EDITOR’S NOTE: The Horror of Frankenstein was on Chiller Theater on Saturday, November 30, 1974 at 11:30 p.m., Saturday, July 10, 1976 at 11:30 p.m. and Saturday, December 9, 1978 at 11:30 p.m.

Directed by Jimmy Sangster, written by Jeremy Burnham and Sangster and starring Ralph Bates as Baron Victor Frankenstein, this started as a remake of Curse of Frankenstein before Hammer allowed Sangster to write it as a parody. This was an attempt to make Bates into the new Hammer star.

Shot on the sets of Taste the Blood of Dracula and The Vampire Lovers and playing double features with Scars of Dracula, this also has David Prowse as the monster. He’s the only actor to play the role twice for Hammer, as he’s also in Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (and wore Universal Frankenstein’s Monster makeup in Casino Royale).

Victor Frankenstein isn’t sympathetic at all in this. He kills his father to get the title of Baron von Frankenstein, goes to medical school in Vienna until he’s caught knocking out the dean’s daughter and then he comes home to assemble the dead into his creation.

Dennis Price and Joan Rice are good as the graverobbers, but despite the idea of starting a new series with a younger Dr. Frankenstein, this feels less special than the past of Hammer. Even the ending, where the monster gets covered by acid, is a let down. But still, it’s a Hammer movie and even a bad one has some reasons to watch.