The Monster Squad (1987)

It is common to compare Fred Dekker’s The Monster Squad to The Goonies; and with good reason, both of them feature a group of misfit preteens battling evil to save their town. The parallels between the two are certainly there: Phoebe befriending the Frankenstein Monster is reminiscent of Chunk befriending  the deformed Sloth; Mary Ellen Trainor plays the protagonist’s mother in both movies; and the chubby Horace is a dead ringer for Chunk (they sport similar tacky Hawaiian shirts).  However, the stakes are a lot higher in The Monster Squad;   Goonies are merely trying to save their homes, while the fate of the entire world rests in the hands of the Monster Squad. The Goonies is a self contained adventure, while The Monster Squad is much more epic in scope (despite being made on a smaller budget).   If The Goonies is the superior movie out of the two, that’s because its protagonist’s goals are more relatable – we all, inevitably, have to face the reality of moving and being separated from our friends.  The plot to The Monster Squad is bit convoluted. In fact, rather than sort it out myself, I’ll just copy and paste the Wikipedia synopsis:

The Monster Squad is a club of pre-teenagers who idolize classic monster-movies and their non-human stars. They hold meetings at a tree-clubhouse in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Club leader Sean (Andre Gower), whose younger sister, Phoebe (Ashley Bank), desperately wants to join the club, is given the diary of legendary monster hunter Dr. Abraham Van Helsing (Jack Gwillim), but his excitement abates when he finds it is written in German. Sean, his best friend Patrick (Robby Kiger), and the rest of the Monster Squad visit an elderly man, known as the "Scary German Guy" (Leonardo Cimino), actually a kind gentleman and a former concentration camp prisoner, to translate the diary.
The diary describes, in great detail, an amulet that is composed of concentrated good. One day out of every century, as the forces of good and evil reach a balance, the otherwise indestructible amulet becomes vulnerable to destruction. With the next day of balance happening within a few days, at the stroke of midnight, the kids realize they must gain possession of the amulet and use it — with an incantation from Van Helsing's diary — to open a hole in the universe and cast the monsters into Limbo. As shown in the film's prelude, Van Helsing had unsuccessfully attempted this one hundred years ago in order to defeat his old adversary Count Dracula (Duncan Regehr); his apprentices then emigrated to the United States to hide the amulet, where it was out of Dracula's immediate reach. 

Essentially, the kids must stop Dracula from destroying the amulet, or else darkness will reign supreme. It also turns that only a female virgin can read the incantation that opens the portal.
Though, I never really understood why Dracula needed help from the other Monsters to fulfill his plan. I guess The Wolf Man is a fairly capable henchmen (at least he is given a few fun scenes), but The Mummy and The Gill Man are fairly useless in the overall scheme, while his attempt to control the Frankenstein Monster magnificently backfires. OOPS!    

While the similarities with The Goonies (and Stephen King’s It) are striking, The Monster Squad is actually more indebted to Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, and all the other Universal monster brawls of the 40s. It even sports a similar plot to Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein – Count Dracula wants to take over the world with help from the Frankenstein monster, but his plans are thwarted by unlikely heroes; in Abbott & Costello, it is two bumbling baggage clerks, while in The Monster Squad, it is group of middle school boys.   It is also important to note that both movies take their main villain seriously; there is no scene of Dracula slipping on a banana peel, or getting his pants pulled down.  Though, both of them feature a bit of physical comedy with the Wolf Man; in Abbott & Costello, Wilbur punches the Wolf Man in the face, believing it’s his friend playing a prank on him, and in The Monster Squad, Horace kicks the Wolf Man in the “nards” and then runs away.  The Mummy is also played off as being something of a joke, which probably was a good move on Fred Dekker’s part.  The Mummy, at least the version that appeared in 1940s Universal Series, was always something of a goofy monster. In the old series, he would limp across the countryside and then clutch at people with his one good hand. If his would be victims just walked away at a normal pace they could easily outdistance themselves from him. It’s not surprising that the Mummy is more of a comedic foil for our heroes rather than a menacing monster.  Bela Lugosi’s portrayal of the famous count is iconic, but Duncan Regehr is equally good and far more menacing.  In Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, the Frankenstein Monster was merely a walking prop that terrorized the boys, and played rather woodenly by Glenn Strange.  In The Monster Squad, Tom Noonan gives a nice sympathetic turn as the Monster (recalling Boris Karloff’s performance in the first two Frankenstein movies) and even brings an air of tragedy to the character.  There’s a childlike innocence to the Monster and so it isn’t too surprising that he forms a bond with the five year-old Phoebe.  

The kids themselves are likable enough even if their performances are a bit uneven. Ryan Lambert comes off best as the “cool” kid, Rudy.  Andre Gower brings enough gravity to the role of Sean, the leader of the Monster Squad, that it’s easy to root for him. He, arguably, has the hardest task of doling out exposition to the audience and does an admirable job.  Brent Chalem is pretty funny as the overweight Horace (He genuinely looks scared in the scenes with the monsters).  Robby Kiger is kind of the odd man out, not because he’s bad, but his character of Patrick is given very little to do. He is, essentially, Sean’s right hand man, but the only significant thing he does in the entire movie is print out “MONSTER SQUAD” business cards.  The youngest of the boys is Eugene (Michael Faustino), who naturally approaches this monster business in more naïve fashion – he writes a letter, in crayon, to the army asking for help. He also can’t go anywhere without his pet puppy.   And then there’s Ashley Banks as Sean’s little sister, Phoebe, whom is merely required to look and behave in a “cute” fashion. It’s a credit to Fred Dekker’s direction that she pulls this off effortless without every getting on the audience’s nerves.  What really sells movie is that the children behave like actual children; not the Hollywood facsimile that dominates many movies.  The most important thing is that the kids have fairly good chemistry and are completely believable as friends. 

The Monster Squad is very much a product of its time. It is a reminder of what filmmakers were allowed to get away with in the 1980s (versus the political correctness that dominates the industry today).  How many modern movies would make the “cool” kid a Peeping Tom?  While the Monster Squad is devising a plan to stop Dracula, Rudy is spying on, and taking pictures of, Patrick’s older sister.  Their tree house gives him a great vantage point for his peeping; he can see her standing in her bedroom window.  There’s also a running gag over whether or not Patrick’s sister is a virgin. YIKES!!! 

Even though The Monster Squad is targeted towards children, it is a fairy violent movie: Horace blows away the Gill Man with a shotgun; Rudy stakes Dracula’s Brides through the heart; the Wolf Man gets blown up by dynamite (and puts himself back together again, because only silver bullets can kill a werewolf); Detective Sapir gets blown up in a squad car; and Dracula gets impaled on a wrought iron fence.  This isn’t a criticism because the violence actually ups the stakes (no pun intended) in this movie.  In fact, if anything The Monster Squad is reminder as to how toothless many modern day blockbusters have become – Super Hero movies are fun but there’s never a genuine sense of danger. In The Monster Squad, there’s a scene where a pissed off Dracula grabs a stick of dynamite, throws it into the boy’s tree house, and watches gleefully as their hang out Is blown to bits.  He is not content with just scaring the kids, he genuinely wants to kill them.  Duncan Regehr’s Dracula is absolutely ruthless and will gladly destroy anyone that gets in his ways; even if that someone is a five year-old girl.  

Fred Dekker’s direction is pretty uneven (he simply cannot resist throwing in a cheesy montage), but it’s also fairly imaginative.  In a single shot he tells us everything we need to know about Scary German Guy’s background story.  The kids befriend an old man, whom they dubbed as Scary German Guy because of his creepy house and mysterious background, and they have a discussion about monsters. As the kids are leaving his house, they comment that he sure knows a lot about monster and he tells them they come in all different shapes. The camera then zooms into number tattooed onto Scary German Guy’s forearm – informing the audience that he is a survivor of the Holocaust.  This is a nice, subtle way of giving us Scary German Guy’s back story; the movie doesn’t fade into a long winded flashback, it allows for the image to speak for itself.  If you notice this detail, then it allows you to fill in the blanks about Scary German Guy. If you miss the tattoo, it doesn’t impact that narrative in the least bit.  It’s brief moment that doesn’t halt the pacing of the movie.  There is also a nice tracking shot that shows us firsthand how powerful Dracula; he is slowly walking towards Phoebe (who is in possession of the amulet) and effortlessly brushes aside the police officers that are trying to stop him. They are insignificant pests to him and he barely acknowledges their existence.

The movie’s brief running time (82 minutes) is also a huge asset.  The Monster Squad moves at a rapid pace and this because isn’t bogged down in unnecessary subplots.  We get an exciting opening sequence, followed by the introduction of our main characters, a few scenes of exposition, and then it’s off to the races.  I’d rather have a movie be too short than be too long.  If you leave a movie wanting more, then the filmmakers have done their job.   

The Monster Squad was a huge bomb when it was released on August 14, 1987 (it grossed 3.8 million against a 12 million budget).  It is really hard to explain why a movie (especially a fairly good movie) bombs, but I think there were two factors that worked significantly against The Monster Squad.

1. Who is this movie’s target audience? The Monster Squad is too violent (and a bit too raunchy) for
truly small kids. The movie was slapped with a PG-13 rating and I’m sure that might have turned off a few parents.   On the other hand, preteens probably looked at the title and scoffed, “This is for little children.” 

2. The horror market (especially the horror-comedy market) had started to wear thin by 1987. In the 1980s, the market had become so oversaturated with horror movies that by 1987 people were starting to move. There were exceptions to the rule (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors proved to be a hit for New Line Cinemas) but the box office returns were starting to diminish. In 1984 we were treated to such classic horror comedies like Ghostbusters and Gremlins, by 1987 the studios were pumping out dreck like Teen Wolf, Too and House II: The Second Story.  Unfortunately, The Monster Squad got lumped with this garbage.  However, I tend to believe that if a movie is genuinely good it will inevitably find an audience.  This, happily, turned out to be the case for The Monster Squad.

Credits

Cast: Andre Gower (Sean), Robby Kiger (Patrick), Duncan Regehr (Count Dracula), Tom Noonan (Frankenstein’s Monster), Ryan Lambert (Rudy), Brent Chalem (Horace), Stephen Macht (Del), Ashley Bank (Phoebe), Michael Faustino (Eugene), Leonardo Cimino (Scary German Guy), Mary Ellen Trainor (Emily), Jonathan Gries (Desperate Man), Lisa Fuller (Patrick’s sister), Stan Shaw (Detective Sapir), Jack Gwillim (Van Helsing), Jason Hervey (E.J.), Adam Carl (Derek), Sonia Curtis (Peasant Girl), Carl Thibault (Wolfman), Tom Woodruff, Jr. (Gillman), Michael Reid MacKay (Mummy),  David Proval (Pilot), Daryl Anderson (Co-pilot), Robert Lesser (Eugene’s Dad).

Director: Fred Dekker
Screenplay: Shane Black, Fred Dekker.
Running Time: 82 min.

Dracula (1931)

When I finally caved in and bought a DVD player, one of the first DVD sets I purchased was “The Monster Legacy DVD Gift Set,” which included fourteen movies, and small busts of Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster, and the Wolf Man; all for the reasonable price of fifty six dollars! It was money well spent as I was concerned.  As a kid growing up in the 80s, the local station used to play these movies every Saturday night (and a few Hammer movies thrown in for a good measure).  There were books in the school library devoted to the classic monsters and I frequently checked them out.  Therefore, it pains to me say that I find the original Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, to be incredibly dull. It is the one film in the collection that is an absolute challenge to watch; House of Dracula may be a terrible movie, but at least it is entertaining.

The first twenty minutes, set in Transylvania, are superb and heavy on the atmosphere: Terrified villagers warn Renfield not to go up to Castle Dracula; the eerie scene of Dracula’s brides rising up from their coffins; the wonderful tracking shot of Dracula staring directly into the camera; and  Dracula slowly descending down a stairway that is covered in spider webs. These are all spine-chilling scenes and it is easy to understand why audiences in the 1930s were terrified by them.  The movie takes a turn for the worst when it switches locations to London and turns into a photographed stage play.  

 

This criticism isn’t anything new, in his 1967 book, “An Illustrated History of the Horror Movie,” Carlos Clarens writes,"The sequence of Renfield at the castle has a pleasant Gothic flavor, but, as soon as the action moves to London, the picture betrays its origins 'on the boards,' becoming talky, pedestrian, and uncinematic. We are told, when we should be shown, about the “red mist” that heralds the arrival of the vampire and about the werewolf seen running across Dr. Seward’s lawn.”

This is absolutely correct! Of course, one might argue that the movie is scarier because it doesn’t show us these things and allows us to use our imagination instead. That argument doesn't apply to this movie; the lack of visual effects is due to necessity rather than artistic expression. This was a fairly low budget movie, after all.  The “werewolf running across the lawn” bit is great example; if this was accompanied by a creepy sound effect, or score, then it might be a chilling  moment, instead all we are given is David Manners’ half hearted line delivery.  A wolf running across your lawn isn’t something you see every day, but Jonathan Harker doesn’t seem all too concerned about it.  Manners wasn’t particularly happy to be cast in Dracula and it shows; much to his chagrin, he would  be cast as the juvenile lead in two more Universal Horror movies, The Mummy and The Black Cat. The limitations of Manners’ acting are even more apparent when you compare his performance to that of his leading lady, Helen Chandler, who is a more interesting, and livelier, performer.  Chandler’s performance is uneven, but she is very good later on in the movie when Mina, after having been bitten by the Count, tries to fight her more basic instincts. The scene where she flirts with Jonathan and then stares his neck, waiting to make her move, is a wonderful moment and Chandler is quite scary with her wide eyed stare.  It is the only real noteworthy moment in the final twenty minutes. 

It doesn’t help that most of the second half is set in Dr. Seward’s parlour; most of the time, the camera remains stationary as actors walk into frame, say their lines, and then exit. This portion of the movie drags on and often feels like a proud parent recording their children in a high school production (sans the nonstop zooms). This is a dull group of actors: Edward Van Sloan plods through the scenery while delivering endless exposition while everyone else scratches their heads in confusion.  Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye (as Renfield) will occasionally show up to breathe some life into the proceedings, but otherwise it is completely aimless. There is never any sense of urgency among the protagonists and, as a result, it doesn’t feel like the movie is building towards anything:  Jonathan repeatedly objects to Van Helsing’s methods; Mina keeps acting strange; Van Helsing ticks off Dracula; and Renfield tries to warn Mina about “the master.”

After a half hour of this nonsense, the movie finally switches locations to Carfex Abbey, Dracula’s new “home.” Hey, maybe we’ll be treated to an exciting one on one face off between Dracula and Van Helsing.  Dracula views the professor as a worthy adversary, so maybe the two of them…..NOPE (spoilers for an 85 year-old movie)……the famed count is killed off screen (his death is signified by a barely audible groan). This ending doesn’t hold a candle to the one in Frankenstein (also released in 1931): Victor Frankenstein finally takes responsibility for his actions and faces off with his creation inside a wind mill. This is a genuinely exciting scene sparked by Boris Karloff’s terrific turn as the Monster.  

Dracula is remembered today for Bela Lugosi’s iconic performance as the Count; his stilted line delivery and theatrical mannerism, which would be a debit to most actors, helps add an air of mystery to Dracula. There are historians that claim the Spanish – language version (shot at night time on the same sets as the Browning production) is a superior movie and from a technical stand point they are correct. Unfortunately, Carlos Villiarias, as Dracula, lacks Lugosi’s screen presence; he often makes funny faces to express his anger.  While Dracula is Lugosi’s most famous performance, it is by no means his best:  I prefer his turn as the demented, broken necked shepherd, Ygor, in Son of Frankenstein.  The more over the top Lugosi is, the more enjoyable his performances are.  It is really Dwight Frye that steals the movie with his creepy performance as the tragic Renfield; the likable real estate agent that is driven into madness by Dracula. The shot of him standing at the bottom of a ship’s stairway, staring into the camera with a mad look in his eyes and a huge grin plastered on his face, is one of the most unnerving moments in movie history.

Dracula is a mixed bag – an exciting twenty minutes, followed by nearly an hour of boredom (with a few bright spots thrown in).  If it is every on television, or streaming online, I recommend you watch the opening twenty minutes and then promptly find something else to watch.

Cast: Bela Lugosi (Count Dracula), Helen Chandler (Mina), David Manners (Jonathan Harker), Dwight Frye (Renfield), Edward Van Sloan (Van Helsing), Herbert Bunson (Dr. Seward), Frances Dade (Lucy), Joan Standing (Maid), Charles Gerrard (Martin).
Director: Tod Browning
Screenplay:  Garrett Fort (adapted from the 1924 stage play by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston).
Based on the novel by Bram Stoker.
Running Time: 75 min.

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)

A phrase often associated with the Golden Age of Hollywood is, “They don’t make them like they used to." In this age of remakes, reboots, and sequels, it is common to be overly nostalgic about the good ol' days of cinema; when Hollywood seemingly could no wrong and was consistently pumping out quality, and original, movies. Of course, this is one big lie - reboots, remakes, and sequels are nothing new to cinema; they go back to the very beginning of film itself. The 1940s, in particular, may have been of the most sequel heavy decades in movie history – and the studio that was pumping them out on a regular basis was Universal. Modern audiences groan on the endless string of Saw and Paranormal Activity movies but Universal was basically doing the same thing with their classic Monsters line up - in 1940, they released The Mummy's Hand and The Invisible Man Returns (with Vincent Price); the former being a reboot of  the Boris Karloff classic, and the latter being a belated sequel to the 1933 film starring Claude Rains. In 1941, Universal added The Wolf Man to their monster line up and it proved to be a tremendous success; the character would pop up in four more movies throughout the course of the decade.

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man was the first movie to pair up Universal’s classic monsters, as well as being a sequel to both The Wolf Man and The Ghost of Frankenstein.  It is also marked the only time that Bela Lugosi would play the Frankenstein Monster. It is by no means a classic, and is heavily flawed, but it is a lot of fun. It may not up to par with Bride of Frankenstein, or The Wolf Man (which is arguable), but it is certainly not the worst monster movie to come out that decade. It benefits greatly from a first rate cast, beautiful cinematography (by George Robinson), and fast paced direction by Roy William Neill; its short run time, 74 minutes, doesn't hurt either.

Bela Lugosi's performance as the Monster has often been the source of criticism - it consists of stumbling through the scenery with his arms outstretched and letting out an occasional grunt. Though, in all fairness to Lugosi, it's not entirely his fault; the Monster stumbles about as a result of being blinded in the previous film, Ghost of Frankenstein, and, originally, Lugosi was given dialogue to perform. However, when the movie was finally released to the cinemas in 1943, all references to the Monster's blindness was deleted, as was all of Lugosi dialogue - though there are a few times in the movie where you can actually see the Monster moving his lips. There is also a moment in the finale, during an elaborate operation, where the audience is given an extreme close up of the Monster opening his eyes, indicating that his sight has been restored. It has often been reported that the reason for deleting Lugosi's dialogue was that a test audience found the idea of the Monster speaking with a Hungarian accent funny. I'm not sure if I believe this story, considering that the previous movie, Ghost of Frankenstein, ends with the Monster talking in the same Hungarian accent (Bela Lugosi dubbed Lon Chaney, Jr. in these scenes), so the studio must have known in advance whether or not audiences would balk at this plot point. I personally believe the Monster's dialogue was removed to tighten up the movie and, more importantly, because it was superfluous to the actual story line. 

To add further insult to injury, the Monster is often played by a stuntman; this  is especially obvious in the Monster's first scene. As a result, the characterization and the look of the Monster is pretty inconsistent throughout. The Monster is essentially reduced to a walking prop and, unfortunately, this would be the standard that the later movies in the series would adopt. Lugosi, despite his prominent billing, has less than ten minutes of actual screen time.

The story line itself is pretty dour; Larry Talbot is accidentally released from his crypt by a pair of bumbling grave robbers and, rather than having to endure an existence of living as the Wolf Man, seeks out Dr. Frankenstein (on the advice of the gypsy Melava), hoping that he can put him out of his misery.  That's right, Larry Talbot, merely wants to die. On his journey, he stumbles upon the Frankenstein Monster, preserved in a block of ice, underneath the catacombs of the Frankenstein castle. Odd, considering that in The Ghost of Frankenstein, the Monster met a fiery demise.  Talbot learns that Dr. Frankenstein is dead, so he contacts Elsa, the doctor's daughter, hoping that she can lead him to her father's notes about life and death. Also thrown into the mix is Dr. Mannering, who has been searching all of Europe for Talbot; he thinks Talbot is in desperate need of medical help. Dr. Mannering agrees to help Talbot and learns from Frankenstein's notes that he can drain the life out of Talbot and transfer into the Monster.  Then all hell breaks loose!

The character of Elsa Frankenstein is also a carry-over from The Ghost of Frankenstein, except in that movie the role was played by Evelyn Ankers. Why Universal recast Ilona Massey in the role is a mystery. Perhaps, given that Ankers also played Lon Chaney, Jr.'s love interest in The Wolf Man, the studio was afraid that audiences might confuse the two characters. Massey, at best, has a superficial resemblance to Ankers, but otherwise they might as well be two different characters. What happened to Erik, Elsa's suitor in The Ghost of Frankenstein? 

Ankers

Massey

The leading ladies in the Universal Monster movies usually had the thankless task of screaming and looking pretty- which Miss Massey does rather admirably. Elsa doesn't appear until the movie's halfway point  and most of her screen time is reaction shots; Larry Talbot freaks out, cut to a close up of Elsa looking confused. Dr. Mannering becomes fascinated by the Monster, cut to a close up of Elsa looking worried. She solely exists to show Dr. Mannering and Larry Talbot where her father hid his journal, then she is promptly shoved into the background.

Dr. Mannering is a bland character as well - I never bought his transition from concerned physician to mad scientist. He is initially going to drain the monster of all its power, but then decides, seemingly just for the hell of it, that he must see it at full strength. Patric Knowles is a serviceable actor, but he lacks the panache that Colin Clive, Basil Rathbone, and Cedric Hardwicke brought to the previous films. The best thing you can say about Knowles is that he doesn't get in the way of the proceedings. Thankfully, the movie only hints at a potential romance between Dr. Mannering and Elsa as opposed to turning it into a major subplot. It also should be noted that Knowles also appeared in The Wolf Man as Frank Andrews, Gwen's fiance and Larry's romantic rival. That might explain why Larry is so apprehensive towards Dr. Mannering - he reminds him of that dullard Frank.

 Lon Chaney, Jr. gives an effective performance as the gloomy Larry Talbot. The audience actually sympathizes with Talbot, because he doesn't want to harm anyone and is willing to take his own life rather than live a cursed existence. Chaney is actually at his best when silent - his sad eyes effectively convey the eternal guilt that haunts Larry Talbot. The Wolf Man was Chaney's best role, because he was playing himself - a seemingly decent man who was haunted by his own inner demons; in Chaney's case it was alcohol. By all accounts when Chaney was sober he was one of the nicest men you could meet, but when drunk, he was extremely unpleasant and volatile to be around.

The movies gets a lot of mileage out of its great supporting cast:  Dennis Hoey is great fun as the dimwitted Inspector Owen. Comedy relief in old horror movies is usually painful, but in this case it is welcomed. Maria Ouspenskaya reprises her role from The Wolf Man, as Meleva, the sympathetic gypsy woman. She takes on a maternal role to Larry Talbot and hopes to end his torment. Lionel Atwill is amusing as the jovial mayor of Vasaria. It is interesting to see Atwill in such an inconsequential role as he was usually cast as either a stern lawmen or a shifty eyed villain. In the previous movie, Ghost of Frankenstein, he played the treacherous Dr. Bohmer - the man responsible for putting Ygor's brain in the Monster's body. Here, his main concern is keeping the anxious villagers under control. Rex Evans is easy to hate as Vazec, the belligerent innkeeper. Oddly, enough it is this character that resolves the plot and not Dr. Mannering. Finally, it's great to see Dwight Frye, co-star of Dracula and Frankenstein, in a small role as a paranoid citizen. Often, the difference between a bad movie and a watchable one is the cast, and, fortunately, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man has a lot of aces up its sleeve.

The direction by, the underrated, Roy William Neill is first rate. Neill's greatest feat is keeping the movie going at a swift pace. He accomplishes this by constantly having characters on the move; the movie begins in the Talbot family crypt, in Wales, and ends in an a dilapidated castle in Eastern Europe. Larry Talbot searches the countryside to find Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Mannering follows him. Neill also does a great job in handling exposition - while at a village festival, Talbot tells Dr. Mannering about Frankenstein's journal. Instead of doing this in a typical two shot, Neill places the two characters at the back of the frame, while in the foreground Vazec can be seen listening in on their conversation. This helps add tension to the scene and fuels Vazec's growing suspicions about Dr. Mannering,

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is definitely a step down from the previous movies in the franchise, and it is certainly no classic, but there are far worse ways to spend 74 minutes. It is definitely worth a look for its interesting cast and atmospheric direction by Roy William Neill. Hell, it even has a catchy musical number at the midway point. "For life is short, but death is long. Faro - La Faro - Li."

Cast:  Lon Chaney, Jr. (Larry Talbot/The Wolfman), Patric Knowles (Dr. Mannering),  Ilona Massey (Baroness Elsa Frankenstein), Bela Lugosi (The Monster), Lionel Atwill (Mayor), Maria Ouspenskaya (Melava), Dennis Hoey (Inspector Owen), Don Barclay (Franzec), Rex Evans (Vazec),  Dwight Frye (Rudi), Harry Stubbs (Guno).

Director:  Roy William Neill
Screenplay: Curt Siodmak
Running Time: 74 min.