Jim Knipfel Oct 31, 2018
Rankin-Bass teamed up with Boris Karloff, Mad Magazine, Forry Ackerman, and Frank Frazetta for a Halloween special. What the hell?
Three years after producing 1964’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer but before going on to make other warm-hearted and sincere animated holiday standards like Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the Snowman and the questionable Here Comes Peter Cottontail, Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass took a hard left turn into the dark, delightfully strange, and intensely geeky with Mad Monster Party.
Predating Tim Burton and Henry Selick’s Nightmare Before Christmas by over a quarter-century, the sinister duo’s stop-motion musical comedy celebration of classic Universal horror, which was released as a theatrical feature before becoming a semi-regular October TV standby, never quite cornered the Halloween specials market as planned. Somehow it was never able to lure audiences away from that damned Great Pumpkin.
Rankin-Bass teamed up with Boris Karloff, Mad Magazine, Forry Ackerman, and Frank Frazetta for a Halloween special. What the hell?
Three years after producing 1964’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer but before going on to make other warm-hearted and sincere animated holiday standards like Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the Snowman and the questionable Here Comes Peter Cottontail, Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass took a hard left turn into the dark, delightfully strange, and intensely geeky with Mad Monster Party.
Predating Tim Burton and Henry Selick’s Nightmare Before Christmas by over a quarter-century, the sinister duo’s stop-motion musical comedy celebration of classic Universal horror, which was released as a theatrical feature before becoming a semi-regular October TV standby, never quite cornered the Halloween specials market as planned. Somehow it was never able to lure audiences away from that damned Great Pumpkin.
- 10/3/2015
- Den of Geek
The Children deals with the disintegration of the family unit, and the decay of modern society. Just kidding! The Children is about radioactive kids who like to give hugs and burn people up real good. Some horror films do have subtext, with layers peeled back to reveal inner truths about ourselves and the world. And some horror films are content to just show children having their hands cut off with a samurai sword.
Released in June of 1980, The Children was actually quite a success for a low budget film – according to Producer Carlton J. Albright (Luther The Geek) it earned $8 million dollars within its first year, playing to theaters and drive-ins alike. Not too shabby for a truly bizarre, high concept scare fest.
Okay, here we go: Two workers at a nuclear plant get a reading that there’s a malfunction. After a quick glance around the facility, and spent...
Released in June of 1980, The Children was actually quite a success for a low budget film – according to Producer Carlton J. Albright (Luther The Geek) it earned $8 million dollars within its first year, playing to theaters and drive-ins alike. Not too shabby for a truly bizarre, high concept scare fest.
Okay, here we go: Two workers at a nuclear plant get a reading that there’s a malfunction. After a quick glance around the facility, and spent...
- 5/9/2015
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Mad Monster Party (1967) is screening at 7pm Thursday, December 5th at Schlafly Bottleworks – 7260 Southwest Ave St Louis, Mo 63143. Doors open at 6:30pm. It’s a fundraiser for Helping Kids Together. Attend wearing a monster costume and you may win a DVD of the film!
“Rankin/Bass” is a moniker long associated with television for the company’s long line of animated specials, the best-known being Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer which first aired in 1964. Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass brought their craft to the big screen the first with Willy McBean And His Magic Machine in 1965, which was a flop as were their primarily live-action Hans Christian Andersen musical The Daydreamer (1966) and the traditionally-animated The Wacky World Of Mother Goose (1967). While Rankin/Bass was soon to become a fixture in holiday television, a fact we were all reminded of every December, the studio tried once more for cinematic success...
“Rankin/Bass” is a moniker long associated with television for the company’s long line of animated specials, the best-known being Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer which first aired in 1964. Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass brought their craft to the big screen the first with Willy McBean And His Magic Machine in 1965, which was a flop as were their primarily live-action Hans Christian Andersen musical The Daydreamer (1966) and the traditionally-animated The Wacky World Of Mother Goose (1967). While Rankin/Bass was soon to become a fixture in holiday television, a fact we were all reminded of every December, the studio tried once more for cinematic success...
- 11/25/2013
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
By Todd Garbarini
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
Mad Monster Party is a relatively obscure stop-motion animated musical treat from 1967 that many non-genre fans are unaware of. Aimed at children, it is the creation of Rankin and Bass, the production team responsible for so many holiday television specials including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, The Little Drummer Boy, and The Year Without a Santa Claus. Unlike these specials, however, Mad Monster Party made the rounds to movie theaters as a feature-length film for Saturday and Sunday matinees. It’s the obvious inspiration for Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), boasting an infectious musical score that sticks in your head long after the movie is over.
Baron Boris von Frankenstein, the lead character who is voiced by Boris Karloff in one of his last roles, decides to hang up his lab coat and hand...
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
Mad Monster Party is a relatively obscure stop-motion animated musical treat from 1967 that many non-genre fans are unaware of. Aimed at children, it is the creation of Rankin and Bass, the production team responsible for so many holiday television specials including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, The Little Drummer Boy, and The Year Without a Santa Claus. Unlike these specials, however, Mad Monster Party made the rounds to movie theaters as a feature-length film for Saturday and Sunday matinees. It’s the obvious inspiration for Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), boasting an infectious musical score that sticks in your head long after the movie is over.
Baron Boris von Frankenstein, the lead character who is voiced by Boris Karloff in one of his last roles, decides to hang up his lab coat and hand...
- 10/9/2012
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Before Hotel Transylvania, Boris Karloff had a mad monster party. or did he since the opening credits add a question mark. This full length Rankin/Bass effort may not get all the holiday cred of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, but it is monstrously fun. Baron von Frankenstein (Boris Karloff) has discovered the secret of total destruction. He already knew how to create life so he made it his life.s work to discover the opposite. Now that the discovery is in the bag he decides that he.s going to retire. He has his lab assistant Francesca (Gale Garnett) send out invitations to Dracula, the Werewolf, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
- 10/2/2012
- by Jeff Swindoll
- Monsters and Critics
Netflix has revolutionized the home movie experience for fans of film with its instant streaming technology. Netflix Nuggets is my way of spreading the word about independent, classic and foreign films made available by Netflix for instant streaming.
This Week’s New Instant Releases…
Promised Lands (1974)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Documentary
Director: Susan Sontag
Synopsis: Set in Israel during the final days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, this powerful documentary — initially barred by Israel authorities — from writer-director Susan Sontag examines divergent perceptions of the enduring Arab-Israeli clash. Weighing in on matters related to socialism, anti-Semitism, nation sovereignty and American materialism are The Last Jew writer Yoram Kaniuk and military physicist Yuval Ne’eman.
Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2009)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Heino Ferch, Hannah Herzsprung, Gerald Alexander Held, Lena Stolze, Sunnyi Melles
Synopsis: Directed by longtime star of independent German cinema Margarethe von Trotta, this reverent...
This Week’s New Instant Releases…
Promised Lands (1974)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Documentary
Director: Susan Sontag
Synopsis: Set in Israel during the final days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, this powerful documentary — initially barred by Israel authorities — from writer-director Susan Sontag examines divergent perceptions of the enduring Arab-Israeli clash. Weighing in on matters related to socialism, anti-Semitism, nation sovereignty and American materialism are The Last Jew writer Yoram Kaniuk and military physicist Yuval Ne’eman.
Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2009)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Heino Ferch, Hannah Herzsprung, Gerald Alexander Held, Lena Stolze, Sunnyi Melles
Synopsis: Directed by longtime star of independent German cinema Margarethe von Trotta, this reverent...
- 4/20/2011
- by Travis Keune
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Michael Weldon of "Psychotronic Magazine" praised this movie's awfulness to me almost 30 years ago, and I only caught up with it this week.
The Children concerns the ghastly events that occur after a school bus drives through a noxious cloud of gas...which is exactly how Richard Matheson got The Incredible Shrinking Man going, so it's not a bad start. There are only a few kids on the bus, luckily (I'm surprised the filmmakers got any parents to trust them with their kids -- but then, half the kids in this film have the same last name as the producer). I'm going to have to provide some spoilers here because the movie is so bad and so poorly paced that no one will watch it through without a damn good reason. These kids, though normal looking, become radioactive zombies with an impulse to approach any adults with arms outstretched, begging for hugsies!
The Children concerns the ghastly events that occur after a school bus drives through a noxious cloud of gas...which is exactly how Richard Matheson got The Incredible Shrinking Man going, so it's not a bad start. There are only a few kids on the bus, luckily (I'm surprised the filmmakers got any parents to trust them with their kids -- but then, half the kids in this film have the same last name as the producer). I'm going to have to provide some spoilers here because the movie is so bad and so poorly paced that no one will watch it through without a damn good reason. These kids, though normal looking, become radioactive zombies with an impulse to approach any adults with arms outstretched, begging for hugsies!
- 10/30/2009
- by unclebob
- DreadCentral.com
Rankin/Bass pretty much owns Christmas. So why not try and make a holiday special film for Halloween? Even better have .Uncle. Boris Karloff present the treat to the audience and even trick Phyllis Diller into voicing the bride of Frankenstein. Well, maybe not a trick but certainly the film is a cult one that offers a treat to film monster fans. Baron von Frankenstein (Boris Karloff) has discovered the secret of total destruction. He already knew how to create life so he made it his life.s work to discover the opposite. Now that the discovery is in the bag he decides that he.s going to retire. He has his lab assistant Francesca (Gale Garnett) send out invitations to...
- 9/16/2009
- by Jeff Swindoll
- Monsters and Critics
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