Mad Monster Party?

Baron von Frankenstein summons all the classic movie monsters like Dracula, the Mummy, the Wolfman, etc. to his castle to announce his retirement. When the monsters find out he plans to name his nerdy nephew his successor, they aren't pleased. I love Rankin/Bass and I love classic horror movies, especially the Universal monster movies. So this is right up my alley. As with the classic Rankin/Bass TV specials, the stop-motion animation is the primary selling point. If the animation does nothing for you, then you're in for a tough slog here. Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller are the two most well-known actors providing voices to this. Others are impressions of the likes of Peter Lorre and Jimmy Stewart. The character Francesca is probably the sexiest thing Rankin/Bass did. Her catfight scene is awesome. The songs are terrific. So much fun. This really is a must for fans of Universal monster movies and Rankin/Bass.

This will always be such a fun Halloween, or strangely enough, Christmas movie. Many of us have been lucky to see the claymation wonders by Rankin/Bass. This feature length spoof/salute to classic monster movies has the same charm Rankin/Bass gave to their classic Christmas shows- RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER, and THE CHRISTMAS THAT ALMOST WASN'T.

Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller provide the voices for this fun little comedy about monsters gathering for a big party. The Mummy (complete with "British Invasion" style band) The Gill-Man, King Kong, Dracula, etc. all come to the festivities. It's alot of fun.

Every year, Mad Monster Party? would show up on TV around Halloween. Every year I watched it, until suddenly it disappeared from the small screen. (This was about the same time that infomercials came into vogue.) It was ten or more long years before I saw it again one night on TNT, and it had lost none of it's magnificence. And now it's shown up again, this time on AMC...and the AMC print is miles better than the washed out one that TNT showed. It's unbelievably bright, displaying a full palette of colours where once all was green and purple. You owe it to yourself---and your children!---to catch Mad Monster Party? at the next possible occasion. It's a Rankin-Bass production, so you know it's quality!

Let me come straight to the point with this one and admit that "Mad Monster Party?" nearly wasn't as good or as much fun as I hoped it would be. The actual plot is rather weak, the film is overlong, a large amount of the gags entirely miss their effect and there's way too much singing and dancing going on. What the hell was that about? Someone really ought to add the tag "musical" to the genre description here on the film's IMDb page! But on the other hand, I can't possibly be too harsh or overly critical about a movie that pays so much tribute to my all-time favorite genre of cinema and all of its legendary contributors! All minor defaults and shortcomings aside, "Mad Monster Party?" is a warm-spirited, enthusiast and freshly inventive ode to (classic) horror from the 1930's to the 1960's. As a European kid born in the 80's, I'm not too familiar with the works of Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass, and I never watched any of the "Frosty the Snowman" or "Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer" cartoons as child. But the simple fact that these men managed to cast the awesome Boris Karloff himself in order to voice the Baron Von Frankenstein pivot character more than enough proves to me that they know and respect a great deal of the horror genre. Up in the tower of his castle on the remote Isle of Evil, Baron Von Frankenstein just finished his latest and greatest invention; an all-destructive liquid in a tube! In order to celebrate his invention, and primarily also to make an important announcement, he invites all of his monster friends over to the island. And oh yes, all the protagonists from the brilliant horror milestones (Universal and others) attend the monster mash: Count Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Frankenstein's creature and his bride, the Mummy, The Invisible Man, the Creature from Black Lagoon, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and an uninvited mystery guest referred to as "it". However, the party turns sour and hostile when the monsters learn that Baron Von Frankenstein will announce his retirement and that he will hand over all of his secret formulas to a nerdy outsider – his nephew – instead of to one of them. The newly added character of Francesca, the Baron's voluptuous and sly secretary, is still original, but other side-characters like butler Yetch (with a voice reminiscent of Peter Lorre), Chef Machiavelli and even Felix Flanken are quite redundant. Instead of giving lines and lyrics to them, I personally would have much preferred that the parts of the familiar monster favorites were a bit more extended. Most of them don't have anything to do, except to howl and groan occasionally. The Claymation is inarguably wonderful and still very admirable even by today's high standards. I bet that even nowadays clay-wizards like Adam Elliot ("Mary and Max") or Peter Lord ("Wallace & Gromit") are big fans of these designs and that they couldn't do a better job.

What a shame that Rankin/Bass, the people who produced some of the most beloved Christmas specials ever ("Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," etc.) only did two theatrical films, this and "The Daydreamer" a year earlier. "Mad Monster Party" is, like those specials, fun for all ages. Boris Karloff brings his inimitable prescense to the voice of Baron Frankenstein. With this film and Bogdonovich's "Targets" the next year, this old master of the horror film couldn't have asked for a better send-off. And then there's Phyllis Diller, bringing her particular brand of wackiness (And a surprisingly good singing voice!) to the role of "The Monster's Mate." The clay animation throughout is up to Rankin/Bass's usual excellent standard and the result is enjoyable, campy fun, at Halloween or anytime.