Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)

I fancy that I am the spider and you are the fly, Frankenstein. Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed is directed by Terence Fisher and written by Bert Batt. It stars Peter Cushing, Veronica Carlson, Simon Ward and Freddie Jones. Music is by James Bernard and cinematography by Arthur Grant. The fifth entry in Hammer Film's Frankenstein series is one of the best. Playing as a variant on the original Frankenstein sources, story finds Cushing's Baron Victor Frankenstein as an utterly repugnant individual who is prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve his medical goals. Morally and ethically bankrupt, Frankenstein blackmails young lovers Anna and Karl into helping him achieve his ultimate goal - with disastrously ghoulish results for all concerned. Steered strongly by the hands of the under valued Fisher, pic is not just hauntingly elegant as per being a Gothic mood piece, but it is filled out with macabre shocks, and even gallows humour. Some scenes are striking in their ability to gnaw away at your senses, including the infamous sexual predator scene that has divided opinions (personally I think it's great in showing how low Frankenstein has gotten). It builds to a terrific climax, where Freddie Jones (turning in a super emotionally driven turn as one of the better "creatures" in the series) and Frankenstein indulge in spider and fly bluster. Despair, degradation and disintegration unbound, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed is high-end Hammer Horror. 8/10