MAD MONSTER PARTY

(A.k.a. MAD MONSTER PARTY?; MAD MONSTERS PARTY?)

After rising to prominence with TV specials such as "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "The Christmas That Almost Wasn't", celebrated duo Rankin & Bass took their unique brand of musical claymation and employed it to the horror genre for their one and only excursion into big-screen territory, 1967's MAD MONSTER PARTY.

Now, with the threat of a wholly unnecessary remake pencilled in for 2011, the historic original finally gets a DVD release in the UK ...

It opens with Baron von Frankenstein (voiced by the legendary Boris Karloff, having a hoot in the twilight of his illustrious career) hard at putting the finishing touches to a lifetime's worth of work in his Caribbean island lair, developing a mysterious glowing potion that is capable of wiping out everything.

Declaring the potion a success after fatally testing it on a pet raven, Frankenstein then arranges for invitations to be sent out to all of his monster friends - members, like him, of the World Wide Organisation of Monsters - and invite them to a party at his castle where he can publicly unveil his creation, along with making another special announcement he has planned.

And so, a motley bunch of monsters embark upon a sail across the oceans on the dilapidated cruiser SS Herring, to join the mad Doctor. We have Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde, the Wolf Man, Count Dracula, The Invisible Man, The Mummy, The Hunchback of Notre Dame ... and Felix (Allen Swift), the Baron's clumsy ginger-haired nephew, a failed pharmacist with a voice not unlike that of James Stewart.

When the creatures (and Felix) meet up with the Baron and the party gets underway by way of a groovy band of rocking skeletons, we learn that Frankenstein now wants to give up his mantle as leader of the Organisation - and wishes his successor to be Felix.

As you can imagine, this does not go down well. Especially with the Baron's voluptuous redheaded assistant Francesca (Gale Garnett) ...

Throw in some lively song-and-dance-numbers, the entertaining bickering between Frankenstein's Monster and his Bride (the brilliant Phyllis Diller) and a couple of surprise nods to other genre icons - a Peter Lorre-inspired Igor, King Kong cropping up later into proceedings - and you get a twee but charming celebration of all that is camp about being ghoulish.

Although some of the humour is now a little clapped out and wears thin on cynical adult ears (Dracula transforming into a bat for the first time, while exclaiming "now I'll show you who is the original bat-man" ...) and the songs don't shine as much as a foggy memory suggested, MAD MONSTER PARTY is still a lot of fun - and an absolute feast for the eyes.

You could write what I know about stop-animation on the back of a postage stamp, and still have room to scrawl a crude cock and hairy balls on there. But I do know when something looks stunning, and this 1967 effort certainly is that. The tones and texture of each character are really quite remarkable, while the colourful compositions of each frame and the amazing attention to background details are frequently breathtaking. It's astounding stuff, even four decades on.

What's also apparent is the clear influence the visual style of this film has had on more contemporary filmmakers, most notably being Tim Burton (who has acknowledged PARTY as a reference point of his) and Henry Selick (CORALINE; THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS). Their curious senses of humour and Gothic flavours can be felt throughout this landmark romp.

Of course, the film itself clearly pilfers from many a classic literary horror tale and - specifically - the conventions of the Universal monster films of the 30s and 40s. But it must be considered the impact this film must have had on Stuart Gordon when he considered RE-ANIMATOR's green vial of re-agent, or the people who designed "Sesame Street"'s The Count. And, who knows, perhaps even the IMDb poster who suggests Francesca was the blueprint for the character Jessica Rabbit (WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?) has a point too ...

Aside from the stunning visual style, PARTY's storytelling does display some flaws. While the script is lively, the gags can become at times tiring despite being admirably constant. The songs, however, are only occasionally catchy and therefore at times really drag on.

The film's biggest flaw is that, at 91 minutes in length, it's too long.

Optimum Releasing's disc brings the film to UK shores for the first time in the DVD format.

The good news is that the film is presented in an excellent, clean and bright transfer. Images are surprisingly sharp and print damage is pleasingly limited, improving a great deal after the initially worn-looking opening moments.

Colours are bold, blacks are strong and contrast is well-controlled in what amounts to a superb transfer. The film appears correctly framed in a full-frame presentation (it was reportedly shot in 1.37:1).

The English mono audio is equally well-preserved, offering an attractive problem-free playback throughout.

The bad news, I suppose, is that Optimum's disc is unfortunately bereft of anything even approaching bonus material.

The American counterpart, the Lionsgate Special Edition, includes three featurettes, two sing-along songs and a trailer. This can still be bought quite cheaply online. Prior to that, Anchor Bay also released the film stateside. Although their release was inferior to Lionsgate's (and, more pertinently, is out of print), it did at least include a couple of galleries and the trailer.

Optimum, while deserving of commendation for bringing the film on a nice-looking DVD to nostalgic UK fans, have sadly offered nothing in the way of extras.

Instead we get a static main-menu page, and a similarly static scene-selection menu allowing access to the main feature via 8 chapters. And that's our lot.

An abundance of ideas, some enjoyably well-observed character traits and brilliant defining animation mark out MAD MONSTER PARTY as a fun ride that's well worth revisiting. Okay, the songs are decidedly dated as is much of the humour, but the manic energy and all-round good feeling that permeates from each vivid frame should be enough to keep a smile on your face.

The film looks remarkable here on Optimum's disc. It's such a shame then to have to reiterate that the Region 1 Special Edition can still be found at a nice price, and benefits from a clutch of spiffing contextual bonus features.

Still, with the UK DVD market being the way it is, it's entirely understandable that distributors can't always stretch their means to bulk out releases of niche titles. So we should be grateful for the wonderful titles Optimum continue to proffer to the UK, by way of their continued liaison with the seemingly inexhaustible library of Studio Canal ...

Review by Stuart Willis