Crossover movies are the bluntest way you can defy H.G. Wells’ stodgy rule about not allowing more than one thing in speculative fiction.

When done right, you get something exceptional like Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. Do it wrong, and you wind up with a New York Times best-seller that gets made into a movie directed by the William Randolph Hearst of Hollywood.

Cinematic crossovers wouldn’t have been possible if horror movies hadn’t showed us first. Before Captain America, Iron Man, and Spider-Man shared the same stage, Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolf-Man owned it. Over time, they would be joined by the Mummy, the Black Lagoon Creature, maybe the Bride of Frankenstein. Even if the movie featured any two of the “Big Names,” or their general archetypes, you know what the movie’s selling point is.

So I thought, how could a singular monster movie be more Halloween? By throwing in more monsters, of course! That’s why I’m putting together a list (in ascending order)of my top 5 recommended monster mash-up movies for Halloween.

5-How to Make a Monster (1958)

Features: Mad Make-up Artist, Teenage Frankenstein, Teenage Werewolf, Caveman Attack, Creepy Bald Henchman, Sleazy Movie Executives, Hard-Boiled Detectives, Movie Monster Museum, Musical Guest: John Ashley, Black & White Into Color

Story: Pete Dumond (Robert H. Harris) is the ace make-up effects artist on the American International Pictures studio lot (In reality, the ZIV TV Studio lot). Pete has supplied the studio with top notch movie monsters for 25 years. One day, the new owners of the studio (Paul Maxwell and Eddie Marr) barge into Dumond’s workshop to tell old Pete that chintzy monster movies are passé, and chintzy rock n’ roll musicals are in. Now facing unemployment, Pete conspires with his assistant Rivero (Paul Brinegar) to get revenge on the dismissive execs. To accomplish this, he’ll use a novocaine infused make-up base to drug and hypnotize the actors playing the Teenage Werewolf and Teenage Frankenstein (Gary Conway and Gary Clarke) into becoming the real things.

Comments: It seemed obvious when AIP producers Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson did their own spin on the Frankenstein and Werewolf characters that a crossover would be right around the corner. It makes sense that AIP would take a different path towards “backstage horror” since there wasn’t much of a movie to build around a Teen-Wolf vs. Teen-Frank fight scene. I can only speculate that Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard might have served as an inspiration for How to. Perhaps Arkoff and Nicholson wanted their own Gloria Swanson when considering Bela Lugosi for the role of Pete Dumond. Harris only got the part when Lugosi died in 1956. You can tell from Harris’ performance that he must have known who the part was originally written for. Harris plays Pete as a tired old dreamer who got fulfillment from giving life to his grotesque “children.” You really root for him until he says something creepy like: “I enjoy the young men in these pictures. Perhaps I’ll take them home and study them.” WOAH! Here’s a comic book ad:

Availability: RCA/Columbia gave How to Make a Monster it’s first, and only VHS release as part of the “Drive-In Classic” series. DVD UK Ltd. released a Region 2 DVD that includes bonus content such as a gallery of AIP trailers, enclosed Movie Poster Postcards, and a 50 min. interview with Sam Arkoff. Lion’s Gate’s 2004 Region 1 DVD release put How to on a double bill with Blood of Dracula with no extras. Avoid the not-quite-remake from 2001 that was made to air on Cinemax.

4-Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)

Features: Count Dracula, Van Helsing, Chinese Hopping Vampires (with gold masks, fright wigs, and other accessories), Skull-Face Zombies, Rubber Bats on Strings, Bubbling Pot of Blood, Topless Virgin Sacrifices

Story: A Chinese sorcerer named Kah (Chen Shen) travels all the way to Transylvania for assistance from Count Dracula (John Forbes-Robertson). Dracula uses this opportunity to possess Kah so he can leave the confines of his castle for fresh blood. He leads his golden masked vampires on nightly raids into the village of Ping Kwei so he can pillage and abduct townsfolk. Anyone foolish enough to stop him gets added to his army of crusty zombies. A group of kung-fu brothers (led by David Chiang) and their sister (Shih Szu) recruit Van Helsing (Peter Cushing), along with his son (Robin Stewart) and a Swedish countess (Julie Ege) to vanquish Dracula’s undead kung-fu army.

Comments: Even though Hammer kept Dracula and Frankenstein going through the 60’s and 70’s, they never had their own mash-ups. Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires was a more mash-up of genres than franchises. In fact, it’s more Shaw Brothers’ show than Hammer’s. Sure you get Peter Cushing as Dr. Van Helsing fighting Dracula (not played by Christopher Lee) again, but it plays second fiddle to all sorts of kung-fu (fist-fu, blade-fu, spear-fu, axe-fu, arrow-fu, spikey club-fu, gun-fu, torch-fu, hoe-fu, pitchfok-fu, stake-fu). While kung-fu movies from years prior had supernatural elements, this movie’s blend of Chinese sword-and-sorcery and Western horror anticipated later films like Mr. Vampire and John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China. Something I appreciate about this movie is when Sehn’s Kah speaks with the English voice of Forbes-Robertson’s Dracula, but all of Forbes-Robertson’s dialogue was dubbed over by David de Keyser. A Chinese speaking character is possessed by an English speaking character who was already dubbed by an English voice actor!

Availability: 7 Golden Vampires was released on DVD as part of a triple feature with Dracula: Prince of Darkness and Frankenstein Created Woman from Millennium in 2013. A 2004 2-disc set from Anchor Bay also paired it with Frankenstein Created Woman, but this edition also included two alternate versions. The first is the 1979 US recut by Dynamite Pictures titled, The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula (or as the announcer on the trailer calls it, “The Seven Brothers (and Their One Sister) meet Draculaaaa!”) The second is an hour-long audiobook-style narration read by Peter Cushing, Shih Szu, and David de Keyser.

3-Kingu Kongu tai Gojira (1962)/King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963)

Features: King Kong (obviously), Godzilla (2x obviously), Giant Octopus, Rubber Jungle Lizard, Berry Juice, Diamond Filament Yarn, Athlete’s Foot, Giant Balloons, Lightning Powers

Story: A pharmaceutical company sponsors a television crew to document a Pacific island where the natives grow red berries as appeasement for their god, King Kong (Shoichi Hirose). Meanwhile in the South Pole, a stranded U.S. nuclear submarine awakens Godzilla (Haruo Nakajima) after crashing into the iceberg he was trapped in. Kong gets captured by the TV crew after a wrestling match with a giant octopus. While enroute to Tokyo, Kong breaks free and swims to mainland Japan. Godzilla stomps his way through the Japanese Defense Forces’ traps, leveling trains, army bases, and cities in his wake. All will lead to an epic confrontation atop Mt. Fuji.

Comments: Those who think King Kong vs. Godzilla is an uneven match probably didn’t hear how this movie was originally pitched as King Kong vs. Frankenstein. Kong creators Merian C. Cooper and Willis O’Brien struggled to make another Kong since the thirties. O’Brien came up with the “Frankenstein” story-line, and got producer John Beck to shop it around to any movie studio in the world willing to chance it. Unfortunately, Beck claimed full credit when he sold it to Toho who swapped Frankenstein out for Godzilla. This made friends, family, and fans of O’Brien bitter towards anything Godzilla related. It’s sad because Eiji Tsuburaya-Toho’s sfx guru- was also a fan of “Obie’s” work on King Kong. Though Toho nixed his request to do it all in stop-motion, Tsuburaya tried to maintain the monsters’ dignity in spite of screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa’s intentionally comedic script. Sekizawa’s story includes a Clouseau-esque TV executive (Ichiro Arishima) promoting the monsters like WWE Superstars. Suit actors Nakajima and Hirase anthropomorphize their characters by adding taunts and Judo moves to their routines. Nevertheless, the movie got enough asses in seats to kick off the “monster-vs-monster” trend. Fans would re-stage their Kong vs. Godzilla fights in fan made artwork and a Super-8 shot movie that trades Kong for another classic monster- a giant werewolf!

Availability: North American monster fans are more familiar with Universal’s version. Universal replaced Akira Ifukube’s score with Henry Mancini’s Creature from the Black Lagoon theme, cut and rearranged some scenes, and added these “United World News” segments where American actors (Michael Keith, James Yagi, and Harry Holcombe) spout exposition and B-movie science facts. VHS releases were outsourced by Goodtimes Home Video, who also put out the “35th Anniversary” release pictured above. Universal would release their own DVD, bundled with King Kong Escapes, to promote Peter Jackson’s 2005 Kong. The Japanese version is hard to come by, unless you shop at sci-fi/horror/comic conventions or are into torrenting. Rumor has it, Toho made an international English dub of this version. Whether either get an official Region 1 release is as cloudy as the legal rights to the King Kong character. Considering the new Godzilla-Kong match-up, it can only be a matter of time. [UPDATE:11,03,2019] The Criterion Collection has now made it possible to get a legitimate copy of the Japanese release. Godzilla: The Showa Era Films collects all 15 Godzilla movies made from 1954 to 1975. All of the films are presented in their original Japanese along with Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956) and the International English-Language Dubs for six other films. The Japanese KKvG can be found on the “Supplements” disc.

2-Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Features: Frankenstein’s Monster, Count Dracula, The Wolf Man, Lady Mad Scientist (Who Becomes a Vampire), Wax Museum, Lugosi Hand-Gestures, Vampire Hypnotism, Shock Ring, Island Castle (with Dungeon), Costume Party, and Special Guest: VINCENT PRICE as the Invisible Man…oh, and Bud Abbott & Lou Costello

Story: Chick Young and Wilbur Grey are bumbling freight handlers hired to deliver two large crates to McDougal’s “House of Horrors” wax museum. The crates contain the undead remains of Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi) and the Frankenstein Monster (Glenn Strange). Dracula rises out of his casket, hypnotizes Wilbur, and revives Frankenstein. Once the two monsters escape, McDougal (Frank Freguson) suspects the boys of theft and hires Joan Raymond (Jane Randolph), an insurance investigator. Chick and Wilbur are visited by Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.), who called earlier from his London flat before turning into a werewolf. Talbot has been hunting Dracula and Frankenstein for his own reasons and thinks Chick and Wilbur can help him. The duo shrugs off his warnings and prepares for a weekend getaway at the island estate of Wilbur’s doctor girlfriend, Sandra Mornay (Lenore Aubert). Unbeknownst to the duo, Sandra is helping Dracula find a fresh brain for Frankenstein.

Comments: When Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein began production, it was going to be a serious horror film called, The Brain of Frankenstein. If the finished product is any indicator, it would’ve been the first movie since Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man where all the Universal monsters actually interacted with each other. The decision to add Abbott & Costello came about because Hold That Ghost was a box office success and the duo wanted to make a film with the three big horror actors. Lugosi and Chaney returned as Dracula and The Wolf Man (Chaney even plays Frankenstein for a few seconds), but Boris Karloff once again gave the Frankenstein role to Glenn Strange. How well Abbott and Costello’s comedy mixes with the monsters depends on your sense of humor. However, the two respected their co-stars enough (though Costello thought the movie’s script was “crap”) to let the monsters be played straight. A great instance of this back-and-forth happens every time Talbot threatens Wilbur for making cracks about turning into a wolf. While a lot of die-hard classic horror fans wished the “Big Three” had one more serious film to go out on, it’s undeniable that all three had fun making the film. The movie’s success led to more comedic pairings of Abbott and Costello meeting other famous monsters. The movie was so popular, it would be replicated outside of Hollywood with an Egyptian remake called, Have Mercy, plus two different Mexican knock-offs!

Availability: As to be expected, Universal Home Media controls all of their classic monster properties, including the Abbott and Costello parodies. The VHS edition of Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein was given a separate release from all the serious horror films in the MCA/Universal collection. A single DVD edition was released in 2000 and re-issued in 2012 as a DVD+Blu-ray+Digital combo pack. This version includes the short Abbott & Costello Meet The Monsters documentary plus audio commentary with film historian Gregory Mank.

1-The Monster Squad (1987)

Features: Count Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster (aka: “Frank”), Wolfman (and his Nards), The Mummy, The Gill-Man, Vampire Brides, Van Helsing, Scary German Guy, Glowing Amulet, Floor Zombies, Ghost Car, Treehouse, Middle School, Boy’s Club, Gender Politics, Marital Sub-Plot, Virgins, Kids with Weapons, Kids Befriending Monster, Dracula Beat-Downs, Chicken Shit, Vortexes, Cute Doggie

Story: Sean Crenshaw (Andre Gower) and his friends Patrick (Robby Kiger), Horace (Brent Chalem), Eugene (Michael Faustino, Bud Bundy’s brother), and Rudy (Ryan Lambert) run a monster club out of a treehouse in Sean’s backyard. One day, Sean’s mom (Mary Ellen Trainor) brings home an old diary she bought at a yard sale. Even though it’s written in German, Sean discovers it once belonged to a Professor Van Helsing. Sean and friends muster up the courage to ask the local Scary German Guy (Leonardo Cimino) to translate it. They learn how Dracula (Duncan Regehr) once possessed an indestructible amulet that can open a gateway to purgatory. Dracula arrives in town with his A-Team of Universal monsters to find the amulet. When Dracula finds out Sean has the diary, he sends Frankenstein (Tom Noonan) to retrieve it. Fortunately, Frankenstein befriends Sean’s little sister, Phoebe (Ashley Bank), and is soon adopted by the group. They’re going to need every ally they can get for the battle that’s about to unfold.

Comments: In an age of evangelical admiration for the 1980’s, The Monster Squad can relate to any generation. Most Monster Squad fans will have their own fond memories of discovering this movie. My family and I saw it on the Sci-Fi Channel when we got our first satellite dish. At that time, I was enthralled by the whole “KID POWER!” appeal that had been a staple of The Goonies and The Lost Boys (this movie’s archrival). Now ,as a jaded adult, I’ll admit the “Squad” portion of the plot has a few flaws. But, those have more to do with the time period it was made in. The “Monster” parts, on the other hand, never fail to impress me. Even though Universal rejected the offer to produce the film (despite agreeing to shoot on their Back to the Future lot), the classic monsters were redesigned by Stan Winston and his team to be original yet synonymous with their licensed trademarks. Considering all the nostalgia, I get a bit skeptical whenever there’s bold talk about a Monster Squad 2. Director Fred Dekker planned, before the film was released, to recycle his Godzilla 3-D script for the Squad’s next adventure. That could’ve been something, but the film got mediocre to just bad marks from critics and tanked at the box office (again, Lost Boys). In 2006, Platinum Dunes acquired the rights to do a remake, but a great stink from either the chat rooms or the writer’s room ended that. I tend to think a great follow-up could be made in the same vein as the recent Halloween reboot. Let’s have a matured Squad take on the original monsters, and maybe a few new ones. No matter how you slice it, The Monster Squad has set a high-watermark for future monster mash-ups.

Above Image Credited to Branded in the 80s.

Availability: The Monster Squad got it’s first-and only-North American VHS release from Vestron Video in 1988. After that, the best chances of getting a copy were bootlegs of foreign releases, your local video store, or taped off cable TV (some versions will edit out parts like the one where Dracula yells, “you bitch!,” at little Phoebe). Following enthusiastic reunion screenings at the Alamo Drafthouse, Dekker urged fans to start a letter writing campaign to the film’s rights holders. This resulted in a 2007 DVD release by Lionsgate to commemorate the movie’s 20th anniversary. This remastered, widescreen edition comes with two feature commentaries and an a second disc full of extras. These extras include two commentary tracks, trailer and still galleries, deleted scenes, and a interview reel with Tom Noonan going full method as Frankenstein. Also included is Monster Squad Forever, a retrospective featurette in five parts. It features Dekker and the actors tracing the film’s production history and offered a heartfelt tribute to Brent Chalem, who passed away in 1997. You’ll also want to check out a new documentary from Andre Gower called Wolfman’s Got Nards. It turns the focus on the movie’s fandom and details the creators’ continued relationship with the film after all these years.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!