Jess Franco's strangely sedate monster bash is not one of his indispensable efforts, but will hold your attention if you catch it in the right mood. Defiantly cinematic, Dracula contra Frankenstein contains very little dialog, forcing the viewer to actually pay attention to what is happening on the screen in order to follow the narrative. The problem is that the mise en scene is scrappy, poverty stricken, and erratic; dominated by pointless, jerky zooms; and offering none of the colorful wide angled delirium that makes Franco's follow up film, The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein, such a mesmerizing experience. Franco does manage to conjure up a somewhat dank, depressing atmosphere, and provide the occasional interesting image, such as Dracula being revived by slowly submerging a bat in a jar of blood, but Dracula contra Frankenstein plays for the most part like a trial run for his later masterpiece.
Of course, Dr. Frankenstein is really just Dr. Orloff under a different name; the ubiquitous amoral ubermensch is this time seeking to enslave humanity by reviving Dracula and the Frankenstein monster in order to create an army of the undead subject to his superior will. A sick and possibly drunk Dennis Price fails to make much of an impression as the good Doctor, but Howard Vernon gives an interesting performance as Dracula, playing him like Morpho from The Awful Dr. Orloff, slack jawed, bug eyed, and mute. The great Britt Nichols is also on hand as a very fetching Vampire Girl.
As I stated previously, this is lesser Franco, but like most Franco films, good and bad, it contains interesting, original elements that simply cannot be found elsewhere. Dracula contra Frankenstein is a film made by a man who loves the movies for people who love the movies. It shows. Sure, I drank most of a bottle of wine while I was watching it, which may have colored my judgment, but when I tried the same thing with Poseidon I fell asleep.
Of course, Dr. Frankenstein is really just Dr. Orloff under a different name; the ubiquitous amoral ubermensch is this time seeking to enslave humanity by reviving Dracula and the Frankenstein monster in order to create an army of the undead subject to his superior will. A sick and possibly drunk Dennis Price fails to make much of an impression as the good Doctor, but Howard Vernon gives an interesting performance as Dracula, playing him like Morpho from The Awful Dr. Orloff, slack jawed, bug eyed, and mute. The great Britt Nichols is also on hand as a very fetching Vampire Girl.
As I stated previously, this is lesser Franco, but like most Franco films, good and bad, it contains interesting, original elements that simply cannot be found elsewhere. Dracula contra Frankenstein is a film made by a man who loves the movies for people who love the movies. It shows. Sure, I drank most of a bottle of wine while I was watching it, which may have colored my judgment, but when I tried the same thing with Poseidon I fell asleep.