It was produced and directed by Jimmy Sangster, starring Ralph Bates, Kate O'Mara, Veronica Carlson, and David Prowse as the monster.

He ruthlessly murders his father by sabotaging the old man's shotgun, consequently inheriting the title of Baron von Frankenstein and the family fortune.

As Jonathan Rigby points out in the documentary "Gallows Humor" included with the Blu-ray, the film opened with a credit sequence that made clear what Sangster's intentions were; using what appears to be a felt tip pen (an anachronism) to mark off the body parts in a picture of a woman that would be needed for one of Frankenstein's creations.

[citation needed] As several years passed by and he went about building a larger body of work through various film roles, he was eventually approached by Jimmy Sangster about being cast as this revisionist Baron Frankenstein's laboratory creation.

[citation needed] Howard Thompson of The New York Times enjoyed the first hour as "not only painless but also fun," comparing it favourably to Kind Hearts and Coronets.

"[8] Variety wrote that the film "has an occasional lighthearted touch which adds much to its enjoyment," praising Bates for a "nicely suave and sardonic performance as the ingenious, self-assured son of Count Frankenstein.

"[9] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "a talky affair" and lamented that the new Frankenstein was a less sympathetic character than the one Peter Cushing played, as well as the monster being "simply a robot killer.

"[10] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This awkward and inordinately tedious attempt by Hammer to ring changes on the Frankenstein motif is liable to have even those who disliked the old formula wishing it had not been messed about.

Jimmy Sangster may have supposed that in turning the Baron into a sexually voracious anti-hero with a macabre sense of humour he was bringing him into line with the Seventies, but in fact he only succeeds in annihilating all the power of the original myth and putting nothing in its place.