This wonderful movie has, over the course of multiple viewings, evolved into one of my true favorites. I can't exactly say it's in the tradition of Welles, Bergman, Fellini, or so forth, but I will happily call it a minor classic.
Why? It's funny. Not campy, just plain funny. The dialogue is sharp, the cast is wonderful (all around; a rarity in low-budget horror), the pacing and structure work smoothly, and the effects are, well, cheap, but somehow it just doesn't matter. High praise to Jeffrey Combs, as West (That's "West. Herbert West."), who takes his place with Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein, Brian Donlevy as Professor Quatermass, Ernest Thesiger as Dr. Pretorius, and a few select others as one of the greatest mad scientists in history. (Two of the film's funniest moments spring from West's highly inappropriate sense of humor.) And also to Bruce Abbott, who engagingly holds his own as West's increasingly worried straight man.
As West's behavior grows more and more hilariously irresponsible, his experiments go more and more out of control, and the film gets wilder and wilder, you just sit back in joy and watch the sparks fly. The film travesties H. P. Lovecraft, who possibly never cracked a joke in his life, and in the process sideswipes every pulp/sci-fi/horror cliche in the book. (The climax of the film
**************SLIGHT SPOILER******************
takes the pulp cliche of the distressed heroine's "fate worse than death" to a level that has to be seen to be believed, and then smartly one-ups it.)
**************END OF SPOILER******************
Obviously, those who have a problem with gore may wish to avoid this film, though I may say that the bloodshed, for all its explicitness, becomes pretty hard to take seriously.
In any case, this film makes me happy. Cheers! And may it live, and re-live, forever!
Why? It's funny. Not campy, just plain funny. The dialogue is sharp, the cast is wonderful (all around; a rarity in low-budget horror), the pacing and structure work smoothly, and the effects are, well, cheap, but somehow it just doesn't matter. High praise to Jeffrey Combs, as West (That's "West. Herbert West."), who takes his place with Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein, Brian Donlevy as Professor Quatermass, Ernest Thesiger as Dr. Pretorius, and a few select others as one of the greatest mad scientists in history. (Two of the film's funniest moments spring from West's highly inappropriate sense of humor.) And also to Bruce Abbott, who engagingly holds his own as West's increasingly worried straight man.
As West's behavior grows more and more hilariously irresponsible, his experiments go more and more out of control, and the film gets wilder and wilder, you just sit back in joy and watch the sparks fly. The film travesties H. P. Lovecraft, who possibly never cracked a joke in his life, and in the process sideswipes every pulp/sci-fi/horror cliche in the book. (The climax of the film
**************SLIGHT SPOILER******************
takes the pulp cliche of the distressed heroine's "fate worse than death" to a level that has to be seen to be believed, and then smartly one-ups it.)
**************END OF SPOILER******************
Obviously, those who have a problem with gore may wish to avoid this film, though I may say that the bloodshed, for all its explicitness, becomes pretty hard to take seriously.
In any case, this film makes me happy. Cheers! And may it live, and re-live, forever!