HOME |  CULT MOVIES | COMPETITIONS | ADVERTISE |  CONTACT US |  ABOUT US
 
 
 
Newest Reviews
American Fiction
Poor Things
Thunderclap
Zeiram
Legend of the Bat
Party Line
Night Fright
Pacha, Le
Kimi
Assemble Insert
Venus Tear Diamond, The
Promare
Beauty's Evil Roses, The
Free Guy
Huck and Tom's Mississippi Adventure
Rejuvenator, The
Who Fears the Devil?
Guignolo, Le
Batman, The
Land of Many Perfumes
Cat vs. Rat
Tom & Jerry: The Movie
Naked Violence
Joyeuses Pacques
Strangeness, The
How I Became a Superhero
Golden Nun
Incident at Phantom Hill
Winterhawk
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Maigret Sets a Trap
B.N.A.
Hell's Wind Staff, The
Topo Gigio and the Missile War
Battant, Le
Penguin Highway
Cazadore de Demonios
Snatchers
Imperial Swordsman
Foxtrap
   
 
Newest Articles
3 From Arrow Player: Sweet Sugar, Girls Nite Out and Manhattan Baby
Little Cat Feat: Stephen King's Cat's Eye on 4K UHD
La Violence: Dobermann at 25
Serious Comedy: The Wrong Arm of the Law on Blu-ray
DC Showcase: Constantine - The House of Mystery and More on Blu-ray
Monster Fun: Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror on Blu-ray
State of the 70s: Play for Today Volume 3 on Blu-ray
The Movie Damned: Cursed Films II on Shudder
The Dead of Night: In Cold Blood on Blu-ray
Suave and Sophisticated: The Persuaders! Take 50 on Blu-ray
Your Rules are Really Beginning to Annoy Me: Escape from L.A. on 4K UHD
A Woman's Viewfinder: The Camera is Ours on DVD
Chaplin's Silent Pursuit: Modern Times on Blu-ray
The Ecstasy of Cosmic Boredom: Dark Star on Arrow
A Frosty Reception: South and The Great White Silence on Blu-ray
You'll Never Guess Which is Sammo: Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon on Blu-ray
Two Christopher Miles Shorts: The Six-Sided Triangle/Rhythm 'n' Greens on Blu-ray
Not So Permissive: The Lovers! on Blu-ray
Uncomfortable Truths: Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold on MUBI
The Call of Nostalgia: Ghostbusters Afterlife on Blu-ray
Moon Night - Space 1999: Super Space Theater on Blu-ray
Super Sammo: Warriors Two and The Prodigal Son on Blu-ray
Sex vs Violence: In the Realm of the Senses on Blu-ray
What's So Funny About Brit Horror? Vampira and Bloodbath at the House of Death on Arrow
Keeping the Beatles Alive: Get Back
   
 
  Dracula vs. Frankenstein Monster Mash
Year: 1971
Director: Al Adamson
Stars: J. Carrol Naish, Lon Chaney Jr, Regina Carrol, Zandor Vorkov, Anthony Eisley, Russ Tamblyn, Jim Davis, Angelo Rossitto, John Bloom, Greydon Clark, Anne Morell, Shelly Weiss, Forrest J. Ackerman
Genre: Horror, TrashBuy from Amazon
Rating:  3 (from 2 votes)
Review: Count Dracula (Zandor Vorkov) digs up the body of the original Frankenstein Monster (John Bloom) and heads off to the lair of one of the original Frankenstein's descendants (J. Carrol Naish) who has set up a lab behind his amusement park atttraction to conceal it from the outside world. His assistant Groton (Lon Chaney Jr) is sent out at night to decapitate passersby on the nearby beach, so that the Doctor can put them back together again and test his new serum. But Dracula wants in on the action, and forces Frankenstein to work with him, with terrible results.

Really terrible. Do we really want to see Dracula with a perm? This is just one of the questions that may pass through your mind as you watch this pitifully cheap shocker, written by William Pugsley and producer Sam Sherman. Made in Al Adamson's accustomed style of shooting footage when he could afford it and assembling the result in a patchwork fashion, this is perhaps his most notorious film, with its cringe-inducing attempts at fright scenes made painful to watch by a cast that is either past it or blatantly inexperienced at best. It looks like an amateur film.

As you might expect, there's a role for Mrs Adamson, Regina Carrol, here playing Judy Fontaine, a Las Vegas nightclub singer who is searching for her missing sister. Little does she know that her sister has become one of Dr Frankenstein's experiments, but her investigations lead her to the amusement park and into the arms of ageing hippy Mike (Anthony Eisley). Attempting to appeal to all areas of the exploitation audience, Judy not only mixes with the hippies, but she has a brush with evil bikers led by Russ Tamblyn (yeah, just like in Satan's Sadists), LSD is slipped in to her drink (cue freakout sequence), and we endure, sorry, enjoy her nightclub act, an odd song about luggage. There's also a youth protest about something or other nearby.

The more mature members of the cast are obviously there for the money. The frail Naish, seated in a wheelchair throughout, reads his lines off cue cards (as does Vorkov, who still comes across as having trouble remembering them). The unfortunate Chaney, now ill with cancer, huffs and puffs as the mute heavy with a fondness for puppies (he still couldn't shake the Of Mice and Men role). Angelo Rossitto on the other hand, manages to look spry and full of energy in his declining years as he, er, eats a dollar bill for no apparent reason.

The Monster is a lumbering, boulder-faced lump, and the climactic battle is more of a scuffle in a wood than a clash of the titans. The way the characters, good or bad, are indiscriminately killed off is notable, in fact there's barely anyone left alive by the end (Dracula's demise sees him making the expression of a man sucking on an extra strong mint rather than meeting his doom). The slapdash approach throws up many absurdities, such as the sergeant (Jim Davis) suddenly turning psychiatrist, and the photograph Judy shows people of her missing sister has been taken from about twenty feet away, so the production may prompt a few laughs. It's not much, but there is a little entertainment value here. I suppose they were doing their best. Music by William Lava (some of it, anyway).
Reviewer: Graeme Clark

 

This review has been viewed 9854 time(s).

As a member you could Rate this film

 

Al Adamson  (1929 - 1995)

Prolific American director of chaotic exploitation movies, who directed some 30 films between 1961 and 1983. The titles of his films were often the best thing about them, but the likes of Satan's Sadists, Dracula vs Frankenstein and I Spit on your Corpse are popular amongst bad movie buffs. In a nasty end worthy of one of his films, Adamson was murdered in 1995, his body found buried under his freshly tiled bathroom.

 
Review Comments (0)


Untitled 1

Login
  Username:
 
  Password:
 
   
 
Forgotten your details? Enter email address in Username box and click Reminder. Your details will be emailed to you.
   

Latest Poll
Which star probably has psychic powers?
Laurence Fishburne
Nicolas Cage
Anya Taylor-Joy
Patrick Stewart
Sissy Spacek
Michelle Yeoh
Aubrey Plaza
Tom Cruise
Beatrice Dalle
Michael Ironside
   
 
   

Recent Visitors
  Stuart Watmough
Paul Shrimpton
Darren Jones
Mary Sibley
Enoch Sneed
Mark Le Surf-hall
  Louise Hackett
Andrew Pragasam
   

 

Last Updated: