MONSTER MANIA
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MONSTER MANIA

The show begins with an intro from Ms. D�colletage herself, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. The old Vampira knock-off (and knock-out, I suppose) only serves as a brief bookend host before MONSTER MANIA segues into the show proper. There we meet true host Jack Palance, who's been known to play a monster himself from time to time over the years. From his vantage point in a foggy castle, Palance takes the viewer on a journey through horror film history.

We start off with a rare peek at Thomas Edison's much-discussed but rarely seen original film version of FRANKENSTEIN from 1910 which starred Charles Ogle. The Monster here proves to be a less than frightening thing, though Palance assures us that audiences of the era were terrified and that the film helped create the genre itself. We're then treated to glimpses (and overviews from Palance) of the original NOSFERATU and DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, as well as a quick Lon Chaney Sr. bio. Scary!

Throughout the program, a variety of clips are utilizedthough their quality varies wildly. Palance exists mostly as a voice-over presence, though even he is given an occasional break when trailer clips are played along with their original narrations.

MONSTER MANIA flies by at breakneck pace, as Palance moves on to the classic Universal monster movies (DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN, THE MUMMY, THE WOLF MAN), providing interesting observations on the era along the way. We learn (or are reminded) how after the initial popularity of the Universal monsters, the public appetite for such fare waned when World War II broke out. Of course, it wasn't long before new life was breathed into the form and the Universal monster mashes began.

Palance next brings us to the sc-fi themed monsters of the '50s, as creatures like The Blob, The Thing, and It! terrorized moviegoers. The paranoia of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and its kind is also discussed, as is an entirely different invader of mankindtelevision! The advent of TV brought the classics of horror to a whole new generation of viewers, an audience that embraced the old monsters with as much zeal as ever. Merchandising began to take off, and old symbols of the genre like Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr. found new recognition. Meanwhile, a new series of monster movies were being made by a company in England called Hammer...

Color and blood might have come to dominate some horror movies as the genre entered the '60s, but others like Mario Bava's BLACK SUNDAY and George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD proved just as effective in black & white.

Palance begins to pick up the pace even more when discussing the more recent decades. The cheesy end-of-the-world hijinks of THE OMEGA MAN, the demonic horror of THE EXORCIST and THE OMEN, the jaws of JAWS, and the rats of WILLARD are quickly covered before moving on to the comedy greatness of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN.

Sci-fi creatures like ALIEN and PREDATOR are mentioned before MONSTER MANIA comes full circle, exploring the modern returns to classic characters, as in Werner Herzog's NOSFERATU, Frank Langella's DRACULA and Kenneth Branagh's FRANKENSTEIN. And of course, familiar chaps like Michael Myers and Freddy simply must be mentioned. The result is a century's worth of Halloween horror jammed into an hour's viewing time. It's fun, it's fast, and if you turn the lights down, it might just prove creepy!