The Curse of Frankenstein

The Curse of Frankenstein
Original UK quad poster
Directed byTerence Fisher
Screenplay byJimmy Sangster
Based onFrankenstein
by Mary Shelley
Produced byAnthony Hinds[1]
StarringPeter Cushing
Hazel Court
Robert Urquhart
Christopher Lee
CinematographyJack Asher[1]
Edited byJames Needs[1]
Music byJames Bernard
Color processEastmancolor
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros.[1]
Release dates
  • 2 May 1957 (1957-05-02) (London)
  • 20 May 1957 (1957-05-20) (United Kingdom)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£65,000[2][3] or $270,000[4][5]
Box office$8 million[4]
728,452 admissions (France)[6]
Christopher Lee as the creature.

The Curse of Frankenstein is a 1957 British horror film by Hammer Film Productions, loosely based on the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley.[7] It was Hammer's first colour horror film, and the first of their Frankenstein series.[8] Its worldwide success led to several sequels, and it was also followed by new versions of Dracula (1958) and The Mummy (1959), establishing "Hammer Horror" as a distinctive brand of Gothic cinema.[9]

The film was directed by Terence Fisher and stars Peter Cushing as Victor Frankenstein and Christopher Lee as the Creature, with Hazel Court and Robert Urquhart.[7] Professor Patricia MacCormack called it the "first really gory horror film, showing blood and guts in colour".[10]

  1. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference mfb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Hearn, Marcus (2011). The Hammer Vault (illustrated ed.). Bankside, London, UK: Titan Books. p. 15. ISBN 9780857681171. OCLC 699764868.
  3. ^ Vincent L. Barnett (2014) Hammering out a Deal: The Contractual and Commercial Contexts of The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958), Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 34:2, 231-252, DOI: 10.1080/01439685.2013.847650
  4. ^ a b Tom Johnson and Deborah Del Vecchio, Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography, McFarland, 1996 p124-126
  5. ^ "Gimmicks did well in 1957". Variety. 6 November 1957. p. 6.
  6. ^ Box office information for Terence Fisher films in France Archived 10 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine at Box office Story
  7. ^ a b "The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)". BFI. Archived from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  8. ^ "BFI Screenonline: Hammer Film Productions Biography". www.screenonline.org.uk. Archived from the original on 27 October 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  9. ^ Sinclair McKay (2007) A Thing of Unspeakable Horror: The History of Hammer Films
  10. ^ "Frankenstein: Behind the monster smash". BBC. 1 January 2018. Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2018.