House Of Frankenstein could have been the be all, end all of horror battles. Frankensteins Monster, The Wolf Man and Dracula engaged in a three-way battle to the death. Instead we get this, and its a great little monster flick, full of all the stuff you have come to expect from universal horror, but damn I wish I could have saw that epic battle I thought this film would show.
The film is basically split in two parts. The first half deals with a condensed Dracula story with Dracula being played by John Carradine who, although not as good as Lugosi, brings an understated, menacing evil to the role, his voice is also as smooth as butter. The first half is extremely entertaining and sets up the second half well.
The second half deals with Dr. Niemann (played by Boris Karloff) and his hunchback assistant Daniel (played by J. Carrol Naish) on the search for Dr. Frankensteins notes on his experiments. Searching Frankensteins castle they find the preserved bodies of both Larry Talbot (played by Lon Chaney Jr.) and The Monster (played by Glen Strange). From there its pretty standard affair, brain transplants, mad doctors, backstabbing and all that good stuff.
The cast all have a nice upbeat energy, like there all happy to be doing the picture. Carradine, Karloff, Chaney and Strange all give great performances (even if Chaneys Talbot is starting to get a little old and tired) and I was especially surprised by Glen Strange, who was coached by Karloff into how to play The Monster properly. The love triangle between Daniel, Larry and Rita is actually a very refreshing thing to see in a Universal Horror film and its a nice diversion from the typical themes these films recycle.
Overall, its good campy fun and nothing more, the formula was getting tired for Universal at this point so the fact they still managed to pull off even a decent film is actually pretty good.
The film is basically split in two parts. The first half deals with a condensed Dracula story with Dracula being played by John Carradine who, although not as good as Lugosi, brings an understated, menacing evil to the role, his voice is also as smooth as butter. The first half is extremely entertaining and sets up the second half well.
The second half deals with Dr. Niemann (played by Boris Karloff) and his hunchback assistant Daniel (played by J. Carrol Naish) on the search for Dr. Frankensteins notes on his experiments. Searching Frankensteins castle they find the preserved bodies of both Larry Talbot (played by Lon Chaney Jr.) and The Monster (played by Glen Strange). From there its pretty standard affair, brain transplants, mad doctors, backstabbing and all that good stuff.
The cast all have a nice upbeat energy, like there all happy to be doing the picture. Carradine, Karloff, Chaney and Strange all give great performances (even if Chaneys Talbot is starting to get a little old and tired) and I was especially surprised by Glen Strange, who was coached by Karloff into how to play The Monster properly. The love triangle between Daniel, Larry and Rita is actually a very refreshing thing to see in a Universal Horror film and its a nice diversion from the typical themes these films recycle.
Overall, its good campy fun and nothing more, the formula was getting tired for Universal at this point so the fact they still managed to pull off even a decent film is actually pretty good.