ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

The third film in Hammer studio's resurrection of the classic Universal horror genre isn't the best of the bunch, but it does have its moments.

Peter Cushing is the famous doctor again, returning to the Old Country after a disapproving priest destroys Cushing's lab. He learns that his ancestral castle has been looted by the local folk.

Cushing and his assistant (Sandor Eles) meet a mute peasant girl (Kathy Wild) who takes them to her cave dwelling where they find the frozen monster. Kiwi Kingston portrays the monster, wearing makeup that looks like a crude caricature of the Karloff version, complete with a huge square head and a line of stitches the size of boot laces running across the top of his head from ear to ear.

Even after they thaw him out, the monster remains in a coma, so Cushing seeks the aid of a mesmerist (Peter Woodthorpe), who uses hypnosis to reactivate the monster's brain.

But Woodthorpe secretly utilizes the monster to commit a series of revenge murders on the locals. (If I had a nickle for every time somebody did [i]that]/i] . . . )

Directed by Freddie Francis, unlike most of the Cushing/Hammer horror films, which were skillfully handled by Terence Fisher.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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A rip-roaring good trailer for this beloved movie, better than some of the British trailers I've seen. If you're a Hammer fan, this will have you popping in your DVD of the movie right after dinner.
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_____________ The Evil of Frankenstein - trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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There are only six IMDB trivia items for this movie, but a few of them are interesting.
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According to the Blu-ray's 'making of' featurette, Peter Cushing (Victor Frankenstein) is vigorously cutting away at a cabbage during the title sequence. It was originally used to emulate the crunching sound of slicing through bone, but this was eventually censored with the title music.

Cushing, being very adamant on the technical details of his performance, always demanded the presence of technical advisors on set. During the surgical sequences, he wanted to make sure he used the scalpel correctly. He was also quoted to "want to convince any doctors in the audience".

Note from me: I admire Cushing for being so dedicated to the quality of his performance.

When first shown on television in 1968, some theatrical scenes were replaced by less intense scenes filmed by another director and with extra actors included.

Note from me: I don't think I heard of another movie doing this. Scenes are often cut out for television, but filming TV versions of certain scenes is unusual.

In The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Hammer were barred from copying any details from the Universal films of the 1930s and '40s, including the famous monster make-up. This film, however, was distributed by Universal, and so Hammer had free rein to copy elements from the Universal franchise, most noticeably the creature's make-up and the laboratory sets.

Note from me: I'll confess that I'm not overly impressed with the makeup in the earlier films. But the makeup in this one is too much like a caricature of the Karloff makeup.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[johnnybear]

I agree, apart from the square head look I can't believe any man ever born looked like that chalky monster!
JB

[The Spike]

The Evil of Frankenstein is directed by Freddie Francis and written by John Elder. It stars Peter Cushing, Sandor Eles, Peter Woodthorpe and Katy Wild. Music is by Don Banks and cinematography by John Wilcox.

Returning back to Karlstad after a ten year absence, Baron Frankenstein (Cushing) hopes that the town has forgotten his monstrous impact on the town previously. With assistant Hans (Eles) in tow, it's not long before the Baron stumbles upon his monster creation frozen in a glacier of ice...

Anything they don't understand, anything that doesn't conform to their stupid little pattern...they destroy.

With Hammer Films finally getting friendly with Universal Pictures, The Evil of Frankenstein forgets the two previous Hammer Frankenstein movies and goes for what is in all essence a rehash of Karloff's stomping days. That's not necessarily a bad thing if one can judge the film as a standalone movie? But creativity is sparse and it's left to the cast and technical department to create an above average Frankenstein movie.

Yep, it sure does look nice, with impressive costuming and well dressed sets, it's a Hammer movie for sure. Bank's score is also classic Hammer strains. Cushing gives his usual dose of quality, though he is a touch restrained here in terms of committed emotion, and you have to smile at his James Bond moment during one getaway scene while a buxom babe looks on with kinky lustation in her eyes. Elsewhere it's a safe turn of cast performances, with future Dad of Delboy Trotter, Woodthorpe, camping it up as the scheming and revenge fuelled hypnotist Zoltan, Wild isn't asked to do much, and neither is Eles, who seems to be in it for some continental flavour. Francis is no Terence Fisher, but he has a good visual flair and he can construct a very good action sequence, such as the excellent finale here.

There's problems for sure; familiarity of Frankenstein movies in general hurts, the make up for the creature is very poor, one back screen projection sequence is very cheap even by low grade Hammer standards, while some of the Baron's reactions to situations don't bear up to logical scrutiny. It's not hard to understand why it's a very divisive movie amongst the Hammer Horror faithful. Yet its merits hold up well and it never once sags or becomes tiring. Cushing, Wilcox and that finale ensure it's a decent night in by the fire. 6.5/10
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The quality of mercy is not strnen.

[johnnybear]

Maybe that's why Reg Trotter left his sons in Peckham, Spike, to go to Karlstadt and learn hypnotism? When he got back to London in 1983 he looked like he was on the run from something didn't he!!!
JB

[Bogmeister]

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__________________ The Evil of Frankenstein


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3rd Hammer Frankenstein film after an absence of several years (following The Revenge of Frankenstein in 1958) finds Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) and his assistant Hans still up to no good, stealing recently-deceased bodies for their experiments.

At this point, they're tucked away in the backwoods somewhere. They manage to rile the local priest and decide to head out to better pastures. Though this is technically a sequel, parts of it behave like a retrofitting prequel via a flashback, as Frankenstein relates to his assistant his first attempt to create life, a version of the famous monster (Kiwi Kingston). This creature, eating only raw meat and caught killing sheep, is shot in the mountains.



Frankenstein decides to head back to his old homeground, figuring that enough years have passed. He finds that his manor has been ransacked and the thieves are the local burgomeister and the police chief (Duncan Lamont).

Fleeing to the mountains with a deaf mute girl, they discover the frozen creature, which apparently had fallen into an iceshaft. Frankenstein revives it but needs the talents of a hypnotist, Zoltan (Peter Woodthorpe), to restart the brain.

As it is, Zoltan has his own issues with Frankenstein's enemies; the creature obeys only him, and Zoltan sends it on missions of theft and then destruction. The creature goes beyond what Zoltan had planned, and deaths ensue.





This film veers from the plot of the previous one in that the previous film ended with Frankenstein's brain transplanted into a copy of his old body and now working as a doctor in London.

There's no mention of this here.

We can assume that he messed things up in London and was forced to flee again, but we just dunno. This film does end with some chaotic killing and action, but also presents Frankenstein as less of a sociopath, with genuinely amusing bits — his outrage with the burgomeister, who wears Frankenstein's family ring, is quite funny.

_______________ The Evil of Frankenstein review


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BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10


BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Phantom]

I saw this in a drive in and, although I can't say I completely hated the movie, I was appalled at the monster's cardboard makeup. Makes me long for old Jack Pierce (who probably turned over in his grave at this one) and Phil Leaky (got some issues with him, too).

It's Hammer's Frankenstein series on a serious downward slope. Cushing is always great in the way that Karloff elevated everything in which he appeared. Peter Woodthorpe is appropriately disgusting and I like Katy Wild as the mute waif. By this time the monster was little more than a stumbling prop with no personality.

The film came with a Hammer dvd, which was the only way I gave it a second look. It didn't help.

A thumb down (and three more fingers, too)

[Bud Brewster]

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Phantom, after a long absence from All Sci-Fi, we are delight by your triumphant return!

Our current members are not aware of the fact that you have been a member of every version of All Sci-Fi since the very first one in 2006!

And before that, you and I exchanged messages on the old IMDB message boards, swapping post which inspired me to create this message board!

Please continue to post the kind of messages I created All Sci-Fi for back in 2006 so that I could present them to science fiction fans like you and me.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)