Release Year: 1967
Country: United States
Starring: Boris Karloff, Allen Swift, Gale Garnett, Phyllis Diller.
Writers: Forrest J. Ackerman, Harvey Kurtzman, Len Korobkin
Director: Jules Bass
Cinematographer: Tad Mochinaga
Music: Maury Laws
Producer: Arthur Rankin Jr.
Availability: Buy it from Amazon

Kids love monsters. Maybe it’s the feeling of being small and powerless that makes them identify with something large and destructive, like Godzilla or Frankenstein’s monster, or maybe it’s the fact that monsters are just, well…cool. Kids have always loved monsters and bizarre tales, and in the sixties there was an explosion of monster related entertainment aimed at kids . This was the age of Big Daddy Roth’s knuckle-dragging hot-rod driving monsters, Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, and dozens of TV shows featuring men dressed as ghouls showing old horror movies.

Not surprisingly, this is the era that Mad Monster Party was born in. Originally shown in theaters, the film was edited to show on TV for years afterward during Halloween. Remember Halloween specials? I don’t think they have those anymore. Hell, schools don’t even have Halloween parties anymore, they’re called “Fall Festivals.” What the hell? But then again, I live in the Bible Belt, so things may be different where you live.

Mad Monster Party is a full length feature produced by Rankin/Bass, using that cool-looking claymation technique used in all those Christmas specials, like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and that one about the elf that wanted to be a dentist. The movie opens with Baron Von Frankenstein (voiced by Boris Karloff) finally perfecting his latest and last formula, a potion that will destroy all matter. Possibly shaken by this discovery, the Baron decides to throw one last party to announce his retirement to all the assembled monsters.

And everyone’s favorite monsters are coming! The Wolfman, Dracula, the Mummy, Dr. Jeckyll, the Invisible Man, even Phyllis Diller. Phyllis Diller? Yeah, well if there’s one thing the kids love more than a team-up of classic monsters, it’s the comedy stylings of Phyllis Diller. Frankenstein’s two assistants, Yecch, a Peter Lorre character, and Francesca, a cute girl, prepare for the big bash. Yecch has a “thing” for Francesca, but she doesn’t exactly return his affections. Over where all the “normals” live, an invite comes via bat to Felix, the Baron’s nerdy human nephew. Felix is a bumbling pharmacist who sounds a little like Jimmy Stewart. Frankenstein has chosen Felix as his successor, I suppose to keep the business in the family.

At the opening party, the Baron announces his plans to step down and give all his secrets to Felix. This doesn’t sit well with the monsters, seeing that Felix is a human. Francesca makes a deal with Dracula to team up, get Felix out of the picture and take Frankenstein’s position. Then, to ease the tensions, the Baron introduces Tibia and the Fibulas, a skeleton band wearing Beatle wigs. They play “It’s a Mummy,” which sounds sort of like “Wooly Bully.” If I could see any band in the world, it would definitely be a skeleton band wearing Beatle wigs.

The music doesn’t seem to calm the double-crossing monsters, however, and the tensions erupt with a catfight between Francesca and Phyllis Diller, which starts a huge monster brawl, complete with a pie fight. The rest of the movie consists of the monsters trying to ambush Felix, and trying to keep away from It, a King Kong-type monster, who wasn’t invited, and seems pretty pissed about it. Felix and Francesca eventually fall in love, and Frankenstein saves the day by destroying the island and all the monsters.

Mad Monster Party was written by Harvey Kurtzman, the founder of Mad Magazine, with help from Forrest J. Ackerman, which shows in all the corny jokes. There are a few songs, which aren’t too bad, and luckily the movie is from 1967, which means that it is a few years too early for adults to ruin it with a message. No, Mad Monster Party avoids that trap, and instead celebrates the joys of monsters, weirdness and bad jokes, which is what every kid wants. There is one case however, where the film didn’t age too well. Francesca is cool towards Felix, and then he slaps her, which makes her fall in love with him. Now, I’m not Mr. P.C. or anything, but this scene just comes off as creepy. The next scene, however, shows Francesca falling in love with Felix, and features fireworks, waves washing on a beach, and a claymation palm tree falling over, which is pretty funny.

The animation and voice work in the movie is excellent. If I had seen this as a kid, it would have been all I had talked about for about a month. All of the monsters act like their characters, and yet, don’t really come off as evil or frightening, instead I could imagine kids in the audience wishing they could travel to Monster Island to hang out with the monsters. As a kid, you just knew there was a place like Monster Island somewhere, where all the monsters hung out and did creepy stuff to each other. Sort of how you suspected that bands all lived together in the same house and had adventures on their days off.

Other than that little bit of monster domestic violence, Mad Monster Party is a great film that will remind you of being a kid watching monster movies after your bedtime. So grab a big handful of leftover Halloween candy, sit on the couch, and consider yourself invited to Mad Monster Party. Not even Phyllis Diller can bring down this party.