Separation anxiety over these Universal Monsters

HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The Universal Horror series had some first class entries in the Universal Monster canon. The Frankenstein series did well until about "Ghost of Frankenstein" (still fairly chilling thanks to Lugosi's Ygor). Then the series started incorporating other Monsters from their lot, bringing back the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney, Jr.) in the respectable "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" though the film was a sequel to two movies! The Wolf Man subplot was superior but the Lugosi Frankenstein Monster left too much to be desired in that film. Another sequel arrived in 1944 with the underwhelming though still fun "House of Frankenstein." Though it has a myriad of problems, it is still the world of foggy landscapes, a still functioning Frankenstein castle after 15 years since its supposed destruction (not to mention fresh linens in the castle dorms), flirtatious gypsy women, a burgomaster, and the return of the Wolf Man, the Monster, and a fresh batch of new faces including yet another mad scientist and a hunchback assistant (J. Carrol Naish, though he is no Ygor). And we also return to the land of Vasaria, which for some reason the road sign is spelled "Visaria."

Boris Karloff, in the film's most astute, clear-minded performance, is a mad scientist named Dr. Niemann who seeks revenge from his jail cell after being imprisoned for unholy scientific experiments. Wouldn't you know that a horrible electrical storm tears a hole through the prison's concrete floor and, just like that, he and the hunchback assistant flee in the rainstorm. They run into a Professor Lapinski (George Zucco, wish there was more of him) who travels through various carnivals to promote the skeletal body of Count Dracula (John Carradine) who has a stake through his vertebrae. Niemann and the hunchback kill Lapinski while the scientist assumes his name and removes the stake only to bring back Dracula, who must do Niemann's bidding or be staked through the heart. Since when does Dracula have to listen to anyone? Eventually we get a newly married couple who encounter Dracula and a carriage chase ensues, and then the couple disappear from the rest of the movie!

Niemann and his assistant go to Frankenstein's castle (I could have sworn it was completely destroyed in the last sequel), reanimate the Monster (this time played by Glenn Strange) and promises the resurrected Larry Talbot a cure, or something like that (Niemann may replace the hunchback's brain with Larry's or vice versa). Calamity ensues, especially when earlier in the film Niemann allowed a fun-loving gypsy girl Ilonka (Elena Verdugo) to come along - she first falls for the hunchback and then falls for Larry Talbot who drives the carriage to Frankenstein's castle! She develops an affection for Larry, culminating in a twist involving silver bullets that most will not see coming.

"House of Frankenstein" either could've been a swell Dracula movie involving Niemann and the hunchback or a Wolf Man movie involving Ilonka and Niemann and company. When both are meshed, it becomes a clumsily patched mess. The film was heralded at the time as "All the Screen's Titans of Terror - Together in the Greatest of All SCREEN SENSATIONS!" Only the advertising is incorrect - Dracula doesn't share any scenes with Wolf Man or Frankenstein's Monster. Even the Wolf Man barely has a moment with the Monster. The film is a cheat, hurriedly paced yet it still holds a certain bizarre fascination with me, possibly out of nostalgia. Karloff the Uncanny steals the show.