Posted by TD
I’ve been on
quite the Hammer Horror kick lately. I’ve always wanted to get into the Hammer
Collection, but I didn’t really know where to start. I had seen Horror Of
Dracula, The Curse Of Frankenstein, and a couple of others when I was young,
but I knew there was much more to be discovered in the Hammer canon. The latest
issue of the excellent magazine Horrorhound
has remedied that little problem. They did a great piece on Christopher Lee,
and included a “Hammer Horror Buyers Guide” which I have utilized to purchase
several different Hammer Horror DVD collections on eBay. I’ll be reviewing
films from the various collections as I watch them in future posts on the blog.
This was the first Frankenstein film from the aforementioned collections that I had never seen before. I’ve actually never seen the first Frankenstein sequel, The Revenge Of Frankenstein, but since that one isn’t included in any of the sets I purchased, I’m just going to have to deal with seeing them out of order. Especially considering the fact that I watched the sequel that was released after this one Frankenstein Created Woman on IFC last Halloween.
This was the first Frankenstein film from the aforementioned collections that I had never seen before. I’ve actually never seen the first Frankenstein sequel, The Revenge Of Frankenstein, but since that one isn’t included in any of the sets I purchased, I’m just going to have to deal with seeing them out of order. Especially considering the fact that I watched the sequel that was released after this one Frankenstein Created Woman on IFC last Halloween.
The popular opinion seems to be that this is
one of the lesser entries in Hammer’s Frankenstein film series. Sadly I can’t say I completely disagree.
The film
begins with Frankenstein, played, as usual, to perfection by the “great in
everything” Peter Cushing, and his assistant Hans (Sandor Eles) fleeing town
due to his experiments. They end up at his chateau to find out that it has been
ransacked. Frankenstein and Hans then head into Karlstaad, which Old Frank was
banished from years before, for his not-so-beloved-by-the-public experimental
ways. They hope to slide through unnoticed, luckily for them, there is a
carnival going on. They get made when Frankenstein sees that the Burgomaster is
wearing one of his rings, which leads to Frankenstein having a meltdown in a
crowded tavern. They are then chased out of town and into some mountains where a
little, deaf-mute girl lets them stay in her cave. This is where they see The
Monster chilling in a block of ice out of nowhere and the “fun” is supposed to
begin.
Too bad The
Monster doesn’t listen to the Doc’s commands when they thaw him out. This means
he has to enlist the help of the Carnival Hypnotist, Professor Zoltan (Peter
Woodthorpe) who just might be one of the most finely tuned douchebag characters
ever to be captured on film. Things rapidly go downhill from there, as they
usually do when you’re dealing with a tool like Zoltan.
This by no
means was what I would call a “bad” film, but when comparing it to a
masterpiece like The Curse Of
Frankenstein, it really doesn’t hold up too well. The Cinematography and
Set Design are up to the usual Hammer standards, as the picture is quite
beautiful, but I have to say I found myself missing something.
Or missing someone is more accurate, actually.
I REALLY
missed the presence of Christopher Lee as The Monster! I know Bela Lugosi
complained in Ed Wood that Karloff’s portrayal of The Monster was “all makeup
and moaning”, but I respectfully disagree.
I know that
we’re talking about Lee and not Karloff here, but the point I’m making is that
there IS an art form to playing a Monster who doesn’t speak. Lee is such a fine
actor that it didn’t matter that he didn’t speak a word for his performance in The Curse of Frankestein, because what
he exuded just in his eyes could go from being genuinely frightening to
painfully sad in a matter of seconds. Kiwi Kingston's Creature just sort of
lumbers around without ever really evoking much emotion for the character. I
don’t think he did a poor job, but he did have some (pardon the pun) awful big
shoes to fill after a legend like Christopher Lee’s performance. The creature
design is also done rather poorly. It was so goofy looking that it made me
think Adam Green might have been parodying it a bit with the design on Kane
Hodder for his Chillerama entry “The
Diary Of Anne Frankenstein”!
Aside from
those criticisms the story is also really silly. I just don’t see someone as
intelligent as Dr. Frankenstein making some of the quite frankly idiotic
decisions that he does in the film. I know we are supposed to suspend disbelief
when we watch a movie, but there are times in this one that I find that really
difficult to do.
The one
saving grace that the film does have is Peter Cushing bringing his usual A Game
to the table. I defy anyone to show me this guy giving a bad performance in
anything. I always knew him as General “you may fire when ready” Tarkin from
Star Wars, but I have quickly come to realize that this guy is one of my
favorite actors ever to grace this planet. This is in large part due to his
masterful performances in numerous Hammer Horror Films.
Peter
Cushing and Christopher Lee are like the Tango & Cash of Classic Horror
respectively. Great things usually seemed to happen when the two of them got
together. Unfortunately for the
filmmakers, the “Cash” part of that duo decided that he wanted to do things
other than play monsters all of the time and The Evil Of Frankenstein suffered for it.
The Evil Of Frankenstein will probably
end up being my least favorite in Hammer’s Frankenstein series, but it earns an
extra barrel alone for the fantastic Production Design, and the presence of a
Screen Titan like Cushing. Though it is good to know (since I’ve already seen it)
that things definitely got better in the series with the injection of some
Estrogen in Frankenstein Created Woman.
Two and a half JAWS Barrels out of Five.
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