Frankenstein...The Third

What up, people! Welcome to the next installment of WTFHM and the next installment of my trip through the classic Frankenstein movies.

So, in case you didn’t notice, I missed a week, which normally means, I’ve gotta bring the double feature. This time, I’m forgoing that particular rule because I kind of want to spend more time on these movies, being they’re classics. I’m just saying, so much of the horror that I love started in this era of movie making. That being said, today’s feature is:



Ghost of Frankenstein starring Lon Chaney Jr., Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Bellamy, Lionel Atwill, Bela Lugosi, Evelyn Ankers, Janet Ann Gallow, Barton Yarborough, and Olaf Hytten.

So, this one takes place sometime after Son of Frankenstein. The Monster has been thrown into the castle sulfur pit, Franky Jr. and his family have left town, and the villagers are still angry.



This time, the angry mob goes to the magistrate and tells him that they believe the village is cursed now. Ever since the Frankenstein family came through on that BS, they’ve been having nightmares and their crops won’t grow. The Mayor is all; “But Frankenstein’s gone and his monster’s dead and even Ygor was shot full of bullets.”

The angry mob’s like: “No, he’s not! He’s still alive.”

Mayor: “But we hung him and shot him.”

Angry Mob: “Let’s blow the whole castle up!”

Mayor: …

Angry Mob: “YEAH!”

So, they go to blow the castle up. Ygor (Lugosi), who is, indeed, still alive, manages to escape, but not before finding the monster(Chaney Jr.) in the rubble. He escapes and tells the monster that they are going to go find Ludwig Frankenstein(Hardwicke), Franky Jr.’s brother so that he can restore the monster to his former power. They leave the little village and begin their journey to see Dr. Franky the Third.



So, meanwhile, Ludwig is living his best life in Vasaria. He’s a successful doctor with a thriving practice and a beautiful daughter, Elsa(Ankers) with his two assistants, Dr. Bohmer(Atwill) and Kettering(Yarborough). Everything is fine until Ygor shows up in town and leaves the monster alone for two seconds.



So, the monster sees a bunch of kids picking on a sweet little girl. They take her ball and kick it up onto the roof of one of the buildings. The monster walks over to the little girl who asks him to help her get her ball. He goes; “Ugh” and picks her up and heads to the roof. A bunch of adults see this happening and naturally freak out.



No, really, think about it. Some wrestler-size dude with green skin and a flat head walks up and picks up a little girl then climbs the roof of the nearest building with her. Needless to say, a panic ensuing seems pretty appropriate. What’s worse, is that in trying to get to the roof, the monster manages to kill two of the villagers.

So, after getting the ball from the roof, the little girl asks the monster to bring her back down off the roof, which he does. He hands her to her father, Herr Hussman (Hytten) and then is promptly attacked and arrested by the police.

Okay, so, the town prosecutor, Erik Ernst (Bellamy) goes to Franky the Third and asks him to take a look at this lunatic they just arrested. Before he can go, Ygor shows up and tells him that the lunatic is actually the monster that his dad created. He begs him to go to the monster and fix him so he can go on killing people again be best friends with him again. Franky The Third is like:



Ygor then proceeds to the blackmail. He tells him that if he doesn’t help him, then he would tell everyone in town all about his family heritage of creating monsters that kill people. Franky the Third says:



Okay, so get this. Back at the police station, they decide to put the monster on trial. In a courtroom. With nothing but some shackles and chains to restrain him…and Ludwig walks in and denies ever seeing him before. You can probably guess that things go bad pretty quickly.



The monster pretty much starts destroying everything in the courtroom. Ygor comes in and calms the beast and leads him away with his magic flute of calming.

So, he leads the monster back to Ludwig’s house and breaks into Ludwig’s laboratory. His daughter, Elsa, catches them there and is carried off by the monster. Dr. Kettering tries to stop them, but, of course, is killed. Franky the third comes in and fills the hallway with gas – knock out gas, cuz, that’s a thing.



All right, so Ludwig goes about keeping up his end of the bargain he made with Ygor to see about fixing him. He comes up with the plan to switch the monster’s brain out with Kettering’s. He comes up with this plan because the ghost of his father (Get it? Ghost of Frankenstein?) appears to him and tells him to switch out the monster’s criminal brain with a nice normal one.

And that’s about the time that Franky the Third comes in on that BS.


So, he tells Ygor the plan and Ygor’s like; “Hey, what about me? I’ve been shot and hung. I could use a new body.” Franky the third is like;

So, Ygor starts some of his own BS and goes to Bohmer and feeds him a whole lot of bull about him being a better scientist than Franky the Third and if he switches his brain instead of Kettering’s it’ll make him famous.



No, I don’t know how switching Ygor’s brain instead of Kettering makes him any more famous, but, whatever. Bohmer, not being the brightest scientist in the room, eagerly buys the idea with fries and a shake.

Okay, so, the police come to the house looking for the monster, because, you can’t just walk out of trial after laying waste to the place and expect not to get arrested again. The police search Ludwig’s house and even find the secret room they were keeping the monster in, only to find it empty.



Meanwhile, the monster gets loose and heads over to the little girl’s house – you know, the one from earlier that he caused a panic over? So, yeah, he kidnaps her out of her bed and brings her back to the castle in the hopes that Franky the Third will switch her brain with his. He refuses and convinces the monster to let the little girl go, which he does. Franky the Third then gets to work on operating on the monster.

But by this time, Bohmer has switched brains without him knowing. So, Franky the Third puts Ygor’s brain in the Monster’s head instead. And while all this is going on, Herr Hussman discovers his daughter is gone and immediately blames the monster. Cue angry mob.



So, just as Franky the Third is finding out that he’s just been played, the angry mob shows up at the house to find Herr Hussman’s daughter. The Ygor/monster decides to fill the house with gas – not knockout gas, but gas-gas – in order to kill everyone. Franky the Third tries to stop him but fails. In the middle of everything, the Ygor/Monster goes blind. Yup. Blind.

Franky the Third tells him it’s because his blood is incompatible with the monster’s blood. The Ygor/Monster flips out and kills Franky the Third by electrocuting him, which causes a fire, which burns down the house. Fortunately, the townspeople, Elsa and the little girl all escape in time.

So, yeah, that’s how it ends. Did I like it? Meh.

I mean, it’s getting a jewel, no doubt. I can’t raspberry a classic. It wouldn’t be right.

Plus, did you notice some of the actors? Lon Chaney Jr. and Ralph Bellamy? You know, Ralph Bellamy. Trading Places?



Yeah, you know him.

So, next week, we continue with House of Frankenstein. See you then!

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