Hammer’s Most Underrated Horror Just Got A 4K Upgrade

The egotistical allure of life-creating science is front and center in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, which reworks Mary Shelley’s foundational novel into an operatic story that asks whether something beautiful can be created by someone so selfish. Beyond Frankenstein, cinema has no shortage of amoral scientists breaking the boundaries of human nature — and Herbert West, Dr. Moreau, Dr. Jekyll, the Invisible Man, and more can all be traced back to pre-cinema literature. Lesser known is Georges Bonnet, the protagonist of Hammer Film’s The Man Who Could Cheat Death, but with this obscure mad scientist film receiving a 4K upgrade thanks to boutique distribution label Vinegar Syndrome, it’s worth discovering his ill-fated experiments as a colorful alternative to del Toro’s latest.

How Was The Man Who Could Cheat Death Received Upon Release?

Hammer Film specialized in films that were made cheaply and promised strange, colorful, and often obscene horror transgressions, with corseted women who fall afoul of devious men. The Man Who Could Cheat Death — the second adaptation of Barré Lyndon’s play The Man in Half Moon Street — was produced during their early period of success, after Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Mummy kickstarted their most famous franchises. Peter Cushing was set to play the doctor and sculptor Georges Bonnet, who remains mysteriously young for years and is unwilling to divulge too much of his life to his many female admirers. But Cushing, fresh off back-to-back Hammer productions, was too exhausted to fulfil his obligations and dropped out six days before shooting.

Considering the short notice, his replacement, Anton Driffing, does a terrific job in the lead, but co-producer Paramount buried the film in the lower half of double features when it was released across America in 1959. This is one reason why The Man Who Could Cheat Death doesn’t have the reputation of Hammer’s most iconic titles, and why a 4K restoration jam-packed with special features arrives not a moment too soon.

Why Is The Man Who Could Cheat Death Important to See Now?

For someone who’s found a cure for aging, Georges Bonnet doesn’t favor a private life. When we meet him in late 19th-century Paris, he’s hosting swanky parties, has a trail of besotted lovers, and uses many models for his amateur sculptured busts. There’s a clear note of arrogance to Driffing’s performance, which is far more mercurial and seductive than Peter Cushing gave for Hammer films. This is a man who loves the pleasures and admiration of high society, and is willing to risk a great deal — like having his God-defying scientific breakthrough discovered — to enjoy it.

There are some rigid practical demands to Bonnet’s immortality, and the disruption of this process triggers his desperate violence. Every 10 years, he must replace his parathyroid glands through surgical transplants, and any delay to the surgery must be counteracted with a short-term potion to postpone the sudden, aggressive symptoms of aging and decay. Alas, the surgery is delayed, as his aged colleague, Dr. Ludwig (Arnold Marlé), suffers a stroke that leaves his right hand unusable. At the same time, Bonnet reconnects with ex-lover Janine (Hazel Court, a recurring Hammer scream queen), who’s now with the haughty, serious surgeon Dr. Pierre Gerrard (Christopher Lee). Ludwig implores Pierre to perform the surgery on his old (or, young) friend, but Pierre is bothered by the fact that multiple ex-models of Bonnet have disappeared whenever he’s needed transplants.

With its motifs of harvesting body parts, a clear erotic undercurrent, and 19th-century values clashing with a defiant scientific vision, The Man Who Could Cheat Death fits into the lineage of post-Frankenstein tales about men cheating death by championing a superhuman ability to evade God and Nature. But instead of proving his ego through external creation like Victor Frankenstein, Georges Bonnet directs his energies towards himself, and the fact that he loves his youthful vigor so much undermines any claim that his transplants are for the pure benefit of science.

This makes the contradiction inherent to Frankenstein — that Victor did not make the Creature so it could experience life, but so he could say he was its creator — all the more pronounced. Bonnet harbors his scientific breakthrough inside him, lashing out whenever his partner fails to maintain his state of experimental perfection, and easily turns to kidnapping, mutilation, and murder when they’re the only way to keep himself young. The Man Who Could Cheat Death counters the dual personalities of Frankenstein with a man who is both creator and creature, where his monstrous behavior is a natural extension of his masculine fears of weakness and inadequacy.

What New Features Does The Man Who Could Cheat Death Blu-ray Have?

There are two 4K versions of The Man Who Could Cheat Death available on Vinegar Syndrome’s limited edition Blu-ray, including a more lewd and explicit “Continental” version, scanned and restored from a 35mm negative. Expect the usual high standard of horror critics and writers on the commentary tracks and featurettes, as well as an interview with the film’s third assistant director and a 40-page book of essays. As is often the case with Vinegar Syndrome’s limited editions, that reversible sleeve artwork is gorgeous enough to justify grabbing a copy.

The Man Who Could Cheat Death 4K Blu-Ray is available from Vinegar Syndrome.