Dr. Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) with helper Hans (Sandor Eles) returns to a village he had been forced out of 10 years earlier. He had made a monster which (he thought) had been destroyed. He finds the creature (Kiwi Kingston) actually alive but its brain is dormant. He gets a hypnotist (Peter Woodthorpe) to activate the monster brain. He does–but has his own evil plans for it…

Third in the series of the Hammer Frankenstein movies. It’s not good but it’s not terrible either. Production values are strong and there’s a good cast but the story is somewhat…lacking. I never quite understood how any hypnotist could activate a brain and there’s next to no action until the final half hour. There’s also a mute girl who is thrown into the story for no good purpose that I could see. Also the makeup on the monster is pretty terrible. They got permission and tried to model it after the monster from the 1931 film–but it just doesn’t work. The violence is also pretty restrained in this one–I find it hard to believe that any scenes were cut for original TV broadcasts.

Acting helps a lot in this one. Woodthorpe overacts but Eles is tall and handsome as the Baron’s assistant and Katy Wild (the mute girl) does wonders with a horribly written role–heck, she’s not even given a name! Kingston is OK as the monster (his face is completely covered with makeup–all you can see are the eyes). Cushing is, as always, fantastic as Frankenstein. He doesn’t play him as totally evil (despite the title) as he did later on. He comes across as a scientist who work means EVERYTHING to him–he lives only for that and nothing more. He also can’t understand why people keep hounding him. He keeps asking “Why can’t they leave me alone?” So not good but not bad. Worth catching if you’re a Hammer fan but don’t go out of your way