After the success of pairing The Wolf Man with the Frankenstein Monster in Universal Studio's 1943 monster mash, Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man, they tried their luck again with 1944's House Of Frankenstein. But instead of merely doing the same flick again, they added to it and seriously amped up the cast and scares. House follows its predecessor by picking up exactly where it left off. After The Wolf Man and the Monster are washed away by a river of water, the townsfolk have begun to rest easy. But during a severe thunderstorm, the old jail cell holding Dr. Gustav Niemann (Boris Karloff) and his hunchback friend Daniel (J. Carrol Naish), crumbles apart. Seeing their chance to escape, the two flee during the storm. Niemann's tells Daniel about his older brother, and how he spent his life assisting the original Dr. Henry Frankenstein and learned his secrets of creating life. With the secrets he now possesses, the actual notes Henry took while creating the Monster, and Count Dracula on his side, Niemann is now ready to extract revenge on those who put him in prison. After Dracula is only able to kill the town’s former Burgomaster before being killed himself, Niemann and Daniel travel to the small town outside of Castle Frankenstein in hopes to find some of Henry’s old equipment. Once there though, they discover the bodies of The Wolf Man and the Frankenstein Monster incased in large chunks of ice. He quickly thaws and frees them. The Wolf Man, in human form as Lawrence Talbot, is furious with Niemann for releasing him. He begs him to kill him, but Niemann promises he can cure Talbot’s disease. Soon, his intentions of curing Talbot are taken over by his desire to reanimate the sleeping Monster to help rid him of the other two men who imprisoned him. Riding the popularity of Universal’s previous monster movie, director Erle C. Kenton helped develop the monster rally film that would continue for the next two Universal Monster movies, House Of Dracula and Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. This film is famous for featuring five of the most villainous and vile creatures of all-time; the mad scientist, the hunchback, Count Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster and The Wolf Man! Unfortunately for the fans, Bela Lugosi was not chosen to return as the fang-toothed vampire, leaving John Carradine to fill the void. I do believe he did a better than average job, appearing far more sinister and scary, instead of romantic and elegant. He would reprise his roll with the sequel, appearing as a far more important character than he was here. J. Carrol Naish appeared as Daniel, the unsightly hunchback assistant, replacing the widely popular Dwight Fry, who appeared as hunchbacks in both, Frankenstein and Bride Of Frankenstein. Lon Chaney Jr. did return however, making The Wolf Man the only Universal Monster to be portrayed by one and only one very talented actor (until the 2009 remake). Future western star, Glenn Strange stepped into the large boots and greasepaint of the Monster for the first of three times, taking over for the legendary Boris Karloff. Boris was now well into his 50’s as of filming and was not physically able to handle all the extra weight. But he didn’t just fade away, he become far more evil, using his ominous voice and weathered face to lend an incredible vision of terror to the mad scientist, Dr. Gustav Niemann. Although I personally loved him as the Monster, I think I enjoyed his performance and voice as Niemann just a little bit more, and that helped propel House Of Frankenstein to be my all-time favorite Universal Monster movie. With all this amazing genre talent in one movie, how could anybody resist all of these thrills and chills? Ok, so the thrills and chills might not be anywhere as scary as they once were, but I promise you will definitely enjoy seeing what a real monster movie is all about!
That means #6 will be following very shortly. I hope everyone's week has been good and their Friday's will be a great!
Shawn M
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