Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters – review

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Directors: Jules Bass & Arthur Rankin Jr.

Release date: 1972

Contains spoilers


This was a cartoon sequel to the 1967 stop motion animation Mad Monster Party? - ish… I say ish because whilst it featured a cornucopia of monsters and was part directed by Jules Bass it actually is about building a bride for the Frankenstein Monster and the subsequent wedding, whilst the monster already had a partner in the earlier animation.

It also features voice actors (mainly Allen Swift as the monsters, with Bob McFadden voicing Baron Frankenstein). This gave the thing a more generic cartoon feel. Of course, they couldn’t get Karloff back to voice the Baron, as by the time this was produced he had, sadly, passed on, but I have to say that I hated the Baron’s voice through this.

Dracula with Norman

Basic story is that the Baron builds a bride for the monster, but Igor wants her for himself. He actually loses the bride, at one point, and the monsters have to go rescue her from Modzoola (essentially King Kong). Meanwhile Harvey the postman is having a nervous breakdown, having had to deliver wedding invites to the monsters, and so gets a new job – standing in as manager of the hotel where the wedding will take place. His histrionics are contrasted against the bellhop Norman, who believes all the monsters to be movie stars from his favourite films.

Dracula and son

Of course Dracula is part of the proceedings. He now has a son and a cat. Other than a few comments about blood types; Dracula, “What blood type are you?” Harvey, “Why?” Dracula, “My favourite type!” As well as the son turning into a bat, there really isn’t that much of a role for the character. Though his part is bigger than, say, the Mummy or the Creature (from the Black Lagoon).

The bride

The trouble was, quite frankly, I was bored. The gags were average to say the best and the actual animation poor. Add in how much the Baron’s voice bugged and the fact that the plot was flimsier than a see-through shroud worn on a monster’s wedding night and I finished watching the film less than impressed – though thankfully it was fairly short.

Not brilliant. 3 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.