For those who think horror film made before The Exorcist don't have guts, check out this full-blooded tale of Grand Guignol from Hammer Studios.

Victor Frankenstein is once again playing God, planning to transplant the brain of a colleague into the body of a rival scientist so he can complete his radical mission.

Into his web he draws a callow doctor, and takes pleasure in corrupting his youthful charge almost as much as he does trying to revive the dead.

Peter Cushing made six Frankenstein films for Hammer studios between 1957 and 1974, and this is his best performance, a coolly confident and chilling portrayal of charismatic evil.

While Universal Frankenstein movies from the 30s and 40s focused on the monster, Hammer's film put the scientist centre frame.

Initially, this may have been because Universal copyright meant Hammer couldn't use the iconic "flathead" look, but the studio soon realized with Cushing they had a baddie just as distinctive as Christopher Lee's Dracula.

This finds Frankenstein, and the filmmakers, in the darkest of moods. Made in 1969, this is a rare British horror film to reflect the nihilism of its time: the horror is more painful than before, Cushing's portrayal at its most brutal (when the Hammer studio head demanded "more sex", director Terence Fisher had Frankenstein rape his maid), and its view of humanity ultimately pessimistic: Frankenstein is a better scientist than his peers and the film's good guys are close-minded luddites.

Fisher, who loved the horror genre, directs with ghoulish zeal, while regular Hammer cinematographer Arthur Grant lovingly lights the gore in saturated colours.

The fiery climax, while reminiscent of a hundred other period fright flicks, remains a haunting denouement, as Victor's madness literally brings the house down.

A mark of the film's power is that the BBFC only downgraded it from cert 18 to 15 last year...

Tim Evans