This title was featured in a tribute to
Albert Victor Adamson

DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN (1971, 90 minutes): How's THAT for a title!? If only the flick were as interesting. Still, it's the swan song of screen legends Lon Chaney Jr. and J. Carrol Naish who both went on to their final casting call upstairs. Naish is Dr. Durea, a descendent of the infamous Dr. Frankenstein, who secretly experiments with human blood for dubious reasons -- while also running a carnival sideshow in his spare time. Chaney is the doctor's mute assistant Groton (think Of Mice & Men's Lenny) who serves as both lab rat and specimen procurer. Meanwhile, a costume-jewelry obsessed Count Dracula (Zandor Vorkov) digs up the original Frankenstein monster and offers it to Durea as part of some convoluted plot to rule the world. It's all very confusing, especially when Cleavage Queen Regina Carrol comes looking for her missing sister (procured with an axe by Groton), but winds up tripping out on LSD and falling for a slimy beach slug played by Anthony Eisley. Yes, there IS a battle royal as the title so sheepishly implies, which should be especially amusing to fans of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That is if you can SEE anything, because the scene's so dark it looks like Adamson forgot to take the lense cap off. Keep an eye peeled for the legendary Forrest J. Ackerman as doomed Dr. Beaumont.

Notables: Two breasts. 18 corpses. Neck chomping. Hippie protesters. Surfing montage. Hypnotic stares. Gratuitous time-lapse sequence. Angry midget (the incomparable Angelo Rossitto).

Quotables: Bad news spreads quickly, "They found a guy chopped up down at Rocky Point. He was all bloody in bits and pieces. They never found his girlfriend, though. A guy can't make out in peace anymore! Man, it's a real bummer." When he isn't trying to score, Mike can be downright philosophical, "How do you recognize madness? Of all the aspects of a man, madness can be the most impossible to observe."

Time codes: Babe gets head lopped off with axe (5:40). Mr. Adamson's cameo (8:00). Russ Tamblyn serves up more trippy coffee (28:30). "IT'S ALIVE!!!" (34:30). Cop runs out of bullets and uses pistol as club (55:35). Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1:15:50).