Review of The Evil of Frankenstein (1964) by Scott S — 07 Feb 2013

From Hammer, this was their third Frankenstein film, and this time, they were co-producing the film with Universal Pictures, which enabled them to reference the original make up for the Monster. It's a very silly film, but it has some good performances in it, some of it sags, which is a shame, plus the monster isn't much cop either, and it seems to break continuity with the previous film.

Here, Baron Von Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) has returned to the town he was banished from years before. With his assistant Hans (Sandor Eles), they find Frankenstein's castle ransacked and in near ruins, but Frankenstein plans to start up his experiments again, and he finds his monster (Kiwi Kingston), perfectly preserved in a glacier.

He tries to revive him, but although the monster shows the basic signs of life, the monster won't respond to anything Frankenstein does and remains inert. Frankenstein calls upon the services of mesmerist Zoltan (Peter Woodthorpe) to use hypnotism to awaken the creature from it's block, but Zoltan comes at a price.

It's a good film, but it's hard to tell if it's following on from The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) or if it's a reboot or ignoring the sequel, you just can't tell with Hammer. But, Cushing is great as ever, but the show is stolen by Woodthorpe, giving a dastardly turn.