KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Leofwine_draca FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED is one of the later entries in the long running Hammer Horror Series, which sees Peter Cushing reprising his famous role of the ruthless mad doctor. This is undoubtedly one of the highlights in what remains a very strong series, because the emphasis isn't on scientific apparatus or Universal stylings (as in the slightly disappointing previous two entries, THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN and FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN). Here, the villain of the piece is Frankenstein himself, and he's never been so ruthless.The gory, blood-drenched murder scene which opens the film reveals just what a monster the doctor has become, but somehow Cushing still holds it all together and makes his Frankenstein a fresh and spellbinding creation. Watching him upset the local gentry is just as enjoyable as watching him performance his brain experiments. Director Terence Fisher is at his best here, creating a lush and colourful masterpiece loaded with ghoulish delights - the set-piece involving the burst water main is straight out of a Hitchcock film.The supporting cast are strong indeed, with Simon Ward taking on the apprentice role, and Veronica Carlson a fitting damsel in distress. Freddie Jones gives the best performance as the Creature in any of Hammer's Frankenstein movies, a truly sympathetic portrayal of a man who has quite literally lost his mind. There are a couple of minor problems with this film, namely the tacked-on rape scene (unnecessary) and the sub-plot involving detective Thorley Walters and his sidekick Geoffrey Bayldon, which goes nowhere and seems to have been added in to pad out the running time. Nevertheless this remains a Hammer Horror highlight and a delightfully dark slice of English Gothic.

classicsoncall There was a pretty good description of Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) early in the picture when someone called him a 'highly dangerous medical adventurer'. The Baron proceeds to live up to that reputation as a murderer, blackmailer, hostage taker and did I actually witness this - a rapist? Hammer Films really took the Frankenstein character here and made him even more monstrous than a creature one could patch together from spare body parts.You know, for a horror film, you'd have to agree that the locations used for filming were really quite elegant and ornate. The Spengler boarding house and Brandt's home were exquisitely appointed and furnished, and all the while I kept thinking that they would have been a pretty nice place to live. Which made it all the more tragic that Dr. Brandt (George Pravda) in Professor Richter's (Freddie Jones) body acted just a bit too harshly when he torched it at the finale. Gee, you would think he'd have a little more compassion for his wife after what she went through, and now she wouldn't even have a place to live.As far as the creepy brain transplant business goes, the story and Baron Frankenstein's patient persistence in getting the job done almost made it seem believable. Except of course for that nasty sawing of the forehead; man that could really give you a headache. Seems like Brandt/Richter should have complained about that, but I guess he had a bigger concern.Probably the scariest thing here had to do with the Richter body being planted in the backyard garden and then having a water main break directly underneath. I couldn't decide whether that flapping arm coming out of the makeshift grave was more comical or horrifying. But then, with all that mud and water flying around, one would have to agree that Anna (Veronica Carlson) was probably the most ingenious character in the story - she didn't get a speck of dirt on her!

Prichards12345 Hammer's Frankenstein movies are, for me, superior to most of their Dracula efforts, and this one, with Peter Cushing(who else?) again in top form as Victor Frankenstein, is one of their very best films.Frankenstein, perhaps hardened by his previous failures to a kind of ruthless insanity,is here a callous and manipulative soul. Blackmailing two young lovers (Veronica Carlson and Simon Ward) into helping to kidnap an insane former colleague, one who holds the secret of cryogenically freezing brains indefinitely, he sets about transplanting the brain of his abductee into another body, in order to gain the secret.This bleak, nihilistic, richly rewarding film is a constant eye-opener, full of classic grotesque moments superbly realised by director Terence Fisher. From the opening murder (with a sickle no less) to the frantic tussle with a burglar in Frankenstien's laboratory, to the woman patient terrified by imaginary spiders in the asylum, the action never lets up.Perhaps the highlight is a terrific sequence involving a burst water pipe which causes a previously disposed of corpse to bob back to the surface of the garden where he was buried, causing a frantic Carlson to try and drag it into some bushes before the repair men get there. A masterful scene that Hitchcock would be proud of.And of course there is Freddie Jones' wonderful performance as "the monster". I use quotations as Jones makes him a wonderfully sorrowful creation. It's perhaps gone unnoticed that this is the best performance since Karloff in this type of role. The attempted rape sequence - inserted at the last moment over the actors and the director's protests, is perhaps the only false moment in the movie. The movie is harsh enough without it.After this, and set designer Bernard Robinson's untimely death, cheapness and slackness set in at Hammer. They staged a partial recovery with some interesting movies such as Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde and Demons Of The Mind, but not enough to save the company. Still, one can savour the rich texture of this film and the remarkable Cushing in compensation.

m2mallory For all it's impact on the industry, the heyday of Hammer Films encompassed a relatively short time, roughly 1958 to 1969. "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed" is one of the last really good films the studio made (1971's "Blood From the Mummy's Tomb" was probably the last). Peter Cushing is back as Baron Frankenstein, and more ruthless than ever, particularly in the infamous rape scene that was imposed upon the cast, director and screenwriter by Hammer's head Sir James Careras. Nobody on the set liked the idea...but one did as one was told. In truth, it doesn't make a lot of sense within the context of the story, and the film doesn't need it. Cushing is, as always, thoroughly professional, even when the script dictates that he do silly things, and Veronica Carlson is excellent as the woman trapped by the evil of the Baron. The real acting honors, however, go to Freddie Jones, as the more-or-less monster, and Maxine Audley, as his widow, for the scene in which they reunite. Probably no sequence in any Hammer film has been played as beautifully and movingly as this one. It alone is worth seeing the film for. But there are many other memorable scenes as well. Old pro Terrence Fisher directs very capably, and the conflagration finale is well staged and spectacular.