Product Description

Baron Frankenstein joins forces with a small town German doctor in his latest and most terrifying experiment. They create a monster out of bits and pieces of several bodies including the brain of a dwarf. Something goes amiss as the monster turns into a cannibal and must be destroyed.System Requirements:Running Time: 89 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: NR UPC: 043396078734 Manufacturer No: 07873

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16578 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2002-08-13
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 89 minutes

Amazon.com
Death has never stopped anyone from crafting a sequel to a successful film, but Terence Fisher and screenwriter Jimmy Sangster rather ingeniously twist the climactic execution of The Curse of Frankenstein into the opening of The Revenge of Frankenstein. With a cold-blooded flourish that would become his trademark, Frankenstein plots his escape and sends an innocent (a priest, no less) to take his place on the guillotine, leaving himself free to continue his experiments. As the new head of a hospital for the poor, he builds a body for his crippled assistant from parts amputated from his patients, but body battles mind for supremacy and turns the newly ambulatory man into a bloodthirsty cannibal. Once again Fisher makes the most of a constricted budget, turning his poorhouse hospital into a cramped, dank hole and splurging on another colorful laboratory of buzzing devices and a centerpiece tank for his suspended creature. There are few innocents in the Frankenstein films and this is no different: high-society dandies are hypocrites, poorhouse patients thieves and opportunists, and of course the driven doctor is willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to achieve his goal. The clever conclusion, which lays the groundwork for the next sequel, was curiously ignored when the third installment finally arrived six years later in The Evil of Frankenstein. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Classic sequel looks great on DVD
Few sequels live up to the expectations of the original. By taking a completely different approach (dropping the monster in favor of following the much more interesting Dr)than the Universal series of films, Hammer actually kept the series from becoming routine... What matters most, though, is the sharp writing, performances and intelligent direction.

Jimmy Sangster's script abandons all the history attached to the previous films and focuses on many of the issues that drove Mary Shelly's classic novel. He also focuses on the driven, obsessed Baron Frankenstein. Clearly this script (or film) had an impact on Christopher Isherwood's Frankenstein: The True Story filmed two decades later. Peter Cushing gives a skilled, sharp performance and, as usual, he is the film's secret weapon. He could play the phone book and make it interesting. This is one of his best performances in a genre film. Francis Mathews also gives a sharp performance as a doctor that becomes Dr. Stein's pupil.

The DVD looks stunning given the age of the negative. The colors are rich and the wide screen image has been preserved. The extras include the original trailer and production stills from the film. A running commentary from a Hammer film historian or someone involved in the production of the film would have been interesting. Perhaps that will happen when the next generation of high definition DVDs are available. Regardless, this is a fine film that has finally become available again for the first time in years. Snap it up while you can before this disappears as so often happens to Hammer films on video.

More Good Stuff From Hammer
Halloween is a good time to dip into the classic horror library, and there are few classics better than the Hammer horror films. Revenge of Frankenstein is the sequel to Hammer's successful Curse of Frankenstein. Peter Cushing returns as the good doctor. Having escaped the gallows 3 years prior, Dr. Frankenstein is living and practicing medicine in Germany under the name Dr. Stein. He splits his time between a successful practice and treating the poor. Of course he has not abandoned his research in creating life. His work with the poor serves as a good source of "materials". In this film he transports the brain of a disfigured assistant into a new body. Unfortunately, all does not go smoothly and Dr. Frankenstein once again becomes a wanted man.

I like the course Hammer took with the Frankenstein films. They focused on the "real monster" instead of resurrecting the same creature over and over. Cushing is always a pleasure to watch and he plays the role perfectly. The picture quality on the DVD is very good and is presented in widescreen format. There are some very minor scratches, etc. visible here and there, but they are minor and I doubt the film has ever looked this good. Colors are fairly sharp and clear, though not quite as good as the Warner release of "Curse". The sound is crisp and audible with virtually no hissing. There are virtually no extras on the disc save for a couple of stills and a trailer.

If you are looking to start a Hammer library, this disc should be high on your list just behind the aforementioned "Curse of Frankenstein" and "Horror of Dracula".

Another fine creation
The second of hammer's frankenstein films picks up directly after the first with Victor Frankenstein being led to the guillotine, but he escapes with the help of a man named Karl. The good doctor then flees to another town and sets up medical practice as Dr.Stein. Here he is popular because he will give help to the poor, but he's colllecting any parts he amputates. He has also agreed to take Karl's brain from his twisted body and place it into a new body made from collected parts. In the new body, Karl flees and the other local doctors are beginning to wonder about Dr.Stein's real identity. This is a tight, excellant film from beginning to end. The story deals more with human emotions than the first did, we have more of a creation than a creature in this film. The acting is first rate, Peter Cushing is as cold as ice and very sharp in an exceptionally strong performance. The sets, costumes and visuals are of the usual fine Hammer quality. This film is just slightly better than the first, and I think it is due to the acting and the way it just flows along.