If you’ve never heard of the comedy duo Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, look them up immediately. Known for their famous skit “Who’s on First?“, the duo teamed up with the Universal Monsters to revive the horrors with some laughs as well as mild scares. In Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Chick Young (Abbott) and Wilbur Grey (Costello) work as Florida train station baggage clerks tasked with receiving some mysterious items for the nearby McDougal’s House of Horrors. Larry Talbot (the Wolf Man) tries to warn the pair of impending doom via Dracula and his new protégé Frankenstein’s Monster. With quick wit and Looney Tunes-style antics, Young and Grey team up with Talbot to stop the evil about to commence.
I believe I first saw Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein on TCM, and later ended up buying the DVD because I loved it so much. Not only do we get the classic charm of old Hollywood stars, but we get the Universal Monsters too. Frankenstein was one of the first horror movies I remember seeing, so I have a special fondness for it. After years of Dracula’s Daughter and Bride of Frankenstein and several other Universal Monster sequels that depreciate with every iteration, it was so refreshing to see them come alive again in a brand new way.
Through the train station intake bay, an island castle ball, and a dark basement, Young and Grey find not only genius comedic timing, but the excellent Universal effects we have come to know and love. Talbot transforms into the Wolf Man several times, eye-focused vampiric hypnotism is used, and the sets make the film feel real and full, expanding what seems like miles past where they actually stop. It’s movies like AaCMF that make me appreciate the ingenuity of older films; there is this sense of wonder and fun that makes the films have this sort of warmth that you seldom get with newer films.
While I don’t find any of the Universal Monsters necessarily scary (past a “wow that would be crazy” sense), they do pack in plenty of “scary” moments. Dracula does his iconic rise from the coffin. Frankenstein’s Monster slowly comes alive and becomes this monolithic behemoth. We even get a surprise visit from another iconic fiend at the very end. Meanwhile, the AaCMF story takes us through a plot with world domination, fraud, and fights. Don’t mistake these 40s movies as limited on the action either — someone definitely gets thrown out a window and over the cliffside!
I cannot stop going on and on about AaCMF because it is such an iconic moment in horror and comedy cinema. If you think about it, these types of movies are the precursor to other metaverse movies, bringing together acts that otherwise wouldn’t meet and creating something brilliant. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is a film I’ll always keep close to my heart because it has something for everyone. It’s a fantastic intro-to-horror film. It’s a showcase of Universal Monsters and their legendary makeup and special effects. It’s a comedy horror that stands up to time. It is simply perfect.
I saw the original in Rochester in ’48 with a pal I still remember: Val Melvin. Now I am 86 and this is still one of my fave films because of the horror icons with laughs and adventure. As a retire history prof and a retired pastor, these films did not go with gore but with icons who get doomed.
Oh my goodness, how incredibly lucky you are to have seen this in theaters! I’m happy to hear you have fond memories of seeing it with a friend, and I’m sure you’re glad to see that younger generations still love the film. You’re right, horror doesn’t always need to involve gore and guts. Sometimes a little laughter is all you need!