Drácula contra Frankenstein

Plot synopsis:
Doctor Jonathan Seward [Alberto Dalbés] runs the Halic Sewardis Klinik (Seward
Sanitarium) while doing a little vampire hunting on the side. When he
examines the body of a girl who has recently died, he notices the two
telltale puncture wounds on her neck. Looks like Drácula [Howard Vernon] is on the prowl
again, so Dr Seward pays a visit to Castle Drácula and runs a stake
through the King Vampire's heart. Drácula turns into a bat and lays dead in
his coffin. Not long afterwards, a deaf-mute wanders into town looking for Castle
Drácula (hard to miss the huge castle at the top of a mountain just
outside of town). The deaf-mute is Morpho [Luis Barboo], lab assistant to Doctor Ranier
von Frankenstein [Dennis Price] who has also come to town with his monster and a grand
plan to awaken Drácula and create an Army of Shadows that will serve him
in his attempts to take over the world.He begins by awakening his monster, whom he then sends on a task to
kidnap a French cabaret singer [Josyane Gibert] so that he can use her blood to awaken
Drácula, which he does by giving the bat a bath in the blood. Poof!
Drácula is back, although he's more like a zombie now that he's a prisoner
of Dr Frankenstein. Frankenstein orders Drácula to be fruitful and
multiply and, so, leads him to his first victim--María, a flaky patient at
Seward's sanitarium. When Seward notices the two puncture wounds on María's neck, he
realizes that Drácula is at it again and heads back to the castle. On the
way, however, he is met by the Frankenstein monster, who beats him up and
leaves him for dead. Fortunately, Seward is found by a band of gypsies,
who take him home so that Amira [Genevieve Deloir], apparently their resident witch and
psychic, can care for him. Amira isn't feeling too good herself, having
been recently bitten by one of Drácula's vampiresses. She knows that her
time is short, but she explains to the doctor how the gypsies have been
slaves to Drácula and they're tired of it. She knows that Seward tried to
destroy Drácula once before and impresses upon him to try again and, in
doing so, free her people. This time, she's going to help by conjuring up
a werewolf during the next full moon.At the next full moon, Seward is feeling much better, but Amira is
worse. She has only enough strength left to remind him that the werewolf
will come this night and that he must kill Drácula and the other evil
things and so free the gypsies. Suddenly, the werewolf's howl can be heard
coming from Castle Drácula. While the werewolf and the monster fight it
out, Dr Frankenstein decides that Drácula has somehow betrayed him and
plunges a spear through his heart. Seward gathers up the gypsies, and they
all race up to the castle. The Frankenstein monster, bloodied from his
fight with the werewolf, returns to his own coffin and is electrocuted by
his creator. By the time Seward and the gypsies get there, both Drácula
and Maria have been reduced to skeletons. Seward holds up a crucifix and
thanks God for His divine help. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl]

Tags: revenge, murder

Review:
At first the movie appears to be mainly strange images shot up close, but then the narration kicks in and the plot begins to make some sense.
A bloody Wrestlemania ensues with the Frankenstein Monster.Recommended if you like twists on the old tales..
This is a fantastic film, probably one of Franco's best, and definitely one of the best Frankenstein movies ever made.
In runs like a magnificent homage to the Universal horror films of the 1940s, but with an intellectual level that resembles Jean-Luc Godard.
It is the first film in Franco's trilogy of monster movies, and definitely one of the best.
I watched the original Spanish version without any subtitles, but luckily Franco used minimal dialog this time, which made the cinematographic experience even greater as it felt like TOTAL CINEMA!!!
Jesús Franco (aka uncle Jess) decided here to put every possible movie monster together(Drácula, Frankenstein and the werewolf) and "Dracula vs Frankenstein" was spawned.
Then, Count Dracula (Howard Vernon) also joins Frankenstein army.
The old Dracula and the evil monster begins their reign of horror in the town, fortunately for the people, the werewolf is there to help the town against Dracula and the monster (yes, this movie is a complete non-sense).
OK, Dracula Vs Frankenstein is more an unintentionally comedy than a horror movie, not even a 5 year old girl can be scared by this one, its even cheesier than any Ed Wood movie, but it is funny.
Unfortunately, we have no gore or sex in this Franco movie, but still is recommended..
This is the horror film with the best castle I've ever seen.
Dracula, PRISONER OF FRANKENSTEIN (Jesus Franco, 1971) *1/2.
This would-be homage to the classic Universal cycle of horror films from the 1940s could have been interesting, but it's defeated by listless presentation (marked by Franco's trademark zoom-happy technique) and inadequate plotting (what there is is extremely lazy and contrived  such as Frankenstein's idiotic manifesto for world domination and his baffling about-face towards self-destruction at the end).It was a good idea to present the latter (played by Dennis Price) as a deluded megalomaniac, but the dire physical condition of the actor makes this something of a lost cause.
Alberto Dalbes plays Dr. Seward  Vampire Hunter(!), Luis Barboo gives a hammy performance as Frankenstein's mute hunchback assistant, while Fernando Bilbao gets as little screen-time playing the Frankenstein Monster as his counterpart in the latterday Universal monster flicks themselves!!With respect to the female members of the cast, at least, we get two lovely presences in Josiane Gibert (as a tawdry chanteuse turned into unwitting sacrifice in the re-animation of Dracula  the scene where the bat is bathed in blood is actually nice and grisly) and Britt Nichols (a vampire lady with her own agenda and whose coffin is stupidly never noticed by either Frankenstein or his assistant!).
Also on hand are Anne Libert (who's killed off immediately), Genevieve Deloir (as Vernon's new bride) and Mary Francis (as a gypsy girl).The film is capped by what is the most hilarious monster mash I've ever seen  with a werewolf who comes out of nowhere, only to get beaten to a pulp by the Frankenstein monster!
Incidentally, the way such great locations as Franco had at his disposal are squandered makes this that much more of a missed opportunity  not that the visuals are helped by the dismal print utilized for this transfer (featuring washed-out colors and the wrong aspect ratio to boot)!
By the way, a sure sign of the film's rushed production is its recycled score  comprising the instantly recognizable main theme from MARQUIS DE SADE'S JUSTINE (1968) and, possibly, even cues from COUNT Dracula (1969)!
In conclusion, this one emerges as easily the least of Franco's 'classic monster' films.
if you - like me - love trashy horror movies, then i can safely say, this film is excellent!
as with all of jess francos brilliant films, it is unintentionally funny and highly entertaining.
visually, it has some really creative camera-work too, indeed, its like watching a movie after eating one of my reeders digestive biscuits!
any film that contains Dracula, frankenstein AND wolfman all in one movie, certainly wanted to make sure no fan would be left to freeze in the crypt.
I liked the movie for not really having a story in it, since it made the movie all about its atmosphere and there were no distractions from any bad actors, or horribly written lines, since the movie featured hardly any dialog in it at all.
The movie felt like a good old fashioned horror production, that focused more on atmosphere than anything else really.
It's a real shame that toward its end the movie suddenly decides to still focus on its story, which is just not all that very well written.To be frank, I often had absolutely no idea what was going on with its story.
It isn't an all that interesting or original monster mash-up movie.
It has Dracula, the Frankenstein monster and even the wolf-man in it but really, the movie does nothing good, with any of it.
I know it sounds like every classic horror fan's dream but trust me, you are better off skipping this movie.I really liked the first hour or this movie for its atmosphere and overall approach but this got mostly ruined by a weak story, which was just too prominently present in the movie its second half.
I guess that the most positive thing I can say about this movie is that's truly far from the worst thing, I have seen, done by Jesus Franco.5/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
I guess your name simply has to be Jess Franco if you shamelessly steal the sagas of no less than three immortal horror icons (Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolf Man) and still manage to make a dreadfully boring and incoherent piece of cinematic garbage out of it.
The most astonishing thing, however, is that during the opening sequences, our director almost tricked me into believing "Dracula: Prisoner of Frankenstein" could actually become a worthwhile effort!
The movie opens with atmospheric images of ominous dark castles and creepily isolated landscapes, guided by an unsettling Bruno Nicolai score.
It suspiciously looks as if Franco carefully watched and studied the contemporary Hammer highlights (including the entire Dracula and Frankenstein franchises) and took notes on what scenery to use and how to create a setting.
The nauseatingly pale body of Count Dracula lies died in his coffin (perhaps that is because all the vampire attacks take place in broad daylight, duh!) when no less than Dr. Frankenstein invades the castle turf.
I think the bat is meant to represent Count Dracula or at least some vampire, as it is Frankenstein's intention to raise an army of vampires under his command and then overtake the earth.
Although it's probably a good thing, there are hardly any lines or dialogs in this movie.
The Frankenstein creature looks like a cheap mannequin doll from a bankrupt Halloween store, the Wolf Man is just some Spanish bloke with a severe body hair problem and Dracula well Howard Vernon looks pathetic in his umpteenth collaboration with director Jess Franco.
Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price) arrives at his new abode only to find the dead bat body of Dracula (Howard Vernon) in his basement.
With the help of his Frankenstein monster, the doc has a local burlesque dancer kidnapped and uses her blood to revive ol' Drac.
With the help of some gypsies and The Wolfman (!), he decides to storm the castle and take care of business.Well, I think this one put the nail in the coffin for my recent Franco mini-festival.
But nothing can prepare you for the level of cheapness on display like Frankenstein's monster having drawn on stitches.
He ends up looking like Dracula who smelled something funny.
Franco apparently didn't bother with much of a script either as I think maybe there are 20 spoken lines in the film.
Second, Dracula could have almost as easily been played by a mannequin, as much of the film he stares into space like Captain Christopher Pike's head in Star Trek's "Menagerie".
What makes it even more ridiculous are the bats that the vampires supposedly turn into, as they are the worst and most unrealistic bats you'll ever see (this includes in Ed Wood films and Three Stooges shorts as well as the little plastic ones you buy around Halloween).For about the first 50 minutes or so, not a whole lot happens in the film.
The net effect of all this is appallingly dull.The plot, when it is at all apparent, involves Dr. Frankenstein reviving Dracula to be his slave (ooh, that won't end well) as well as the evil scientist reviving his green cheese-like monster.
Dracula makes some female vampires and eventually a wolf-man shows up...though I have no idea why.
Because it was filmed in Europe, the settings can't help but look pretty good.
That alone is the only reason I gave this movie a score as high as 2--otherwise, it's even more dull and stupid than an Al Adamson horror film.In a final note, you PETA-types out there may want to skip this one.
Dracula, Prisoner of Franco.
Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein (1972) ** (out of 4) This Franco product, also known as Dracula CONTRA FRANKENSTEIN is perhaps one of his most seen films because with a title like this, people are going to check it out.
In what was rumored to have been his attempt at a HOUSE OF Dracula remake, Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price) brings Dracula (Howard Vernon) back to life so that he can use him as a slave.
At the same time he creates a monster and soon everyone is doing battle as a female vampire (Britt Nichols) also shows up.
I do respect what Franco was going for in regards to the silent nature of the film but in the end it just doesn't work..
No Frankenstein but Vampires and Werewolves make this movie awesome..
This a Dracula movie.
It is not really Frankenstein movie.
Defiantly cinematic, Dracula contra Frankenstein contains very little dialog, forcing the viewer to actually pay attention to what is happening on the screen in order to follow the narrative.
The problem is that the mise en scene is scrappy, poverty stricken, and erratic; dominated by pointless, jerky zooms; and offering none of the colorful wide angled delirium that makes Franco's follow up film, The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein, such a mesmerizing experience.
Franco does manage to conjure up a somewhat dank, depressing atmosphere, and provide the occasional interesting image, such as Dracula being revived by slowly submerging a bat in a jar of blood, but Dracula contra Frankenstein plays for the most part like a trial run for his later masterpiece.Of course, Dr. Frankenstein is really just Dr. Orloff under a different name; the ubiquitous amoral ubermensch is this time seeking to enslave humanity by reviving Dracula and the Frankenstein monster in order to create an army of the undead subject to his superior will.
A sick and possibly drunk Dennis Price fails to make much of an impression as the good Doctor, but Howard Vernon gives an interesting performance as Dracula, playing him like Morpho from The Awful Dr. Orloff, slack jawed, bug eyed, and mute.
The great Britt Nichols is also on hand as a very fetching Vampire Girl.As I stated previously, this is lesser Franco, but like most Franco films, good and bad, it contains interesting, original elements that simply cannot be found elsewhere.
Dracula contra Frankenstein is a film made by a man who loves the movies for people who love the movies.
The films of Jesus Franco are loved and hated in almost equal measure (well, perhaps hated a bit more than loved), but few drive viewers to extremes the way Dracula contra Frankenstein does.
The haters tend to view the film as a terrible 'tribute' to the Universal horrors of the '30s and '40s, and perhaps it is (gotta love those rubber bats), but there's more going on here than a salute to glories past.
There's a dreamlike quality to Dracula contra Frankenstein that, intentional or not, helps me overlook a lot of the film's sins and concentrate on its virtues.
The film opens with a virtually dialogue-free first half hour that allows Franco to play to his strengths: outdoor scenes and shots of strange or unusual architecture.
When people finally DO start talking, the film is barely more coherent than before, with Rainer von Frankenstein (which relative was he?) expounding on how he will bend Dracula and his vampire slaves to his will.
Franco does use the zoom lens, but he tends to use it with a purpose this time--he uses it to draw particular attention to his characters' eyes, and the score (apparently co-composed by Bruno Nicolai and Daniel White) is repetitive but well applied.
Look past the bats and the terrible special effects, and appreciate this film for what it is: a psychedelic monster rally, Franco-style..
Another hastily-assembled horror effort from hack / genius Jess Franco (delet as applicable) in probably the busiest phase of his career - this was filmed pretty much simultaneously with "The Curse of Frankenstein" (aka "The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein") and "Daughter of Dracula", and utilises many of the same cast members and filming locations.Sadly, this is the least involving and most badly-paced of these three movies.
Franco's trademark OTT camera pans and zooms feature prominently, and the editing is even sloppier and choppier than usual.Dr Frankenstein (played by an ageing and ill-looking Dennis Price) arrives in a Transylvanian village in thrall to Dracula.
The vampire Count (Franco regular Howard Vernon, in a sadly dialogue-free role) has been dispatched with the regulation stake through the heart by Dr Seward (Alberto D'Albes), but the deranged Doc revives him with the intention of using the Count as his mind-controlled slave.
Also along for the ride are a Boris Karloff-like Frankenstein Monster (Fernando Bibao), a sexy vampire bride (the sultry Britt Nichols), a gypsy witch who befriends Dr Seward, and a rotten-looking Wolfman who turns up in the last reel to battle the Monster.
Remerkably, given this free-for-all of horror elements, the film still manages to move at a leaden pace thanks to Franco's stolid direction and listless setups.Not the greatest monster team-up movie (that remains "Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein") or even the best Jess Franco movie (for my money, that's "A Virgin Anmong the Living Dead"), but worth a watch on a Friday night with a few cans of ale - if only for such bizarre elements as a vampire victim (the ever-lovely Anne Libert) being staked through the EYE (?!!?), and some hilariously overblown dialogue: Dennis Price managing to over-act and chew the scenery even with the handicap of atrocious dubbing..
The castle actually isn't so abandoned as it's really the home of Dracula and his vampire servants.
Dr. Frankenstein puts his monster and Dracula to work kidnapping local women for his experiments.
It's up to Dr. Seward and the local gypsies/werewolves to put a stop to Frankenstein and Dracula.
During the first few moments of Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein, I was having trouble believing that this was a Franco film.
The opening shots of the castle with Bruno Nicolai's score are well done and, for the lack of anything better, un-Franco-like.
Compared with some of the other Franco films I've seen, Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein isn't too bad.
Don't misunderstand, it's not very good, but if you've seen something like Franco's Oasis of the Zombies, this movie is a winner.
One thing that really bothered me, though, is that Franco can't seem to decide what time period his film is set.
. In the end, I can't in good conscious recommend Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein to anyone other than the most die-hard of Franco completists..
Jess Franco madness about Dracula, Frankenstein and a wolfman.
Frankenstein with the monster in tow shows up and brings both the monster and the vampire back to life.
This is a good looking film(though the Frankenstein monster is a golden throw back to a high school production with scars and such clear drawn on with grease paint).
Its not as bad as some of the stuff he's turned out and its nowhere near as good as other stuff(Give the man credit he's directed at least 189 movies).
Its also a movie that more likely to help you nod off..
Accompanied by some of the most misleading promotional material ever (just how did they get away with using images of Karloff and Chaney Jr in Jack Pierce's classic make-up to advertise this?), Jess Franco brings us an apparent tribute to those old Universal films.In this, Doctor Seward (Alberto Dalbes) is so incensed by Dracula (a wide-eyed and impressive Howard Vernon) and his killings that he travels to the Count's castle, opens his coffin and taps a twig-like stake into the old boy's heart, reverting him to a dead bat.
Quite why this simple act hadn't been carried out earlier in Dracula's reign of terror is a mystery.The first dialogue in this film is 15 minutes in, when a gaggle of gypsies notice the arrival of Doctor Frankenstein as he heads towards Dracula's castle.
Unlike this film's sequel, 'The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein' (in which Frankenstein spends much of the running time bed-bound), Franco's direction here makes no secret of Price's difficulty walking, and as such, Frankenstein is a frail, somewhat bloated figure.
This approach, and the disembodied voices give the whole production a ghostly effect.This is a slow maze of a film smothered with Franco's trademark zooming camera, punctuated with a handful of screaming young women (Anne Libert, who is killed off immediately, makes a bigger impression in 'Rites', and Britt Nichols as a female vampire who, despite making no attempt to hide herself, no-one ever notices!), fabulously rubbery bats and for no readily apparent reason features a cameo by a curly-haired wolf man, who is brought in to fight the monster, get battered, and disappear!