Dracula Vs. Frankenstein/Review

From The Grindhouse Cinema Database

< Dracula Vs. Frankenstein
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I'm not sure what it is about Al Adamson's films that make them so enjoyable. Could it be that his films are the worst movies ever made in cinematic history? Is it the bad acting that reels me in? Could it be that he uses the same actors for just about every film that he has ever made? Or could it be the bad scripts and complete cheesiness of his films? Whatever it is, I have to say that I'm always intrigued by his films every time I watch them, especially my all time favorite Dracula Vs. Frankenstein.

One day I stumbled into Mondo Video A Go Go on Melrose Blvd. one early afternoon. My head was still cloudy from the night before. I was at a friends recording studio that night doing the usual. My friend told me the night before there was a certain rock band there recording and they had more coke than what they knew to do with. My friend told me that they were wasted and dropping coke on the floor like it was nothing. I spent most of the night on my hands and knees finding big rocks of coke. Another druggie I met at the studio saw me on the floor and immediately knew what I was searching for. We both hit the floor like a bunch of fiends and began a thorough investigation on the dirty carpet. We eventually found enough coke to rail up and man was it worth effort. Rock stars always have the best coke. That's why they're called rock stars.

Later that night, a guy came to the studio. He told us that he just came back from Iran and smuggled some opium into the states. Suddenly, this man became everybody's best friend. He made money hand over fist that night. Anyways, to make a long story short, I went into Mondo Video A Go Go to try to find a film that takes little to no attention to follow. I was hung over and was still smoking opium that next day. The second I laid my eyes on this film, I knew that this was one of the films to rent and review.

The movie starts out with some teens who decide to go into a spook show at the local carnival and in there they meet Dr. Duryea who gives them this speech about how things aren't always the way they appear or some shit like that. Dr. Duryea is actually Dr. Frankenstein, but I'm not sure if they explain that in the film. I assume that Al Adamson just assumed that the audience would figure it out for themselves. For some reason, Dr. Duryeh, has yellow teeth in this scene, but the rest of the movie, he doesn't.

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The teens get out of the spook show and talk about how weirded out they were by the show. At the end of the night, Count Dracula rolls up on Dr. Duryeh with a proposition on bringing Frankenstein to life. Dr. Duryeh throws and attitude on Dracula, so Dracula shoots a laser out of his ring to show him that he means business. Not only does he shoot lasers, but he also has a voice that echoes anytime he says anything, plus he also has the most kick ass perm that I've ever seen on a guy. You better watch out when Dracula is ready to feast, because he certainly looks menacing with his oversized fake fangs.

Dr. Duryeh has his mute assistant (played by Lon Chaney) to go hunt down some people with an axe and take their heads off to help bring Frankenstein to life. His mute assistant has a puppy that he always carries around, plus Dr. Duryeh shoots him up with some shit that keeps him under his control.

In the next scene, Judith Fontaine goes to a local coffee shop, trying to find her lost sister and begins to show her sisters photo to the people there. The guy that runs the place gets a bit paranoid and thinks that she could be a cop, so the owner (played by Russ Tamblyn) tells her to slip some acid in her coffee. She begins to trip out and the film gets a bit psychedelic for a minute. This has to be my favorite part of the movie.

When she starts tripping, the music begins to play backwards, she begins to dance around like a drugged out loon and people at the coffee shop start pushing and shoving her around the dance floor. Somebody comes in and decides to help her out and takes her out of the coffee shop to his place.

Anyways, Dracula and Dr. Duryeh bring Frankenstein to life. This has to be one of the worst Frankenstein's I've ever seen. Isn't Frankenstein supposed to be green? This Frankenstein looks like a mess. His face looks like he was made from a bunch of left over foreskin.

Anyway, to make a long story short the teens wind up at the spook show again trying to find the girl's sister and find out that she's been held captive there. This is where the cheese really comes into play. A midget falls on an axe and Dr. Duryeh accidentally falls out of his wheelchair into a guillotine and gets his head cut off. Finally Frankenstein gets tired of Dracula barking orders and him and Dracula and Frankenstein finally begin to throw down.

This is definitely one of the cheesiest films around, but has been one of my personal favorite B Films for many years. I've seen this movie about 20 times and never grow tired of this flick. This is a must see for anybody interested in schlock cinema.

Reviewed by Horace Bones

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