Movie Info
Movie Name: Frankenstein Created Woman
Studio: Hammer Film Production
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): March 15, 1967
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Wake up! We created you!
Wrongly accused of murder and forced to the guillotine due to his father’s past sins, Hans (Robert Morris) finds himself seeking revenge. Hans is using the body of his lover Christina (Susan Denberg) who has been restored to life by Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) and his assistant Doctor Hertz (Thorley Walters). Now, the men responsible for the crimes that Hans was accused of committing are being killed one-by-one and Frankenstein must stop his creation before it is too late!
Directed by Terence Fisher, Frankenstein Created Woman is the fourth film in Hammer’s Frankenstein series. Following The Evil of Frankenstein in 1964, the film continued Peter Cushing’s role as Baron Victor Frankenstein. The film mixed divided reviews from critics and fans.
Eh…I did ok. Let’s sell her on the black market!
I really like that Hammer tried to do something different with this Frankenstein since the Frankenstein franchise was already quite stale at this point (and still had three more films to go). With a female “Monster”, the movie has tons of opportunities but squanders most of them.
The film does get the idea of delving into a soul right. The Frankenstein series does dip into different concepts of inherited sins and nature-vs-nurture aspects. I like that the goal isn’t to make a monster who is a female, but to create the perfect woman from a flawed woman…and the effect it has on her psyche. I am making the film deeper than it really was however and these ideas only were touched upon in the film.
The mummy strikes back!
The movie sidelines Peter Cushing who was the major driving force of the series. The Frankenstein character has been horrendously inconsistent throughout the movies, and in this version he’s still mad but a bit more heroic and understanding. Susan Denberg is good as the woman monster (and even better as the handicapped version of her), but I just wish she had gotten more time to explore the role. Thorley Walters plays Frankenstein’s fellow doctor here but in the next entry plays the detective pursuing him.
Hans, you aren’t much of a talker, but I love you!
The movie doesn’t look as good as some of Hammer’s earlier films. It appears that Hammer is spreading itself a bit too thin and as a result the movie just isn’t as classy. It also doesn’t help by 1967, movies are starting to movie beyond Hammer’s initial style and this feels like a bit of a crossover film to the more graphic movies of the late ’60s and ’70s.
Like most of Hammer’s films, Frankenstein Created Woman has its moments and is worth watching, but it isn’t a great film. If you like the Frankenstein character or Cushing, you might be disappointed by the limited role he has in this film, and if you want to see a real thinking picture, you will be disappointed that the ideas aren’t fully explored. Frankenstein Created Woman was followed by Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed in 1969.
Related Links:
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
