MAD MONSTER PARTY?

By 1967, the monsters had made it. Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man and the rest of the old horror gang had escaped the graveyard and taken over television, toy stores, model kits, comic books and the bedrooms of monster-crazed kids everywhere. There was really only one thing left to do: throw a party.

And what a party. Rankin/Bass took the stop-motion wizardry behind RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, handed the monsters over to MAD Magazine legends Harvey Kurtzman and Jack Davis, brought in Boris Karloff to preside over the festivities and Phyllis Diller to play Frankenstein’s extremely talkative mate, then invited every creature they could squeeze onto the Isle of Evil. Dracula! The Wolf Man! The Mummy! Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! The Invisible Man! Zombies! Skeletons! A Peter Lorre-looking ghoul! Jack Davis designed them, a studio full of Japanese animators built them, and somebody had to move every single one of these maniacs one frame at a time.

The result is a glorious 1960s monster-kid fever dream where Frankenstein discovers a formula capable of destroying all matter and celebrates by announcing his retirement. There are musical numbers, terrible puns, monster politics, a skeleton rock band called Little Tibia and the Fibias, Dracula dancing and enough lovingly handcrafted gothic clutter to fill a dozen Halloween specials. Part monster rally, part MAD Magazine cartoon brought to life and part Rankin/Bass holiday special for the greatest holiday of them all, MAD MONSTER PARTY? is what happens when an entire generation stops being afraid of monsters and starts letting them babysit their kids.