Scarecrow's Blog From the Darkside

Unlike “The Revenge of Frankenstein” (1958) and “The Curse of Frankenstein” (1957), where I plan to not write about on the blog again, I can’t say that for “The Evil of Frankenstein” (1964) which I haven’t written much about. For those who hold great contempt for it—and there are many—there is probably good reason not to give “The Evil of Frankenstein” much space on any forum to waste on the film. I don’t dislike this actually, but I completely remove “The Evil of Frankenstein” from the great Terence Fisher Frankenstein Hammer series, sort of looking at it as standalone. This Cushing Baron is just too different from the other incarnations of the role, just not loathsome enough as he was in “Curse” or as emotionally stable as he was in “Revenge”. In “Evil”, Baron goes off in a café when he spots the Burgomaster wearing his ring, shouting aloud for him and the blue-suited officers in their custom village wardrobe to hear. The Baron of the last two films, whether or not the Burgom...

By the time of this Universal sequel, Talbot is tiring Zucco is utterly wasted as Showman, Lampini Dr Niemann eyes the ruins of Frankenstein castle Dracula gets a chapter, Niemann's tool of revenge The Monster gets Niemann's attention, Daniel is not happy Just a few last words on the supposed “Monster Mashup” that really wasn’t. What missed opportunities, I say. Sadly, with each passing viewing, “House of Frankenstein” (1944) slides further and further in my liking of it. Too many continuity and character logic deficiencies that just come off the screen and slap you, and I think a lot of that is the seemingly slapdash screenplay. Its two chapters—the first with Dracula, second with the Wolfman, tied together by Frankenstein-disciple, Dr. Niemann (Boris Karloff, moving on to perhaps the best part of his career when he made three really solid films for Val Lewton) and his soft-voiced, voluntarily murderous hunchback assistant, Daniel (the excellen...

 So you have Connor Jordan “swiping” vampire venom from the mouth of Tyler using a paralytic on him while he was recovering in hospital. So now you have a vampire hunter with the venom of a hybrid that can kill vampires. If that wasn’t dramatic, Elena can only seem to feed from Matt (ironic, don’t ya think?) and is really, really at odds with Rebekah. Rebekah loves that Elena is a vampire so she can torment her with blood, knowing that Connor is around just waiting to kill a blood sucker. Rebekah even offers to throw an “anti-curfew” party since the town is still reeling from Tyler being shot during the funeral. There was a mention of “The View” during the episode, “The Rager”, even, to date it. If not to complicate things further, Tyler is “protected” by Klaus with hybrids while a very attractive werewolf named Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) returns from the Appalachians…she helped to break Tyler’s sire bond from Klaus. Jeremy is visited by Connor because of his seeing the tattoo on...

  I don’t think any Universal Studios fan denies that the sequels after “Son of Frankenstein” (1939) started to really wane in quality. I mean the flaws in the “plot code” were quite obvious when you think about how Ygor (Lugosi) is still alive despite every reason to be dead in “The Ghost of Frankenstein” (1942), after a broken neck (from a hanging) and bullets fired into him established in Son . And yet I really enjoy Lugosi so much in the role of Ygor, I don’t care about how he’s basically walking around a miracle. He’s a devious, cunning fiend, as another Frankenstein, Ludwig (Cedric Hardwicke), soon recognizes when his peaceful village, Visaria, is another tragic consequence of his father’s creation. “The Ghost of Frankenstein” follows Son in the running theme of the name of Frankenstein being a curse, a bad taste on the lips, his mad science considered a stain that has left the nearby village enduring psychological and (to them) economical/agricult...