Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 11, 1970

Considering the amount of pre-release tampering that is alleged to have been done on Frankenstein Must De Destroyed, I was surprised to read that, when asked which of his own films were his favorites, Terence Fisher (in an interview in Vol. 4, Issue 3 of Cinefantastique magazine) said this was one of them. That, of all his films, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed was the one he most enjoyed making.

As far as that supposed tampering goes, I heard there was a "last minute" decision it "spice up" the film with a sexual assault that, according to an interview with Veronica Carlson that appeared in (I think) Fangoria magazine, had both Cushing and Fisher apologizing to the actress throughout the filming of the scene.

Another ill-advised "last minute" inclusion was the comedic investigating carried on by Inspector Frisch (Thorley Walters). One could excise both the assault and Frisch scenes from the film and be left with a tighter, leaner, and far better paced movie, I think.

My favorite hammer Frankenstein's remain The Revenge of Frankenstein and Frankenstein Created Woman.

Double-billed with Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed is Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, the middle section of Hammer Film's trilogy of direct sequels to [Horror of] Dracula. While an interesting and entertaining enough follow up to Dracula Prince of Darkness, picking up more or less where that film ended, and leading directly into Taste the Blood of Dracula, I have to say that I prefer and enjoy both Prince and Taste a great deal more than Grave.

It is not bad, I just find it a tad slow and, because of that, it has tested of my patience at times. Other times, not so much.