Count Dracula and the Wolf Man seek cures for their afflictions; a hunchbacked woman, a mad scientist and Frankenstein's Monster have their own troubles.
House of Dracula is a 1945 American monster, crossover, horror film released by Universal Pictures. It was a direct sequel to House of Frankenstein and continued the theme of combining Universal's three most popular monsters: Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange), Count Dracula (John Carradine) and the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney, Jr.).
Dracula arrives at Dr. Edelman's office asking for a cure to his vampirism. However, this is a ruse by Dracula to get near Dr. Edelman's beautiful female assistant and turn her into a vampire. Meanwhile, a sincere Lawrence Talbot, AKA the Wolfman, arrives seeking a cure for his lycanthropy. When Dr. Edelman's first attempt fails, Talbot tries to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff, but instead finds a network of underground caves where Frankensteins Monster is in stasis. Chaos ensues as the three monsters fight for dominance of each other.
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| The super scary horrible hunchback |
If you take a quick peek at the picture above and the poster up top, you'll see one of the monsters. A drop dead beautiful woman that has a hunchback. Who the fuck came up with this idea? We have Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Dracula and a Playboy model Hunchback.
Overall, this film isn't as good as the earlier House of Frankenstein. The 1944 film put its plot together better than this entry in the series does, as the plot here doesn't give equal time to each Universal monster. Dracula's plot is the biggest at first, but soon fizzles out only to resurface at the end. The Wolf Man is the star of the show, but his story never really develops, and is essentially just another version of the plot he always finds himself in. Frankenstein's Monster is given the coldest hand, as he appears in the movie merely as an afterthought, and an obvious excuse to ensure that all three monsters appear in the movie. The story of the doctor who binds all three together is the most interesting.
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| I will tap dance for your blood. |
Carradine actually gives a very good performance as Dracula. He isn't chewing up the scenery as he will in later roles. It's hard to repress giggles when he appears in a fucking top hat though.The cape/cloak is traditional but that ugly ass top hat has to go son. Is this the vampire king or fucking Fred Astaire about to tap dance for your blood? And Lawrence Talbot (Wolf Man) now has a 70's porno mustache. I bet he likes it doggy style. I'll see myself out now.
The film, however, belongs to Onslow Stevens who manages both facets of the doctor's personality - the intellectual, rather cold scientist who finds logic even in the supernatural and, when infected with Dracula's blood, the prowling Hyde-like menace who re-activates the Frankenstein monster (whom he just happens to come across in a cave, by the way) for his sinister purposes.
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| Never Before...So Much Horror Under One Roof ! |
The settings are atmospheric and creepy, the music is appropriate (many themes rehashed from previous entries) and the acting is good considering the same inane dialogue the actors were required to deliver. Unfortunately the powers-to-be made such drastic cuts in the budget that footage from the ending of 'Ghost of Frankenstein' was stolen to fill in the final closing seconds (the original ending, as written, was staged in the catacombs beneath the laboratory, with the floor giving way to engulf Edelmann and the Monster). The only saving grace is that Universal made up for it by concluding the saga with 'Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein'.
Director Erle C. Kenton is back again and this time he finally captures the dark nature of these three characters, a nature that was apparently lost in the previous film. Despite the low-budget, Kenton crafts a Gothic horror that while simple, is quite effective, and even manages to present old partners such a these characters in a fresh way. While it's never on the level of the originals, "House of Dracula" recovers that charm that Universal Studios horror films used to have, and Kenton makes sure that at least for a last time the monsters receive a chance to shine.
"House of Dracula" is a nice closure to one of the best times for the horror genre, a time when ghosts and ghouls roamed the foggy nights, and mad scientists gave life to hideous monsters.
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| The Super-Shock Sensation Of All Time... All Together... All Terrific... Bringing All NEW Thrills! |
Trivia:
Actor Glenn Strange suffered greatly during the shooting of the scene in which the Frankenstein Monster is discovered in quicksand. After sitting for three hours in the makeup chair each morning, having his makeup applied by Jack P. Pierce, Strange would spend the rest of the day buried in cold liquid mud (which doubled for the quicksand). "Then everybody else went out for lunch," Strange recalled. "By the time they came back, I was so cold, I could barely feel my legs." Strange's co-star, Lon Chaney Jr., suggested that Strange use alcohol to keep himself warm. Throughout the day, Chaney passed a bottle of whiskey to Strange in between takes. By the end of the day, Strange recalled, he was so drunk he could barely dress himself after removing his monster makeup and costume.
Lionel Atwill was terminally ill with cancer during filming and died six months after the production wrapped.
House of Dracula actually features four different actors in the role of the Frankenstein Monster. In addition to Glenn Strange, Boris Karloff plays the Monster in footage lifted from The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and the climax uses scenes of both Lon Chaney Jr. and his stunt double, Eddie Parker, as the Monster from The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942).
This is the only film in which Lon Chaney Jr.'s character Lawrence Talbot sports a mustache.
Shot September 21-October 25, 1945, released December 7. Last of Universal's original FRANKENSTEIN series of seven films, except for 1948'S Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).
Although the Frankenstein Monster is found still clutching the skeleton of Dr. Niemann after wandering into quicksand in House of Frankenstein (1944), the resurrections of Larry Talbot/the Wolf Man and Count Dracula from their "deaths" in the same film are not explained.
Lon Chaney Jr. here completed his pact with Universal, which began in December 1940, with Man Made Monster (1941). John Carradine would go on to play Dracula on stage, once on television (in Matinee Theatre: Dracula (1956)) , and in two more features, Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966) and Nocturna (1979).
Part of the Son of Shock package of 20 titles released to television in 1958, which followed the original Shock Theatre release of 52 features one year earlier.
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| The top hat of doom |
The climatic scenes of the Monster trapped by the fire were "borrowed" from the ending of The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), where Lon Chaney Jr. played the Monster. Therefore, when Chaney (as Talbot) shouts to the villagers to "Get out! The Frankenstein Monster!", he's actually running away from himself (and Eddie Parker, who doubled for Chaney in the earlier film).
According to the Universal Film Script series entry for "House of Dracula", the film grew out of an earlier script, "The Wolf Man vs. Dracula", a proposed follow-up to Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) in which Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) would do battle with Dracula (Bela Lugosi, to be doubled by a "giant bat". At the climax, villagers attack the house and the Wolf Man kills a large number of them. The Hays Office flat-out rejected the script as too violent, so a more toned-down version was written, and eventually became this rather tame film (although Lionel Atwill does get electrocuted again, this time by Dr. Edelmann.)
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| Don't laugh at my mustache mother fucker. |
