Mad Monster Party
– Special Edition (1967/Stop Motion
Animation/Lionsgate DVD)
Picture: B- Sound: C+ Extras: B Film: B
When
Baron Von Frankenstein, leader of Worldwide Organization of Monster decides to
retire and step down, he gathers all (well... almost all) his fellow monsters
to announce his successor in an all out monster party! Who or whatever inherits from Dr. Frankenstein
will not only become the new leader of the monsters but get all of Dr.
Frankenstein’s secrets as well! Guest
monsters include Dracula, Werewolf, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, The Mummy, The
Invisible Man and many more ghouls and creatures, what starts out as a party
turns into an all out monster free for all in Mad Monster Party.
From the
creators of Rudolph, The Red-Nosed
Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman,
Studio Canal and Lionsgate bring the Rankin-Bass comical/musical stop-motion
animation of monster proportions in this 1967 feature film. With classic monsters all around the globe,
they tell a frightfully funny tale of a gathering of monsters. When the monsters find out Dr. Frankenstein
intends his nephew to inherit his secrets, they get jealous and think of ways
of becoming the next successors, it becomes an all out monster brawl, last
monster standing wins!
This is a cute tale of monsters, I would consider it more of an art for film,
with all the CG nowadays it is good to see there is still people who use
"Stop motion animation" with puppets, wires, Claymation. It was a way of animating characters before
cartooning and drawing cells became popular. That a days work of stopping and moving
puppets is taking pictures frame by frame and at the end of the day you have
only 5 seconds worth of film, so thinking of stop motion film creators making a
movie running 95 minutes deserve a lot of credit for making such a film. Extras include the secrets to stop motion
animations and sing along songs.
The film
is back in print after several previous DVD releases, so it is in print often
enough and just in time this time for Halloween 2009. The transfer is on par with the previous DVDs
with some softness, but good color.
While we wait on a Blu-ray edition to really bring out how good this
looks, here is our previous review of the older DVD with the CD soundtrack:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/195/Mad+Monster+Party+(CD+++DVD
If you’ve
never seen it, catch it, especially before they go through with a planned
remake!
- Ricky Chiang
