Monster of the Day #3117

Updated on October 12, 2020 By Ken Begg 16 Comments

Well, back to reality. Sigh.

So we started our make-up, double-length T-Fest with some unofficial showings on Thursday, Oct 1, several hours after I arrived in Dallas. Arthur, Sandy’s son, had never seen Dracula vs Frankenstein. Sandy is the proud owner of Severin’s massive sets of all 32 (!) Al Adamson, so we started the weekend off with that. It still isn’t very good, which I admit isn’t a bold stand.  The scariest things about the film on Sandy’s gigantic TV was Greydon Clark’s zebra-striped pants.

Sandy’s followed this up with T-35, a nifty Russian WWII movie about a crew of improbably stalwart Soviet tankers single-handedly wiping out many, many German tanks. It was short and punchy and quite entertaining.

Then we went to bed, dreaming of the official kick-off of things the next day.

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  • Gamera977

    There is a set of all of Al Adamson’s movies!?! And Sandy owns it!?!?!

    My head hurts…

  • Probably the best Dracula vs Frankenstein ever made. Which is a sad, sad thing to say.

  • zombiewhacker

    One piece of good news… a week or so ago I reported that TCM’s October schedule was pretty blah re: Halloween movies and Cushing/Lee films in particular.

    I’m happy to report that not only has TCM reversed themselves and revamped their schedule, but they’ve taken it upon themselves to name Peter Cushing their Actor of the Month. Not only will every Monday evening in October will be dedicated to movies starring Cushing, but they’re also including movies rarely shown on TCM (or even American TV in general.)

    Tonight they featured the seldom seen Hammer Robin Hood flick Sword of Sherwood Forest
    (with you-know-who as the Sheriff of Nottingham) as well as back to back showings of Cushing’s Dr. Who features.

    Also of note: later in the month TCM plans to show the original Wicker Man with Christopher Lee, which might possibly also be a TCM first.

  • Ken_Begg

    32 films!

  • Ken_Begg

    I’d say the Paul Naschy one is at least slighter better (although I’d like to see the German DVD with the gorgeous widescreen presentation to see how much that helps.) Astoundingly, though, Adamson’s film is quite a bit better–yikes!–then the Jesus Franco Dracula vs Frankenstein, aka Dracula Prisoner of Frankenstein. Man, that film sucks.

  • It aughta be better with the number of monsters in it. i just haven’t been able to sit through it as an adult.

    Well, older person than I was when I first saw it.

  • Gamera977

    I’d never seen an Al Adamson movie. So I found a copy of ‘Dracula vs. Frankenstein’ on YouTube and watched it last night.
    Oh gosh, Ken’s review hit the nail on the head on this one. If someone made a drinking game where you took a slug whenever you muttered ‘WTH!?!’ I’d be dead before I got halfway though the film. I found the echo effect on Dracula’s voice to be particularly hilarious.

  • Beckoning Chasm

    I think “films” is probably the wrong word to use…

  • zombiewhacker

    If you get Amazon Prime, I humbly recommend streaming Adamson’s Gallery of Horrors, a texbook example of how not to do an anthology thriller, featuring John Carradine and Lon Chaney Jr.

  • zombiewhacker

    Although, after having rewatched some of it a few minutes ago, I have to admit Dracula vs. Frankenstein is ten times worse.

  • Gamera977

    Oh cool, I’ll give it a look! I did a search on Adamson on Amazon Prime but nothing came up on Prime.

  • zombiewhacker

    My apologies,Gallery of Horrors was actually directed by David Hewitt, a contemporary of Adamson’s, not Al Adamson himself, but it most certainly is Al Adamson-esque, and is a must for lovers of bad cinema.

    Sorry again for the mixup.

  • Gamera977

    No worries! I’ll give it a shot anyway! Thanks for the recommendation.

  • Gamera977

    Watched it last night. Already had it on my list, I’m a big sucker for anything with Carradine in it. And yeah, not a very good movie…

  • zombiewhacker

    I loved how the film was so low budget that they were forced to recycle the same actors from segment to segment. So the husband and wife from The Witches Clock were also the werewolf and the vampire girl in the final story.

    Bringing back Carradine and Chaney for another segment or two might helped a little bit. Put them together in the same storyline at least, jeez.

  • Gamera977

    Recycling the same actors didn’t bother me, mainly because the segments were so short. The tiny handful of sets bothered me more. And the end of the first segment with the clock- so did the house burn down because they stopped the clock? But it was back to normal for the second couple! And was that stock footage from ‘The Fall of the House of Usher?!?’ Arrrrgggghhhh, my brain hurts!!!