Watch With the Kids
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The Pitch
Two regular guys have a run-in with Count Dracula, the Wolf Man, and the Frankenstein monster. It’s like an old-timey Scooby Doo adventure.
Age Recommendations
Watch With the Kids: 7+ Common Sense Media: 7+ New York Times: 7+ Ty Burr: 7+
Content Advisories
The monsters aren't especially scary, but might seem a little more so in black-and-white. One villain is thrown out a window, Dracula and the Wolf Man fall off a cliff, and the Frankenstein monster is set on fire. Abbott and Costello talk competitively about dating more than one girl at once.
The old pivoting dungeon wall gag
Dracula plans to steal Wilbur’s brain and transplant it into the Frankenstein monster. Hijinks follow. This is your kids’ best (and possibly only) introduction to Abbott and Costello, unless you can convince them to watch movies about enlisting in the armed services. The joke (Wilbur sees a monster, Chick doesn’t believe him) runs a little thin, but the combination of these comedians with these famous monsters—and two of the original actors (Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr.)—made this movie a real event. Imagine Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen stumbling into the Alien v. Predator franchise. Actually that could be kind of great. —