Watch The Hound of the Baskervilles For Free

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

This is an astonishing documentary that will wring your heart while it bends your mind

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Am a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes and get a lot of enjoyment out of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' is one of the, perhaps even THE, most famous Sherlock Holmes stories and is the most adapted. For good reason, it is such a thrilling and scary story and contains a tantalising mystery.The first of the four Hallmark films starring Matt Frewer doesn't do this wonderful story justice. To me, it's the second worst adaptation with only Peter Cook's being worse and nowhere near in the same league as those of Jeremy Brett, Basil Rathbone and Peter Cushing. All wonderful, Brett's is my personal favourite with Rathone's a close second (coincidentally they're also my two favourite Holmes), and with vastly superior interpretations of Holmes. Not a complete mess, with a few things stopping it from being a complete dog, but should have been much better.Kenneth Welsh is the best thing about 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' and the only good actor in the film. He is an excellent Watson and more the faithful interpretation of a loyal and intelligent Watson and not the bumbling buffoon for comic relief purposes. Also found some of the locations suitably atmospheric, if perhaps not authentic, and the adaptation shot competently enough. The music score is eerie. Credit is due for that the culprit is not revealed too early, a potential trap adapting 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' and has been fallen into a couple of times (i.e. Richard Roxburgh's version).However, the rest of the cast do not fare well. Matt Frewer doesn't work as Holmes, far too manic and eccentric and his rapport with Watson too abrasive and borderline bullying. Jason London is also miscast, very stiff and too modern. Also found Robin Wilcock's Stapleton, though he does try, too energised and not sinister enough. The rest of the cast while not terrible don't make much impression. For such a good story, 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' is poorly adapted here. It's dull thanks to the lack of terror, tension or suspense and the pedestrian direction, and due to the significant abridgement that underuses Holmes drastically, the changes and omissions really affecting the coherence and intrigue, the telling also feels jumpy and rushed. The costumes are cheap and the hound is far from terrifying, the only terrifying thing about it is how laughable and so 1950s or earlier it looks. Overall, not a complete dog but almost is. Very disappointing. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Spoilers if you haven't read the novel or seen one of the 20 or so better adaptations of the story. Probably one of the poorer adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle's novel, this one has Matt Frewer (a good actor) as Holmes who is absent for most of the movie. While this is close to the original story (which is mostly told from the view of Dr. Watson) Holmes is more absent from this adaptation than he normally is. This one is written in a way where Watson probably would have figured it out for himself given another ten minutes. I can't give this one a good review, and I love a lot of the quirkier Holmes adaptations... even the one where Watson is a Chinese woman for some reason.

You say you wonder how on earth they cast an American/Canadian actor as Holmes rather than a British one. I don't see your point. Sir Henry had been in Canada for long enough to have eradicated any vestiges of a British accent that might have (or might not have) lingered from his boyhood if indeed he had been educated in England although he might not have been schooled there). I've always looked for an American/Canadian accent (which are indistinguishable; I'm from upstate New York and the knooks speak like Yanks.) in any performance of this role. I'd be uncomfortable with Sir Henry speaking in a British accent. No indication of an English accent should have existed.

Let me start by saying that I have not read the novel... nor any other by Sir Athur Conan Doyle(although I certainly would like to, in particular those regarding this character... the detective, not the dog), so if you want to know how well this follows it, this is not the place to look, I'm afraid. The plot isn't bad, and it did manage to surprise me more than once(if I would have been if I had looked my way through the book, I couldn't tell you... literally), and it develops reasonably. The pacing is fine. The acting varies, for all concerned... Frewer goes back and forth between what one might call a good performance and what would be more accurately described as a parody of a stereotypical Brit. There aren't really any stand-out players, in either end of the spectrum. The music is adequate. The technical aspects of this are average, and at times below that. The effects probably won't impress anyone. The "hound" is never that terrifying of a sight, and doesn't instill nearly as much fear as indifference. In general this isn't really sufficiently scary as to warrant being noted for it. I recommend this to fans of horror and crime-mystery stories, and/or Matt Frewer, but you are undoubtedly capable of finding more worthy ways to spend 90 minutes. 6/10