Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Two Geeks and a GIT Classic Movie Reviews

Happy Halloween! For this year's Halloween pairing, we're taking a look at the lighter side of the holiday, and reviewing two classic horror comedies. The first is THE classic horror comedy, and the film that signaled the end of the first horror cycle in American film, 1948's "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," directed by Charles Barton! Viewed primarily as a stand-alone film (and not a continuation of Universal's horror series'), this film finds Chick Young (Bud Abbott) and Wilbur Gray (Lou Costello) working as baggage claim agents at the local station. They receive a strange call from someone asking them not to deliver two packages, but then the actual owner turns up and demands they do so. As it turns out, the two large crates contain a coffin holding Count Dracula (Bela Legosi, in only his 2nd turn as the famous vampire) and the other holds the Frankenstein monster (Glenn Strange). And it turns out that the person who called to warn them was none other than Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.), the Wolf-Man! Add in a couple beautiful women and you have a romp that's strangely still quite scary in its third act, and a monster-mash to beat all others!