Red-Barracuda From the opening few seconds it is immediately obvious that this is a TV movie. The production values scream this out. The music and sets all show their limitations pretty clearly, while the acting on display is very much of television standard. So from the get-go you are at least under no false impressions of the scope of this one and that's probably a good thing in the long run because this Sherlock Holmes mystery doesn't really ever ascend above the level of mediocre.The story is about a series of murders at a monastery seemingly committed by a vampire in the same area as Jack the Ripper operated. One of the monastic Brothers believes that it is the work of a demon he claims to have encountered before in British Guyana called Desmondo. The 'agnostic' Holmes is sceptical from the outset regarding this explanation and sets about applying his famed logic to solving the murder-mystery.Apparently this is not actually based on an Arthur Conan Doyle original story. This may go some way to explaining some of the more ambiguous supernatural material such as a possibly-maybe divine intervention moment towards the end. Despite a very promising set-up, it isn't a particularly exciting or well written story. The actor who played Holmes didn't seem right to me, on the other hand Dr Watson was portrayed in a textbook manner. But overall, the acting was sub-par amongst the side characters, with the character who played the police inspector spouting a truly dreadful 'Scottish' accent. Despite all this, it was an acceptable enough way of spending ninety minutes and I was interested enough to discover the solution to the mystery. But overall there was little in the way of actual atmosphere or inspiration in this one.

ctyankee1 2002 The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire Sherlock Holmes investigates a series of death rumored to be caused by a vampire. He makes fun of religion right off. He claims he is agnostic. A religious brother invites Sherlock to investigate a vampire who is killing church members a Whitechapel. The brother claims to be a man of god but he has a storage room of all kinds of statues to other gods and liberal attitudes. So contradictory. The costumes of the sisters and brothers look terrible compared with others. To add more insult the religious brother that is killed is said to have fallen on a Cross and that is how he got bleeding neck injuries. In this movie a man who played in the Sign of Four- Inspector Jones is someone who is easy to dislike. He hates Sherlock he is loud and angry when he talks. He is just another actor over acting to make an impression.This movie was better then the Sign of Four. There was not a whole lot of nonsense in it. I was very surprised with the ending. Sherlock loses his pipe which is way to long but at the end through some miracle gets it returned by a person named "Mr Church".Watson tried to convince Sherlock to believe in a fortune tellers prediction. That was a downer for me but I am not surprised Arthur Doyle believed in mediums, spiritualist etc. He went to Catholic schools but did not practice his faith.So like my mother would say "Consider the source."

lotsafun The four Sherlock Holmes movies by Hallmark are just good fun versions for kids. Don't even try to take 'em seriously folks. Don't expect them to be artistic masterpieces based on literary classics. These TV movies were made for a family audience and there's plenty of comedy for kids in these things. Frewer's Holmes must be seen to be believed! He's a hoot! He's the most eccentric Holmes EVER! Kids will love this guy! Kenneth Welsh is much more traditional in his role and he makes a very fine Watson. These Frewer Holmes flicks are sure to entertain the kids and will hopefully encourage them to read more about The Master Detective. They certainly wont get bored watching any of these with the ultra-intense and comedic Frewer on the screen.

Gyrobot The first question you need to ask is "Why the hell bother?". Sherlock Holmes has been done to death and with Jeremy Brett, reached the apex of plausibility. The Basil Rathbones are good fun and there's been numerous feature film attempts, some of which are excellent and some of which should be forever stricken from the records. Unfortunately these Hallmark efforts fit into the latter category.I've always enjoyed Matt Frewer's acting and he certainly has the perfect face for Holmes but the quality of acting is abysmal. It's like a 1960's Disney animated version of Holmes, cod Cock-er-knee accents and Sherlock has become some sort of pantomime version of himself, complete with stupid fake upper class accent and ability to annoy practically everyone. This results in all dramatic suspense being lost as we're expected to accept this Holmes as a comic geek.The few Hallmark episodes that have been produced are all stinkers and have been made purely for the US market that still believes that Victorian England was a perfect chocolate box representation.I have a sneaky suspicion that director Rodney Gibbons is the main culprit and the cause of the rampant artificiality of these terrible additions to the cult of Holmes.If you like amateur dramatics then you'll love these. If you love the density of Holmes' Victorian world you'd be better off with the many Jeremy Brett episodes.