With Universal now releasing Hammer films in the US, they allowed the studio to ape the classic makeup. Better that they hadn't as this is one of worst makeups in the series. A rather bland story doesn't help this effort. The jewel of the movie is, as in most, Peter Cushing as the obsessed Baron.

Here we go with another terrible Frankenstein movie. This time he must once again flee the town he is in, never saw that coming. He makes the insane decision to go back to his old castle and he expects it to be the way he left it ten years ago. Him being shocked that the castle was empty was mind blowing to me. And it's the major plot device of this sad movie. Frankenstein isn't afraid to walk around the town because there is a carnival going on so no one will look at him. His sidekick is nervous so he buys them masks from a convenient mask street vendor. So they go into a bar wearing masks and he demands that they cook for him. Then he sees a guy wearing his jewelry and he goes nutzoid. Did I mention that he tells a twenty minute story explaining how he got to this point and it is one hundred percent different than anything that happened in the first two movies? 0 stars

The third entry in Hammer Films' 7-movie Frankenstein cycle was the first (of two) to be helmed by a director other than their resident go-to-guy Terenece Fisher; in fact, it was passed on to Oscar-winning cinematographer-turned-director Freddie Francis – himself a Hammer veteran in their psychological thrillers vein via PARANOIAC (1963) and NIGHTMARE (1964) – after Fisher bowed out due to an automobile accident. As it turned out, both non-Fisher entries – the other being prime Hammer scribe Jimmy Sangster's offbeat directorial debut THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN (1970) – did not go down well at all with fans of the celebrated British studio! Although I recall a couple of matinée screenings on Italian TV in the past. I eventually caught up with THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN in late 2005 while on a 3-month sojourn in Hollywood via Universal's 4-Disc 8-movie DVD collection "The Hammer Horror Series"; incidentally, that set also included two movies which, like the one under review, was padded out with extra footage for TV syndication – namely Fisher's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1962) and Don Sharp's KISS OF THE VAMPIRE (1963; retitled KISS OF EVIL) – which I will be checking out later on during this month as part of my ongoing Halloween marathon.Hammer stalwart Peter Cushing reprises his signature role of Baron Victor Frankenstein but, although there is a reference here to his past crimes, the flashback in question is not imported footage from the original entry THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957) but one shot expressly for this film and featuring the actor playing The Creature here, namely professional wrestler Kiwi Kingston (at one point, shown munching ravenously on a flock of sheep and even suffering from debilitating migraine attacks)! Indeed, oddly enough, this entry discounts completely its predecessor – THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958) – just as the above-mentioned Sangster film did the rest of the series!! As the film begins, Cushing is fleeing the village he has relocated to after the events of CURSE because of further grave-robbing antics and, with his new assistant Sandor Eles, returns secretively to his family mansion in Karlstaad with the intention of selling off its precious possessions in order to fund his future experiments in electrical reanimation of dead tissue. As it happens, Frankenstein's hometown is being visited by a circus troupe and, after falling foul of burgomaster David Hutcheson and Chief of Police Duncan Lamont, a masked Cushing and Eles find themselves "volunteering" for the act of hypnotist Peter Woodthorpe; taking refuge inside a cave along with deaf-mute Katy Wild (which was rendered thus by her meeting with The Creature during the aforementioned flashback), Cushing fortuitously stumbles on Kingston's body perfectly preserved in a glacier. Needless to say, the irrepressible scientist contrives to transport the body to his now-dilapidated mansion and engages Woodthorpe's services to reanimate it when the proverbial thunderstorm fails to do the trick. Unfortunately for him, the latter turns out to be the real villain of the piece – assaulting the deaf-mute girl and keeping her against her will in the dungeons, tormenting the chained monster and, worse still, ordering it to dispose of the local authority figures who had earlier humiliated him by stopping his public performance to apprehend Cushing and Eles! The film was a potentially momentous co-production with Universal Studios which, 30 years previously, had made its own classic versions of the tale with Boris Karloff; this allowed Hammer to utilize for the first time a variation on the iconic Jack Pierce make-up design for the Frankenstein monster which, despite the ubiquitous Roy Ashton's involvement, lends the resultant square-headed creature a decidedly ludicrous appearance. Similarly the screenplay penned by John Elder (a pseudonym for Hammer stalwart Anthony Hinds) is a subpar hodge-podge of old Universal themes: from drunken, embittered villagers bemoaning their kin's unkind fate at the hands of The Creature to pompous figures of authority harassing the titular aristocrat to vengeful travelling charlatans taking advantage of the latter's wandering creation.Unfortunately, despite good intentions all round, the full-blooded Hammer magic fails to strike here; perhaps this was the main reason why the film was eventually trimmed in spots but also had an additional 13 minutes interpolated into the narrative for its U.S. TV screenings. Even so, these extra scenes – notably featuring Hollywood character actor Steven Geray as a sympathetic doctor – add very little of substance or entertainment value that make one wonder who was actually responsible for them! Indeed, this "Extended TV version" is apparently so rare that I could only come across a hazy and wobbly copy culled from Australian TV!!

Freddie Francis directed this third entry in the series, that sees Peter Cushing return as Dr. Frankenstein, who is now broke, but still has his assistant Hans(now played by Sandor Eles) The baron returns to his family castle in Germany to discover his original creature(played by Kiwi Kingston) frozen in ice, so defrosts him, but finds the creature in a catatonic state, so remembering a village hypnotist, a Dr. Zoltan(played by Peter Woodthorpe) enlists him to mentally stimulate the creature, which he does, but unfortunately decides to use it to avenge himself by murdering his enemies in the village, and steal their wealth, which leads to an explosive climax... Not as good as the first two, since the script is vague and unoriginal, but this film is still entertaining, and Cushing as good as ever. Should have tied in more neatly with its predecessors, though the idea of Frankenstein having a second creature at the same time, but a different location, as the first film is intriguing.