grghull

I hate to trash a movie whose creators seem so sincere in their attempt to craft an old fashioned entertaining movie but the fact is this is a mess. I can't even figure out whether it's supposed to be a "homage" to the black and white drive-in movies of the 50s or a spoof of them. There's so little humor that I suspect we're supposed to take it seriously (as the makers of, say,FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER clearly meant it to be taken seriously) but then we have the lab table made from a beach chair and the silly gags in the strip joint and really, what are we to make of that? And FRANKENSTEIN VS.... lacks even the rudimentary professionalism that ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS or I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN could boast. The acting ranges from adequate to awful, the shot on video production screams student film, and the most baffling things are the monster costumes. The Gill Man, for example, clearly had a lot of attention devoted to it but the head is so obviously a mask just sitting on top of the body, with no attempt to blend it in so that it looks like part of the same creature, that it ALMOST seems to be a deliberate joke. But I don't think it is. I think the makers of this movie just didn't know any better. It's too bad.

And all those ten star ratings! It's nice when your friends try to help out, but please.....

Good movies about the early days of movies are scarce, which is strange and disappointing considering what a wealth of good material exists about that era. Peter Bogdanovich's NICKLEODEON started off pretty well but descended into trite soap opera before it finished. One of the best movies about silent movies is this one, maybe because it has a real feel for the time and the characters and presents them with a certain degree of authenticity. All that aside it's also a lot of fun. Bud and Lou are on form, the supporting cast (especially the great Fred Clark) is good, and the stunts are funny and well executed with nary a CG shot in sight. One of the best things about it is the lively musical score, in part by an uncredited Henry Mancini who recycled some of it for the chase scenes in Blake Edwards THE GREAT RACE. Recommended for slapstick fans.

Times change. Tastes in movies and comedy change. Doubtless most of the other users who reviewed this movie are too young to remember Woody Woodbury at all, but he was quite popular and successful back in the sixties (albeit briefly). I can well remember listening to his comedy albums (a sort of primitive CD, large flat plastic disks that were played on an ancient device called a "record player") and finding them quite amusing, if nowhere near as funny as Bob Newhart or as cutting edge as Jonathan Winters or Bill Cosby. And certainly he seems much more dated now than any of them but even in this movie I still find his humor --- well, pleasantly amusing is maybe the best way to express it.

As for the movie itself: it was one of many attempts by big studios to cash in on the success of the AIP BEACH PARTY movies and probably better than most. It sure had enough talented and recognizable people in the cast including, to my astonishment, a young and very pretty Ellen Burstyn. Certainly FOR THOSE WHO THINK YOUNG is a harmless and genial enough way to spend a couple of hours if you have nothing better to do. There are worse things in the world.