This
is really what started Hammer Horror. The first movie in a line made by
them, it's certainly a classic. We should all know the plot by now, so I
won't bother going into it, but I felt that the movie could have done
with being ten or so minutes longer. The concluding half is fairly
paced, but the setup feels rushed, with time skipping forward repeatedly
and not enough character development happening. The friendship between
Victor and Paul is never really cemented, so I never really cared as it started to deteriorate.
The
deterioration is handled well though, and both actors are great (also,
that's Christopher Lee playing the monster - isn't that awesome?) The
female lead is a comparative bore, though to be fair she gets very
little to do. Both female characters are useless, and are used more as
plot devices than as actual characters, but then it was the 50s, so I
forgive it somewhat.
The
monster itself is nicely made up, if not particularly scary. It moves
slowly enough as to render it useless unless its jumping out from the
shadows or attacking a blond man. The blind man scene was great, by the
way. It was one of the few really creepy scenes in the movie, and I
think should have been stretched to be a bit longer. The ending is
alright too, and I wonder if some question is intended to be raised as to weather the monster was all in Victor's head? Probably not, but I'd have appreciated that.
The Curse of Frankenstein: 48.7