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Frankenstein
Created Woman
The fourth film in Hammer's long-running Frankenstein series (seven in all, spanning 17 years), Frankenstein Created Woman marks the return of original director Terence Fisher (after helming The Curse of Frankenstein and its sequel, Revenge of Frankenstein , he sat out 1964's The Evil of Frankenstein). The script (by "John Elder", aka top Hammer producer/scribe Anthony Hinds) was originally planned to be the follow-up to 1957's The Curse of Frankenstein , which would have made the title's tongue-in-cheek reference to Roger Vadim's 1956 hit...And God Created Woman a bit more relevant. Though the publicity seems to promise a sexual component not yet present in the series (including ad stills featuring Susan Denberg, Playboy's Miss August 1966, in bra and panties), the film is quite tame, and would easily escape with a PG rating today. Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) is experimenting with his hypothesis that the human soul can be extracted from the body and tansplanted into another. He is given the means to test his theory when his young assistant Hans (Robert Morris) is framed for killing a local ruffian while defending the honor of his disfigured girlfriend Christina (Susan Denberg). After Christina witnesses the death of her beloved by guillotine (exactly as his father perished in the film's pre-credit sequence), she takes her own life, providing the Baron a fresh soul and a fresh body to host it. What he doesn't count on, however, is Hans' vengeful soul taking over Christina's body, sending her on a killing spree that targets the men that had him framed. Well...back to the old drawing board. Anchor Bay Entertainment dishes up Frankenstein Created Woman in a beautiful, widescreen (1.66:1, 16X9 enhanced) presentation that ranks among the best of their excellent Hammer transfers. The image is exceptionally crisp and detailed, and the colors are bright and eye-catching. After all these years of watching the film during its rare TV airings, Anchor Bay's disc is a revelation. The Dolby Digital mono audio track sounds good, and nicely showcases Hammer vet James Bernardıs excellent score. A theatrical trailer is included, along with two TV spots (one for a double feature, paired with The Mummy's Shroud ), and a 30-minute episode of the Hammer TV series, "World of Hammer" entitled "THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN" (an episode is included on each of Anchor Bay's Hammer DVD titles), narrated by the late Oliver Reed. While Frankenstein Created Woman is not the best in Hammer's Frankenstein series, it is a lot better than it's usually given credit for, and until Anchor Bay secures the rights to The Curse of Frankenstein (keep your fingers crossed), it's the best one we've got. Official Website: http://www.anchorbayntertainment.com
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