In their penultimate Frankenstein entry, the Hammer folks return virtually full-circle to the first film in the series (The Curse Of Frankenstein). Apart from a few changes in personnel, and the way that this one goes for a peculiar black comedy approach, the two films are almost identical. Despite the fact that times had changed between the completion of the two films, one would hardly notice it after viewing The Horror Of Frankenstein. Old-fashioned, predictable and familiar in the extreme, it is arguably the weakest of the entire series.<br /><br />Brilliant young student Victor Frankenstein (Ralph Bates) is the scourge of his teachers and the wet dream of all the girls in his class. He goes to university in Vienna, where he enrages the dean by impregnating his daughter. Also whilst in Vienna, he befriends another student, Wilhelm Kassner (Graham James), and persuades him to return to the family castle when the teaching term is over. Frankenstein inherited the castle, along with a buxom housekeeper named Alys (Kate O'Mara), when his father was killed in a shooting "accident". Once at the castle, Frankenstein and Wilhelm are soon engaged in scientific experiments involving the forces of life, but gradually Wilhelm grows unhappy with the direction the research is taking. Wilhelm is perfectly happy to lethally inject, then revive, a tortoise but Frankenstein seems to have bigger ambitions, including eventually re-animating a dead person. Wilhelm prepares to leave, but is murdered by Frankenstein after threatening to expose the immorality of his research. The young scientist doesn't stop there  after purchasing various body parts from a local grave robber (Dennis Price), he begins to bump off more of his close friends. Slowly but surely, he assembles all the parts he needs to construct a man, but when the crude, disfigured human monster (David Prowse) is eventually reanimated it has uncontrollably violent tendencies, and smashes its way out the castle to go on a killing spree in the adjacent countryside.<br /><br />Lots of reviewers say that The Horror Of Frankenstein suffers from the absence of Peter Cushing, but in truth I think that Ralph Bates is one of the few positive things about this film. While certainly not in the same league as the legendary Cushing, Bates still manages to bring much to the role, playing the evil doctor as a supremely confident, smug and single-minded type. The female characters are also nicely played, with O'Mara oozing feline sexuality as the promiscuous housekeeper, while Hammer regular Veronica Carlson is also solid as Frankenstein's childhood friend. The film suffers from its uninspired story and leisurely pacing. Also, the monster played by Prowse is far too unintentionally funny and has none of the scare factor that Christopher Lee demonstrated in the original movie. Prowse resembles something from a gay's only Halloween party, with his disfigured head, muscular physique and tight boxer shorts. When he is on screen, the film should be peaking into a crescendo of horror, but instead it becomes an accidental comedy! The Horror Of Frankenstein is naturally going to be of interest to those who like and have seen the others in the series, but for the more casual viewer it provides little to get excited about.