The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)

Such a frustrating disappointment

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

British Hammer (Horror) Studios had already made two Frankenstein films, based on the classic Mary Shelley story, I unsure what I would make of this third entry, but I knew it was rated fairly negatively by critics. Basically Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) is penniless, he has been forced to leave town following the discovery of his laboratory and his experiments, he returns to his hometown of Karlstaad, with his assistant Hans (Sandor Elès). Ten years prior to the events that led to his exile, Frankenstein recalls bringing a being to life, after the police discovered his heresy he was arrested and fined, the Creature (Kiwi Kingston) escaped into the mountains and fell into a crevice. The following day, Frankenstein and Hans go in disguise to a dinner party, but they are recognised, they hide out at the exhibit of hypnotist Zoltan (Peter Woodthorpe) the arrogant Zoltan is arrested, and allows Frankenstein and Hans to escape. After more encounters with the authorities, Frankenstein and Hans retreat to the mountains, where Frankenstein's original creations is eventually discovered, frozen in a glacier, it is thawed out and restored to life at the château, they use the services and abilities of Zoltan to reanimate the creature's mind. Zoltan however uses the monster, responding to his commands, for his own advantage, he uses the creature to rob and take revenge on the authorities, Frankenstein realises this, the monster is made to attack him, but the Baron scares it off, in turn it brutally kills Zoltan. The creature goes on a violent rampage, during which it rips apart the electrical components and causes a fire in the laboratory, after trying to subdue it Frankenstein tries to escape, the creature stumbles about in terror as the flames surround them. In the end, villagers see Hans and a Beggar Girl (Katy Wild) flee the château, there is an explosion and the tower is thrown over the edge of the cliff, the monster is killed, but the fate of Frankenstein is unknown. Also starring Duncan Lamont as Chief of Police, David Hutcheson as Burgomaster, Caron Gardner as Burgomaster's Wife, James Maxwell as Priest and Tony Arpino as Body Snatcher. Cushing is still relatively good as the crazy scientist, unfortunately he is in the middle of what is almost a rehash of what has been seen in the previous two films, the story of the monster frozen in ice, revived and controlled by a hypnotist is pretty silly, and the creature effects are terrible, it is just an uninteresting and mediocre horror film. Adequate!

This film like but not as well as parts 1, 2, and 5 of the Cushing Frankenstein series. It is a good film I just liked it a little less - it's the story of this film I liked a little less than the others. This film is a continuation of the story of Dr. Frankenstein, it pick up were part 2 left off.Everyone was good in this film -- but it was Peter Cushing that really carried this one all the way through more so than anything thing else.I definitely recommend this film to others that have enjoyed other Hammer Horror films and/or Peter Cushing's movies. It's worth it.7.5/10

Trying to get his experiments started again, Baron Frankenstein and his assistant find his earlier creature frozen in ice and still alive, where a local magician uses it to exact revenge on the townspeople who race to stop it before the creature starts another rampage.This here wasn't that bad and actually had some good stuff going for it. The best parts to this one here was whenever it had the creature either as the main focus of the scene or featured it on-screen. The first scene with it, the flashback to the past where it shows the creature's first rampage through the forest and its' confrontations with the townsfolk results in some fun as the chases are nice, the stunts aren't too bad and it has a fun atmosphere that makes it really enjoyable. The fact that there's also some rather fun and enjoyable scenes later on inside the lab where the creature is being brought back to life through the hypnosis makes it quite fun, and when the creature goes out and gets his rampage going, the murder scenes are all nicely done. The final confrontation, where the monster gets out of control and starts a massive fire in the lab which soon turns into an inferno and takes out pretty much everything it can, manages to have much more fun from it when the hero gets stuck down there for the explosive final confrontation. The discovery of the creature takes place in a novel setting with the gloomy atmospherics of the cave-setting, the actual excavation is handled realistically and manages to feel completely plausible the whole way through, which is an unusual for these sorts of things. These here are enough to hold this off against its' bad parts, though there isn't a whole lot of flaws to this one. One of the main issues with the film is that there's an incredibly lame monster design chosen that doesn't do much of anything to instill fear in the viewer, as the expressionless green face looks like a block of flesh put atop the body, it's general shape is baggy and inconsistent, and on the whole there's hardly a whole lot of inference given it's pedigree to the past. The other flaw to this one, and the one that does the most damage is the film's utter dullness when it isn't focused on the monster. The monster is brought out in full detail quite late in the film, making it a real stretch in the beginning to get some good parts out of it. It's slow, dull and beyond the fun flashback has nothing all that exciting to make it interesting by focusing on such extreme lengths as it does on the carnival troupe and their reaction around town who in turn are yet again up-in-arms over the activities being conducted at Frankenstein manor which doesn't really allow much action, and it takes a while before something fun happens. These are the film's weak points.Today's Rating/PG-Violence.

This is the second sequel to Hammer's classic THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Baron Frankenstein(Peter Cushing) is conducting his experiments at an old watermill, when he is interrupted; so he and his assistant Hans(Sandor Eles)make haste to his family château in Karlstadt. That is where ten years earlier his monster went amok and the misunderstood doctor was chased out of town. After causing a ruckus over a stolen ring in the possession of the town Burgonmaster(David Hutcheson)and the chief of police(Duncan Lamont), once again the Baron is on the run to avoid being arrested. He and Hans come across a young mute girl(Katy Wild), who will lead them to shelter in a cave. Much to the Baron's surprise, he finds his original monster preserved in a block of ice and begins to thaw him out. A hypnotist, Professor Zoltan(Peter Woodthrope),who is also on the run from the law is called upon to help revive Frankenstein's frigid creature. This is actually fun to watch. Sets are interesting; camera work and color is very good. And it always seems there is the added attraction of bosomy women with plenty of cleavage. Many Frankenstein movies have been made, and this is one of the better ones. Kiwi Kingston plays the monster.