Monster of the Day #1178

From the sublime to the ridiculous, inevitable the best of the Hammer Frankensteins was followed by the worst. This is partly because Hammer got the rights to elements from the old Universal Frankensteins–this is their riff on the Jack Pierce make-up, but it looks like something Don Glut might have made as an eight year-old using bandages and Plaster of Paris.

Cushing’s Frankenstein is allowed moments of roguish charm in this one, but otherwise it’s pretty awful.

I’ve long said that the reason Universal wins the “who is better” award is that Universal’s lesser films are fun, whereas Hammer’s are, well, like this.

  • Flangepart

    “Not like…rebar on head!”
    Yeah…Pete was the best thing about this drek. Great production values, but…

  • bgbear_rnh

    The Frankenstein monster is puttin’ on the fritz.

  • Eric Hinkle

    I have to agree about the Universal versus Hammer distinction. Though LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES was incredibly goofy fun IMHO, most of their ‘lesser’ horror films just seemed kind of dull.

  • CaptNemo

    “I’m like a old copper penny. I always turn up green and deteriorated”

  • I have fond memories of this one. Of course, I saw it as a kid and haven’t seen it since, which no doubt helps…

  • Flangepart

    AS A KID: The Giant Claw scared the used food outta me.
    AS AN ADULT: The Giant Claw inspired me to invent the ‘Big as a Battleship drinking game’ while riffing about the big bird’s nostrils. “Huh. Got a beak like a 68 Camaro.”

  • Rock Baker

    REVENGE was my favorite of the Hammer’s (and that ending was a good decade ahead of it’s time). I screened EVIL again fairly recently and found it better than I’d remembered. Over all, I still think it better than FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (which had a nice concept but was lacking in execution of same).

  • Eric Hinkle

    Heck, as a kid I thought THE CREEPING TERROR with the woman-eating rug monster was one of the best monster movies ever made. No cutaways here, they actually SHOWED screaming women being devoured whole and alive! Of course, now I look at it and I think, “This is a movie??”

  • Eric Hinkle

    (and that ending was a good decade ahead of it’s time)

    I forget, what was so special about the ending of this one?

  • SPOILERS:

    Seriously.

    Frankenstein gets fatally injured by an outraged mob, but has a backup identical body hidden away in storage. Thus, with the help of his assistant, he becomes his own creation.

  • Flangepart

    Waaaaht? So he does a ‘Palptine’ with a clone? OY!

  • Beckoning Chasm

    Peter Boyle is The Toxic Avenger!

  • Eric Hinkle

    Wow, that one honestly is a clever twist!

  • bgbear_rnh

    I have to recall how old I was when I first saw “The Creeping Terror”. I never laughed so hard in my entire life. I must have been older than you, around 11 or 12. Already a smart ass.

    The narrator telling you what the characters were saying was the kicker for me.

  • Rock Baker

    And much more in line with the late 60’s aesthetic than the late 50’s one. Really, more of a 70’s sort of climax. This is magnified in the way the scene is played. It seems so out of place in a 50’s picture!