the vampire movie database
Mad Monster Party
Genre: Animated
| AKA's: | Fiesta De Los Monstruos, La / Frankensteins Monster-Party |
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| Release date: | 1967 USA | Running time: | 95' (cover 95') - Source: DVD (RC 1/NTSC) | Rating: | UK: U; US: NR | ||||
| Main Crew: |
Director: Jules Bass (The Wind In The Willows 1987; The Coneheads 1983; The Last Unicorn 1982; The Hobbit 1977) Producer: Rankin-Bass / Videocraft International Score: Maury Laws / Jules Bass Writer: Len Korobkin / Harvey Kurtzman / Arthur Rankin Jr. Director of photography: Tadahito Mochinaga |
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| Summary: |
Baron Von Frankenstein, voiced by the legendary Boris Karloff ("Dr. Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas"), holds a special convention of "The Worldwide Organization Of Monsters" to discuss his retirement. When he announces that his successor will be his nerd nephew Felix, the world's major monsters are mortified. Now The Creature's Bride (voiced by Phyllis Diller), Count Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde and more must all scramble to steal the Baron's ultimate secret during one wild party packed with cool monster music and outrageous monster madness! | Note: |
- The film - the third in a three-picture deal signed with producer Joseph Levine and Embassy Pictures - pays homage to nearly every movie monster in Universal's catalog, and was produced in "AniMagic", a stop motion process that utilized (on the average eight inches high and at a cost of about $5000 apiece) puppets that were animated one frame at a time. Unfortunately, the "AniMagic" figures, designed by cartoonist Jack Davis (Mad Magazine & EC Comics), were not made to last: no figure from the film is known to exist at this time. |
- Several characters are based on celebrity voice impersonations by veteran voice actor Allen Swift: Felix speaks a variation of Jimmy Stewart, the Invisible Man is Sidney Greenstreet, and Yetch sounds like Peter Lorre. - "Mad Monster Party" never earned much of an audience in its day because it was released theatrically without much studio support. The film was given a limited release and booked only as a kidee matinee, and so the film quickly disappeared. As a result of neglect after the film's poor box-office performance, the original film negative was water damaged beyond restoration and the films existence was on the verge of extinction, until a pristine 35mm print resurfaced (used for the DVD release). - Tim Burton has cited the film as an influence on his work, especially on "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and it's predecessor, a stop-motion animated short called "Vincent". - In 1972, Rankin/Bass (best known for their television holiday specials as "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty The Snowman") made another Halloween themed full-length feature film, "Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters", this time in drawn animation.
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short review: will come soon!!  |
