The 4th installment in the Frankenstein series sees the town residents living in exile and fear of the Frankenstein memories. They all decide to go and destroy the castle. (Yay, property damage!) Luckily, Ygor and the monster make it out just in time. They flee in search of a new home. They go to Visaria, where Ludwig Frankenstein lives. (Another son to Henry, and brother to Wolf) The monster is heavily damaged from his injuries from the last movie, so Ygor tries to get Ludwig to help make him better. Ludwig soon sees the ghost of his father and comes up with the idea of changing his brain out and making the monster smarter and less hostile. Will this plan work? If you love the classic monster movies, you'll enjoy GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN!!!

The locals of Frankenstein village decide to blow up Frankenstein castle, which is inhabited by devious, bullet-proof (and lynch-proof) criminal Ygor (Bela Lugosi); in doing so, they free the monster (Lon Chaney Jr.) from the sulphur pit. Together Ygor and the creature pay a visit to the second son of Frankenstein, Ludwig (Cedric Hardwicke), an eminent brain surgeon, to try to convince him to replace the monster's damaged brain with a good one.At first, Ludwig is convinced that the best mode of action is to dissect the monster, destroying it for good, but after a visitation from the ghost of his father, he decides to go ahead with the brain transplant operation, unaware that Ygor plans to have HIS brain transplanted into the creature, with a little help from Ludwig's bitter assistant Doctor Theodore Bohmer (Lionel Atwill).By now, the Frankenstein series was starting to get pretty silly, with plot contrivances and ridiculous developments aplenty. The idea that both Ygor and the monster could have survived their fates at the end of Son of Frankenstein is seriously stretching plausibility, even for a horror film. Also, this one suffers for not having Karloff in the role of the monster: Chaney is stocky enough, but is unable to bring the necessary pathos to the character. Director Erle C. Kenton handles matters competently enough, although his film is lacking in memorable imagery (there's precious little of the expressionist scenery and stark lighting that made the original such a visual treat).All of Universal's Frankenstein films have a certain charm about them (even the chaotic House of Frankenstein), but Ghost is definitely one of the weaker entries in the series.4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for the lovely Evelyn Ankers as Ludwig's daughter Elsa.

The running gag is that the castle looks different in every version after "The Bride of Frankenstein"! More turrets on this one! Kind of predictable and slow moving. The destroyed miniatures look so fake. The monster has a worse haircut and a hairline that is more familiar here, and looks that way thru "A&C Meet Frankenstein". (The make-up process has obviously been "streamlined".) Too familiar. The monster falls in love with a little girl (again) but does not hurt her. Ygor has his brain put in the monster and indeed it talks and thinks like Ygor. A major disappointment. Dr. Ludwig Frankenstein willingly dies with the monster? It makes no sense at all. Many chances at "horror" are wasted: Ygor just dies under anesthesia? The transplant is not graphic and is barely shown at all! The "Ghost" of Dr. Wolf Frankenstein is unconvincing, and nobody other than Ludwig even sees it. Overall, The whole movie is just not evil, creepy, scary or hideous enough. Lon Chaney Jr. has the monster's swagger down pat but no character emotion to speak off. So many unanswered questions plague the later films: Does The Monster remain blind? (No). How come he speaks only on rare occasions? Luckily, the next two entries are actually far more entertaining,if not even more preposterous!

Still alive in the sulphur pits, the monster and the hunchback assistant travel to an adjacent town to convince the Baron's other son to continue with his fathers experiments in making the monster immortal.This is a surprisingly enjoyable and effective entry in the series. One of the better elements here is the rather exciting and plentiful action scenes here that make for a really enjoyable time. The opening of the film is a perfect example of this as it's the rapid on the castle which features the villagers storming the grounds and destroying the foundation while chasing the assistant and the monster through the catacombs and into the graveyard, being quite the highly impressive and exciting start as there's a thrilling sequence immediately. Along that same path, the lightning storm sequence and the rampage through the town following the trial in the hall also manage quite a few fun moments within this, while scenes in the middle at the mansion seems to have quite a nice dose of cheesy fun. The film's best segments, though, are in the final half as there's quite a bit to like here. Starting with the results of the brain-swamp and the resulting double-cross fueled by the emerging townspeople is used to set-up the main action as the monster's attempts to fend them off not only damages those around him but also starts off the centerpiece burning-down-the-house finale through the wild action in place. That not only is this fun due to the action present but also the storyline connections as this series of actions is built because of the fun body-swapping story lines as well as the continuation of the infatuation of the monster with children from the first entry which really helps this one along. They are enough for this one to hold off it's few flaws. One of the biggest marks against this one is the utterly contrive and rather nonsensical story that really eels like cash-in by the throwing yet another relative of Frankenstein's who yet again has extensive knowledge of brain-swapping to carry the film on. It's not all that original or creative at this point in the series which helps keep this one down somewhat. Another big one is the fact that the film doesn't really make it seem important for the creature and the assistant to seem like imposing figures for the townspeople, wandering up through the streets in broad daylight and engaging many of them in conversation that openly declare their association with the infamous family and their intentions there. At first the villagers seem afraid but willing if it gets them on their way, then it doesn't bother them at all until the final third of the film when the monster gets loose and starts rampaging. That's what spurs them into action, many times often ignoring the fact that they're out there despite the fact the creature openly escaped custody. It's pretty inconsistent, yet it's not a huge detriment to it in any way.Today's Rating-Unrated/PG: Mild Violence and tense confrontations with children.