How to Make a Monster (1958)

In 1957, American International Pictures (A.I.P.) released I Was a Teenage Werewolf, starring Michael Landon, and the movie proved to be a huge hit at the box office. Over the course of the year, they would release three similar movies; I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, The Blood of Dracula, and How to Make a Monster. The Blood of Dracula, which should have been titled I Was a Teenage Vampire, is essentially a remake of Teenage Werewolf, with the key difference being that all the main roles are played by women.  The four films have multiple things in common, other than their teen theme:

1)      The true villain in each movie is a well respected authority figure (Whit Bissell’s psychologist, Dr. Brandon, in Teenage Werewolf, Bissell’s Professor Frankenstein in Teenage Frankenstein, Louise Lewis’ chemistry teacher, Miss Branding, in Blood of Dracula, and Robert H. Harris’ make up artist, Pete Drummond, in How to Make a Monster) that manipulates the teenage protagonist into furthering their own agenda.

2)      With the exception of I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, each film features a rock n’ roll number by an “up and coming star”; Ken Miller sings “Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo” in Teenage Werewolf, Jerry Blaine croons “Puppy Dog Love” in Blood of Dracula, and John Ashley pops up long enough to sing the timeless “You’ve Got to Have Ee-ooo.” These musical numbers are completely jarring, and tonally out of place, given how dour these movies usually are; one moment the lead character is brooding about something, then, all of a sudden, everyone is dancing around with huge smiles on their faces. 

3)      They have a police procedural subplot involving an investigation into the murders being committed. The efforts of the police are usually inefficient and prove to be worthless.

I Was a Teenage Werewolf is  one of the must underrated horror movies of all time, but my favorite one out of the four is How to Make a Monster.  In his Movie Guide, Leonard Maltin rates How to Make a Monster a BOMB and dismisses it as a, “dismal chiller.” How to Make a Monster is certainly no masterpiece of the genre, but it is a far more fascinating movie than Maltin, and most critics, are willing to give it credit for. What distinguishes How to Make a Monster from the other movies is that the main villain, Pete Dumond, is a sympathetic character. When the movie begins, he is a respected, and well liked, make up artist at American International; a position that he has held for twenty five years.  American International is currently working on a horror movie, “Werewolf Meets Frankenstein,” and everyone is in awe of Pete’s creations.  Unfortunately, for Pete, American International has been purchased by NBN Associates and the new regime is convinced that the monster cycle has played itself out. They intend to produce comedies and musicals, and, rather unceremoniously, give Pete the pink slip; once filming has wrapped up on “Werewolf Meets Frankenstein,” he must leave the studio.  Pete doesn’t take this lightly and vows revenge on the suits that fired him.  He hypnotizes the two young stars of “Werewolf Meets Frankenstein”, Larry Drake (Werewolf) and Tony Mantell (Frankenstein Monster), into doing his dirty work for him in full monster make up.  Pete also dons a make up at one point to murder a studio guard that knows too much. 

How to Make a Monster is very much a send up of A.I.P. and the movies that the studio was churning out on a consistent basis. My favorite bit has the director of “Werewolf Meets Frankenstein” walking his actors through the climatic show down, “It’s got to be the greatest fight we’ve ever had on the screen and I’ve got to get it in one take.” The scene builds up to the final confrontation between the two monsters and just when the fight is about to begin it cuts to the next scene.  This brief moment perfecting sums up American International; their movies were rushed into production, filmed on the cheap, and released to theaters, regardless of quality. Their movies often failed to deliver what the exciting poster promised; the poster for How to Make a Monster promised, “SEE THE GHASTLY GHOULS IN FLAMING COLOR!” This is only partially true, as the last ten minutes of Monster are in color, though, none of the characters are in monster make up.  This scene promises an exciting battle between the werewolf and Frankenstein, but, in the end, the audience is left hanging.  It’s also fun to see A.I.P. plugging their own movies throughout the movie; posters for I Was a Teenage Werewolf and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein hang on the studio walls, while in the movie’s climax all of American International’s former creatures (The Saucer Men, The She Creature, etc) decorate Pete’s household.   Pete Dumond was based off legendary make up artist Jack Pierce, the man responsible for The Wolf Man, Frankenstein Monster, and the Mummy, to name a few.  Pierce was let go by Universal Studios, after over twenty years of loyal service, to make way for more faster and cheaper make up techniques (foam latex). 

There are a few touches in How to Make a Monster that I genuinely like: the first victim, executive, John Nixon, is brutally murdered in a screening room while watching the dailies from “Werewolf Meets Frankenstein”; the way Pete becomes increasingly more sinister as the movie progresses; the behind the scenes of a studio, which includes a sight seeing tour; the wannabe detective Monahan and the way he casually tells Pete everything he knows, thus setting himself up for a grisly demise; the police’s constant badgering of Pete’s loyal assistant, Rivero, and how they try to pin the murder on him; and the transition to color at the end, which is synched up with Pete lighting a candle.  It’s also surprising just how efficient of a thriller How to Make a Monster is, despite its limited budget and tight schedule; the performances, especially Robert H. Harris, are effective, there are very few technical gaffes, and even the scare scenes are well done.  

There are a few slow spots in the movie; most notable is the pointless scene in which Larry has a brief chat with his girlfriend, Arlene (Heather Ames, who played the first victim in Blood of Dracula). I initially thought Arlene would play a pivotal part in the movie’s climax, but she completely disappears from the movie after this scene.  Then there is John Ashley’s awful rock n’ roll number, complete with leggy woman dancers, “You’ve Got to Have Ee-ooo,” in which he does his best Elvis impersonation and falls flat on his ass. 

It would be a stretch to call How to Make a Monster a classic, but it's not nearly as bad as critics make it out to be. It is an enjoyable little movie and is well worth wasting 73 minutes on.  However, feel free to skip John Ashley's rock n' roll number; he maybe the squarest Elvis impersonator that ever lived. 

Credits

Cast: Robert H. Harris (Pete Dumond), Paul Brinegar (Rivero), Gary Conway (Tony Mantell), Gary Clarke (Larry Drake), Malcolm Atterbury (Richards), Dennis Cross (Monahan), Morris Ankrum (Capt.Hancock), Heather Ames (Arlene Dow), Walter Reed (Det.Thompson), Paul Maxwell (Jeff Clayton), Eddie Marr (John Nixon), Robert Shayne (Gary Droz), Rod Dana (Lab Technician), Jacqueline Ebeier (Jane), Joan Chandler (Marilyn), Thomas B. Henry (Martin Brace), John Phillips (Det.Jones), Pauline Myers (Millie), John Ashley (himself).

Director: Herbert L. Strock
Screenplay: Kenneth Langtry (Aben Kandel), Herman Cohen.
Running Time: 73 min.