While Scars of Dracula managed to pump some fresh blood (pun intended) into the moribund Dracula series, the same couldn't be said for the Frankenstein franchise. With Peter Cushing bowing out, the idea had been to reboot/remake the series with rising Hammer star Ralph Bates in the lead.
Victor Frankenstein (Bates) is a driven young man. He seems to go towards his studies and his pleasures in equal drives, something that annoys his father the Baron (George Belbin) to no end. When Victor makes it clear he wants to further his studies in Vienna, the Baron makes it clear it will be over his dead body.
One tampered shotgun later, Victor is now the new Baron and off to university. There he befriends fellow student Wilhelm Kassner (Graham James) and also the dean's daughter; although in the later case far more biblically than the former. Forced to head back his estate, Victor drags Wilhelm along with him, promising to finally get their research underway.
Victor seems a bit vague as to what that work entails, but after saving his old schoolyard crush Elizbeth (Veronica Carlson) and her father from bandits, Victor makes it a point to leave with one of the bandit's head.
It isn't long before Victor hires the local grave robber (Dennis Price) to procure some fresh items. When he finally gets enough parts (mostly by killing anyone who could blackmail or bother him), Victor unveils his Monster (David Prowse), who proceeds to kill everyone else. Can Victor stop his creature in time?
Yeah, pretty much a rehash of the Curse of Frankenstein. It tries for a more black and gray morality, but screenwriter Sangster should have stuck to the scripts. The humor is too broad and gets in the way of the horror.
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