Mad Monster Party

This Halloween film is a bit of a first for me. I had never known that Rankin Bass created a Halloween special/film, and until this last year I mostly assumed they only created Christmas oriented material. So, finding this at the store, was a treat. I decided to take a chance on it and bought it on a whim, not knowing if it would be worth it or not. Was it worth it? Oh yes, most definitely.

Right off the bat I want to get one thing out of the way. This film sadly, does not seem to have aged well and this can be due to a number of reasons, such as being improperly stored. Due to this, there is obvious grain and the like appearing here and there in certain spots of the film. I didn't find this to be super distracting, but it ultimately did not hamper my enjoyment at all. Because this grain and wearing was not intentional, and could possibly not have been fixed, I won't be subtracting from the films overall ranking despite the wearing. Sometimes these things happen, especially with older films or shorts that aren't given the same treatment and care as more beloved ones.

With this ramble out of the way, lets get down to the film itself. The story is quite simple, Baron Frankenstein feels that he has succeeded with his last great discovery and wishes to retire while he is still on top. There is however one problem. How to tell all of the monsters? With a party of course! Sending out invitations, he summons a whole slew of classic monsters including Dracula, the Mummy, the Wolf Man, the Creature from the Lagoon, Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Frankenstein's Monster and his mate, and more. He also invites his distant nephew, Felix, who he wishes to be his heir and inherit all of his discoveries and secrets.

Upon discovering that the Baron is retiring, all of the monsters want to get their hands on his latest creation, a vial of liquid that can destroy matter. With the stakes high, a mad chase ensues and leads to an explosive finale.

Like all of Rankin-Bass' holiday work, there are a few songs found within the story. Perhaps if the film had aged better, the songs would sound much more crisp and vibrant, instead they don't sound quite as good as they may have upon initial release. Regardless of this, the songs are still rather entertaining, in my opinion, even if they don't quite reach the same level as some of the Christmas songs.

The stop-motion is rather well done, and does seem to be on par with the groups usual line of work. The characters are unique looking and fun to watch. There is the odd clunky moment here and there, but at the same time this film is a at least twice the length of the Christmas specials, so there is a lot more content worked in and perhaps easier to miss these things.

All in all, Mad Monster Party is a surprisingly fun addition to my Halloween line up and I can see myself watching it at least one more time this season. There are some slow parts, and some clunky bits that hamper things which is why I have given it the rating of:

3 1/2 / 5