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The Evil of Frankenstein

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6.1/10 • 103

1964-05-081h 27m

HorrorScience Fiction

He's never been more shocking! shocking! shocking!

Once hounded from his castle by outraged villagers for creating a monstrous living being, Baron Frankenstein returns to Karlstaad. High in the mountains they stumble on the body of the creature, perfectly preserved in the ice. He is brought back to life with the help of the hypnotist Zoltan who now controls the creature. Can Frankenstein break Zoltan's hypnotic spell that incites the monster to commit these horrific murders or will Zoltan induce the creature to destroy its creator?

Directors
Freddie Francis
Characters
Mary Shelley

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Peter Cushing

    Peter Cushing

    Baron Frankenstein

  2. Peter Woodthorpe

    Peter Woodthorpe

    Prof. Zoltan

  3. Duncan Lamont

    Duncan Lamont

    Karlstaad

  4. Sandor Elès

    Sandor Elès

    Hans

  5. Katy Wild

    Katy Wild

    Beggar Girl

  6. David Hutcheson

    David Hutcheson

    Bürgermeister

  7. James Maxwell

    James Maxwell

    Priester

  8. Howard Goorney

    Howard Goorney

    Drunk

  9. Kiwi Kingston

    Kiwi Kingston

    The Monster

Reviews2

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John Chard Avatar

John Chard

Oct 16, 2019

7/10

The Evil of Zoltan! 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

Media

  • The Evil of Frankenstein poster
  • The Evil of Frankenstein poster
  • The Evil of Frankenstein poster
  • The Evil of Frankenstein poster
  • The Evil of Frankenstein poster
  • The Evil of Frankenstein poster
  • The Evil of Frankenstein poster
  • The Evil of Frankenstein poster
  • The Evil of Frankenstein poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
experimentblackmailcastlemad scientistsequelrevengemurderreanimationlaboratorycreaturehypnotismfrankenstein