Rent The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)

Gothic Sequel. - The Revenge of Frankenstein review by Steve

This is second of the Hammer series starring Peter Cushing as the hubristic Baron von Frankenstein. It's the usual slight variation on Mary Shelley's classic story, but there are interesting new subplots, and an effective, transgressive final twist. 

This is all about the mad scientist, and Cushing is ideal casting and in fine form. Christopher Lee does not return as the monster from the previous year's The Curse of Frankenstein, whose huge success triggered the whole Hammer horror cycle. But Michael Gwynn is gruesome enough.

As usual, the sets and costumes are exceptional for its insubstantial budget. Particularly the 19th century technology. There's a potent atmosphere of gothic horror in a studio's idea of feudal middle Europe. The support performances are a bonus, as they inevitable are in postwar British productions.

Though Eunice Gayson makes little of her underwritten role as what's now called the Hammer glamour. The abundance of comic relief is surprisingly quite funny... There's glorious Technicolor, and impressive sound. It's not as epochal as the 1930s Universal series, though critics mostly say this is the best of the Hammer Frankensteins.