House of Frankenstein

    Directed by Erle C. Kenton.
    Starring Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine.
    Universal Pictures, 1944.
    Availability
    Rating: * * *

House of Frankenstein is one of many sequels in the Universal Horror series.  Unfortunately it is rather unclear to which particular movie this is a sequel.  The story begins with the mad doctor Gustav Niemann (Karloff) and his hunch-backed assistant Daniel in prison.  The deranged scientist escapes during a thunderstorm and murders the owner of a travelling horror show.  Niemann assumes the owner's identity and commences to take his revenge upon all responsible for his imprisonment.  As his murder weapons he uses Dracula (Carradine), the Wolfman (Chaney), and Frankenstein's monster.

Although this movie breaks continuity with all the originals it is still mildly entertaining.  Carradine makes for a rather poor (if not comic) Dracula, and the monsters all seem to die much too easily.  Nonetheless, I recommend taking a look at it, if only to kill some time on a stormy night.