Movie Review: House of Frankenstein (1944)

Synopsis: After attempting to replicate Frankenstein's experiments, Dr. Gustave Niemann is sent to prison. Niemann, however, escapes with the help of another inmate, Daniel, a hunchback who is looking for a new body. The pair commit murder to take over a traveling horror exhibit and resurrect Dracula, whose body is one of the attractions, to get revenge on the man who sent Niemann to prison. Later, they meet the Wolf Man and come across the original Frankenstein's monster.

Who's in it? The movie stars Boris Karloff, John Carradine, Glenn Strange, Lon Chaney, Jr. and Anne Gwynne.

Review: I had some time yesterday evening while my wife was at her sewing studio so, since I recently re-watched Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, I figured I would give House of Frankenstein another try as well. I didn't remember much about this movie, other than I recalled not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. After re-watching it, I now remember why I had that opinion.

On the surface, this is an intriguing movie. It features three of Universal's most famous monsters. Chaney is the only actor to be cast as his original monster character while Karloff trades the Frankenstein's Monster makeup for his starring role as Dr. Niemann. Still, at least on paper, it opened up a whole variety of opportunities, whether they were teaming up together or ultimately faced off against each other.

The part about Frankenstein's experiments possibly being a cure for the Wolf Man was also somewhat intriguing. It was a nice idea that potentially tied at least two of the franchises together and created a bit of mystery about how the film would end - would the Wolf Man be cured or would the curse transfer over to another body?

The reason it is such a disappointment is the writers completely dropped the ball in that regard.

To start, the title of this movie is very misleading. It does not have Dr. Frankenstein or any of his offspring in it and his "house" only makes about a 10-minute cameo before Niemann takes everyone to his own laboratory. Oh, and Frankenstein's Monster doesn't do anything until the very end of the film.

If anything, this should have been named after the Wolf Man since Lyle Talbot, and his alter ego had much more screen time than either of the other two monsters (and pretty much no monster interaction), making sure to whine about his curse as much as always. I mean, seriously, get over it already. We get it, you are unhappy about being a werewolf. 

In fact, Dracula (Carradine) doesn't even make it past the halfway point. To be fair, it wasn't really all that much of a waste since it is arguably one of the worst versions of the character I've seen. However, even a crappy version of Dracula deserved a bit more dignity than that way-to-easy death.

Final Opinion: The poor execution in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man make it arguably one movie too many in the Universal Monster expanded universe. When it comes to House of Frankenstein, there is no argument about that.

My Grade: F

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Here are some reviews of other Lon Chaney, Jr. movies:

Movie Review: The Black Sleep (1956)

Movie Review: My Favorite Brunette (1947)

Movie Review: Indestructible Man (1956)

Movie Review: The Cyclops (1957)