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The Horror of Frankenstein
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List Price: $24.97
Our Price: $22.49
Your Save: $ 2.48 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
Starring: Ralph Bates, Kate O'Mara, Veronica Carlson, Dennis Price, Jon Finch
Directed By: Jimmy Sangster
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0013131164992
Format: Anamorphic
Label: Starz / Anchor Bay
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Starz / Anchor Bay
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2001-08-07
Running Time: 95
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Theatrical Release Date: 1971-06-17
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Editorial Reviews:
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Young victor frankenstein returns from medical school with a depraved taste for beautiful women and fiendish experiments. But when the doctor runs out of fresh body parts for his research he turns to murder to complete his gruesome new creation. His monster unleashed its own ghastly killing spree. Studio: Starz/sphe Release Date: 08/07/2001 Starring: Ralph Bates Veronica Carlson Run time: 95 minutes Rating: R Director: Jimmy Sangster
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: 'Amateur Anatomy!? - It's Smut!!'
Comment: Harshly disregarded by critic's and fans alike, time has been kind to Jimmy Sangster's tar-black comedy re-jig of the original breakthrough Hammer Frankenstein film.
'Horror of Frankenstein' is as tasteless as it's abrupt, belligerent title growls - Sangster shamelessly ripping into his own original 50's script for inspiration, thinking nothing of twisting his own plot-lines to force out some grisly jollity.
Ralph Bates is excellent as the Baron, seemingly more interested in bedding his kitchen staff than creating life. There's a host of Hammer regulars; Jon Finch, Kate O'Mara, Veronica Carlson, Dennis Price and our old friend Vader himself - Dave Prowse as the creature - all visibly playing up as much as vigorous master Bates.
Sangster's writing is snappy, vulgar and fun. Bates' Frankenstein is an absolute stinker and the monster is a hulking great hooligan, much given to stupidity and cannibalism.
I think most of the resistance to this film was fuelled by the fact it was Cushing-less, but this level of irreverent parody wouldn't work with dear old Props Peter. The (numerous) bed-room sequences would've been a problem for a start, as would the idea of him putting the college Dean's daughter in the club. (Although that said, he did a fine job of wrestling with a naked prostitute, cutting off her head and packing it in a fridge in 'Corruption', so who knows!) Versatile as Cushing was, I don't think this one was for him - playing a younger version of a character he'd played 14 years before, even in a comic context, would've stretched credulity to breaking. (!)
'HoF' is murkily entertaining, and, if you possess a tangled mind like mine, bitingly funny - although the final joke hints at something we shouldn't be chortling at under any circumstances - the rest is pretty good.
Far, far removed from classic Hammer, but worth a glimpse.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Youngest, Most Insane Frankenstein Of Them All!
Comment: The character of Victor Frankenstein in "Horror of Frankenstein" is the youngest, handsomest and evilest one I've seen. Victor will do anything to get what he wants, even kill his own father and best friend. This one has a reprobate mind; he is very dispassionate about the plights of others. He displays a flippant, contrite attitude whenever a "friend" is harmed. When questioned by authority, his sarcastic remarks are often humorous. Victor kills anyone who might reveal his secret hobby of bringing the dead back to life.
The acting in this gothic horror film from Hammer Production is quite good. The stellar cast consists of Hammer regulars including Ralph Bates ("Lust for a Vampire"), Kate O'Mara ("The Vampire Lovers"), Veronica Carlson ("Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed"), Dennis Price ("Twins of Evil"), and David Prowse ("Vampire Circus"). There is plenty of suspense, dark humor, and gruesome deaths to keep your attention.
My major complaint is with the ending. It was gruesome but abrupt. I felt that there was much more of the story that needed to be told. The ending was also left open for a sequel. Unfortunately, one was never made.
At one point in the movie, Victor claims that he doesn't know who he really is. His friend points out that he is kind one moment and cold another. However, I know that any kindness he exhibits is an act. He is pure evil, incapable of loving anyone but himself and his work. He labors to create life but all he can manage to do is destroy it. Victor is unimpressed when he learns that one of his schoolmates has waited her entire life to marry him; he is only interested in how he can use her love to his advantage.
Directed by Jimmy Sangster, "Horror of Frankenstein" is very enjoyable; it must be purchased by everyone who collects gothic horror from Hammer Production. It is far different from the other Frankenstein movies which were directed by Terrence Fisher and starred Peter Cushing in the role of Victor Frankenstein. It has its own unique qualities that must be seen to be believed.
Customer Rating:
Summary: He was quite a nice monster, really.
Comment: This is late Hammer, so the baron does a lot of his anatomical study in the bedroom. Still, it looks and feels a lot like classic early Hammer even if it's a spoof. Very familiar Hammer sets. Very knowing and witty script and direction. Great colors. Gorgeous but clueless Veronica Carlson is the only female in the movie whose anatomical parts seem not to interest the baron in the least. The ending is a hoot. This one is so different from other Hammer Frankensteins that it may take a few viewings for some fans to appreciate. But taken on its own, it's enjoyable and better than some of the Cushing Frankensteins.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A WORTHY AND DIFFERENT HAMMER FRANKENSTEIN FILM! 3 1/2 STARS!
Comment: Not nearly as bad as it is said to be, this Hammer Frankenstein film has plenty to enjoy! There is cleavage, Kate O'Mara, Veronica Carlson,(did I say Cleavage?)blood, good FX, atmosphere and it's all done with a tongue and cheek approach that I found refreshing. It works as a straight horror film, but there are some funny little "digs" at the series here and there.
Hammer made quite a few Frankenstein films and even though Cushing and Lee are missing, this is far from the worst. The DVD has a very good print and this disc has some decent extras. Commentary, stills gallery, trailers, interview with Veronica Carlson, Art gallery of Veronica Carlson and more!
Customer Rating:
Summary: King Hearts and Cadavers
Comment: "Tomorrow we shall initiate a new series of experiments. Something harmless, like splitting the atom, perhaps?"
Dispensing with Peter Cushing's services and intended to revitalize the series with a younger generation of stars as the studio headed into the uncertain 70s, The Horror of Frankenstein instead found itself on the wrong half of a double-bill with the inferior Scars of Dracula and much detested by many Hammer purists for its tone. Which is a great shame, because this is one of Hammer's best and most delightful latter films as long as you're not expecting the traditional horror film of the title - there may be one of the highest body counts in a Hammer film, but it's not frightening. Instead, despite a wonderfully crude moment with a reanimated hand and the odd joke at the expense of Kate O'Mara's cleavage ("You've put on weight in a couple of places"), rather than pure camp or gothic chiller, this is an elegant comedy of murders with much dry wit. If anything, the influence here is more Kind Hearts and Coronets as the presence of Dennis Price as a grave robber who leaves all the digging to his devoted wife attests. Ralph Bates' young Frankenstein is a sociopath with good table manners but no great purpose: creating life from various assorted body parts isn't a quest to free man from the shadow of mortality, it's just something he wants to do, and if that means killing a tortoise, his father or his best friend then he'll do it without his heart skipping a beat. As the sleeve notes to Anchor Bay's Region 1 DVD note, it's easy to see him as a forerunner of American Psycho's Patrick Bateman.
Although he was uncomfortable in the role, Jimmy Sangster's direction is above average for the studio at this period (their once-top director Terence Fisher's drinking having led by this time to a significant drop in the quality of his work), and the film looks better than a lot of the later Hammers. Despite the traditional 19th Century setting, it's very much of its time, even offering digs at the British welfare state (which makes finding bodies so much harder these days, what with people living longer) and the permissive generation (Victor sees no reason to get married when he can have sex with the hired help whenever he wants and merely sees Veronica Carlson's smitten heroine as a potential housekeeper). It's also quite anarchic in its own way, breaking with the expectations of the Hammer formula. The forces of good are completely powerless, retribution is not handed out and evil goes unpunished at the movie's back-to-the-drawing-board end. Well, more or less...
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