Characters / The Curse of Frankenstein

Baron Victor Von Frankenstein

Baron Victor Von Frankenstein

Played By: Peter Cushing, Melvyn Haynes (young)

Appearances: The Curse of Frankenstein | The Revenge of Frankenstein | The Evil of Frankenstein | Frankenstein Created Woman | Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed | Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell

The protagonist of the series, but not the hero. A genius young scientist, Frankenstein discovers technology that can reverse death, and soon decides to use it to create an entirely new human being, only for the brain of the creature to be damaged severely, leaving it violent and murderous. Killing the creature and being put onto death row after the first film, Frankenstein re-enacts the experiment to create a new human being in a variety of ways, manipulating and discarding those that stand in the way of his vision of scientific progress.

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• Adaptational Villainy: Jesus Christ. The original Frankenstein was hardly a saint, but in this version he's a near-complete sociopath with an undying obsession of creating horrific monsters in the name of scientific progress, and murders people both for spare parts and in order to keep them quiet.
• Ax-Crazy: A more subtle example, but Frankenstein is not all there mentally. He shows a borderline psychotic obsession with the monster as well as an exasperated and manic style of murder, as demonstrated when he throws the elderly scientist to his death, or when he attempts to strangle Paul in a fit of rage while at the prison.
• Broken Ace: Despite being a scientific genius, Frankenstein is a cruel Mad Scientist with a maniacal obsession towards his creations.
• Character Development: We gradually see Frankenstein shift into an uncaring monster in pursuit of his goals of creating new life, being left entirely mad at the end of the first film. He shifts closer to humanity in the next few films, but plunges back into greater insanity by the end of the series.
• Dr. Frankenstein: Baron Victor Von Frankenstein is an outright Villain Protagonist here being depicted as a sociopath with an undying desire to create life. He's far nastier than his book counterpart or previous films had depicted being more actively malicious and murderous in his pursuit of his scientific goals.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Paul, his mentor and adoptive father, is the only person he treats with much genuine hospitality in the movie, and when he attempts strangles him, he does so as a result of his madness and begs for him to forgive him and help him afterwards.
• Faux Affably Evil: He can be very charming when it needs be, to the point of bordering on being plain Affably Evil.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Frankenstein begins initially by merely stealing dead bodies for the purpose of using it on his monster, but upon meeting the wisest professor in Germany, he decides he must use his brain for his creature, and kills the man. When his mistress discovers his intent to marry his wife, he locks her in a room with the monster to be killed.
• Karma Houdini: Befitting a horror movie series, Frankenstein is adept at escaping moral consequences.
• Narcissist: He doesn't need you to tell him he's a genius, he already knows it.
• Nominal Hero: Installments in the series frequently feature Frankenstein either stopping the monster from harming people, or another villain, but this is never out of the goodness of his own heart.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: In Frankenstein's view, he's committing murders and various crimes in order to advance the field of scientific research, but he is in fact a sociopath who is incapable of caring about the human toll of his experiments and is acting to advance his own ego.
• Out-of-Character Moment: The infamous rape scene in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, which was forced into the movie without any regard for continuity by the producer, and which all the actors involved and the director were completely disgusted by.
• The Sociopath: Highly intelligent, emotionally manipulative, and absolutely lacking in empathy or care for the lives and safety of his friends and family to the point of outright murdering his girlfriend to shut her up.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He's an outright Nominal Hero in the sequel and it's follow-up, but this development doesn't last, as by the end of the series, he's managing an asylum in order to extract body parts from the patients.
• Tragic Hero: Well, "hero" isn't the right word, but his quest for scientific knowledge brings Frankenstein absolutely no joy or happiness, and he isolates himself from everyone else in this pursuit. Even Paul notes at the end of the film that the bright young man he once tutored is completely gone and there is no hope at reaching him.
• The Unfettered: Absolutely nothing will stop Frankenstein in his quest to create new life, not societal expectations, the lives of his friends or even his own safety.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He was still rather vain, but what little we see of Frankenstein as a young man as well as after the Time Skip before he begins Jumping Off the Slippery Slope seems to be a relatively well-intentioned young man intent on perfecting his craft.
• Villainous Cheekbones: Courtesy of Peter Cushing.
• Villainous Widow's Peak: Again, property of Peter Cushing.
• Villain Protagonist: He's not exactly a stand-up guy, if you can't tell at this point.