Dollar Store Monster Mash!
The Spanish Frankenstein monster (Fernando Bilbao). Look closely at those scars!
Where did you get those fangs, Howard?
What are your favorite Jess Franco movies to watch during the Halloween season?
One of my favorites is DRACULA CONTRA FRANKENSTEIN aka DRACULA, PRISONER OF FRANKENSTEIN aka THE SCREAMING DEAD aka DIE NACHT DER OFFENEN SARGE aka SANTANA CONTA DR EXORTIO [!. This 1971 no-budget monster rally offers an uncanny representation of the spirit of Halloween with its prowling famous monsters of filmland, mad scientists and weird atmosphere crackling with inhuman shrieks.
The costuming and make-up of the Frankenstein monster, Dracula and the werewolf actually look like Halloween costumes quickly executed by some kids with garage-sale clothing, crackerjack box fangs and some handy magic markers used to draw the surgical scars onto the face of Frankenstein monster actor Fernando Bilbao. All this makes it all the more fun to watch for me. It's bargain basement Gothic.
In a way it's the director's critique of the then-popular Hammer horrors and his cut-rate homage to the Universal horror movies of the 1930s and 40s (cf HOUSE OF DRACULA). I can understand how horror genre purists could dismiss it and take offense but it all brings a smile to my face every time I watch it.
