Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)

Plot Outline: Baron Frankenstein is up to his old tricks and claims to have isolated the human soul even after death. With this knowledge he hopes to implant the soul of a dead person into another body. He just needs the right opportunity. This comes when Hans, a lab assistant for Frankenstein, is wrongly convicted of the murder of a tavern owner and sent to the guillotine as a result. He was spending the night with the tavern owner's disfigured daughter, Christina and instead of bringing shame upon her, he chose to face death. Upon seeing him executed, Christina throws herself into the river and commits suicide. Frankenstein acquires the two bodies and puts Hans' soul into Christina's body. But when she finally comes to, she only has one thing on her mind - revenge on those who really did kill the tavern owner.

The Review: Hammer's fourth installment of the Frankenstein series is one of their better efforts, not least because it puts a novel spin (well it was novel for the time) on the whole notion of reanimation. However the film strays too far from the rest of the series for numerous reasons. For a start, gone is the moody gothic atmosphere of the previous installments and instead we're given an almost period drama-like atmosphere. It also strays too far from the series because the good Baron is reduced to a supporting character for most of the film and that's a shame because that means we see a lot less of Peter Cushing than we should. Cushing is superb as always and is the highlight of the film. But even his performance strays too far from his previous ones. No longer is his Frankenstein as cold, ruthless and evil as he was. His Frankenstein is now more on the side of good and seems to actually care for the people's lives he is messing with. It's also no longer a story about Frankenstein bringing the dead back to life - this one is about a man using his new female body to extract a brutal revenge on those who really committed the murder. Hammer's influence on the blood and gore is also reduced. There is no gruesome monster - instead we're given the lovely Susan Denberg to look at instead of some slow-moving brute. Frankenstein doesn't borrow body parts from other people in gruesome detail as the body he uses is still whole. The death scenes have clearly been eroded by the censors too and they look quite routine. The ending is quite anti-climatic although this is the case with many a Hammer Horror film. It does suit the film though although I'd rather have known what happens to Frankenstein now that the locals have found out he is bringing the dead back to life.

Final Verdict: Frankenstein Created Woman is still a pretty good Hammer film and Cushing is worth any price of a purchase or rental. One can't help wondering that with a little work here and there to integrate it into the rest of the series, this would be a lot better than it is.

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