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Summary: Quadrilogy
Comment: In June of 1957 American International Pictures (AIP) released another of their continuing series of quick and cheap exploitation films called, I Was a Teenage Werewolf. It was about a troubled teenager (played by a young Michael Landon), who is treated by a hypnotherapist, named Dr. Brandon, who somehow instead of helping him, turns him into a werewolf. Much to the surprise of AIP, the film was a huge hit grossing as much as $2,000,000 per week in its early weeks of release. In November of 1957, less than five months later, AIP followed it with I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, which was moderately successful. Coinciding with the release of that sequel, AIP released, Blood of Dracula, a film (oft overlooked) which bears more than a passing resemblance to their Teenage Werewolf summer box office hit. More or less a remake, and with both the hero and villain roles now both played by females, Blood of Dracula could have easily been titled "I Was a Teenage Vampire." The story and screenplay credit is by (I Was a Teenage Werewolf) writer Ralph Thornton (a pseudonym for AIP producer Herman Cohen and Aben Kandel), features many other similarities to I Was a Teenage Werewolf - for instance, both have (among other things): a teenager with social behavior problems, an adult 'mad scientist' who is searching for the perfect guinea pig under the guise of helping troubled youth, an observer who can tell the killings are the work of a monster, a disbelieving police chief afraid of the press, a song written by Jerry Blaine and Paul Dunlap accompanied by a choreographed "ad-lib" dance number, hypnosis as scientific medical treatment, drug injections, specific references to Carpathia, hairy transformation scenes, and even some of the same dialog. In addition, two prominent actors from I Was a Teenage Werewolf are also featured in Blood of Dracula, Malcolm Atterbury and Louise Lewis, with Lewis's villain, 'Miss Branding' a practically perfect female version of Whit Bissel's 'Dr. Brandon.'
The fourth AIP 'teenage monster' film, released the next summer in July of 1958 was, How to Make A Monster. Most critics consider this to be the third film of a trilogy since they overlook Blood of Dracula. And once again, mad science is at work this time turning teenage actors on a movie lot into unwitting and real rampaging monsters. Where is the CULT CLASSICS Double Feature, I Was A Teenage Werewolf / I Was A Teenage Frankenstein, please?
Source: Wikipedia
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Summary: It Came From The Fifties
Comment: Diversionary entertainment from the Fifties. Two of the "best" B-grade movies from the era. "How To Make A Monster" belongs in everyone's horror collection beside "House On Haunted Hill," "Plan 9 From Outer Space," and another one of Samuel Arkoff's "masterpieces," "The Creature With The Atom Brain" "Blood of Dracula," while not as good as "How To Make A Monster," is a great example of how the emerging culture of teenagers influenced horror movies--think of this as a super B-grade version of "Rebel Without A Cause" and a companion piece to "I Was A Teenage Werewolf".
Customer Rating:
Summary: 50's Monster Movies
Comment: If you like 50's monster movies like I do, you'll like these. The second one is better than the first, in my opinion with a different twist on the vampire movie.
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Summary: Great series: Lion's Gate, please keep it going
Comment: Great start on this series (despite the apect ratio problems), but Lion's Gate seems to have given up, which is unfortunate, as there are a number of Arkoff titles that haven't yet seen the light of day on DVD. While I'm not 100% sure if Lion's Gate owns the rights to the films I list below, I would venture to guess they do. So how about a pairing of I Was a Teenage Frankenstein/I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Invasion of the Saucer Men/Attack of the Crab Monsters, Voodoo Woman/The Undead, Not of This Earth/It Conquered the World (two of the best AIP titles), and The Amazing Colossal Man (whose sequel, War of the Colossal Beast, is part of this line). I think this accounts for the rest of the Arkoff 1950s horror/sci-fi library, maybe there is something else that could be paired with Amazing Colossal Man.
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Summary: Blood of Dracula
Comment: I have waited a long time for Blood of Dracula to come to DVD. In the mid-1990s I had a VHS version of the horror classic and, being the age I was at the time, enjoyed the campy fun as well as the chill of horror. I suppose this film plays on every students idea that his/her teacher is experiementing on them in one way or another.
If you have a young horror fan in the family this is a safe movie to enjoy as a Halloween treat and certainly has some history in their about the Arms Race. There is also a corny musical number that the family will enjoy laughing about before getting back to the vampire thrills.
Happy Hauntings!
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