Director Jimmy Sangster's refreshing take on the Frankenstein classic has Ralph Bates as the young doctor who takes some time off from university to experiment on the reanimation of corpses.

Horror of Frankenstein is not so much a new variation, as much as it is a "retelling" of Mary Shelley's original 1818 novel.

There's some effective dashes of black humor, and a winning performance from Bates. Look for David Prowse (Darth Vader in Star Wars) as the Monster.

Still, even with good supporting work from Hammer scream queen Carlson, there's a still an ominous black hole hanging over the whole effort: the absence of Cushing in a role he made his own.

Never fear, though. Cushing would return for the seventh - and final - entry in the series: Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell in 1974.