draculavsfranken

This is what drive in movies are all about. Somehow director Al Adamson manages to mix bikers, hippies, L.S.D., the beach, Las Vegas, axe murderers, mad scientists, midgets, a sideshow, and of course Dracula and Frankenstein's monster all into one movie. An incoherent movie perhaps, but an enjoyable one nonetheless.

overacting members of the delighted audience is Al Adamson in a Hitchcock style cameo right up the back. After the performance , Miss Fontaine receives a telegram telling her that her sister has gone missing from the seaside community of Venice. Judith decides to go there in search of her sister.

What she doesn't know is that Dr. Frankenstein ( who runs a kind of freakshow at the run down amusement park on the beach) has had his assistant Groton lop off her sisters head with an axe so that he can experiment on her. Not only that , none other than Dracula himself (played by Adamsons' accountant) has turned up at the not so peaceful beachside hippy/biker/misfit community. Dracula has found the remains of the Frankenstein monster and takes them to the good doctor. Frankenstein revives the monster, and agrees to help Dracula find a serum to protect him from sunlight.

More and more young hippies start winding up dead thanks to Grotons axe. Groton is a serum addict from way back, and Frankenstein can get him to do anything for a fix. A perfect role for Lon Chaney jr. really, since he was an alcoholic on the skids at the time. The remainder of the movie is a wild ride of monsters, bikers, and mayhem, as Judith gets closer to finding out the truth about her sisters disappearance. It all leads to a violent confrontation where the monster falls for Judith, and as the title suggests, Dracula and Frankenstein get it on in a fight to the death.

A lot of people have criticised Adamson as being a bad filmmaker , but like the films of Ed Wood, Vincent Dawn, and screenwriter Tito Carpi, they've really missed the point. It's got a whole lot of funny scenes. The most memorable are Judith's acid trip , a couple of hippies who aren't sure what they're protesting about, and of course Draculas booming echoing voice. It really had everything a cult film fan could ask for. Something different was always happening, and there was never a dull moment. A lot of films have been influenced by it too. The Lost Boys borrowed the whole 'amusement park by the sea overshadowed by dread and filled with lowlives' angle , and even 1972's Bloodsucking Freaks seemed to take a few pointers from Adamsons effort (mainly using darkened sets and a basic plot to save money). This movie is overrated by some , and never really took full advantage of the biker and hippy themes, but is a fun staple of late night t.v. , and a worthy time capsule for the drive-in era.