How to Make a Monster
Tags: revenge, murder

Plot synopsis:
We open with the title and credits written on a makeup mirror using a lipstick. We zoom in on a drawing of the Teenage Werewolf, then dissolve to an actor in Werewolf makeup getting a last minute touchup. The Teenage Werewolf is Larry Drake (Gary Clarke) and the makeup artist is Pete Dumond (Robert B. Harris). Also present is Rivero (Paul Brinegar), Dumond's long-time assistant. Rivero praises his boss as having twenty-five years of experience creating movie monsters for the studio. Dumond walks Larry walk over to the set. They encounter other studio employees and a tour group. On the set, the director, Martin Brace (Thomas Browne Henry) approves, telling Dumond, "Great Pete, just great, exactly what I want." The Teenage Frankenstein character, Tony Mantell (Gary Conway) is brought on set. The director works with each actor rehearsing the final scene of their picture.In the makeup office, Dumond and Rivero are cleaning up. Dumond likes working with teenagers, "They've got spirit and they cooperate." Two men walk in the office, unannounced and without knocking. They scope out the space, then inform Dumond that they are part of the group that has taken over the studio. They introduce themselves as John Nixon (Eddie Marr) and Jeffrey Clayton (Paul Maxwell). They blithely announce that after the picture Dumond is working on is completed his services will no longer be required. The monster cycle is done and the studio is going in a different direction. Dumond tries to convince the pair that his services are still required, but they are adamant. This starts Dumond over the edge and he vows ominously, "And before I leave this lot I intend to prove I'm right."That evening Dumond returns to his office. He stops to admire posters of the Teenage Werewolf and Frankenstein and waxes philosophical about his contribution to the financial success of the studio. He vows, "I'll destroy this studio...see it goes up in flames before I." He stops short and reconsiders, then vows to destroy the new owners first using his monsters. Rivero shows up and they enter the makeup room. Dumond explains his plan to Rivero. He will add a drug to the makeup foundation that will render the actors susceptible to hypnotic suggestion. He will direct Tony (Frankenstein) and Larry (Werewolf) to kill the new studio bosses. Two studio guards, Richards (Malcolm Atterbury) and Monahan (Dennis Cross) meet at the guard shack. Monahan complains that nothing ever happens on the night shift.The next day, Larry stops by the makeup department to have his Teenage Werewolf makeup applied. Dumond tells Larry the makeup department will be closed at the end of the picture he is working on and Larry won't be able to get any future roles. He applies the new makeup formula and starts the hypnosis and tells him the plan. In the Screening Room, Nixon, Clayton, and Banks (an uncredited Herman Cohen) review the rushes for Banks' latest musical. Banks leaves, then Clayton also exits the Screening Room leaving Nixon alone to watch the rushes from the Frankenstein and Werewolf film. From behind, Larry, in full werewolf makeup, attacks and kills Nixon, choking him while growling and foaming at the mouth. Back in the makeup chair, Dumond asks Larry, "Now you're sure my boy? Nobody saw you?" Larry nods in the affirmative. Dumond notices the blood on the Werewolf gloves and directs Rivero to wash the blood out of them. He wakes Larry from his trance.At the Screening Room, the projectionist is fingerprinted and questioned by the police about the death of Nixon. The doctor examines Nixon's body. He concludes that the time of death was probably 8:34 based on the broken watch and a broken neck is the cause of death. Clayton meets with detectives Thompson (Walter Reed) and Jones (John Phillips). Clayton tells the police that Nixon had no enemies on the West Coast, but they did have to pink slip about one hundred employees at the studio.Larry Drake and his girlfriend Arlene Dow (Heather Ames) are at a party. Larry complains of not feeling well. He complains of feeling like he blacks out. They rejoin the party. Monahan stops by the makeup department on his security rounds. He asks Dumond, who is working late, why he continues to keep late hours even after being fired. Monahan has been playing detective and tells Dumond that he thinks Nixon's death was an inside job. He infers that Dumond and Rivero may be involved, as they were still on the lot when Nixon was killed. He adds that all his observations including the time they left the lot are noted in his little black notebook, which he waives about provocatively. Monahan continues his rounds on the studio lot. Richards stays in the guard shack listening to the radio. Monahan enters the commissary and is accosted by a visage with a scar running from forehead to chin. He is beaten to death with a hammer or club. His black notebook is taken by the assailant. Back in the makeup department Dumond is cleaning up his face. Richards notes the time Dumond and Rivero leave the lot. Richards gets anxious that his partner, Monahan, has not checked in. He goes to look for him. He finds the body in the cafeteria. Richards calls the police and waits for Jones and Thompson to arrive and start their investigation. Again, Pete Dumond and Riveros names come up as being on scene when the murder occurs. The next morning Jones meets with Dumond to question him. On a sound stage a John Ashley musical number is filmed. When the number wraps, Clayton reminds Dumond, both of whom were on the set, that singing, dancing, and beautiful women are what the public wants and what the studio will produce.Dumond and Rivero are preparing Tony's Frankenstein make up when they are interrupted by two high school girls from their school newspaper doing an article on the studio. They interview Tony while he is sitting in the makeup chair. After they leave, Dumond applies the drugged foundation then hypnotizes him. Clayton checks out of the studio with Richards on guard that evening. He drives home in his Lincoln convertible and parks in the garage. As he exits his vehicle he is surprised by the Teenage Frankenstein waiting for him. Tony kills Clayton on the front seat of his car, sounding the horn several times. While struggling with his attacker, he gets some makeup on his hands. Tony flees the scene. While running back to Rivera's house, he knocks down a maid, Millie (Pauline Myers) walking down the sidewalk. She screams when she sees his makeup. At the house the two makeup artists remove Tony's mask and take him out of his trance. Rivero is starting to get cold feet as the body count climbs. The pair have been invited to police headquarters for questioning. Dumond reminds Rivero to keep his mouth shut. He'll do all the talking. As they are leaving, Gary Droz (Robert Shayne) arrives. He is Larry Drake's agent and is unhappy with Dumond. He warns Dumond, "You leave my boy alone. Don't you tell him that after this picture is finished that he'll never get another job." He finishes reading Dumond the riot act, then storms off.While Dumond and Rivero wait to be questioned, Richards tells Dumond he isn't getting any sleep. He spends his nights at the studio and his days being questioned by the police. Police Capt. Hancock (Morris Ankrum), along with detectives Thompson and Jones, questions Mille about what she saw when Clayton was killed. Richards is next to be interviewed. They review the Monahan killing. Finally, Dumond and Rivero are called in for questioning. The police tell the pair that the reason for their questioning is that they suspect the killer or killers may have been in full makeup and they may have information important to solving the murders. Thompson senses weakness in Rivero and starts to browbeat the now rattled assistant. Questioning finished, they are released, and walk to Dumond's car in the parking lot. Dumond is convinced that his sniveling assistant is about crack. Rivero reminds Dumond that Tony and Larry are still to be questioned and they may reveal something. Dumond reminds Rivero that, "Those boys are still under my control." A lab technician (Rod Dana) tells Capt. Hancock and detectives Thompson and Jones that he found greasepaint and putty under the fingernails of Clayton. The pigment and base suggest a homemade blend rather than a commercial product. Hancock orders the tech to accompany him to the studio with his equipment for a spot analysis.When Dumond and Rivero arrive at the makeup department, Larry and Tony are there waiting. Their supplies have already been packed. Dumond invites the boys to his house and asks them to help move some boxes to his car. Dumond packs a few missed items, but discards a jar of makeup in the trash can. Martin Brace stops by to say goodbye to Dumond. As Dumond, Rivero, Tony, and Larry exit the lot in Dumond's car, the police drive up. They go to the makeup room and discover the discarded makeup in the trash can. The tech analyzes it on the spot.At Dumond's house, the boys carry the boxes inside. Dumond locks the door and lights some candles. [Note: in this copy of the movie, the cinematography changes from black and white to color for the balance of the film.] The room is decorated with multi-colored curtains and masks of creatures are displayed. Dumond tells the boys the masks are his family and children. Tony and Larry are uneasy and for good reason. Dumond continues to light candles and mumble to himself. He invites the boys to examine the masks while he and Rivero go to get refreshments. The boys begin to exchange information about their encounters with Dumond. Rivero voices his concern about Larry and Tony, "I don't think they can be trusted." Dumond reassures Rivero, but becomes suspicious when Rivero reveals that he intends to leave the state and visit his brother in Arizona. Dumond is now convinced Rivero plans to leave him out to dry with the police. Dumond kills Rivero with a dagger, then moves his body into a closet. Dumond joins the boys in the mask room with refreshments. He hands them glasses of wine. The boys voice their discomfort with Dumond, his ideas, and his desire to, "Add them to his collection." They notice the door to the room is locked and demand to be allowed to leave. Dumond tells Tony and Larry that they were responsible for two of the murders. He pulls a machete on the boys. In their escape attempt they knock over a candle and start a fire in the room. The masks are destroyed as Dumond screams, "My children! I must save my children!" As the room burns, the masks melt and Dumond is consumed by the fire. The police break a window to the home and unlock the door and enter. They force the door and rescue Tony and Larry. We close with a shot of the room fully engulfed in fire.

Review: Those that did were largely of a teenage audience, something that AIP clearly understood, and the success of their movie ensured a revival of the whole genre.In this clever, self-referential sequel (of sorts), American International Studios are closing down production of horror movies in order to make more musicals, which sounds fairly true to life in what may have been happening in some studios at the time.
He isn't too happy about all this, so he decides to take revenge on the new owners of the studio by turning his "Teenage Werewolf" and "Teenage Frankenstein" actors into real monsters using a mind control makeup paste thingy.
It all takes place during the filming of a "Teenage Werewolf meets the Teenage Frankenstein" movie.This is a pretty neat idea, and the script explores it very well.
The two 'teenage' stars, who were actually in their early twenties when this film was made, play their roles with that all-American wide-eyed innocence that actually works pretty well in parts such as this.AIP were famed for producing their horror movies on low budgets, often less than a hundred thousand while at the time major studios generally set their budgets in the millions.
This also features a dramatic shift into color so that you can appreciate his mask collection even more, which is pretty neat."How To Make A Monster" is a very entertaining film, which I'd recommend to anyone who likes these cheesy old horror movies.
It also provided an effective means of saving money on the production, since not many sets had to be built or dressed, and even when that was necessary, AIP was able to use materials on hand from other films, such as the gallery of masks, in a way that makes this a self-referential treat for horror fans.
His unwitting targets on that end, Tony Mantell (Gary Conway) and Larry Drake (Gary Clarke), are played with an appropriate wide-eyed and willing innocence.If there's a flaw in How to Make a Monster it's that nothing about it--except maybe the very final scene--is particularly atmospheric or suspenseful, but oddly, it really doesn't matter, because it's a good story told well enough that it keeps you engaged for its length.
I still haven't quite figured out why a few American International Pictures, including this one, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957) and War of the Colossal Beast (1958), have the final scenes in color (I know it was a gimmick, but I don't really get the attraction of it as a gimmick), but it doesn't disrupt the flow of the film and it's nice seeing the gallery of masks in color..
This film is in many ways an inside look at the workings of the movie business and its thinking in the 50s as well as the ending chapter in the Teenage Trilogy cycle at AIP.
Movie audiences attracted by the sensationalistic advertising proclaiming, "See the ghastly ghouls in flaming colour!", doubtlessly expected that the film HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER was actually a colour movie and were surprised and disappointed to discover that the film was essentially a black and white feature with the final 8 minutes shot in colour (Leonard Maltin in his movie guide review states it is the final 18 minutes but this is probably a typographic error).By the late 1950's, Britain's Hammer Films was producing, to great critical acclaim and financial success, a series of well-crafted horror movies which boasted that they were filmed in colour.
These pioneering efforts marked the beginning of the end for the relatively inexpensive black and white programmers which had been the mainstay for the success of film companies like American International Pictures.
With his next project, HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM, producer Herman Cohen would present his own answer to the Hammer movies by filming it in England and in colour.For those interested, the colour footage begins after Pete Dummond and his captive guests, Tony and Larry, along with Pete's accomplice, Rivero, enter his house and Dummond lights some candles in his living-room/macabre shrine.
Kenneth Langtry is a pseudonym for a writer actually named Aben Kandel (he also employed the pen-name Ralph Thornton), who collaborated with producer Herman Cohen on a number of film projects including I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF, BLOOD OF DRACULA, I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN, HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM, THE HEADLESS GHOST, KONGA and THE BLACK ZOO.Kandel's script for HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER is a reworking of much of the same plot elements found in his TEENAGE WEREWOLF and FRANKENSTEIN films, but the villain of this piece not only employs those under his control to commit murder, he also participates in some of the mayhem himself.
Perhaps sensing that the late 1950's audiences were becoming too sophisticated for outright monsters in horror films, author Kandel decided to weave a story utilizing this theme and present the movie audience with a much more realistic menace, the psychotic mastermind/killer (Cohen and Kandel would carry this concept to its logical extreme the following year in HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM, a horror film without a monster in sight).The efforts behind HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER would be much diminished without the presence of character actor Robert H.
His skilled interpretation of the deranged makeup artist Pete Dummond is a multi-faceted one eliciting a wide-range of qualities which at one moment engenders our respect as he encourages a young actor to give his utmost to his film role, our sympathy in the wake of the overbearing new studio executives and their pragmatism and crassness toward horror films and his art, and our dread as he tells his two guests in his monster museum that he wants to include their "heads" in his collection.
Since the story supposedly occurs at American International studios, instead of utilizing an actor to portray the director of "Frankenstein Meets Werewolf," it's a pity AIP standby Roger Corman wasn't approached to fill the role and it seems only fitting that James H.
All these additions would have given HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER a more auto-biographical and self-parody tone.HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER is an engaging and fascinating oddity from American International Pictures of the 1950's and marks an interesting phase in the chronology of Herman Cohen productions for this movie company..
Besides many familiar (and unfamiliar) monster heads, the film is a virtual who's who of American International Studio players from the 50's.
And certainly, the plot of killing off studio executives must have appealed to all the writers, actors and production staff making the film..
Harris) seeks revenge on a group of new studio executives who fired him by unleashing his Frankenstein and Werewolf creations upon them!
He controls the young actors in the costumes via a special make-up which turns the actors into Pete's zombies.This film is a little bit more serious than most of Herman Cohen's productions and a such just a little bit less fun.
Strock once again directs a horror thriller for AIP, but this time with a twist: This story is about AIS studio make-up artist Pete Dumond(inspired by real-life Universal make-up artist Jack Pierce?) who turns homicidal after new owners fire him, intending to phase out horror pictures altogether!
Enraged, he uses a combination of hypnosis and his own chemical compound to transform actors Gary Conway(Teenage Frankenstein) and Gary Clarke(Teenage Werewolf, in place of Michael Landon)into real monsters, who kill all those who would put Pete out of work.
Harris stars as makeup man Pete Dumont, the new owners are taking over the studio, that Pete works for,(American International).
The young actors are Gary Conway, and Gary Clarke, as Tony and Larry, the teenage Frankenstein, and the teenage werewolf.
Given such an unusual, original premise, the results of the film are not too disappointing:  several brutal killings, lots of monsters, and even John Ashley's B-grade Elvis impersonation (surely done for laughs, let's hope).
the film supposes the existence of "American International Studios" -- a nice thought, but filmmaking had already changed a lot, and AIP was never able to rent a steady digs, so this one just has to stay a fantasy.
Pseudo "behind-the-scenes" look at Hollywood from American International Pictures, filmed (naturally) on the cheap though still retaining a certain cheesy style that is both commendable and entertaining to watch.
A nefarious make-up man for a movie-studio is up to no good, turning the actors he's working on into killers.
It begins in a major Hollywood studio where a prop artist makes actors to look like monsters for a film they are shooting.
Look for a young Gary Conway(who would later appear in a dozen or so AIP films,and was later the regular in a Irwin Allen series called "Land of the Giants" on television)as the werewolf and Gary Clarke as a young but terrifying Frankenstein.
Harris) is told the studio is closing down his shop because they've decided to stop making horror films.
The final film he's on has a teenage werewolf (Gary Clarke--not Michael Landon) and a teenage Frankenstein (Gary Conway reprising his role from the original).
He puts a drug in their makeup that make them obey him and orders them to kill the studio heads.Pretty much forgotten horror movie--for good reason!
We get to see a good bunch of AIP monster masks, some blood, and Harris, Clarke and Conway in full color.
The studio that gave us such classics as I Was A Teenage Frankenstein and I Was A Teenage Werewolf joins the two teen monsters in a cute satire of the genre.A new day is dawning at American International, the new studio heads want no more monster pictures that were the bread and butter of its existence and paid a nice living for makeup artist Robert H.
A new makeup base applied to the skull allows Harris to control those he applies it on and he takes his two teen stars from Teenage Frankenstein and Werewolf and starts sending them on a murder spree and bringing back trophies.Gary Clarke and Gary Conway were Harris's two subjects and they and Harris went along with the fun.
Somewhat lame movie has fired makeup artist using his talents to turn to teens into the monsters (neither of the original actors plays the monsters which might have helped) and he uses them (of course) for revenge!
Harris) will soon be out of a job when the new heads of the movie studio he works for tell him his services are no longer required as they tell him they plan to stop making horror films to concentrate on musicals.
This movie actually has a decent plot.Most of the acting is terrible but the main character is good.I do find it odd that he was just a normal make-up artist for 20 years and as soon as he gets fired he becomes a mad scientist but whatever.Everything that happens is very predictable.Normally that would be bad but somehow it doesn't seem to hurt this movie.This movies does something I have only seen one other time, it goes from black and white to color.It's cool how they do it but there was really no reason for it.It just left me wanting the entire thing in color.I'm sure the director thought it was some great artistic expression but it was totally awkward.If you like old sci-fi/thrillers you should give this a chance..
The main point of this one here is the fact that there's a lot of great work going behind the scenes of the movie-production system, creating a lot of studio in-jokes that are quite fun.
The early attacks in the theater and the kitchen where the creations come out in some really thrilling encounters, and the later scenes of the Frankenstein stalking the last owner and then fleeing afterwards through the town which makes this quite fun as each creature gets a chance to shine here in a fine sequence while nicely setting the stage for the finale.
MORD39 RATING: **1/2  (of ****)A sort-of sequel to AIP's I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF and I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN, this is a neat little picture that I grew up with on TV in the early 70's.Pete the friendly makeup man for AIP is devastated to find out that the new company heads at the studio are going to discontinue their monster movie productions and switch to musicals instead (yeeeccchhh).
In order to get even, he hypnotizes the two teenage actors playing the teen FRANKENSTEIN and the teen WEREWOLF to get revenge for him.A cool idea that provides tightly paced fun and thrills for thirty-something's of all ages..
Set in American International Studios (How Arkoff and Nicholson must have wished this was true), it is an interesting satire on Hollywood politics.It seemed that AIP were trying to move in a new direction, away from the teen-centred themes of the first two.
I sewed it there myself!), and has less to say about the awkwardness of adolescence which gave I Was a Teenage Werewolf its resonance with audiences, but is still an interesting and entertaining movie, and one which completes the trilogy with the wit and style that you associate with the majority of American International Pictures drive-in movies.DVD extras: This DVD was released as part of The Arkoff Library Collection in the UK.
So, to get revenge, the makeup man hypnotizes two young men who are in his makeup chair for one final monster film.
It's a nice behind the scenes look at the studio and it is a pleasant little diversion.By the way, for a long-time makeup man, you sure think the guy would have done a better job with his Frankenstein.
It just looked like some guy who was standing too close to an A-bomb blast and not the famous monster!Also, interestingly the film changes from black & white to color towards the end.
At this point, the makeup man shows the actors his little home gallery of masks--it's really actually very cool, as many of the American-International monsters and aliens are there in this room.
It's a shame that movie was never made) Pete Dumond, the make-up artist of 25 years is fired from his job after the studio, American International Studios is sold and the new owners decide to stop making horror movies and make more musicals.
Ole Pete then does what any red blooded American would do, drugging and hypnotizing the young stars of the monster mash up to go kill various people at the studio in hopes of shutting it down.
Poor but Mildly Fun. How To Make a Monster (1958) * 1/2 (out of 4) Semi-sequel to I Was a Teenage Werewolf and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein deals with a makeup artist (Robert H.
Harris) who is fired by the studio so he turns two teens into the werewolf and Frankenstein monster for revenge.
More fun and games with teenage monsters from American International.
How To Make a Monster is the third of the movies from American International to feature teenage monsters and follows I Was a Teenage Frankenstein and I Was a Teenage Werewolf.A movie maker, Pete Dumond is fired when new people take over the studio where he works, American International.
Pete gets revenge on the new owners by murdering them using his movie monsters, the werewolf, Frankenstein monster and also himself dressing up as a caveman.
He then takes his assistant and the two boys he uses for the monsters back to his place and after killing his assistant, he accidentally sets fire to his home but the boys manage to escape the inferno just as coppers arrive.We get to see heads from various other monsters from AIP movies in Pete's home, including the carrot monster from It Conquered the World.The cast includes Robert H Harris, Paul Brinegar, Gary Clarke, Gary Conway (Land of the Giants) reprising his monster role from I Was A Teenage Frankenstein and sci-fi regulars Morris Ankrum (Invaders From Mars, Earth vs the Flying Saucers) and Robert Shayne (The Giant Claw, Teenage Caveman).This movie is a must for all 50's sci-fi/horror buffs.
A clever mix of studio publicity and the popular monster movie genre takes place on the studio lot of the studio that made this film, American International.
Fired from his job as the monster movie makeup man, Robert H.
Instead of making a straightforward sequel to the earlier I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF and I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN, Cohen here weaves a tale which not only integrates the two monsters from those films but serves as a fitting, clever finale to his trilogy.Wes Craven must have seen this film before he made WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE as both movies detail with murders occurring while such films are being made (if you're with me).
It's the studios top makeup man Pete Dumond, Robert H.
Harris, who' job is on the line who decides to takes matters into his own hands by using his monster makeup on his actors playing Teenage Werewolves and Frankensteins as well as Neanderthal men to do his dirty work for him.
That's by decapitating them and putting their prized heads, in Werewolf and Frankenstein makeup, on display in his secret head-shop that he keeps hidden in his basement.***SPOILERS*** It's by then that the local police lead by actor Morris Ankrum known among bad movie aficionados as the "Eternal Colonel" playing police Captain Hancock ,there's no colonels in the police department, raid the place only after it's accidentally set on fire by the boys in them trying to escape from Harris' insanity and at the same time save their heads.
Harris seeing his life time of work going up in flames ends up joining it by not wanting to live in a world without movie monsters that he created!
There are certainly some satirical bits that poke fun at the Hollywood system, but the overall storyline is presented seriously, favoring horror over humor.Robert Harris is brilliant as the veteran makeup man let go by the new owners of the movie company he has worked for most of his life.
Good horror film from American International.
It mixes the two genres that helped American International Studios become successful: teenage exploitation and horror films.