MovieChat Forums > House of Dracula (1945) Discussion > My main complaint (Please Read)

My main complaint (Please Read)

posted 16 years ago by TimWagner3
13 replies | jump to latest

I simply can't get into this movie because of the monsters' lack of screen time. All three of the monsters never meet! I know this might sound juvenille, but I wanted to see an epic fight at the end. Even if The Monster, Dracula, and the Wolfman would have simply shaked hands and went their separate ways during one brief scene, I would have been appeased.

I feel sorry for Glenn Strange. I honestly feel that he looked great behind Jack Pierce's legendary makeup. I think he would have made a great monster. But unforunatley, he succumbs to the same fate in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. He spends almost the entire movie unconcious while looking threatening. What was the point of enduring all those long hours of makeup for under five minutes of screen time? The Monster comes to life and dies two mintutes later. And most of the fire was borrowed from GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN. Stock footage proved to be the real monster.

Sorry for my rant. I was just wondering if any other Universal Monster fans felt the same way.

Thanks

[–] browncis 16 years ago

I think the screen writer and/or director probably felt that since monster vs. monster fights had been used in previous horror flicks, that they would use a somewhat different resolution here.

[–] cjstimpy2 15 years ago

I completely agree with you. What's the point of having all 3 monsters in one film if they don't even interact with each other?

To me this and House of Frankenstein felt like the SpiderMan3 of Universal Monster movies. There's not nearly enough parts with the Monster, and Dracula seems very easily gotten rid of, (2/3 of the way through House of Dracula, and 1/3 of the way through House of Frankenstein).

The only character these movies somewhat do justice for was resolving and curing the Wolf-Man.

oh yeah and you're totally right about the stock footage from Ghost of Frankenstein. Man, so much wasted potential!

[–] YGoodwriter 15 years ago

Its true. In both 'House' films, the writers/Director couldn't seem to come up with a script that accomodated all three monsters. The first one focused mostly on Neimann and Talbot, and the second on Dracula, Talbot and the Doctor. Poor Glen Strange got nothing to do until the final moments. Even "Abbott & Costello Meets Frankenstein" did a better job of utilizing all three monsters successfully.

[–] Xcalat3 15 years ago

I agree they never interact and that was a big failure in the script

When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...

[–] babyfir77 14 years ago

Good points! It would have probably improved the film. But I liked the story and it kept my interest.

Another film with three big stars that rarely interact would be the horrendous
Scream and Scream Again. Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.
Only Price and Lee interact just once. That's it.

[–] tnoel13-5 14 years ago

Yeah the wasted opportunity of not using all three monsters togther was the biggest flaw in not only this movie but also in house of frankenstein.

[–] Bill-16 11 years ago

I only read it cause you said 'please' ;) Personally, I was surprised at how good Carridine was as Dracula. Always been a fan of his, but after Lugosi I didn't think even he could pull it off so well.

It could have been better, sure, but it could have been much worse.

[–] kgwrote-854-104240 8 years ago

Scream and Scream Again is a different kind of film. Cushing came in at the last minute I hear.

But I agree about H of D.
Especially since, in Abbott and Costello Meets Frankenstein, Larry Talbot says "we meet again Count Dracula."

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7985) 8 years ago

I somewhat agree. Same thing really happened with the first team up movie of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. They didn't have the monsters fight til the end of the movie. Then House of Frankenstein has none of the monsters fighting at all.
Also it's kind of unfortunate but sequels were a relatively new thing back then and film makers and producers didn't try to make them feel more connected. And that's not a problem with just this movie and it's predecessor but with the Frankenstein and Dracula sequels from before.

[–] jasonbourne (1027) 6 years ago

Huh. I can't get no satisfaction. This is one of the reasons why the Stones wrote that song.