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Dracula vs. Frankenstein
[Troma]
1971; color
Directed by Al Adamson
Starring: J. Carrol, Lon Chaney, Regina Carrol, Russ Tamblyn, Anthony Eisley, Jim Davis, Angelo Rossito & Forrest J. Ackerman
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It's hard to imagine how someone can simultaneously be at the apex and nadir of his or her career yet Al Adamson manages to do it all in one film, his shclocksterpiece, Dracula Vs. Frankenstein. This movie is so brilliantly cheap it's hilarious, but there are also moments that transcend the cheapness and are just plain brilliant. We start off with the one-two punch of an anonymous girl getting suddenly beheaded, followed immediately by Dracula grave-robbing Frankenstein's monster, and it only gets better. (And worse.) Most of the action centers around a seaside carnival and the goings-on inside an attraction that's somewhere between a haunted house and a geekatorium. This unique venue is "curated" by the wheelchair-bound Dr. Duryea, who we later learn is a descendant of the original Dr. Frankenstein, and whose hidden agenda is as twisted as his spine. Duryea's assistant, a mute brute named Groton, is played by Lon Chaney Jr. (in his final role). He does the good doctor's bloody bidding while on some sort of Jeckyl / Hyde drug that kind of reminded me of steroids. (An intra-muscular injection of a substance that almost immediately makes you stronger and makes your personality go from pussycat to violent maniac? Sounds like steroids to me.) Soon, Dracula shows up at Duryea's, lets him know he's got the monster (because he also knows that only the doctor can reanimate him) and enlists him to help in his plans. With almost no effort at all, the monster is successfully reawakened. And what a monster he is! Facially, this version looks like a cross between Ben Grimm, a marshmallow and possibly some toast. Needless to say much adventure (of the murdering kind) ensues once we have an active monster thrown into the mix. Also along the way we meet Judith, who's searching the midway for her missing sister. (As it turns out, she was the girl who got beheaded earlier). She gets slipped a Mickey by thugs who think she's a cop and winds up hooked up with some sort of hippie guru guy. As you might guess, the paths of Drac, Duryea, the monster, the girl and the guru are bound to collide and they do so with explosive results. There's so much great stuff in here, like the bizarrely swathed-in-reverb voice of Dracula (he's also got a ring that shoots some kind of ray that makes anything it hits burst into flames) that it boggles the mind and requires repeat viewings. It all boils down to the final epic battle between Drac and the monster, and all I'm gonna say about it is now I know where Monty Python stole the idea for the Black Knight-King Arthur "battle" in Holy Grail. Dracula Vs. Frankenstein displays the type of idiot savant filmmaking style that puts Al Adamson on a par with Ed Wood. Nine out of ten people will probably find this movie abysmal (maybe nine and-a-half), but for the right-thinking rest of you this is pure psychotronic joy.
—the Kommandant
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