Monster Mash (2000 film)

Monster Mash (Italian: Chi ha paura?) is a 2000 Italian-American direct-to-video animated musical comedy horror film co-produced by DIC Entertainment, L.P. and Rai Fiction. It tells an original story drawing on the lore of Frankenstein’s monster, the Wolfman, and Count Dracula. The film opens at Monster Mash Park, where a talking skeleton dog named Yorick narrates the tale of his owners—Drac, Frank, and Wolf. Once the most fearsome monsters around, they inspired other creatures by terrifying local humans.

Over time, however, they lose their ability to scare and become associated with fun; Frank even shows a soft spot when he refuses to frighten a little girl. Their activities are discovered, and a troll public server delivers a summons to appear before the Superior Court of Horrors. The court date is set just before Halloween. A mummy defense attorney—who once won $1,000,000 for Mr. Hyde in a malpractice suit against Dr. Jekyll—represents them.

The Grim Reaper Prosecutor calls witnesses: monster dentist Dr. Decay testifies that Drac lost his fangs and now wears false teeth; hair-loss specialist Dr. Grogaine describes Wolf’s bald spots. As a final exhibit, the Prosecutor presents a human baby, which Wolf fails to scare and Frank treats gently. The Mummy objects repeatedly, and the Judge briefly places his head on the Mummy’s body to receive a verdict from the skeleton jury. The jury is deadlocked, so the Judge declares a hung jury.

In exchange for their release, Drac, Frank, and Wolf must prove they are still scary within 24 hours, or they will be expelled from the Ghoul Guild and sentenced to entertain at children’s parties forever. The Judge assigns them to scare the suburban Tinklemeister family: Mr. and Mrs. Tinklemeister, their daughter Stella, and their mostly-whistling son Spike. The trio brings the Tinklemeisters to Transylvania and tries every tactic, but fails to frighten them.

The Prosecutor sends three modern monsters—Freddie de Spaghetti (a humanoid spaghetti creature based on Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees), Chicky the Doll of Destruction (a reality-warping wind-up toy based on Chucky), and the Alien Eater (a creature from another dimension based on the Xenomorph)—to ensure their mission fails. After a final failed attempt, the trio explains their situation to the Tinklemeisters, who decide to help.