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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 Long Goodbye, a review by GSyren

The Long Goodbye (5-027035-010717)

United States 1973 | Released 2013-12-16 on Bluray from Arrow Academy, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

112 minutes | Aspect ratio Non-anamorphic 2.35:1 | Audio: English PCM Mono, Special Effects PCM Mono

Directed by Robert Altman and starring Elliott Gould, Nina Van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell, Henry Gibson

My thoughts about The Long Goodbye:

I feel a bit guilty for not loving The Long Goodbye. Perhaps I just had the wrong expectations. I knew that many people rated this film so very highly. I'm not sure what it was about it that didn't click with me. I really liked Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe, though. The story seemed a bit convoluted, but then again so do many film noir stories. Well, maybe it was just the wrong film at the wrong time for me.

I rate this title

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on March 26th, 2015)

Eric's "House Marathon', a review by Eric

The Pilot.

It's always difficult to judge a series by the pilot or the first few episodes because it usually takes a certain time for actors to find their grounds and before we, the viewers, can start feeling the connections between them.

At the beginning I wasn't sure I would like it because everybody seems a little cold but in the end I enjoyed it.  I'm definitely gonna watch more.  The unconventional ways of Dr. House and his obvious issues with society and choice not to interact with patients is interesting and I'm eager to see how it develops in the series.

(From Eric's "House Marathon' on August 23rd, 2009)