Screening as part of “It’s Alive!!!” season – notes by Jay Hildreth:
The Curse of Frankenstein is, without a doubt, not just one of the most important Frankenstein films but one of the most notable horror pictures of the 20th century for a number of reasons.
Bringing (now) longtime collaborators and best friends together to the screen for the first time in motion picture history, the dynamic duo of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee is birthed in this legendary flick that truly put Hammer on the world map.
In their first collaboration together, Cushing assumes the role of Victor Frankenstein with Lee as The Creature, a sort of tradition with Hammer’s monster films with Cushing typically taking on the human roles such as Van Helsing in Dracula and archeologist John Banning in The Mummy with Lee undertaking the iconic portrayals of the monsters such as his fan favourite rendition of Count Dracula and also Kharis in their Egyptian adventure.
Even the screen legends aside, they were joined behind the cameras by director Terence Fisher and writer Jimmy Sangster, two of the most notable and influential names in Hammer history.
Together this powerhouse team created a Frankenstein film which set itself away from Whale’s pre-code classic; not only was it in full colour but this stylistic choice was used to its maximum potential in the bloodiest and goriest take on the tale thus far and truly earning its X rating from the censors, especially with the turn of the lead Victor Frankenstein character going from a mad-scientist archetype to downright evil.