FRANKENSTEIN, THE VAMPIRE AND COMPANY (1962) English Subtitles
4272DVD
An
Unauthorized Mexican Remake of
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
original Mexican/Spanish title: FRANKENSTEIN
EL VAMPIRO Y COMPANIA [Frankenstein, the Vampire and Company]
also known as AGAPITO AND
PACO MEET FRANKENSTEIN
director: Benito Alazraki
starring: Manuel 'Loco' Valdes · Jose Jasso · Martha Elena
Cervantes · Nora Veryan · Roberto Rivera
Two
wacky attendants at an Express Shipping Company get mixed up with monsters,
mad scientists and a werewolf when they agree to deliver two crates
to Jorge Lavalle's Wax Museum. According to the cargo manifest, wax
figures of Frankenstein and the Vampire are inside the boxes, but -
in reality - the actual monsters have been shipped to Lavalle from Rome.
He has aspirations of 'conquering the world' with these creatures, but
his plans get thwarted when the bodies are stolen by an even more sinister
organization. Meanwhile, Dr Chung [a poor fellow infected with a werewolf
virus] is obsessed with eliminating the two monsters before committing
suicide himself. He recruits Agapito and Paco, the bumbling Express
guys, to help him in the mission of killing Frankenstein and the Vampire.
The
plot is obviously uncomfortably similar to Abbott and Costello
Meet Frankenstein. In fact, director Alazraki fearlessly duplicates
large segments as if he were using that film as his storyboard. Perhaps
the biggest difference between this movie and the 1948
original is the inclusion of bawdy humor, so popular in the early '60s,
but an obvious obstacle for the intended young audience.
Benito
Alazraki was an award-winning 'serious' Mexican filmmaker who
drifted to the exploitation market in the early '60s, helming 40+ movies
including ESPIRITISMO
(Spiritism) and MUNECOS
INFERNALES
(Curse of the Doll People). Mr Alazraki died from natural causes
at age 85 in June 2007, Mexico City.
A Mexican/Spanish
film with optional English (ON/OFF) subtitles; fullscreen (4:3) format,
Fully uncut version (78 min.), encoded for ALL REGION NTSC, playable on
any American DVD machine
