Four Frankenstein movies, four Dracula movies, two Wolf Man movies, and still we wanted more. And, well, I guess it was about time they put all three monsters together in one movie.
It's all wonderfully silly ... an insane doctor called Gustav Niemann manages to escape from a lunatic asylum along with his hunchback assistant, and decides to continue the work of Frankenstein. By pure chance he happens to run across a travelling circus which happens to have the genuine skeleton of Count Dracula. It isn't long before he slaughters the circus folk and removes the stake from the vampire's heart, reviving him. He then makes his way to the castle of Frankenstein and in a glacial ice cavern he discovers both Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man frozen in ice. He thaws them and takes them back to his laboratory, promising new life for the monster and a cure for the Wolf Man. But a beautiful gypsy girl causes conflict between them ...
While the story for this one comes from Curt Siodmak, the team of director Erle C. Kenton and scriptwriter Edward T. Lowe Jr. created both the "House of Frankenstein" and the "House of Dracula" sequels. The only one of the monsters that's actually still being played by the same actor here is Lon Chaney Jr's Wolf Man. Boris Karloff appears, but not as the Frankenstein monster. Instead he plays Doctor Niemann (who amusingly gets called a 'would-be Frankenstein' in the first scene), while Glenn Strange plays the monster. But fear not -- both turn in excellent performances all the same, with Glenn Strange proving himself to be such a great choice for Frankenstein that he would return again in "House of Dracula" and "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein".
J. Carrol Naish is also noteworthy as Niemann's hunchback assistant. However, this was John Carradine's first appearance as Dracula, and he's barely even slightly creepy. He's not a patch on Bela Lugosi (although much better then some of the other actors who portrayed Dracula), and the "vampire bat" effects are as bad as ever, if not worse. Thankfully he only has a very small part anyway. And considering the movie is called "House of Frankenstein", Frankenstein doesn't have a very big part either, but what small screen time he has is particularly memorable -- the climax is one of the most thrilling out of any of the Universal monster movies. The Wolf Man is the more interesting and sympathetic character, so once again he has the most screen time.
This is an entertaining movie that throws in everything but the kitchen sink. Fans of the Universal monster movies will be suitably thrilled by it, regardless of how silly it all is.
It's all wonderfully silly ... an insane doctor called Gustav Niemann manages to escape from a lunatic asylum along with his hunchback assistant, and decides to continue the work of Frankenstein. By pure chance he happens to run across a travelling circus which happens to have the genuine skeleton of Count Dracula. It isn't long before he slaughters the circus folk and removes the stake from the vampire's heart, reviving him. He then makes his way to the castle of Frankenstein and in a glacial ice cavern he discovers both Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man frozen in ice. He thaws them and takes them back to his laboratory, promising new life for the monster and a cure for the Wolf Man. But a beautiful gypsy girl causes conflict between them ...
While the story for this one comes from Curt Siodmak, the team of director Erle C. Kenton and scriptwriter Edward T. Lowe Jr. created both the "House of Frankenstein" and the "House of Dracula" sequels. The only one of the monsters that's actually still being played by the same actor here is Lon Chaney Jr's Wolf Man. Boris Karloff appears, but not as the Frankenstein monster. Instead he plays Doctor Niemann (who amusingly gets called a 'would-be Frankenstein' in the first scene), while Glenn Strange plays the monster. But fear not -- both turn in excellent performances all the same, with Glenn Strange proving himself to be such a great choice for Frankenstein that he would return again in "House of Dracula" and "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein".
J. Carrol Naish is also noteworthy as Niemann's hunchback assistant. However, this was John Carradine's first appearance as Dracula, and he's barely even slightly creepy. He's not a patch on Bela Lugosi (although much better then some of the other actors who portrayed Dracula), and the "vampire bat" effects are as bad as ever, if not worse. Thankfully he only has a very small part anyway. And considering the movie is called "House of Frankenstein", Frankenstein doesn't have a very big part either, but what small screen time he has is particularly memorable -- the climax is one of the most thrilling out of any of the Universal monster movies. The Wolf Man is the more interesting and sympathetic character, so once again he has the most screen time.
This is an entertaining movie that throws in everything but the kitchen sink. Fans of the Universal monster movies will be suitably thrilled by it, regardless of how silly it all is.