Moviefone: "The Best Monster-Mash Movies"

[JamesG]

Sony’s new animated feature, Hotel Transylvania, invites us to the 118th birthday party of Mavis (Selena Gomez), daughter to none other than Count Dracula (Adam Sandler). In attendance at the secluded castle are all the classic movie monsters, including Frankenstein’s Monster (Kevin James), the Wolf Man (Steve Buscemi), Quasimodo (Jon Lovitz), the Blob and the Invisible Man (David Spade).

While there are some fresh ideas in the pot, the basic premise of uniting the famous creatures, many of them first made iconic through their own individual movies made by Universal Pictures in the 1930s, has been a constant idea on big and little screens for nearly 70 years.









Van Helsing (2004)






Let’s just get this one out of the way first and then we can all go back to forgetting it exists.

Universal Pictures cooked up this effects-heavy blockbuster as a revival of the studio’s classic monster team-ups, though only Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster and a Wolf Man are included among the nemesis for the title hero (Hugh Jackman) to take on in 19th century Transylvania.

Apparently director Stephen Sommers was all Mummied out? Perhaps the planned reboot, which is expected to be set in modern times, will throw in a few more classic Universal Monsters.











House of Frankenstein (1944)






The very first of Universal’s monster mash-ups was 1943’s Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, but two characters hardly makes for a party.

This sequel adds Dracula, the Hunchback and a “mad doctor” for a story revolving around the middle man’s desire for a new body that will help him win the love of a gypsy woman.

Another film in this series is House of Dracula (1945), in which there’s a female hunchback.











Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)






Considered another sequel to the House of... films -- as much as those are themselves sequels to the respective original Universal Monster movies -- this comedy was in turn the beginning of another whole set of features starring the famed duo of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, also stars at the Universal studio.

In spite of only one of the monsters being referenced in the film’s name, the guys also encounter Dracula and the Wolf Man as freight handlers in charge of the shipment of the vampire and the monster’s bodies.

Later Abbott and Costello films have them Meet the Invisible Man (1951), Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953) and Meet the Mummy (1955), but each of these involved only their title monster.











El Castillo de los Monstruos (1958)
(The Castle of the Monsters)






In this Mexican comedy, a couple happens upon a castle featuring a slew of monsters all blatantly modeled after Universal’s bunch, only without their proper names. Knock-offs of Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Wolf Man and the Mummy join a mad scientist and his hunchbacked assistant.

Though not directly featured, the Invisible Man could have been there lurking about too, because how would we know?











House on Bare Mountain (1962)






In case they weren’t creepy enough already, in this classic nudie-cutie exploitation film Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster and the Wolf Man (well, a werewolf) are thrown into the mix for a party at a mostly clothes-free girls’ school, just to add an extra gimmick to what would otherwise be another boring stag picture.

You can find this as part of a double-feature DVD with the similar monster-based nudist flick Kiss Me Quick (1964).











Mad Monster Party (1967)






Rankin/Bass, the makers of all your favorite stop-motion holiday specials, produced this animated feature about the retirement of Dr. Frankenstein, and despite not being a Universal effort manages to combine all of that studio’s monsters...

including Dracula, the Monster, the Monster’s Bride (voiced by the late Phyllis Diller), the Invisible Man, the Wolf Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, the Mummy, the Hunchback of Notre Dame and a giant ape meant to be King Kong.

Only one missing here is the Phantom of the Opera.











Assignment Terror (1969)






With an original title that translates to "The Monsters of Terror", this European multinational production features Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mummy and the Wolf Man, all revived for destructive purposes by aliens bent on taking over the world.

Fortunately the Wolf Man turns on them and foils their plan.











The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters (1972)






Also from Rankin/Bass, this animated special is hand-drawn rather than stop-motion and is only possibly considered a sequel to Mad Monster Party because it’s made by the same people.

This time the monsters are all together for the wedding of Frankenstein’s Monster and the Monster’s Bride, with guests including all the usual suspects as well as their kids.











Transylvania 6-5000 (1985)






This wacky comedy stars Jeff Goldblum and Ed Begley, Jr., as tabloid journalists on assignment in Transylvania, where they run into a female vampire played by Geena Davis as well as a Wolf Man, a Mummy, a Creature from the Black Lagoon-type animal and other assorted weirdos.











The Monster Squad (1987)






A cult classic for movie geeks who grew up in the 1980s, this kind of capitalizes on a certain appeal of the time in making basically The Goonies with monsters.

The title refers to a gang of classic horror-obsessed pre-teens who go up against Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, a Mummy, a Creature from the Black Lagoon and a Wolf Man (who famously has “nards”), ultimately with help from Van Helsing.











Monster Mash: The Movie (1995)






Around the same time as Toy Story came out, screenwriters Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow also directed this adaptation of a 1960s musical based on Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s famous song 'Monster Mash', which stars Pickett in the role of Dr. Frankenstein.

The character is joined by his Monster, Dracula, Igor, the Wolf Man and a mummified Elvis Presley

Much like the Mexican film The Castle of the Monsters, the plot involves a couple (including Candace Cameron and Ian Bohen) who wind up at a mansion full of monsters.

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[Torgo]

So they put something on their "best of" list that they want forgotten?


Another Mexican monster mash movie is: Frankestein el vampiro y compañía, which is basically a rip-off, I mean remake of Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.

Also Al Adamson's 1971 schlockfest Dracula vs. Frankenstein.

1958's How To Make A Monster has the Teenage Werewolf, and Teenage Frankenstein.