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Category:    Home > Reviews > Horror > Comedy > Musical > Stop Motion Animation > Mad Monster Party - Special Edition (1967/Stop Motion Animation/Lionsgate DVD)

Mad Monster Party – Special Edition (1967/Stop Motion Animation/Lionsgate DVD)


Picture: B-     Sound: C+     Extras: B     Film: B

 

 

When Baron Von Frankenstein, leader of Worldwide Organization of Monster decides to retire and step down, he gathers all (well... almost all) his fellow monsters to announce his successor in an all out monster party!  Who or whatever inherits from Dr. Frankenstein will not only become the new leader of the monsters but get all of Dr. Frankenstein’s secrets as well!  Guest monsters include Dracula, Werewolf, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, The Mummy, The Invisible Man and many more ghouls and creatures, what starts out as a party turns into an all out monster free for all in Mad Monster Party.

From the creators of Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, Studio Canal and Lionsgate bring the Rankin-Bass comical/musical stop-motion animation of monster proportions in this 1967 feature film.  With classic monsters all around the globe, they tell a frightfully funny tale of a gathering of monsters.  When the monsters find out Dr. Frankenstein intends his nephew to inherit his secrets, they get jealous and think of ways of becoming the next successors, it becomes an all out monster brawl, last monster standing wins!
 
This is a cute tale of monsters, I would consider it more of an art for film, with all the CG nowadays it is good to see there is still people who use "Stop motion animation" with puppets, wires, Claymation.  It was a way of animating characters before cartooning and drawing cells became popular.  That a days work of stopping and moving puppets is taking pictures frame by frame and at the end of the day you have only 5 seconds worth of film, so thinking of stop motion film creators making a movie running 95 minutes deserve a lot of credit for making such a film.  Extras include the secrets to stop motion animations and sing along songs.

 

The film is back in print after several previous DVD releases, so it is in print often enough and just in time this time for Halloween 2009.  The transfer is on par with the previous DVDs with some softness, but good color.  While we wait on a Blu-ray edition to really bring out how good this looks, here is our previous review of the older DVD with the CD soundtrack:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/195/Mad+Monster+Party+(CD+++DVD

 

 

If you’ve never seen it, catch it, especially before they go through with a planned remake!

 

 

-   Ricky Chiang


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