DVD Collectors Online

The Evil of Frankenstein, a review by GSyren

Title	The Evil of Frankenstein (025192-833328)
Director	Freddie Francis
Actors
Produced	1964 in United Kingdom
Runtime	87 minutes
Audio	English Dolby Digital Mono, Spanish Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles	English, Spanish, French
Overview	Once hounded from his castle for creating a monstrous living creature, Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) returns to his ancestral home in Karlstaad, determined to continue his experiments into the creation of life. High in the mountains, Frankenstein and his faithful assistant, Hans, stumble on the body of the creature, perfectly preserved in ice. He is brought back to life, but Frankenstein is forced to employ a hypnotist, Zoltan, to complete the process. Unbeknown to Frankenstein, Zoltan now controls the creature and has plans to use him to rob and pillage the local villages. Can Frankenstein break Zoltan's hypnotic spell, or will Zoltan induce the creature to destroy its creator?
My thoughts	After reading my newly purchased Hammer books I decided that it was time to revisit the Hammer Frankenstein franchise. Since I quite recently viewed Curse of Frankenstein on blu, I thought I'd start with Revenge. My plan was thwarted when I found that I didn't own Revenge. I used to have it on VHS, but I threw out all my VHS tapes a couple of years ago. That omission is about to be corrected (along with Frankenstein Created Woman). So instead I went for the next one, The Evil of Frankenstein. As it turns out, skipping Revenge (for now) turns out not to be such a big deal, because for some reason Hammer chose to do something of a reboot. The script for Evil totally ignores the two previous films. Despite that, the film is quite entertaining. Peter Cushing Peter Woodthorpe is quite good as the mesmerist Zoltan. Katy Wild has the rather unenviable task of portraying the deafmute beggar girl, but she pulls it off quite well. The monster is this time portrayed by a wrestler from New Zealand named Kiwi KingstonFrankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943). And in the end, the laboratory blows up, reminiscent of the ending in Bride of Frankenstein (1935). As in almost all Hammer films, the production design is impeccable. Bernard Robinson Michael Ripper or George Woodbridge in some small role. Ripper was sort of the UK equivalent of Dick Miller. Put him in a minimal role and he would shine. Woodbridge wasn't quite as versatile, but you would often see him as a jovial policeman or innkeeper. However, Peter Cushing more than makes up for the lack of Ripper and Woodbridge. Did that man ever turn in a bad (or even a mediocre) performance? Michael Ripper George Woodbridge So, even though not perfect, this film was very enjoyable. Highly recommended if you like Hammer's horror films.
My rating	4 out of 5

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on May 28th, 2013)

The Substitute, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: The Substitute
Year: 2007
Director: Ole Bornedal
Rating: R
Length: 92 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Danish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Paprika Steen
Ulrich Thomsen
Jonas Wandschneider
Nikolaj Falkenberg-Klok
Emma Juel Justesen

Plot:
A small-town sixth-grade class gets a new substitute teacher who wants to train them for a mysterious international competition in Paris. But something isn't right. How is she able to read their minds? Why is she so mean? And how does she so cleverly manipulate all of their parents into believing how great she is when it's obvious to the whole class that she's a nightmare come true? As the story unfolds, we find that there's a reason she seems to be from another planet...

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Trailers
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
I blind bought this DVD last month after watching the trailer and reading a positive review or two. I have mixed feelings after watching this one. It isn't exactly what I expected. but it is an enjoyable movie. Though I have seen better. This movie is originally in the Danish language. So I ended up watching the dubbed version. Which I normally preferred. But after watching some foreign movies without  dubs I discovered today I prefer the original language track with the subtitles now. So that kinda took away from my enjoyment a little as well. While I didn't enjoy this one as much as I hoped I would... it was worth the time I put into it.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Unwatched DVDs on November 13th, 2009)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Crime Traveller: The Complete Series (1997/United Kingdom) IMDb | Wikipedia (United Kingdom) Length: 392 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles:

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Plot:
Meet the most unconventional investigative duo of any time - JEFF SLADE and HOLLY TURNER, in the mystery adventure series Crime Traveller.

Sleuths come and go, working on intuition, luck and clues, but Slade and his science officer colleague Holly are armed with something extra in their fight against crime - their very own Time Machine.

Invented and developed over the years by Holly's father, quantum physicist Professor Fredrick Turner, the Time Machine is a bizarre mixture of DIY technology, but it works. Unfortunately the Professor disappeared during one of his time travel experiments, leaving his daughter convinced that he is still out there somewhere, stuck in another dimension.

Holly is now in charge of the Professor's extraordinary legacy, which is kept hidden in her apartment. When Slade, a charming maverick detective, discovers the Time Machine's existence, he convinces Holly to use it in order to solve major crimes. The scene is set for a rollercoaster ride, through the present and the past.

High speed chases and intriguing puzzles are solved with the aid of their unreliable Time Machine, in this stylish, fast-paced drama.

Crime Traveller
1.01 Jeff Slade & The Loop of Infinity
Writer: Anthony Horowitz (Created By), Anthony Horowitz (Writer)
Director: Brian Farnham
Cast: Michael French (Jeff Slade), Chloe Annett (Holly Turner), Sue Johnston (Grisham), Paul Trussell (Morris), Richard Dempsey (Nicky), Bob Goody (Danny), Terrence Hardiman (Guy Lombard), Leonard Preston (Mark Redding), Fiona Curzon (Barbra Lombard), Gresby Nash (Michael Lombard), Trevor Steedman (Silberman), Sion Tudor Owen (Mr Wilson), Rebecca Deren (Mrs Wilson), Phil Atkinson (Policeman), Ronald Nunnery (Betting Man)

Shortlived time-travel series. I enjoyed watching it. Especially the later episodes.
You can find my review of the series here.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on April 2nd, 2011)