Different make-up artist, for one thing-- Roy Ashton, as opposed to Phil Leaky on the first 2. That and since it was made for Univrsal, they now had the right to use a variation on the original make-up... which I think is pretty much what you say, cruddy and ineffective... a pasty pastiche of the Karloff/Pierce version, without the necessary real actor beneath the make-up, and a too-heavy appliance that would prevent any emotions anyway (not that the monster is called upon to do anything.)

But the score is rousing, and it's kinda neat to see the pseudo-Universal, pseudo-Hammer atmosphere, with the big castle on the hill, the giant laboratory, etc.