Monster Mash is a horror

Horror film

Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

-themed musical film

Musical film

The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...

, based on the Bobby "Boris" Pickett song Monster Mash

Monster Mash

"Monster Mash" is a 1962 novelty song and the best-known song by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. The song was released as a single on Gary S. Paxton's Garpax Records label in August 1962 along with a full-length LP called The Original Monster Mash, which contained several other monster-themed tunes...

and the 1967 stage musical, I'm Sorry the Bridge Is Out, You'll Have to Spend the Night, also by Pickett and Sheldon Allman

Sheldon Allman

Sheldon Allman was a Jewish American-born Canadian raised actor, singer, and songwriter.He began his singing career with the Royal National Guard during his World War II service with the RCAF...

. The film starred Pickett himself as Dr. Frankenstein, was produced and distributed by Prism Pictures, and originally released to cinemas in 1995.

Synopsis

A teenage couple, Mary and Scott, are on their way home from a Halloween

Halloween

Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...

 party when car trouble prompts them to seek help at the old mansion of Dr. Frankenstein. Once inside, they meet a host of strange characters, at whose mercy Scott and Mary suddenly find themselves when Frankenstein informs them, "I'm sorry the bridge is out, you'll have to spend the night!"

Each character has his or her own secret designs on Mary and Scott. Frankenstein wants to take Scott's brain and put it in his latest creation. Meanwhile, Frankenstein's assistant, Igor, develops feelings for Mary, especially after she encourages him to be confident and "play your hunch," thinking that, once Scott's brain has been removed, Igor's own brain can replace it. Count Dracula

Dracula

Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...

 and his wife, Countess Natasha, a pair of vampires, decide to spice up their lifeless marriage ("All Eternity Blues") by feasting on Mary and Scott respectively. Wolfie, who is constantly struggling with his lycanthropy

Lycanthropy

Lycanthropy is the professed ability or power of a human being to undergo transformation into a werewolf, or to gain wolf-like characteristics. The term comes from Greek Lykànthropos : λύκος, lykos + άνθρωπος, ànthrōpos...

 and worrying his mother ("Things a Mother Goes Through"), has to go into hiding to keep from devouring the newcomers. Finally, Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

, now a bandaged mummy, is planning a comeback (to show business and from the dead) with the help of his manager, Hathaway, but in order to fully restore the king to life, they need the blood of a virgin, and Mary just so happens to be one.

Cast

• Bobby Pickett - Dr. Frankenstein
• Candace Cameron
  Candace Cameron Bure
  Candace Helaine Cameron is an American actress and author best known for playing DJ Tanner on the television series Full House from ages 10 to 18. She is the sister of Kirk Cameron and the sister-in-law of Chelsea Noble...
  
   - Mary
• Ian Bohen - Scott
• John Kassir
  John Kassir
  John Kassir is an American actor, voice artist, and comedian who is best known as the voice of the Crypt Keeper in HBO's, Tales from the Crypt franchise...
  
   - Igor
• Anthony Crivello
  Anthony Crivello
  Anthony Crivello is an American actor and singer, mostly in musicals on Broadway. He has written several scripts and more than twenty songs.-Personal life:...
  
   - Count Dracula
• Sarah Douglas
  Sarah Douglas
  Sarah Douglas is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for playing the Kryptonian supervillain Ursa in the first two Superman movies , and for her role as Pamela Lynch in the 1980s primetime drama series Falcon Crest .-Early life:Douglas was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, the...
  
   - Countess Natasha "Nasty" Dracula
• Adam Shankman
  Adam Shankman
  Adam Michael Shankman is an American film director, producer, dancer, actor, and choreographer. He has been a judge on the television program So You Think You Can Dance since Season 3. He began his professional career in musical theater, and was a dancer in music videos for Paula Abdul and Janet...
  
   - Wolfie
• Mink Stole
  Mink Stole
  Nancy Paine Stoll better known by the stage name Mink Stole, is an American actress from Baltimore, Maryland. She began her career working for director John Waters, having appeared in all of his feature films to date...
  
   - Wolfie's Mother
• Deron McBee
  Deron McBee
  Deron Michael McBee is an American actor, sportsman known for playing Motaro and Garret Bodine in the films Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and The Killing Zone respectively.- Career :...
  
   - The Monster
• Jimmie Walker
  Jimmie Walker
  James Carter "Jimmie" Walker is an American actor and stand-up comedian, known for portraying J. J. Evans on the television series Good Times, which ran from 1974 to 1979...
  
   - Hathaway
• E. Aron Price - Elvis
• Linda Cevallos - Dancer #1
• Carrie Ann Inaba
  Carrie Ann Inaba
  Carrie Ann Inaba is an American dancer, choreographer, actress, game show host, and singer.She started her career as a singer in Japan, but became best known for her dancing, first introducing herself to American audiences as one of the original Fly Girls on the sketch comedy series In Living Color...
  
   - Dancer #2
• Daryl Richardson - Dancer #3

Musical Numbers

1. "I'm Sorry the Bridge is Out, You'll Have to Spend the Night"
2. "On a Night Like This"
3. "All Eternity Blues"
4. "Play Your Hunch"
5. "Monster Mash"
6. "Things a Mother Goes Through"
7. "Too Late to Change Your Mind"
8. "On a Night Like This" (Reprise)
9. "They Came Back"

Departures from the stage musical

Monster Mash is decidedly very different from I'm Sorry the Bridge is Out, You'll Have to Spend the Night. While the premise and basic plot are the same, much of the music and certain characters were reworked for the film version.

Characters

Bohen's character, "Scott," is named "John" in the stage show and Stole's "Wolfie's mother" is named "Talbot." "The Mummy" was rewritten as Elvis Presley, who was still alive when the original show was conceived, and "The Mummy's" factotum

Factotum

Factotum is the second novel by American author Charles Bukowski. The plot follows Henry Chinaski, Bukowski's alter ego, who has been rejected from the World War II draft and makes his way from one menial job to the next...

, "Dr. Abdul Nasser," became Elvis' manager, Hathaway. The ever-present dancers in the film are based on Count Dracula's onstage harem of "Draculettes." Dracula's motivations are also slightly different: onstage, he seeks to turn Mary into a Draculette while feasting on her boyfriend, whereas in the film Dracula and his wife decide to share the teenagers from the outset. In addition, the stage production includes several characters who do not appear in the film, including Renfield

Renfield

R. M. Renfield is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.-In the novel:A description of Renfield from the novel:R. M. Renfield, aetat 59. Sanguine temperament, great physical strength, morbidly excitable,...

 (from Bram Stoker's

Bram Stoker

Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...

 Dracula), two graverobbers named Montclair and Clairmont, and a not-quite-dead body.

Music

The music also underwent some significant changes. Only four of the twelve songs from the original show appear in the film in some form: "I'm Sorry the Bridge Is Out, You'll Have to Spend the Night," "Play Your Hunch," "All Eternity Blues," and "Things a Mother Goes Through.". The songs "On a Night Like This," "Too Late to Change Your Mind" and "On a Night Like This (Reprise)" were written and recorded specifically for the film. A new version of "Monster Mash" was also recorded and used, even though the song does not appear in the original stage play.

External links

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