Dracula vs Frankenstein – 1971
Director
Al Adamson

Writers
William Pugsley
Samuel M. Sherman

Cast
J. Carrol Naish
Lon Chaney Jr
Zandor Vorkov

Review by Wayne Malin

Makes Ed Wood movies look like “Gone With the Wind”!

Just dreadful movie. Something about Dr. Durea (J. Carrol Naish sadly) helping Dracula revive Frankenstein (for some reason) and searching for some new blood serum…or something.

To be totally honest the plot makes little sense! I saw this on TV multiple times when I was little–loved it then. I just saw the new DVD put out a few years ago. My childhood memories have been destroyed! This is pretty horrid. The camera-work is dreadful and the blood and gore (which looked cool when I was little) is laughably fake now. Dracula played by the immortal Zandor Vorkov (actually Roger Engel) has a silly goatee, silly fake fangs and his voice is constantly echoing. Frankenstein (John Bloom) just looks like he has a severe case of the mumps. Naish actually gives a good performance–quite a feat considering his lines make no sense. Sadly this was his last role. Also the last role for Lon Chaney who plays a hulking, mute axe murderer. Also Regina Carrol (the directors wife) is mixed up in this and Anthony Eisley (who’s not bad) playing a VERY old hippy.

This is worth a peek for horror fans and it does have hysterically bad dialogue and a plot that will keep you guessing (what it’s about). This was made over the course of a couple of years and the story kept changing–that’s evident in the final product.

On one hand I think this is worth seeing for camp value. On the other hand it’s embarrassing to watch Naish and Chaney reduced to this. Proceed at your own risk.