Anyone like the Hammer Frankenstein movies - The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) Discussion

[–] Sdean55 20 years ago

I do, in fact I'am watching Revenge of frankenstein right now. I really enjoyed the curse of .... What are your favs.

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[–] PeterBlues 19 years ago

How can you watch the movie if youre typing at the computer.. good god.. today's kids..

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] MystMoonstruck 8 years ago

How can you watch the movie if youre typing at the computer.. good god.. today's kids..

I'm in my mid-60s, and I have no problem watching a movie and typing on the computer! I'm doing it right now as I watch this same movie! Maybe I can thank my ADHD for being able to do more than one thing though people seem to completely misunderstand ADD/ADHD. We can focus on a number of things at one time; however, we can get thrown off track if overwhelmed by too much.

My mother is always amazed that I can watch movies, keep notes in my film journals, type on the computer AND keep up a conversation with her.

So, in this instance, you're wrong about "today's kids" when an old lady can do the same thing with no problems.

I must do fine because I routinely answer movie/TV questions at about 10 sites. AND, I do it while watching television! My fibrofoggy ADHD brain manages to answer questions with no problems, including links to IMDb/Wikipedia AND to YouTube when what the seeker is seeking is available. I've solved mysteries as old as half a century! Yep! One fellow was trying to identify an animated movie he had seen in Japan 50 years ago. I immediately recognized it.

So, you are very wrong in this instance. I could tell you everything that happened as I was typing this, including the fact that, back then, they obviously didn't know that chimpanzees DO eat meat; they even will kill to get it!

(W)hat are we without our dreams?
Making sure our fantasies
Do not overpower our realities. ~ RC

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[–] eva_rosen16 18 years ago

They are fantastic. Wat better than the Dracula ones also done by the Hammer, that nontheless get more attention.

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[–] The_Dying_Flutchman 18 years ago

Why better? Only yer opinion and it is based on not much.

Nothing exists more beautifully than nothing.

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[–] eva_rosen16 18 years ago

Well, yes it's only my opinion, which is based in the impression that the Frankenstein ones resisted better the years. Had, for me, more of a classic feeling. Some of the Dracula ones had aged horribly, with the music and the clothes and all. Not to say with this that they're all bad. They go over any vampire movie done recently, with the exception (to my view) of "Interview..." and Carpenter's "Vampires".

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[–] lcagold 17 years ago

I enjoy the Hammer Frankenstein films, but the Draculas are my favorite. I think that's mostly because I like to see Cushing and Lee together, and that happens more in the Dracula series. The Frankenstein films don't seem to have pandered as much to popular culture at the time, which might lead to eva's feeling that they have held up better over the years. Thematically they keep reaching back past the source material to Shelly's inspirations like Burke and Hare (also depicted in film with Cushing in "The Flesh and The Fiends", but not by Hammer). So instead of modernizing and expanding the story as the Dracula series did, the Frankenstein films actually reach back to the story's roots; thus delving deeper into its core themes of grave robbing, the questioning of science, and the tragedy of good intentions leading to terrible outcomes.

As for Hammer films in general, probably the best in quality from Hammer is The Mummy and The Hound of The Baskervilles. Quality work with style and class; and to top it off, THOTB is extraordinarily faithful to the source material.

An if you want to see what another decade of Hammer could have been, check out Captain Kronos. It single-handedly creates what vampire films have become since. Unbelievably fresh and modern feeling, in spite of being 33 years old, while still keeping the Hammer sense of class.

(yeah, I'm a big British horror fan)

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[–] mjgolden 16 years ago

Couldn't agree with you more about Hammer Films (generally) and the Hound of the Baskervilles specifically. Great stuff and underappreciated.

You might have added the word "uncharacteristically" to your description of Hound as "extraordinarily faithful to the source material."

There have been a number of very good movies (from Hammer, among others) of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Phantom of the Opera, not to mention Sherlock Holmes. There have even been more then a few truly GREAT movies based on this source material.

Alas, though, I am still waiting for a film of Frankenstein, Dracula or Phantom that is even REMOTELY faithful to the original.

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[–] teejay6682 16 years ago

i love the hammer frankenstein films and agree they're better then the hammer dracula films (though i do like them too.) only a few of the dracula films are really inspired to me. plus christopher lee is a great dracula but i'm not sure he's the greatest dracula. peter cushing without a doubt is the greatest dr. frankenstein, hands down. i find mad scientest stories inheritantly interesting if done right and i've always loved how the hammer series puts more interest on the doctor then the monster, unlike all other frankenstein films.

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[–] dgeer80 15 years ago

Enjoyed "The Curse of Frankenstein." Did not care for "Revenge of Frankenstein." Haven't seen the other sequels yet.

Would rather watch the first three Hammer Dracula films, "Horror of Dracula," "The Brides of Dracula" and "Dracula: Prince of Darkness."

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[–] jsk32870 8 years ago

^ Agreed. "Curse" was decent but there was almost zero suspense in "Revenge." It was just a tale of doctors animating a lifeless body who, when awake, was completely normal for a while, until he gets in a fight and suffers a bruised brain. Whether that's interesting or not interesting is a subject of debate I suppose, but one thing's for sure - it's certainly not suspenseful or scary. I kept waiting for the moment I would be on the edge of my seat....and I'm still waiting. Cushing was a great actor but there's just no suspense to this flick at all. When Karl kills the girl in the park, it almost feels like a throw-in - as if the producers said 'heck we've got to make him do something.' Other than that, he hid in a stable and otherwise acted normally until his body began to break down and he died. The end. I guess we are supposed to be concerned/scared by the prospect of the doctors continuing their experiments in London, but that doesn't work either, because Karl wasn't scary to begin with. So them possibly making another 'Karl' is not alarming in the least. IDK very disappointed with this one.

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[–] Wuchak (8110) 3 years ago

When Karl kills the girl in the park, it almost feels like a throw-in - as if the producers said 'heck we've got to make him do something.'

Karl was strapped down after the brain transplant to secure him and prevent any damage. Stein explains his reasons for doing this: the chimpanzee into which Victor had transplanted the brain of an orangutan ate its mate upon suffering some kind of brain trauma. After Karl's head is injured in the basement brawl with the drunken janitor he reacts in a similar violent fashion as the chimpanzee, slaying the girl in the park.

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[–] Xcalat3 14 years ago

LIKE THEM!

When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...

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[–] unclefuzz 14 years ago

Absolutely my favorite horror series ever, 'must be destroyed' and 'revenge' are my personal favorites. the Dracula series was excellent too but I didn't care for 'AD' or 'Satanic Rites' much. I agree with the above poster, 'The Mummy' and "hound' are amazing films.

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[–] Ralph Monroe 13 years ago

The sets and wardrobes are incredible.

So, to sum it up in legal terminology: Get lost, you bum.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] ElectricWarlock 11 years ago

I've only seen the first two but so far I like them. Not as much as the Dracula films of course, but they're still good.

I've been waiting for you, Ben.

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[–] naseby 10 years ago

Yes - brilliant stuff. Admittedly, no-one did it better than Karloff in the original, it was his baby, let's face it. But after that, Christopher Lee in 'The Curse of Frankenstein' did such a maniacal monster, even in some ways, performance-wise, matching his sadistic 'Dracula'! Unbelievably kitsch, you still can't fault Hammer's Frankenstein!

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[–] sillyspaghetti 8 years ago

I prefer the Dracula films, but these aren't bad. Had a "Carry On" moment in this when Victor said to a patient "You must have it off immediately!"

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[–] heelmaster2000 7 years ago

They are some of the best films that Hammer has ever made.

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[–] ethomas97 7 years ago

The first two Hammer Frankenstein films are good (especially 'Curse'); the third, however, is very average whilst 'Frankenstein Created Woman' is surprisingly decent. Haven't seen the final few but Peter Cushing is always good value, so will be keeping my eye out for them on The Horror Channel

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