Moviephile

We finally watched that Hammer Frankenstein we had been delaying! I told you the wrong title last time: it wasn’t The Curse of Frankenstein, it was The Evil of Frankenstein . However, the title was something of a misnomer…

If that had been the title of the first Hammer Frankenstein movie, it would have fit. You know how most Frankenstein movies have him as a more or less sympathetic (but misguided) character who eventually realizes the error of his ways? Well, in the Hammer version he was just outright evil - I mean, cheating on his fiance with the parlor maid and everything, and absolutely unrepentant.

They more or less continued this theme in the second one, and also introduced some odd twists (for instance, if one of Frankenstein’s creations gets a head trauma after the operation, he or she becomes a cannibal).

However, in The Evil of Frankenstein, they more or less re-imagined the origin story so that he was a sympathetic character. All the evil in the film was actually perpetrated by a hypnotist who used his evil hypnotic powers over the monster to make him kill people and steal from churches.

I will say that this film had better production values than either of the other ones I’ve seen. However, it was also kind of boring. My husband fell asleep right through the middle of the movie and I didn’t really feel the need to wake him up until the end. I hope they improve after this one!

After that, we watched Beetlejuice. You know what? That’s a pretty bizarre movie. I’ve seen it several times, but between every viewing I seem to forget that it has Alec Baldwin, Katherine O’Hara, Dick Cavett and a whole troupe of people in it… I really only remember Gina Davis and Michael Keaton.  Which is not to say that everybody else gave bad performances… It’s just like I purposefully block out all the details of this movie in-between viewings.

I find it unsettling. I’m not really much of a “dark humor” person… And this really is dark, black, morbid humor in this movie. However, it must be said that it is a decent film with a good story, good acting, good cinematography and design, and that it encourages Goth kids to get over themselves and work on school.

And you know what? Michael Keaton is a really good actor. I mean, he’s really good. I find it an absolute shame that he doesn’t get more work. If I ever get to make a movie, I’ll definitely find a role for him in it.

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