Join The MAD MONSTER PARTY Thursday December 5th at Schlafly Bottleworks – ‘Culture Shock’

MAD MONSTER PARTY (1967) is screening at 7pm Thursday, December 5th at Schlafly Bottleworks – 7260 Southwest Ave St Louis, MO 63143. Doors open at 6:30pm. It’s a fundraiser for Helping Kids Together. Attend wearing a monster costume and you may win a DVD of the film!

“Rankin/Bass” is a moniker long associated with television for the company’s long line of animated specials, the best-known being Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer which first aired in 1964. Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass brought their craft to the big screen the first with WILLY MCBEAN AND HIS MAGIC MACHINE in 1965, which was a flop as were their primarily live-action Hans Christian Andersen musical THE DAYDREAMER (1966) and the traditionally-animated THE WACKY WORLD OF MOTHER GOOSE (1967). While Rankin/Bass was soon to become a fixture in holiday television, a fact we were all reminded of every December, the studio tried once more for cinematic success with 1967’s musical MAD MONSTER PARTY made in their signature sopt-motion style, a technique they dubbed “Animagic.” I saw MAD MONSTER PARTY at the Ellisville Theater when I was around nine years old (it must have been a reissued Saturday Matinee) and, of course, since I was a monster-loving weirdo, I loved it. But every year they would show Rudolph on TV, and I wondered when I was gonna see MAD MONSTER PARTY, the Rudolph for monster kids. I didn’t catch up to it again until I was an adult and I was pleased to discover it holds up monstrously well. Now you’ll have the chance to see MAD MONSTER PARTY on the big screen when it plays Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood on Thursday, December 5th.

MAD MONSTER PARTY unites eight classic-era movie monsters into its ridiculous story. Baron Boris von Frankenstein (voiced by Boris Karloff), decides to hang up his lab coat and turn his castle and duties over to his less than capable nephew Felix Flankin (Allen Swift). He plans to make this announcement at a gathering of creatures that includes a dim-witted monster he has created, the monster’s mate (voiced by St. Louis’ own Phyllis Diller), his lab assistant Francesca (Gale Garnett), Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Dracula, the Werewolf, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Mummy, and a King Kong-like ape), and a creepy Peter Lorre-like character. Naturally, Felix goofs up everything, which causes the monsters to conspire to eliminate him and find out the secret that Frankenstein his unearthed.

The title song, with Jules Bass’ own lyrics, is performed by Jazz singer Ethel Ennis in a Shirley Bassey/GOLDFINGER style that’s a riot. Maury Laws did the score for the film, including a great moment for Ms Diller singing “You’re Different”, and Karloff doing a spoken word rap on “One Step Ahead” but my favorite song is “The Mummy”. This is a hilarious track where a monster rock band plays their ode to the famous bandaged character. MAD MONSTER PARTY was co-written by MAD Magazine founder Harvey Kurtzman, and it does have that feel of a classic MAD Mag feature, especially when the puppet models were designed by MAD illustrator Jack Davis. If you’ve never seen MAD MONSTER PARTY, you owe yourself this opportunity.

Thursday, December 5th, you can join the party at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood (7260 Southwest Ave St Louis, MO 63143) when MAD MONSTER PARTY screens as part of the A Film Series monthly ‘Culture Shock’ Film Festival. Doors open at 6:30pm. $6 suggested for the screening. A yummy variety of food from Schlafly’s kitchen is available as are plenty of pints of their famous home-brewed suds. Dan the bartender will be on hand to take care of you.

Attend wearing a monster costume and you may win a DVD of the film!

“Culture Shock” is the name of a film series here in St. Louis that is the cornerstone project of a social enterprise that is an ongoing source of support for Helping Kids Together (http://www.helpingkidstogether.com/) a St. Louis based social enterprise dedicated to building cultural diversity and social awareness among young people through the arts and active living.

The films featured for “Culture Shock” demonstrate an artistic representation of culture shock materialized through mixed genre and budgets spanning music, film and theater. Through ‘A Film Series’ working relationship with Schlafly Bottleworks, they seek to provide film lovers with an offbeat mix of dinner and a movie opportunities.

We hope to see everyone  Thursday night December 5th!

THE FACEBOOK Invite for the event can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/509763749139916/

Schlafly Bottleworks site can be found HERE

http://schlafly.com/bottleworks/