Customer Reviews

How to Make a Monster/Blood of Dracula

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Two of the cheesier films from AIP vaults are presented well on a really good DVD transfer. Herbert L. Strock directed both, and "Blood of Dracula" is really the better one. A girl vampire? What fun! Jerry Blaine singing "Puppy Love", and some crazy Lesbian overtones make this loads of fun. If it was released today, politically-correct idiots would be protesting. "How to Make a Monster" is also tacky, a sort of toned-up version of Ed Wood, but not as entertaining as Wood's films. If Ed Wood had studio backing, he might've had a chance. Mr. Strock had that support. Ed Wood was around at the wrong time; the drive-in crowd came only a bit later, and Nicholson & Arkoff cashed in. I absolutely love this stuff for its tackiness, bad acting, bad attempts at musical interludes... I was around for that drive-in crowd back when, and words can't express how fun it was. Even if the films were garbage, we were entertained, and, despite what critics say, I believe entertainment is what it's all about. I was entertained, and never forgot how much I enjoyed these tacky films.

Another double dip into the drive-in glory that is AIP. A double dip into the career of director Herbert L. Strock. How to Make a Monster (1958 - 73m). A madman is loose on a movie set. And it's hard to tell what killing is prepaid. Don't be shocked at the color part of the black and white film. Blood of Dracula (1957 - 68m) A woman is turned into a vampire by more than getting her neck bit.

If you grew up a fan of the Creature Double Feature or have bought up MGM's Midnite Movies, this is perfect for your collection.

I have waited a long time for Blood of Dracula to come to DVD. In the mid-1990s I had a VHS version of the horror classic and, being the age I was at the time, enjoyed the campy fun as well as the chill of horror. I suppose this film plays on every students idea that his/her teacher is experiementing on them in one way or another.

If you have a young horror fan in the family this is a safe movie to enjoy as a Halloween treat and certainly has some history in their about the Arms Race. There is also a corny musical number that the family will enjoy laughing about before getting back to the vampire thrills.

Happy Hauntings!

Like most grade B horror flicks of the 50's the poster art is significantly more menacing than the typically talky and tepid movie itself. And, as is typical for these types of movies, the "G" factor [Gore, Guts, Gals] is a 1 out of 3, mainly due to the loony dames in Blood of Dracula. How To Make A Monster [1958] was a mild surprise with its novel plot and effective lead actor. Lead Robert H. Harris, whose face will draw you to his numerous, superb Alfred Hitchcock Presents [1955-1962] roles, plays a Hollywood film monster-maker/make-up artist whose 25-year tenure at the studio is abruptly ended. It seems the new owners, who feel that times have changed, want to steer away from the horror genre. The old pro is not too pleased. He concocts a make-up cream that seems to diffuse through the skin and into the brain allowing for mind manipulation. He uses it on his last two actors---a couple of naive kids who are trying to make it in the business---one who plays Frankenstein and the other The Wolfman. The orders: kill---especially those who have pink-slipped him. Harris is splendid as the portly, glib and perturbed monster-maker who himself becomes a fiend, murdering vicariously. An actor named Paul Brinegar, who also appeared in a few Alfred Hitchcock Presents [AHP] episodes, plays Harris' loyal but inept and spineless assistant annoyingly well. He starts to become unglued when a nosey security guard starts putting things together and the cops start closing in. A bit creepy at the end as Harris tries to silence the now-cognizant young actors by inviting them to his museum-like home which is filled with the cephalic replicas of the monsters he has created over the years [including some actual American International Pictures monsters from prior films]. A fire is accidentally started and the replicas begin to melt in rather macabre fashion [see MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM, 1933, for the inspiration]. Although this is a black-and-white movie this last part is presented in color! This one played like an extended AHP or Twilight Zone episode. Overall, a decent effort for its B-to-Z origins. Rating: 3.5/5 *'s. As for Blood of Dracula [1957], the less said the better. The "mad scientist" and the killer here are both women, as are most of the supports. As in many B's we have a mix of pretty decent vet actors with pretty bad young ones [some were also in How To Make A Monster]. Here, an insane chemistry teacher uses a chemical and an amulet to transform an obnoxious new boarding-school attendee into a creature that resembles a Wolf but acts like a vampire. At first the beast is a trifle scary [as are most two-legged things with fangs that scamper towards you in the night] but as she keeps appearing the overdone make-up makes her appear rather ludicrous. Should have been retitled, How NOT To Make a Monster. Grade Z camp. Rating: 2/5 *'s. I do recommend this DVD for aficionados of those late-50's horror B's [especially for How To Make A Monster] including fans of 50's teenage camp or the "so-bad-they're-good" subgenre [for Blood of Dracula].

Fun watch old cheezey fun movies "How To Make A Monster and Blood Of Dracula",I saw both for 25 cent in late 50's at the show.Blood of Dracula is better of them.So if you like old cheezey movie,give theses two a watch.

Although it was short-lived (only 3 double feature DVDs in 2006), I take my hat off to Lionsgate for making available these Samuel Z. Arkoff Cult Classics in first class, high quality prints. Of the three discs released, this one is by far and away my favorite. HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER combines elements of AIP's (American International Pictures) previous teenage monster films with HOUSE OF WAX to come up with this bizarre story of a veteran make-up artist, fired by new studio heads, who hypnotizes his creations so they can murder the new owners for their callousness. Robert H. Harris gives a remarkable performance as the nutso artist but it is the behind the scenes look at AIP moviemaking and the color finale that make it really special.

The second feature, BLOOD OF DRACULA (as has been pointed out elsewhere), should really have been titled I WAS A TEENAGE VAMPIRE. The setting is an exclusive girl's school where troubled teen Sandra Harrison is turned into a vampire through hypnosis by weirdo science teacher Louise Lewis. What makes these drive-in movies so memorable today is the hidden subtext in both. Whether intended or not (and it must have been), both films have a strong homoerotic undercurrent and are sharply critical of adults and conformist behavior. They are also incredible time capsules of the teen drive-in culture of the 1950s which AIP helped to foster. They won't scare you but they will inform you as to what was going on under the surface of the placid 1950s.

I'm a huge fan of 50s horror and sci-fi but found these a little weak. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy I bought the set, but these are both better suited to collectors than to anyone wanting an entertaining film. If you're new to this sort of thing or just a casual fan, the Midnight Movies double feature The Return of Dracula/The Vampire, or the Sam Katzman collection (featuring The Werewolf) are both better choices. If you're a die-hard fanatic (like me) buy this one too!

Diversionary entertainment from the Fifties. Two of the "best" B-grade movies from the era. "How To Make A Monster" belongs in everyone's horror collection beside "House On Haunted Hill," "Plan 9 From Outer Space," and another one of Samuel Arkoff's "masterpieces," "The Creature With The Atom Brain" "Blood of Dracula," while not as good as "How To Make A Monster," is a great example of how the emerging culture of teenagers influenced horror movies--think of this as a super B-grade version of "Rebel Without A Cause" and a companion piece to "I Was A Teenage Werewolf".

Okay. Back-to-back double-features were made on a shoestring budget for the kids at the drive-in who were probably, for the most part, not always paying attention to what was going on miles ahead of them on the screen anyway. We know that.

Some of these AIP films, however, played on the screens of my father's small-town indoor theatres back in semi-rural Illinois, and BLOOD OF DRACULA was one of the first movies I had then seen about vampires. It is a different take on the vampire legend, and in this case, the villain is an evil professor at a private girl's school who is trying out her experiments about the primitive nature of man and his violent tendencies on the over-sexed girls. The heroine and, ultimately, the vampire -- played by Susan Harrison (who was she and whatever happened to her and her film career?) -- is her dupe. The new female student is an angry type, it appears, who has hostilities toward her father's new ( and apparently gold-digging) wife, a perfect subject for an academic who has an agenda or two of her own regarding the male-dominated establishment.

BLOOD OF DRACULA has nothing to do with that famous Stoker character, but it is certainly a commercially viable title. A short time later, I saw the Hammer vampire classic HORROR OF DRACULA in color, and only then did I gain some knowledge of what these legendary creatures were supposed to be. Susan Harrison does not walk with her fangs barely hidden; she transforms into a vampire-like creature (through some inane and unconvincing transformation sequences) in order to suck the blood from her friends and visiting boys-- one of whom launches into a musical number that seems to come out of nowhere. The police, except for one knowing cop, are mystified. This is not your run-of-the-mill serial killer on the loose. Duh. The knowing cop who had a school friend from the Carpathian mountains seems to know a lot for a small-town cop, and it almost looks as if, as handsome as he is, he will be the hero to solve the case. For some reason, this doesn't happen. He all but disappears from the plot, and no real hero to fight the vampire creature appears to save the day. The professor is dispatched by the vampire girl, and the vampire girl is somehow impaled on a piece of wood that penetrates her heart. How this happens is not shown. It is only discovered after the fact by the witless boy friend. Perhaps the film was threatening to go over the restrictions of a 70-minute running time. Too bad. A promising setting like WEREWOLF IN A GIRL'S DORMITORY and Hammer's BRIDES OF DRACULA and LUST FOR A VAMPIRE is thrown away.

Also thrown away is the plot of HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER. Sure, it is a clever way to re-use the make-up from I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF and I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN, two former AIP low-budget programmers, but the scenes where these monsters are used by the make-up artist, who is angry at the studio heads for wanting to make musicals instead of horror films, are far from frightening because they are executed without a modicum of suspense or built-up tension. Gary Conway (reprising his role from I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN) and Gary Clarke (standing in for Michael Landon who played the werewolf in I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF) sleepwalk through their undemanding roles as the dupes of the make-up artist. The angst-ridden make-up artist who will soon be out of a job is played by Robert H. Harris, an actor who earlier appeared in television programs such as ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS. He is credible here, but his assistant, played by Paul Brinegar, has so little to do that one wonders why he was cast in this film at all. If anything, he looks as if he longs to get back to his role on RAWHIDE.

HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER doesn't really show us how to make a monster, as if anyone in the audience were dying to find out. It only shows us a different motive for on-screen murders, such as they are. In itself, that premise might be unique if the death scenes here were skillfully executed with moody lighting and careful camera placements. Unfortunately, they are not; the scenes that promise to be terrifying are lifeless (pun intended) and pedestrian. The tag line for this film promised that it "will scare the yell out of you!!" Really? Were viewers supposed to be so frightened in the theatre or in the back seat of their cars at the drive-in that they would be unable to yell? Were they supposed to boo at the screen instead?

HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER, like BLOOD OF DRACULA, features one musical number included for who-knows-why. WIthin the context of the film, with studio heads and their directors wanting to make musicals instead of horror films, it does have its own logic -- something that the musical number in BLOOD OF DRACULA does not -- but why is John Ashley shown as a singer? Yes, he is handsome enough to please the teen girls in the audience -- but a singer? John Ashley? "You've got to have wee-ooo?" Well, maybe we've got to have it instead of the turgid monster sequences, but were no real singers available? No Frankie Avalon or anyone else who later showed up in AIP films? No Dick Contino?

The ending of the film, like the ending of I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN, erupts into color. Whoa. Why? Okay, color was used briefly in such black-and-white films as THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY and PORTRAIT OF JENNY -- but it was used in those films for a purpose. But why here? Robert H. Harris turns on the lights in his home at the end of HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER so that we, along with the uninterested young "actors" played by Gary Conway and Gary Clarke, can see his collection of monster masks. But why here? Why is color not used in the musical number with John Ashley -- the way MGM used Technicolor in its musicals -- instead of during the fire sequence? Is it used merely to justify the mention of color in the advertisements? Or maybe because John Ashley is no Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire and is not worth the cost of color.

Curious film. Not bad, but not good. It is just there, as a trip down memory lane for those who remember seeing it in theatres or who saw in on television once upon a time. Where was William Castle when we needed him?

In June of 1957 American International Pictures (AIP) released another of their continuing series of quick and cheap exploitation films called, I Was a Teenage Werewolf. It was about a troubled teenager (played by a young Michael Landon), who is treated by a hypnotherapist, named Dr. Brandon, who somehow instead of helping him, turns him into a werewolf. Much to the surprise of AIP, the film was a huge hit grossing as much as $2,000,000 per week in its early weeks of release. In November of 1957, less than five months later, AIP followed it with I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, which was moderately successful. Coinciding with the release of that sequel, AIP released, Blood of Dracula, a film (oft overlooked) which bears more than a passing resemblance to their Teenage Werewolf summer box office hit. More or less a remake, and with both the hero and villain roles now both played by females, Blood of Dracula could have easily been titled "I Was a Teenage Vampire." The story and screenplay credit is by (I Was a Teenage Werewolf) writer Ralph Thornton (a pseudonym for AIP producer Herman Cohen and Aben Kandel), features many other similarities to I Was a Teenage Werewolf - for instance, both have (among other things): a teenager with social behavior problems, an adult 'mad scientist' who is searching for the perfect guinea pig under the guise of helping troubled youth, an observer who can tell the killings are the work of a monster, a disbelieving police chief afraid of the press, a song written by Jerry Blaine and Paul Dunlap accompanied by a choreographed "ad-lib" dance number, hypnosis as scientific medical treatment, drug injections, specific references to Carpathia, hairy transformation scenes, and even some of the same dialog. In addition, two prominent actors from I Was a Teenage Werewolf are also featured in Blood of Dracula, Malcolm Atterbury and Louise Lewis, with Lewis's villain, 'Miss Branding' a practically perfect female version of Whit Bissel's 'Dr. Brandon.'
The fourth AIP 'teenage monster' film, released the next summer in July of 1958 was, How to Make A Monster. Most critics consider this to be the third film of a trilogy since they overlook Blood of Dracula. And once again, mad science is at work this time turning teenage actors on a movie lot into unwitting and real rampaging monsters. Where is the CULT CLASSICS Double Feature, I Was A Teenage Werewolf / I Was A Teenage Frankenstein, please?
Source: Wikipedia