Uriah43 Ten years after fleeing from the German village of Karlstaad, Dr. Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) returns with his assistant "Hans" (Sandor Eles) to continue his experiments in bringing the dead back to life. However, when they get to his old château they find that it has been ransacked by the local villagers and in an effort to explain to Hans the circumstances that led to this he recounts everything that happened to him until the present. Not long afterward they venture into the town only to be recognized and chased out again. Fortunately, they see a young female "beggar" (Katy Wild) who leads them to a cave where they can take shelter from an oncoming storm. The next morning Baron Frankenstein awakens to discover that the monster he had created--and long thought to be dead—is frozen inside a block of ice within that same cave. And things take on a life of their own after that. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that—like most Hammer films made during this time—this particular movie carries with it the same typical style and ambiance that worked so well during this period. To that extent, Peter Cushing's performance is as solid as always and for that reason I have rated this film accordingly. Slightly above average.

Prichards12345 Freddie Francis did not have much of a feel for Gothic horror, as he admitted himself. He was more at home in modern dress horrors and Amicus' anthology tales; so when he came to The Evil Of Frankenstein he delivered an out of kilter film that doesn't square with the earlier films in the series but instead harks back to the Universal Monsters' movies of the 40s.Peter Cushing's character is somewhat changed, too. Instead of the sardonically ruthless medical researcher here he's a bit of a whinger. Cushing is as good as ever but the Baron is much less interesting this time out, and we only have Peter Woodthorpe's lip-smacking hypnotist to really savour.This one has Frankenstein returning to his castle and recounting a totally different scenario to that seen in Curse of Frankenstein to his assistant Hans (Sandor Eles). Finding the body of his previous creation entombed in the ice, Frankenstein attempts to reach the creature's damaged mind with the aid of said hypnotist, who of course immediately abuses his power.The monster's look in this film is awful - on a par with Dave Prowse in Horror Of Frankenstein. With papier-mache forehead that looks like a cardboard box and size 35 diving boots he's more humorous than frightening. He's also played by an ex-wrestler, and the acting skills of previous creatures Christopher Lee and Michael Gwynne are sorely missed.Evil looks fantastic, however, particularly the laboratory set - the most spectacular of these sets in any Hammer Frankenstein, and the creation scene is splendid. Hammer put the Baron back on an even keel when Terence Fisher returned in the much better Frankenstein Created Woman.

GL84 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.

TheLittleSongbird Like many, Evil of Frankenstein is my least favourite of the Hammer Frankenstein films starring Peter Cushing and is a lesser entry of the Hammer horror films. But does that make it a bad film? No, in fact it is very watchable, just disappointing.Evil of Frankenstein has its flaws, the main one being some of the story which is like different elements from past Universal/Hammer films recycled and cobbled together to sometimes muddled and underdeveloped effect, there are though some interesting elements(I personally found the mute girl subplot quite touching). It also took a while to get going and there is a clumsy and contrived script with a number of contradictory elements compared to other Frankenstein films, as a standalone the film's okay but continuity-wise comparatively it just didn't seem to fit. The monster's make-up is poor this time round, wasn't crazy about it in Curse of Frankenstein(the only real criticism this viewer had of that film) but at least the make-up in that film didn't look like layers of out of date oatmeal being put on the actor's head and face like here, giving it a fake rather than freaky look. It was nice to see the Monster as a misunderstood creature again but Kiwi Kingston for personal tastes played the role rather lifelessly, the monster never felt menacing here and it wasn't easy to root for him either. Sandor Eles also does next to nothing with a very underwritten role.However, Evil of Frankstein looks great apart from one cheap back-screen projection. The cinematography is simply splendid with nice shadowy effects and the sets and costumes are wonderfully sumptuous and Gothic, who can't love the lab set. Freddie Francis had big shoes to fill and his direction was a respectable effort but there was a sense that he wasn't quite the right man for the job. Narratively and pacing-wise, his direction does have a tendency to lumber but when it comes to the visuals and creating an atmosphere Francis' experience as a cinematographer shines through. There are some effective scenes here, the opening scene is brilliantly creepy and the climax and monster-coming-to-life scene are exciting. One notable exception is Frankenstein's escape from the Burgomaster, clumsily done as well as a little cheap-looking and should have been excised(personal view of course). Don Banks' music score is enough to evoke chills. The cast are good on the whole. Peter Cushing comes out on top as a more sympathetic than usual Frankenstein, he gives an as always great performance and makes his lacking dialogue seem more than it actually is. Peter Woodthorpe plays an absolute slimeball and literally has a ball with it while Katy Wild is touching as Rena the mute beggar girl, conveying a good deal of emotions through eyes and facial expressions.Overall, very watchable but this is not Hammer at their best. 6/10 Bethany Cox