Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A return to form for the Frankenstein series, 16 Jul 2007
A decade on from their masterful The Revenge of Frankenstein, Terence Fisher and Peter Cushing teamed up again for Hammer's macabre Frankenstein Created Woman. A return to form for the studio after the dire Cushing/Freddie Francis effort The Evil of Frankenstein, this has Cushing back at his best, portraying Frankenstein as a complex, cold-hearted, yet curiously sympathetic outcast. Now reduced to penury after his repeated hounding and exile in previous films, Baron Victor Frankenstein lives quietly in a little European village, arousing the suspicion of the locals, but curiously, not their persecution. When his young assistant is executed for a crime he didn't commit, the boy's crippled girlfriend drowns herself with grief, at which point Victor decides to transplant not the brain, but the soul of his assistant into the girl's reconstructed body...
Frankenstein Created Woman is now regarded as one of the best Hammer films, though it has always left me rather cold. Though fresh ideas (soul rather than brain transplants, a female 'creation') help to shake up the by-now familiar plot, the movie is curiously devoid of action, save the three climactic murders. The film is saved by its performances, with Cushing's Frankenstein at his most likeable, whilst the gorgeous Susan Denberg makes a strong female lead (a rarity for a Hammer film from this period). Once again, it seems that Hammer films are suffering in the struggle for release as respectable DVDs. Not only is this latest Studio Canal release just as free of extras as the previous Warner effort, it seems those who designed the sleeve can't even get the name of the film right; it's Frankenstein Created WOMAN, not WOMEN.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Classic horror, 26 Dec 2007
Peter Cushing effortlessly dominates this very good Hammer film, which would prove to be the best of their late Frankenstein movies. What makes this film a cut above the average Hammer film is the fine script by Anthony Hinds, which gives the film the feel of a classic Victorian horror story. You could believe this was based on a book by Mary Shelley or Bram Stoker.
Cushing portrays Baron Frankenstein as a driven man, intent at all costs to prove that the soul lives on after death, and that the soul can be returned to the body if the body is brought back to life... You can see where this is going. Cushing plays the role with his usual authority and even has the opportunity to show the Barons superiority in a court room, which is a lovely scene. Even if you don't spot him in the credits you can't miss Derek Fowlds (Bernard in Yes Minister) as one of the three upper-class louts.
As a general rule of thumb Hammer films directed by Terence Fisher tend to be the better ones. Guess who this is directed by - yes Terence Fisher. Keeping my feet firmly on the ground I realise this film isn't up there with 'Citizen Kane' or 'The Godfather'. However, Martin Scorcese did pick this film to be shown in a season of his favourites at the NFT in London 1987 and is quoted as saying "If I single this one out it's because here they actually isolate the soul. The implied metaphysics are close to something sublime".
So this isn't Fellini, or even Scorcese, but its much better than the title might suggest and well worth adding to your collection.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
An entertaining entry in the Hammer Frankenstein canon, 22 Dec 2007
Frankenstein Created Woman is much more fun than you'd expect. One of the better of Hammer's Frankenstein sequels, it's an efficient programmer that sees Cushing's Baron trapping the soul of his guillotined assistant and putting it in the body of his disfigured girlfriend, only for the wronged boy to use her to kill those who really done the crime he was executed for. There's more build-up than payoff, but its very sedateness (indeed, almost cosiness) is part of the pleasure, and it's hard not to warm to the Baron's arrogance and aloofness, whether it be reading in the witness box or casually answering a policeman's "Do you take us for fools?" with a simple "Yes." Still, it is remarkable just how well preserved that severed head is after six months...
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