Still Watching the Skies: Episode 136 “Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed”

This month, Robert, Nat, and Cody delve into Peter Cushing at his most cold and evil in 1969’s FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED.

FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED was the fourth of five Frankenstein films directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing. And it may just be the best.  It’s certainly the nastiest. Frankenstein certainly earns the title in this one.
It very much feels of a time.  Youth were in revolt in 1969, and this film is a good snapshot of why and Frankenstein is little more than a cold butcher in this, unconcerned about anything except his own glory.  He ruins everything he touches including the loving relationship between a young doctor and his fiancee’.
That’s perhaps a little unfair to the film as a whole, which doesn’t revel in Frankenstein’s evil actions at all.  The film judges him harshly.  More surprisingly, it delves into the ethics and consequences of what he’s trying to do.  It’s surprisingly as interested in the ideas it brings up as it is in the gore that it can put on screen.
So, we have quite a bit of discussion about what we like in the original and what we don’t like in the adaptation. Things like, are the bad guys really bad? Is the future dystopia really dystopian? And what motivates anyone? And are any of these action sequences, which are clearly inspired by THE MATRIX, truly exciting?

 

It all results in one of Terence Fisher’s best films.  And while it’s nothing like the Mary Shelley novel, it also successfully mines the sympathy and need for revenge between Frankenstein’s creation and Frankenstein himself.  All culminating in a terrific climax to the Hammer series.

No need for a brain transplant to enjoy the podcast; give us a play below or download the episode. Also, feel free to let us know what you think by commenting on our page at Facebook or you can Email Us at skiespocast@gmail.com as we appreciate feedback.

 

Time tracks:
0:00:00 – FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED Discussion
1:01:33- Next Movie and Outro

Next month, we kick off the new year by going really obscure with KIN-DZA-DZA! from the former Soviet Union. We hope you’ll join us.

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Picture of Robert Reineke

Robert Reineke

Robert Reineke was born in the dark era before cable television, but somehow survived based on a steady diet of Universal Monsters, Hammer Horror, 1950s science fiction, and Godzilla on his local UHF station. As a college student, he discovered the works of David Lynch and Akira Kurosawa which opened up different vistas for him. When he’s not doing useful things like heading up environmental investigations and cleanups or designing sewers, you can find him watching movies, writing about them, and talking about them. He’s a booster of the Milwaukee Film Festival. Somehow he puts up with young whippersnappers Nat Almiral and Cody Lang on the Still Watching the Skies podcast.
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