Just perfect...

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

a feature-length, stop-motion animated Halloween musical from Rankin/Bass, the studio which produced most of the animated Christmas classics (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, etc.), as well as The Hobbit (1977) the film features Boris Karloff as the voice of Baron Boris von Frankenstein and Allen Swift as virtually every other character. some character designs and voices are better than others, my favourites being Dracula, Mummy and Jekyll & Hyde. the set pieces are creative and detailed i don't particularly care for the song-and-dance numbers, although the tap-dancing Dracula is amusing, but the jazzy, brass-driven score by Maury Laws in itself makes this a film worth watching. the story is interesting but ends rather abruptly, and the final product could probably have been cut down to about an hour without sacrificing anything crucial imagine Bobby Pickett's Halloween novelty Monster Mash album transmuted into cinema, and you'll have a pretty decent idea of what to expect

Let me come straight to the point with this one and admit that "Mad Monster Party?" nearly wasn't as good or as much fun as I hoped it would be. The actual plot is rather weak, the film is overlong, a large amount of the gags entirely miss their effect and there's way too much singing and dancing going on. What the hell was that about? Someone really ought to add the tag "musical" to the genre description here on the film's IMDb page! But on the other hand, I can't possibly be too harsh or overly critical about a movie that pays so much tribute to my all-time favorite genre of cinema and all of its legendary contributors! All minor defaults and shortcomings aside, "Mad Monster Party?" is a warm-spirited, enthusiast and freshly inventive ode to (classic) horror from the 1930's to the 1960's. As a European kid born in the 80's, I'm not too familiar with the works of Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass, and I never watched any of the "Frosty the Snowman" or "Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer" cartoons as child. But the simple fact that these men managed to cast the awesome Boris Karloff himself in order to voice the Baron Von Frankenstein pivot character more than enough proves to me that they know and respect a great deal of the horror genre. Up in the tower of his castle on the remote Isle of Evil, Baron Von Frankenstein just finished his latest and greatest invention; an all-destructive liquid in a tube! In order to celebrate his invention, and primarily also to make an important announcement, he invites all of his monster friends over to the island. And oh yes, all the protagonists from the brilliant horror milestones (Universal and others) attend the monster mash: Count Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Frankenstein's creature and his bride, the Mummy, The Invisible Man, the Creature from Black Lagoon, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and an uninvited mystery guest referred to as "it". However, the party turns sour and hostile when the monsters learn that Baron Von Frankenstein will announce his retirement and that he will hand over all of his secret formulas to a nerdy outsider – his nephew – instead of to one of them. The newly added character of Francesca, the Baron's voluptuous and sly secretary, is still original, but other side-characters like butler Yetch (with a voice reminiscent of Peter Lorre), Chef Machiavelli and even Felix Flanken are quite redundant. Instead of giving lines and lyrics to them, I personally would have much preferred that the parts of the familiar monster favorites were a bit more extended. Most of them don't have anything to do, except to howl and groan occasionally. The Claymation is inarguably wonderful and still very admirable even by today's high standards. I bet that even nowadays clay-wizards like Adam Elliot ("Mary and Max") or Peter Lord ("Wallace & Gromit") are big fans of these designs and that they couldn't do a better job.

Let me start by saying that I am a HUGE Boris Karloff and a cartoonist and animator as well'When I saw.the names of Harvey Kurtzman AS ND Jack Davis I knew I'm was in for a treat and was not disappointed. . You see, Harvey Kurtzman is co-creator of Mad in its comic book days and Jack Davis was one of their best artists. So when you look at the exceptional character design, you are looking at their work It is just as much fun as reading a Mad Magazine with its off-the-wall humor. Great fun and even my teenage son liked it which is AMAZING! My only complaint was the bizarre casting of Phylis Diller'Fun for kids, classic horror fans and Boris Karloff.

As a huge monster fan growing up (my first magazine subscription was Forry Ackerman's Famous Monsters of Filmland), this movie was as Halloween as candy corn and sweaty plastic masks with cheap rubber bands; and I loved it! The plot involves a retiring Dr. Frankenstein (voiced by Boris Karloff; really!) having a monster bash on his island retreat to announce both his retirement and his last, great discovery (the ability to "destroy matter"...which looks like an A-bomb to us, but just go with it). His nerdy nephew Felix stands to inherit everything, and some of the monster "guests" want to muscle in on the action. Along the way, Felix falls for his uncle's Ann Margaret-ish lab assistant, Francesca. That's the story. Watching it as an adult, it's flaws are far more acute. Phyllis Diller as the "Bride of Frankenstein" has horrible dialog and is too obnoxious to bear, even for a kiddie film. The pacing is very uneven and too much time is wasted on set pieces that do nothing to advance the story. I think most kids today (esp. those who love the brilliant Nightmare Before Christmas; a film that was largely inspired by Mad Monster Party) won't have the patience for this. But....for me, a forty-something raised on this film, it was a VITAL part of Halloween memories; right up there with Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin! And I ate this film up; from the skeletal, Beatles-like band singing "Do the Mummy" to the Peter Lorre-inspired manservant. And the sheer joy of having living, "toy versions" of all the Universal classic monsters in one film (Frankenstein, the Mummy, Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and even King Kong; though Kong is called "It" for legal reasons). These kinds of references will no doubt be lost on kids who've never heard of the Black Lagoon, Phyllis Diller or Peter Lorre, turning this into movie equivalent of the toy on the shelf that kids have outgrown and don't play with anymore. It's rather sad, because the character designs, the terrific color and lighting used, and the fond memories this film inspires really make it a keeper; if only for overly-sentimental forty-somethings who STILL think Halloween is the single greatest day of the year. Don't buy this one for the kids; if you grew up with it, buy it for yourself, look past its sometimes glaring flaws and prepare to immerse yourself in unabashed nostalgia. Trick or Treat!