When I first saw the title of this, I naturally thought of the song by the same name that became a huge if not ‘Monster Hit’ for Bobby “Boris” Pickett at the height of the fifties and sixties monster craze. The picture takes the theme of sixties creature features and creates a bloody at times gore-filled Anthology of stories to shock, offend and make you go ‘ok’.
The Monster Mash (2022) directed by Kevin Losani and Richard Terrasi succeeds admirably with engaging pulp-like stories whose endings you can see a mile or kilometre off depending on your country. The difference is the work is so lovingly done, with fun, practical effects, at times over-the-top acting that fits and just a little tinge of naughty offence.
The film opens with outstanding titles harkening back to Saturday morning horror cartoons that were never quite frightening. An on-camera host Dr Freudstein (Michael Gentile) and his not-so-able hunchbacked, helmeted assistant Ludwig (Cody Alvord) are doing a devilish operation on a body. The two mutter, cut, and gore it up while introducing three stories.
‘Whispering Hollow Road’ is the first one out of the film gate. Picking up a female hitchhiker called Sky played Cherry Fu alone at night in the countryside. A man Andrew Lakewood (Mike Gentile) offers her a ride with the motive of making her a subject of his next film. The drawback is Lakewood murders hookers and hitchhikers for gleeful fun. Sky and Lakewood converse as they travel, with dialogue giving the hint of sexual tension, nudity of almost necrophilia in nature with something being hidden that turns out to be a bloody retribution. The revenge, the build-up brings to mind the opening intro from Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).
The next segment is ‘The House’ where one finds a couple played by Paul (Kevin Losani) and Sara (Monica Sharma) enjoying a moment of making love while pregnant before going to look over a new home. They drive out to the home after their ‘porn star sex’ and meet Creighton Reed (William Cozy). He shows them the home and then takes them captive looking for a way to carry on his werewolf special gift. Guess whose unborn baby is now at risk? In a well-acted, gore-filled with a capital ‘G’ conclusion one finds out that what happens is heavily influenced way too much by The Howling (1981) which is name-checked. The character name of Creighton is a nod to Lon Chaney Jr.’s real first name since he played The Wolf Man for Universal in 1941. The last name of Reed is a nod to Dr Donald A Reed who was the first President of the Count Dracula Society (CDS).
The last story is ‘Homebound Horror’ which concerns getting mixed up in a gang battle. A returning engaged married soldier has his face literally torn off which you see in all its detail, one is reminded of the French extreme horror film Eyes Without A Face (1960). The young marine is mistaken for someone who has hidden money from wheel-chaired brutal boss (Michael Gentile) and his gang. The soldier doesn’t stay dead and wreaks bloody revenge on those who wronged him. Reaching the level of poignancy with a pitiful muffled cry of saying he is going home to a changed life.
Lots of shootouts, gunplay some torture moments and the subplot of Sherriff Somerville’s (Tim Whalen) last day on the job. Wonderfully done with moments of the sheriff’s family life, and desire to move to Florida add to that the trajectory of the gang war that is happened and you get events on a collision course.
The Monster Mash (2022) wraps up with Dr Freudstein (Michael Gentile) and Ludwig doing gore-soaked things to the corpse to try to raise it from the dead. All can say is the eyes or Ides will have it and not in March. Well done with a huge list of thanks credits ranging from Terence Fisher, Robert Bloch, Rue Morgue Magazine, Fangoria and others abound in this love letter or ransom note to what was termed the golden age of creature features. Worth watching it with your tongue planted in your mouth not your cheek less the ‘Good Doctor’ slice it off in mad vile glee.
The Monster Mash is available now from BayView Entertainment to rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video in the UK and USA. Also available on other streaming platforms worldwide.
Also available on Blu-ray (REGION FREE).
