October Horror Challenge 2023 #34: "Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein"

After a mostly disappointing day yesterday, I'm ready to watch a few comfort movies, and this one definitely qualifies. My mom used to watch Abbot and Costello movies when I was a little kid, and they're always silly fun. They're a comedy duo from the forties who made lots of movies like this one (There’s also "Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.") They were popular comedians at the time, and they contracted with Universal Pictures to star in a series of movies featuring the famous Universal characters such as Count Dracula, The Wolfman, and Frankenstein. These characters were very popular at the time that this movie came out, so the studios wanted to toss the monsters and comedians together into a movie to make money. Not a bad idea, as it ended up making lots of money and spawning more movies in the same vein. This was the first such movie in that series of films, and I'm watching it today for the first time. Bring on the monsters!

In this movie, the two comedians play railway baggage handlers in Florida who stumble across a coffin holding the infamous vampire Count Dracula, and a crate containing Frankenstein's monster. The monsters are supposed to be fake wax figurines for a local House of Horrors attraction, but unfortunately for our heroes, the crates end up containing the real monsters (whoops). Lou Costello plays Wilbur, who first sees the monsters but no one believes him. Soon Lou's friend Chick (played by Bud Abbot) begins to suspect that there's something suspicious going on. It turns out that Count Dracula is planning on reviving Frankenstein's monster and setting him loose among the general populace. Will Abbot and Costello be able to thwart the villain's evil plan?

There’s not much to say about this movie. It was silly fun and I enjoyed getting to watch it and decompress a bit after my day yesterday. It's not the pinnacle of cinematic genius or anything, but it was a fun little flick to watch around this time of year. It would be a good movie to watch with kids to help ease them into watching horror.