FRANKENSTEIN VS THE MUMMY – The DVD Review

Review by Sam Moffitt

When I was a kid I loved the monster mash ups that Universal made during the end of their run of classic monster movies. In fact the very first Universal Monster movie I ever got to see was HOUSE OF DRACULA, which featured Lon Chaney’s Wolfman, John Carradine’s Dracula, Glenn Strange’s version of Frankenstein’s Monster plus a mad scientist and a hunchbacked nurse.

Many times over the years those classic monsters have been put through their paces in one form or another, in different configurations. Film makers as diverse as Paul Naschy, Jess Franco, Al Adamson and Ed Wood have thrown together two or more of the classic monsters from Hollywood’s golden age, usually to mixed results. The ultimate monster mash up, in my opinion, is Fred Dekker’s MONSTER SQUAD, one of my favorite movies of all time.

FRANKENSTEIN VS THE MUMMY is a brand new production pitting Frankenstein’s Monster against…The Mummy? To their credit the film makers put forth a story line that would bring these two creatures together. On the same college campus are Victor Frankenstein (Max Rhyser) doing what Frankenstein’s always do, sewing together body parts and trying to bring the dead back to life. It’s never made clear, by the way, just who in the lineage of the Frankenstein family this Victor is, a great grandson? Cousin? Great nephew?

No matter, of course he brings the dead back to life, but this Victor is not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. He uses the brain of his flunky (Robert McNaughton) who has sworn to kill him, apparently not realizing that brain will know who he is and putting his own life in danger.

On the same campus is a team of archeologists, including Ashton Leigh as Nailah Kalil, who also is the love interest for Victor Frankenstein, who have a Mummy just waiting to come back to demonic life. A little blood and the right incantations and this Mummy is up and walking, like Mummy’s always do “You should have seen his face!”

The final show down is about what you would expect, I don’t like to give out spoilers but does anybody think the Mummy, made of cob webs and dust, could possibly stand up against Frankenstein’s Monster?

It is nice to see a new movie that tries it’s best to bring the old Monsters back. In a nod to current trends in horror movies both Frankenstein’s Monster and the Mummy have a nasty habit of punching into people’s torsos, pulling out their internal organs and slinging them around the room. Much carnage and mayhem occurs as a result. The gore effects are actually quite good, H.G. Lewis would be impressed!

This Frankenstein’s Monster not only can talk right after his revival he likes to eat, drink beer and smoke cigarettes. When the big show down finally happens this monster takes one look at the Mummy and says “What the fuck?!?”  FRANKENSTEIN VS THE MUMMY could have used a lot more of that humor, trust me, it’s a nice moment and there aren’t many here. This movie takes itself way too seriously, which can be a handicap when a horror movie is not very scary.

At one point Victor tells his creature that he knows he has vocal cords because “I sewed them in there.” Which may or not be a reference to I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN. Again more of that sensibility would have helped.

I hate to put down anybody’s film, especially low budget, independent, productions like this, but Frankenstein versus the Mummy is just not very special. The digital photography is fine, all the actors are actually quite good, especially Ashton Leigh who brings a lot of energy and sincerity to the part of the young archeologist, maybe more than the production calls for. One exception is Boomer Tibbs (really!) as Professor Walton, who is taken over by the Mummy’s mind control early on. I don’t know where Mr. Tibbs came from but he is one of the most annoying actors I have ever witnessed. And I have watched entire movies starring Charles Grodin!

Frankenstein versus the Mummy is a cut above Al Adamson’s DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN, but then my Mom’s home movies are cut above Dracula versus Frankenstein!

This production never really catches that spark of ingenuity or inspiration that will make a low budget horror movie stand out from the crowd. If you read Rue Morgue, Videoscope, Horror Hound or any other magazine devoted to horror movies you’ll know that dozens of these low budget horror movies are released direct to video every month.

Although the concept of pitting disparate monsters together is intriguing. How about Dracula versus the Creature from the Black Lagoon? Dracula takes a Florida vacation and something awful comes up out of the hot tub? Or The Wolfman versus the Phantom of the Opera? Larry Talbot is not only a werewolf he is a pretty good tenor with the Paris Opera and…oh the hell with it!

The only extras are a couple of previews, one for a horror comedy called WOLF COP actually looks very funny, and a commentary by writer/director Leone and the cinematographer.