Review of The Evil of Frankenstein (1964) by Dylan W — 19 Mar 2011

A really complex Hammer film to think about. It is out of continuity with the previous two Frankensteins and the monster doesn't look like the monster in the the first one. I, like most people, always hated the monster make-up in this one but watching it this time I realized that it isn't more like a Universal monster film, it is more like a Golem story. This is completely out of continuity with the corpse focused earlier films but as far as ideas go, it is a good one. Frankenstein clearly owes a lot to the Golem concept as a whole.

The mesmerist character is amazing. The idea that he uses his powers on the monster is amazing. Freddie Francis is a total genius (a lot of the time) and Cushing makes almost any movie good. But, this movie is still the weakest of the early Frankensteins. The story is not tight enough and Francis isn't a tight director so the film just kind of plods around at points. Mind you, I still think it is great. Just could be better. And that make-up is growing on me.