House of Frankenstein

Starring: Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine, Anne Gwynne, Peter Coe, Lionel Atwill, Glenn Strange, J. Carrol Naish
Directed by: Erle C. Kenton
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Horror, Fantasy
1944

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A scientist (Boris Karloff) attempts to retrieve the journal of Dr. Frankenstein, which connects him with Dracula, the Wolf Man, and Frankenstein's monster.

Review:

Tim: How do you follow up the first ever meeting of two horror movie icons, Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man? (in 1943's Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man). Simple, bring both icons back, and add in Dracula! This idea is actually fairly sound- if two classic characters is good, three is better, right? The actual execution of this idea unfortunately is lacking. This sequel doesn't live up to the previous film. It's fine, but there simply isn't enough here for it to be a classic.

The biggest question with a movie like this is "does the story hold up?" If you're going to bring all these characters together, the reason has to be fairly compelling. It worked decently well in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, but the story here was significantly weaker. It felt a bit too disjointed and the second half of the film is a retread of the previous movie. This film is pretty average.

My biggest complaint about the film has to do with Dracula. I loved the idea of Dracula included in this movie, but his inclusion is a bit disappointing. He shows up fairly awkwardly early in the movie (why does Dr. Niemann revive him? It just felt forced to me). Even worse, Dracula's whole story is wrapped up fairly quickly- he never even gets the opportunity to interact with Frankenstein's monster or the Wolf Man. That was really disappointing to me. It would have been cool to see all three horror icons together. Dracula is such a cool character, but he's defeated far too easily for me. His inclusion here just felt cheap, and I felt pretty cheated.

The second half of the film felt far too redundant. This time, Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man are both frozen in the ice and revived. Larry Talbot continues his quest for death, but once again, the scientist helping him has more important goals. It just felt like we'd seen this all before. Plus, there's a few big plot holes in the second half of the movie. For example, how are the ruins of Frankenstein's castle intact when we saw them completely demolished by the flood in the last film? It just doesn't make any sense.

I did like the addition of a few new characters. Dr. Niemann was an interesting villain, especially as played by Boris Karloff. I always enjoy the addition of a hunchback, and Daniel was a sympathetic character. I actually felt bad for him, so I give J. Carrol Naish credit for his very human performance. John Carradine is fine as Dracula, but I wish he had more screen time. I also thought Glenn Strange did a better job as the Monster than Bela Lugosi in the previous film. Lon Chaney Jr. is decent again as Larry Talbot. I'm not sure he is getting better as an actor, but the familiarity of the character is making him grow on me.

House of Frankenstein is an okay film, but it is a bit disappointing. I love the idea of adding Dracula into the mix, but his story is separate from the others, which makes his inclusion feel disjointed. Still, a movie with three major horror movie icons can't be all bad. While this isn't a good movie, it was still fun to watch. While the second half of the film makes me think Universal is running out of creative ideas for their horror movie franchises, this was still fairly enjoyable.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man