ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

* Gorgeous poster.

Hammer studio's fifth Frankenstein outing remains consistent with the "evil doctor" theme previously established.

This attitude remains the most notable departure from Universal's "noble-but-misguided man of science" approach in the films that started it all in the 1930s and 1940s.

This time the doctor's list of crimes is impressive; he blackmails a young couple into kidnapping a deranged scientist from a mental hospital, but when the scientist dies because of the kidnapping, Frankenstein murders a doctor from the hospital and puts the victim's brain into the dead scientist's body.

Directed by Terence Fisher, as were most of the Hammer series films. Supporting cast includes Veronica Carlson, Freddie Jones, George Pravda, Thorley Walters, and Simon Ward (most of whom don't make it to the closing credits . . . )
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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A very appealing trailer for this Hammer horror classic. Give it a look!
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_Frankenstein must be Destroyed (1969) - Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[MetroPolly]

One of my absolute faves! I'm a sucker for british accents and blue eyes. the one thing I don't like is that completely unnecessary assault scene. Luckily it's removed from some releases, unfortunately, not from the version I have, so I just close my eyes.

[Bogmeister]

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________ Frankenstein must be destroyed Trailer


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The 5th Hammer Frankenstein film, after Frankenstein Created Woman (67).

This one has a strange plot, propelled by Frankenstein's (Peter Cushing) need to get information from a former colleague who has lost his mind due to pressures and is confined to an insane asylum. Frankenstein involves a young couple (Simon Ward & Veronica Carlson) in his plans, blackmailing them because he knows about their illegal measures for the young woman's mother.

The young man is a psychiatrist working at the asylum and can help Frankenstein in breaking out the target. From that point on, it's more brain transplant surgery, now an old trope in this film series and child's play for the mad doctor.



Cushing as Frankenstein is more ruthless than ever in this installment, recalling the Baron of the first film, The Curse of Frankenstein. He thinks nothing of using the body of another psychiatrist — killing him in effect — as his former colleague's new body. He is very cold to the young couple, ruining their lives for his own gains.

There's also a bizarre scene of Frankenstein giving in to his carnal desires at one point, apparently raping the young woman!

The young people here, however, while presented as having their innocence crushed by the evil doctor, also seem very apt at stabbing people in that 'I didn't mean to do it' fashion. Frankenstein also provides a final scene of brutality in regards to the young woman, proving himself as irredeemable and thoroughly evil.



The final act provides for some intriguing scenes involving the man with a new body (Freddie Jones), visiting his wife. He's not really a monster, just the victim of a brain transplant. She seems to have no comprehension of the situation, however, having buried her husband days before.

The finale offers some spectacle as the key characters confront each other in a burning mansion, a fiery climax. Thorley Walters, in the role of Frankenstein's confederate in the previous film, here plays the police chief.

BoG's Score: 7 out of 10



Frank Trivia: The next film in the series was Horror of Frankenstein, featuring a new, younger Victor Frankenstein and without Peter Cushing.




BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[johnnybear]

As a big fan of all the Hammer Frankenstein movies I never really understood why Frankenstein had to get the secret of transplanting brains and preserving them from Dr. Brandt when he could do that all on his own anyway and did it to Brandt himself to get the secret that he already knew???
JB

[The Spike]

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed is directed by Terence Fisher and written by Bert Batt. It stars Peter Cushing, Veronica Carlson, Simon Ward and Freddie Jones. Music is by James Bernard and cinematography by Arthur Grant.

The fifth entry in Hammer Film's Frankenstein series is one of the best. Playing as a variant on the original Frankenstein sources, story finds Cushing's Baron Victor Frankenstein as an utterly repugnant individual who is prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve his medical goals. Morally and ethically bankrupt, Frankenstein blackmails young lovers Anna and Karl into helping him achieve his ultimate goal - with disastrously ghoulish results for all concerned.

Steered strongly by the hands of the under valued Fisher, pic is not just hauntingly elegant as per being a Gothic mood piece, but it is filled out with macabre shocks, and even gallows humour. Some scenes are striking in their ability to gnaw away at your senses, including the infamous sexual predator scene that has divided opinions (personally I think it's great in showing how low Frankenstein has gotten). It builds to a terrific climax, where Freddie Jones (turning in a super emotionally driven turn as one of the better "creatures" in the series) and Frankenstein indulge in spider and fly bluster.

Despair, degradation and disintegration unbound, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed is high-end Hammer Horror. 8/10
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The quality of mercy is not strnen.

[Gord Green]

I enjoyed this in a very visceral way. The story and characterizations worked well in the concept of the films , but I can't help but feel that the real need was for a total reboot.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[johnnybear]

Frankenstein had never been this nasty since Curse of Frankenstein! His films in between seem to show him as a reformed character to some degree, especially in Evil and somewhat in Created Woman! But here he's back to his old rotten self and gets his just deserts in the fiery climax! Or does he?
JB