The days of Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff are long gone, but Hollywood refuses to give up on the classic monsters these men and others once brought to live on the big screen.  Despite how many years have passed since these monsters of the night first terrified audiences, filmgoers continue to fork over their cash to see these stories rehashed again and again. In the new release of Frankenstein vs The Mumny, we see the revival of two classic monsters and the opportunity to see them battle head to head.  Without the big budget to support this monster smackdown, is it still worth watching, or is this a battle that should have remained dead?

The film dives in on a modern take of the Mary Shelly story we are all more than familiar with. Now Professor Frankenstein (Max Rhyser) spends his days teaching at the local college, while his nights are spent in his lab trying to restore life to the dead.  Simultaneously at the same school an Egyptologist is studying the find of her career. After an excavation in Egypt, a newly discovered mummy is brought to the university.  This lovely Egyptologist is Naihla (Ashton Leigh), who seems to be also smitten with Professor Frankenstein.

This being the first foreign series that I’ve covered for the site, I couldn’t be happier with the results. Knowing nothing about Nicolas Le Floch, I naturally had a few reservations about the series.  It wasn’t in English, so how was I intended to comprehend what the characters were saying (knew I should have taken French in college)? Being that I’m ignorant of the laws and traditions of their government, how difficult would it be to follow the storyline? Of course these reservations were in vain as the series proved its worth with great ease, displaying all the great characteristics of the mysteries I love.

Nicolas Le Floch is a charming, charismatic investigator who believes in thorough and complete investigations, as evident in “The Rogue’s Gallery” when his superior wants to announced the death of a wanted criminal without fully confirming the identity of their suspect. This was the episode where Le Floch had to square off against a particularly cunning opponent, a man who not only had a talent for seducing unwitting women but also outwitting key members of nobility as he moved among them without being suspected, that is until Le Floch, who remained the only person with suspicions.

Consider that we are in a golden age of television, where it is just about impossible to keep up with all the good television shows, even with the luxury of DVR.  That being said, the notion of taking on watching a show that is broadcast overseas can seem a little daunting (yes, I know there are still legions of loyal Doctor Who and Sherlock fans, just to name a few).  When the offer came along to check out a comedy from Germany I was more than a little hesitant, but upon hearing the title Crime Scene Cleaner, well, my interest was piqued. 

The show is centered on Heiko “Schotty” Schotte (Bjarne Madel), who is your typical middle-aged single guy, that is, until you discover that he is a crime scene cleaner.  In case you were wondering, his job is to come in after the police have completed their investigation of a possible homicide and clean up whatever mess is left behind.  Despite the gruesome nature of the job, the show avoids going for cheap gross-out moments and instead focuses on Schotty’s interactions with those connected to the deceased.