Simon Ward. The film is the fifth in a series of Hammer films centering on Dr. Frankenstein, who, in this entry, tries brain surgery to save an associate who went mad.
Plot[]
A nightwatchman is decapitated by a masked man while a thief breaks into an underground lab. The masked man enters the lab, carrying the severed head, and fights the thief, who escapes in horror. The man unmasks himself and is revealed to be Baron Victor Frankenstein. The thief goes to the police station to report the nightwatchman's murder to Inspector Frisch. Frankenstein, under the alias Mr. Fenner, rents a room at a boarding house run by landlady Anna Spengler. Anna's fiance Karl Holst is a doctor at the asylum where Frankenstein's former assistant Dr. Frederick Brandt was committed after going insane.
After discovering Karl has been stealing narcotics in order to support Anna's ailing mother, Frankenstein reveals his true identity and blackmails Karl into helping him kidnap Brandt so he can get the secret formula of his experiment. When Frankenstein and Karl break into the asylum, they are caught by the guard, but Karl panics and stabs him. Frankenstein and Karl kidnap Brandt and take him back to the house where they build a lab in the basement. Karl confides to Anna about killing the guard and begs her to leave, fearing she may go to prison for being an acsesory to a murderer, but she refuses.
Meanwhile, Brandt has a heart attack, prompting Frankenstein and Karl to kidnap the asylum's administrator Professor Richter to transplant Brandt's brain into his body. That night, while Anna is getting ready for bed, Frankenstein enters her room and rapes her. The next day, Frankenstein and Karl succeed in transplanting Brandt's brain into Richter's body and bury Brandt's body in the garden. Brandt's wife Ella recognises Frankenstein in the street and confronts him about her husband's kidnapping. Frankenstein assures her he has cured her husband's sanity, but does not let her see him. She refuses to believe him and goes to Frisch.
With the police closing in, Frankenstein, Anna and Karl relocate with Brandt to a desserted manor house, where Frankenstein and Karl build a lab in the basement. Frisch, accompanied by Ella, search the house and dig up Brandt's body; Ella is horrified and devistated. Refusing to continue helping Frankenstein, Anna and Karl secretly plan on leaving to report Frankenstein to the police. Anna collects evidence from the lab while Karl saddles up the horses. Frankenstein cathes Karl and fights him, knocking him out. Meanwhile, Brandt recovers in the lab and is horrified by his appearance when he looks in a mirror. Anna stabs Brandt out of fear, causing him to escape.
Frankenstein returns to the lab to find Brandt gone. Enraged, he fatally Anna and goes after Brandt. Karl returns to the lab and is shocked and heartbroken to find Anna's body. Brandt makes it to his former house, but Ella refuses to believe he is her husband. Wanting revenge on Frankenstein and knowing the Baron will eventually find him there, he sends Ella to get the police and sets Frankenstein a trap by pouring paraffin liquid around the house.
Frankenstein arrives at Brandt's house, and Brandt sets the place on fire by smashing an oil lamp. He holds Frankenstein at gunpoint and makes him choose between the fire and the police. Karl arrives to avenge Anna's death, but Brandt shoots him, causing him to flee the house. Frankenstein finds the secret formula and flees the house, only to find Karl waiting for him. Karl knocks Frankenstein unconscious by choking him. Brandt emerges from the house and fatally beats Karl. Brandt carries Frankenstein back inside, and as the Baron regains consciousness, he pleads for his life, but the house begins to collapse and both men are burned to death.
Cast[]
- Peter Cushing as Baron Victor Frankenstein
- Simon Ward as Dr. Karl Holst
- Veronica Carlson as Anna Spengler
- George Pravda as Dr. Frederick Brandt
- Freddie Jones as Professor Richter
- Maxine Audley as Ella Brandt
- Thorley Walters
- Windsor Davies
- Geoffrey Bayldon
- Colette O'Neil
- Frank Middlemass
- George Belbin
- Norman Shelley
- Michael Gover
- Peter Copley
Production[]
The scene where Frankenstein rapes Anna was filmed over the objections of both Peter Cushing and Veronica Carlson, and director Terence Fisher, who halted it when he felt enough was enough. It was not in the original script but the scene was added at the insistence of Hammer executive James Carreras, who was under pressure to keep American distributors happy. This explains why there is no mention of the rape subsequently by Anna or Frankenstein.
Welsh version[]
In the mid to late 1970s, the Welsh television station HTV Cymru/Wales broadcast a version dubbed into the Welsh language called Rhaid Dinistrio Frankenstein, a more-or-less literal translation of the English title. This was one of three films that were dubbed into Welsh.
Reception[]
Like its predecessor, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed had lukewarm reception. While a mild treasure of the cult community, it is largely forgotten by the mainstream. The film currently holds an average 60% on Rotten Tomatoes.