Halloween Party: Mad Monster Party
From the classic tales of Rudolph and Frosty to lesser-known (but still wonderful) specials like The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, Rankin and Bass spent decades as the kings of animated Christmas specials, with a specialty in stop-motion. Their attempts at other holidays ranged from the sweetly simple (Rudolph’s Shiny New Year) to the forgettable (Here Comes Peter Cottontail) to the ridiculous (Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July). For a rare venture into the world of Halloween, 1969’s Mad Monster Party was pretty good.
The premise of this feature-length film is that the ruler of the monsters, mad scientist Dr. Boris Frankenstein (voiced by the unmistakable Boris Karloff) wants to retire and leave his post to his unsuspecting nephew Felix. Before he hangs up his hat, though, he’s going to go out with one more party, and all the monsters are invited. The trouble is, not all of them are too keen on the idea of being led by a lowly human. Dracula and the “Monster’s Mate” (Bride of Frankenstein, in essence, voiced by and portrayed by a figure that looks exactly like Phyllis Diller), begin hatching a scheme to get poor Felix out of the picture.
The film is by no means on the level of the Rankin-Bass masterpieces. It’s not as funny, for one thing, and the few new characters are highly forgettable. The movie is a musical, but there aren’t any classic songs like Rudolph or Frosty’s title tracks, or even any particularly memorable or catchy ones like “Miracles” from T’was the Night Before Christmas. Where the film does succeed is in the cast - virtually every great movie monster of the day is represented: Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, the wolfman, the mummy, the Invisible Man, the Creature (from the Black Lagoon), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde… even the Hunchback of Notre Dame and “It” (a clear King Kong knock-off). There is an undeniable sense of fun and excitement in seeing all these monsters sharing a scene together, and seeing it in the Rankin-Bass style makes it even better. Most of the monsters have fairly incidental roles - henchmen, basically, for Dracula and the Mate - but “It”’s appearance at the end steals the show.
While this film won’t go down in the annals of history as one of the all-time great Halloween movies, it’s still pleasant enough, and makes for a nice appetizer for kids (of any age) who just can’t wait until December for their feast of stop-motion animation classics. The feature-length film is now available on DVD, and worth the ten bucks or so it should cost you.