Frankenstein Created Woman/The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires

Rating:
Summary: Two great helpings of the great Peter Cushing.
Review: Anchor Bay has decided to rerelease the films in their Hammer Studios catalogue not individually, but paired up in a series of double features, each set available for the original price of only one film. And to them I extend a hearty thank you ... not only for budget reasons, but for the combinations they seem to have decided upon. Stuck together here are a pair of Peter Cushing films, giving us two samples of him at work with two of the characters he is most remembered for bringing to life.

The first film of the two we're given in this wonderful set comes to us from 1967. Despite the cheesy and rather misleading title, "Frankenstein Created Woman" is a wonderful tale, sporting a simple but excellent story and some marvelous performances from everyone in the cast. Peter Cushing excels, as always, as Doctor Frankenstein (who's not so villainous this time around), displaying unfailing dedication to his experiments and marvelously dry wit (check out his remarks while being questioned in the courtroom. Classic!). Showing us a softer side of Doctor F, Cushing reanimates the body of a homely, outcast girl, a suicide victim, with the soul of her lover, Hans, a young man executed for a crime he did not commit. Hans went to the guillotine rather than ruin his lady's virtue and name her as his alibi (as they were spending the night together the night the murder took place), and after finding himself alive again, holds no other thoughts but taking revenge on the real killer(s).

It`s not a complicated tale at all, but the wonderful performances, nice sets, and striking images (such as the opening shot, as the camera looks up at the guillotine blade) make it a very memorable and enjoyable film indeed.

But as much as I did enjoy "Frankenstein Created Woman", I must admit that I went for this double-feature set for the second film included here, 1974's "Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires". In an attempt to inject new life into the struggling series, the folks of Hammer Studios took their Van Helsing franchise to Hong Kong, where they made an unusual film featuring Professor Van Helsing, Vampire Hunter (Peter Cushing, wonderful as ever) fighting more of his undead adversaries in turn of the century China. And believe me, this is one fun movie.

The land is under a terrible curse, as the peasants cringe in fear beneath a brotherhood of seven vampires, led by none other than Count Dracula himself, come all the way from Transylvania (and beneath the mask of a Chinese vampire ... and no, Christopher Lee does NOT play Dracula when we see him in his true form at the beginning of the film. I understand that Lee had tired of the role and wished to move on at this point in the series). Van Helsing agrees to use his vampire slaying expertise and come to the aid of a young man named Hsi Ching, and together with Hsi Ching's six brothers put an end to the Seven Vampire's reign of terror.

What follows is an unusual half-martial arts/half-British gothic horror story, with armies of Chinese Zombies, Kung Fu fighting, vampire attacks, Kung Fu fighting, scenes of blood letting, and more Kung Fu fighting, until at the very last Van Helsing and Dracula face each other off for one last time (as this would prove to be the final entry to the series). Both goofy and serious at the same time (like the moment when Hsi Ching wipes his fingers off on a falling enemy's shirt), you`ll be hard pressed to find a more interesting or unusual tale ... but at the same time you can't deny that it's a well written, well made, and well acted film. The fight scenes are masterfully choreographed, and we even get to see the aging Mr. Cushing himself do a number of impressive stunts.

This double-feature set from Anchor Bay Entertainment doesn't skimp out on the extras. Though there are no commentary tracks, we still get, with FCW, a nice selection of trailers plus an interesting overview of the entire Frankenstein series, narrated by British actor Oliver Reed. As for Lot7GV, we're given both the original and American cuts of the film (where basically, for the American version, they left in all the action scenes and cut everything else out), a trailer for the American cut (sporting some [un?]intentionally hilarious narration, and an audio dramatization of the film's story, read to us by Peter Cushing himself (great to have on while you're doing housework, though I'm not totally sure what purpose it was originally meant to serve).

So go ahead and give this set a try. You'll get two great movies for one great price, and you'll have a pair of excellent films that you'll want to revisit often and should be sure to share with friends. In addition to this, if you're a Peter Cushing fan and are wondering where to start, this set would make an ideal beginning to your movie collection.

Carry on Carry on,

MN