Transylvania 6-5000 (1985)

Director:

Rudy De Luca

Writer:

Rudy De Luca (writer)

Release Date:

8 November 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror

Tagline:

WANTED: Two thrill-seeking reporters, brains optional, looking to dig up the story of the century. For information call...

Plot:

Two reporters travel to a strange castle in Transylvania to investigate the apparent reappearance of Frankenstein...

Plot Keywords:

Horror Spoof | Mummy | Spoof | Vampire | Werewolf

Cast

Jeff Goldblum	...	Jack Harrison
Joseph Bologna	...	Dr. Malavaqua
Ed Begley Jr.	...	Gil Turner
Carol Kane	...	Lupi
Jeffrey Jones	...	Lepescu
John Byner	...	Radu
Geena Davis	...	Odette
Michael Richards	...	Fejos
Donald Gibb	...	Wolfman
Norman Fell	...	Mac Turner
Teresa Ganzel	...	Elizabeth Ellison
Rudy De Luca	...	Lawrence Malbot
Inge Apelt	...	Madame Morovia
Bozidar Smiljanic	...	Insp. Percek
Petar Buntic	...	Hunyadi

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

Yugoslavia | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M (DVD rating) | Iceland:12 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Australia:PG | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Samobor, Croatia

Company:

Balcor Film Investors

Trivia:

Leonard Maltin, reviewing this film for "Entertainment Tonight" (1981), gave it one of his shortest reviews ever: "Transylvania 6-5000 stunk. I'm Leonard Maltin, Entertainment Tonight."

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The plane shown taking off in the opening credits is not the same type of plane shown flying in the air, and the plane shown landing is yet a third type. This could be a goof, but in the 1980s it likely would have been a connecting flight.

Quotes:

Fejos: Would you like to buy a monkey?

Movie Connections:

References Frankenstein (1931)

Soundtrack:

Romantic Theme

Worth A Watch

I love a good horror comedy, and this movie does a great job poking fun at tabloids, the old movie monsters as well as East Europe. The plot is good, but the script seems written by high school kids with a mismatch of jokes and laughs varying from funny and hilarious to just bad. Some of them shoved down your throat. First off, Goldblum and Begley are a hilarious comedy team; Goldblum acts like some sort of genius in logic with Begley as his gullible foil. Begley is a believer, but Goldblum is a confirmed skeptic with a sense of humor. They are sent to Transylvania to investigate someone masquerading as the Frankenstein monster. Not knowing exactly where the region is, they are told it is over there somewhere. The problem with this is that Transylvania is not a town or a country; it's a region of Romania (the movie was actually filmed in Yugoslavia). Nevertheless, the locals, somehow knowing too much of American culture, have fun teasing these bumbling reporters. Jeffrey Jones is a bit subdued in his acting, but Joe Bologna has a fun time with his role. Michael Richards plays a bellboy doing bad prop comic jokes in order to get Begley to take him to Hollywood. The funniest characters are John Byner and Carol Kane as married servants who have been married too long. He wants to take things easy, but she is still in love with him. In some scenes, Kane is almost as funny and coquettish as Madonna used to be. Geena Davis, however, is woefully miscast as a sex starved lady pretending to be a vampire. As a whole, it's not a bad movie, but the soundtrack is bad and the ending just doesn't measure up to the movie. The whole thing sort of ends anti-climactically with a whimper, but yet, it's still worth a watch.