Frankenstein, the Masked Creator
Being a mad scientist comes with its issues as Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) has discovered as yet again he and his assistant Hans (Sandor Elès) have been run out of town when his experiments with creating life are discovered. Returning to his long abandoned castle near the town of Karlstaad he once again finds himself facing trouble but it leads to him finding the creature he had once worked on frozen in ice in a mountain cave and so sets about bring it back to life. But once again things don't go to plan after employing Zoltan (Peter Woodthorpe) a hypnotist to help only to find him using the creature for his own good.
There are for me three elements to "The Evil of Frankenstein" starting with the storyline and for those who have followed the exploits of Baron Frankenstein the storyline which sees him not only returning to his castle but find himself falling victim of an unscrupulous hypnotists will be entertaining. In truth having watched a few of these Frankenstein movies with Peter Cushing in the lead role I actually liked the storyline in this movie more than I have others thanks to its expanded nature.
But that leads me to the second thing as ultimately we are in familiar territory and so there is something a little repetitive to "The Evil of Frankenstein" as aspects of the story are re-used which unless you are fan of the series will make it feel a little tedious. Simply put if you have enjoyed the macabre nature of the baron, his experiments and the creatures he has made then seeing him do the same thing will be enjoyable but less so if his experiments have failed to do much for you in the past.
Then there is the third thing and we have the visuals which range from a heart beating in a fish tank to the lights and equipment which the baron uses in his laboratory. And there is no denying that "The Evil of Frankenstein" is visually very good, in fact when it comes to the sets it is one of my favourites in the series of movies. But sadly when it comes to the make-up of the creature it does less for me and at times it looks like all we have is an actor where an ill fitting cloth mask.
What this all boils down to is that "The Evil of Frankenstein" entertained me more than I was expecting and more than some of the other movies in the Hammer horror series. But whilst I found it more engaging it was far from perfect and unless you are a huge fan of these Frankenstein movies the repetitive nature of the baron and his creature is an issue.
