Monster Mash (1995 film)

Did You Know?

• David Andreas of SplatterCritic.com rated the film 2.5 stars out of 4.
• The writers Jeffrey Zahn and Joe Troiano later collaborated with Pickett on the film version of Spookley the Square Pumpkin.

Plot

A teenage couple, Mary and Scott, are returning from a Halloween party when car trouble forces them to seek help at the old mansion of Victor Frankenstein, a mad scientist from Hyannis Port. Inside, they meet a host of strange characters resembling the Universal Classic Monsters. Frankenstein informs them, "I'm sorry the bridge is out, you'll have to spend the night!" Each character has secret designs on the couple: Frankenstein wants Scott's brain for his latest creation; his assistant Igor develops feelings for Mary and hopes to replace Scott's brain with his own; Count Dracula and his wife Countess Natasha plan to feast on the teenagers, though Dracula decides to take Mary as his next wife; Wolfie, struggling with lycanthropy, is urged by his mother to marry Mary; and a jive-talking agent named Hathaway has revived Elvis Presley as a bandaged mummy, needing the blood of a virgin to fully restore him.

By morning, Dracula is forced into his coffin at sunrise, Hathaway and Elvis are trapped without a sacrifice, and Igor tricks Frankenstein into swapping minds with Igor instead of Scott. Mary and Scott escape unharmed, and Frankenstein's monster reveals he could speak all along.

Departures from the stage musical

Monster Mash differs significantly from the stage musical I'm Sorry the Bridge is Out, You'll Have to Spend the Night. The script was modernized with topical jokes referencing Jack Kevorkian, QVC, Chia Pets, and Hillary Clinton. Bohen's character Scott is named John in the stage show, and Wolfie's mother is named Mom Talbot, an explicit reference to Larry Talbot from The Wolf Man. The Mummy was rewritten as Elvis Presley, and his factotum Dr. Abdul Nasser became Elvis's manager Hathaway, tailored to Walker's jiving screen persona.

The film's ever-present dancers are based on Count Dracula's onstage harem of Draculettes. Dracula's motivations changed: onstage he sought to turn Mary into a Draculette while feasting on her boyfriend, whereas in the film he and his wife share the teenagers from the outset. The stage production includes characters not in the film, such as Renfield, two graverobbers named Montclair and Clairmont, and a not-quite-dead body. Only four of the twelve original songs appear in the film: "I'm Sorry the Bridge Is Out, You'll Have to Spend the Night," "Play Your Hunch," "Eternity Blues," and "Things a Mother Goes Through."

Two songs, "On a Night Like This" and "You're About to Lose Your Mind," were written for the film, and a new version of "Monster Mash" was recorded, though the song does not appear in the original stage play.