MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological* MONSTER MASH -- which I first saw on cable under the title "Frankenstein Sings"-- might seem like a G-rated version of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. However. the 1995 film was based on a 1967 play, so the source material predates ROCKY by six years. I'm not sure, from online sources, how much of the play the movie kept, but at the very least, the play had the ROCKY-like notion of a young romantic couple getting stranded out in the boondocks, so that they stumble across a castle occupied by several freaky people who mean them ill.
The play was co-authored by Bobby Pickett, the singer famous for the novelty song "Monster Mash," which appeared in the play as well. New writers are credited for the script to this MASH, but clearly the story is still based on the song's loose narrative, that of a mad scientist throwing a party for several of his fellow horror-meisters. This time Pickett not only sings the title song, he plays mad scientist Doctor Frankenstein. He and his de rigeur hunchbacked assistant (John Kassir) have already whipped up their man-monster (Deron McBee), but all the bugs haven't been worked out. For no express reason, Frankenstein's playing host to (1) Count Dracula and his wife Natasha (Anthony Cravello and Sarah Douglas), (2) a wolfman named Wolfgang and his protective gypsy mother, and (3) an ancient mummy who seems to be channeling Elvis and the mummy's factotum Hathaway (Jimmie Walker). When a young couple show up on Frankenstein's doorstep seeking shelter from a thunderstorm, all the monsters want a piece of the potential new victims for one purpose or another.
The simple plot careens from one schtick to another, as the clueless youths Scott (Ian Bohen) and Mary (Candace Cameron) try to dodge the predations of Frankenstein and his eccentric buddies. The mad doctor wants to drain Scott's brain into his monster to make the creature more intelligent, Hathaway wants some sort of sacrifice for his mummy-master, and the vampire couple wants to couple with the ripe young teens. To be sure, Dracula is the one obsessed with making Mary one of his "vampire groupies," whereas vamp-wife Natasha mostly pursues Scott in reaction to her husband's dalliances. The vampire subplot is the best one, since it tests the teens' romantic fidelity to one another. However, the gags are never more than mildly funny, and the 1990s cultural references used to update the 1967 script are usually excruciating. On the plus side, the actors are all doing their best with the silly material, and Pickett is particularly good, given that he was not a working actor. He delivers a subdued but still comically menacing version of the obsessed mad scientist of the song, and if MONSTER MASH excels in anything, it's in giving Pickett a chance to participate in one of the many movie-monster mashups "spawned" in part by his famous ditty.
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