#dracula versus frankenstein

[schlock-luster-video]

On April 23, 1982, Dracula VS Frankenstein was re-released in the United States.

[karmathenightowl]

Various sketches of THAT scene with Godwin (and a bit of Igor) from episode 1 of Taz Vs Dracula

[conwise]

More TAZ vs Dracula sillies

[ethersierra]

"and then the searchlight blinks"

LOSING MY MIND. IM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS. They're going into Frankensteins lab of course of COURSE!

What I really, really love about this is that in Frankenstein, when the creature first appears in the window where Victor sees him, Shelley describes him seeing it by the "dim and yellow light of the moon," and describes its eyes as yellow and watery. When the creature comes through the window, she writes, "his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me."

Fuck y'all. This is incredible.

[18catsreading]

Griffin: he nods at you as you walk past. You reflexively, lady Godwin, grab his oatmeal and just bury your face in it, and just start eating the oatmeal. And after the hot oatmeal hits you in the face it only takes a few moments for you to come to your senses. But you have reflexively just stolen this old man's oatmeal.

Old man: what are you doing?

Lady Godwin: oh I am so terribly sorry, I --

Old man: I brought this from home

Lady Godwin: I don't know what came over me. Let me clean this up. [As Justin]: she starts trying to wipe up the oatmeal.

Griffin: you reach down to wipe up the oatmeal and some of it splattered on the table. You reach down - and as you reach down you hear *clop* clunk. And you notice that your hand is not a hand anymore. It is a hoof. And that is when everyone else inside the Ghostlight Pub watches you twist and contort. You fall down all fours. And you heave and arch your back, which doubles in length. Your legs grow and thicken and all end in big powerful hooves. Your neck stretches, your face stretches as though it were rubber. And you recover, and stand up, proudly, on all four hooves. You have turned into a were-horse.

[prokopetz]

Okay, so we all know the real reason for the vampires-versus-werewolves thing in popular culture is because back in the 1930s, the same studio owned the movie rights to Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman, and they decided to moosh them all together into what is arguably the first Big Stupid Cinematic Universe, but what's slightly less well known is that H G Wells' The Invisible Man was also part of that package. I want to see what the goofy we-swear-it's-personal-horror tabletop RPG based on that facet of the mythos looks like, weirdly artificial taxonomies of playable splats and all – everybody's invisible, but there are like five completely different possible reasons for that, plus a sixth, evil reason for being invisible which you're not allowed to play as because they secretly rule the world.

[unshavedmouse]

Bats Versus Bolts: Movies that had virtually nothing to do with Andy Warhol

These movies are terrible. I’m so glad I watched them. Flesh for Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula are in many ways the best candidate for a Bats versus Bolts  that I’ve done yet. Not only are they by the same director and share many of the same cast, but they were made practically concurrently by the same crew. Also, when I lie to myself and pretend that there’s some kind of high-minded…

[see-arcane]

With a total of 1,176 votes tallied, the preferred plushie poll winner with 28.8% of votes is…

What a close one! Jonathan came in with 27.7%, the mysterious Mr. Morse with 24.9% and, delicious irony of ironies, London Dracula with 18.9%. Rest in pieces. Now, what does all this mean going forward?

First, just to reconfirm: I will absolutely be looking into the costs for having more than one plushie character produced at a time. For all that Mina has the top spot if it comes down to a solo run, Nobody Wants to Separate the Gothic Horror Soulmates, even as wee little plushies. It hurts my heart to think of. Mina and Jonathan deserve to sit side by side on everyone’s pillow. Just as Quinn Morse deserves to haunt the pillow next to theirs while casually throttling and carving London Dracula into pieces. For enrichment.

But beyond that, some other key things:

How is this getting done?

Sadly, I was not a cool enough kid for Makeship to greenlight a collaboration with me. Tragique. But while I was sitting around waiting for them to get back to me, I had time to browse around for other options. During that sniffing around I dug up a couple of promising manufacturers—one of which has some really neat options for not only plush toys, but all sorts of bric-a-brac like stationery, shirts, bags, cups, et cetera—and I plan to reach out to them for quotes to start with. Nothing really gets to move forward until I can nail down prices and the amount of X plushies to be made.

I am more than a little hesitant to tell anyone MAKE ME 1000+ PLUSHIES, PLEASE, THE TUMBLR POLL SAID THEY’RE GOOD FOR IT. These aren’t as simple as print/make-on-demand products, so I need to be careful estimating the amount of folks ready and willing to drop money on the little guys. But I will keep everyone updated on the numbers regardless!

Sooo is this a crowdfunding thing or an investment or what?

Don’t know yet. I am still between jobs at the moment—reminder to check out my Ko-Fi if you want to drop me a buck or commission some art!—but if this is something I can safely drop some of my own money in with the guarantee that it will let me do better than break even, I’ll do what I can out of pocket. However, if the cost of making something of good quality turns out too steep, I’ll start looking into stuff like Kickstarter and Backerkit and so on. I want to be sure I’m not gutting anybody’s wallet to pull this off and I want to be double-sure that what we’re paying for isn’t some flimsy throwaway junk. We are all here on the same Dracula book club starving artist site, so It Has to Be Worth It and not a money-sink for anyone.

Got it. Any other info to spare?

For the plushies specifically, this is when I’ll start:

Polishing up the current four designs into cleaner illustrations with different angles to provide for mockup samples with whoever I pick to manufacture with. If I get stuck on something—(which is likely)—I may throw up another poll to bug everyone about palettes and fashion choices. I have a few more designs I haven’t dropped yet for Epilogue Harkers, a non-Bloofer Lucy, and keychains that I’d love to share too!

Eyeballing materials. I’m already picturing a very close-cut cloth for the build and clothes, but I need to decide on filling too. Stiff overstuffing to hold a pose versus softer/lighter plush for floppy cuddleability. 

Poking at other character roughs, ala the Suitor Squad, the Weird Sisters, Van Helsing, Renfield, and Baby Quincey. And if all of those go well…

…maybe some designs for other favorites in the public domain playground. (Looks meaningfully at Clarimonde, Carmilla, Victor Frankenstein and the Creature, the King in Yellow, too many others.) ((But that’s all far-future stuff at the moment.))

Cool! But you also mentioned something about other merch?

I did.

Because goddamn do I want some Dracula-themed stationery. Journals! Memo pads! Pens! Every day we don’t have these things with the Harkers’ mark upon them is a victory for the forces of Count Dracula’s document-destroying evil. Likewise for shirts, totes, mugs, keychains, face masks and other things that could use some novel-flavored goodies. Hell, I’ll probably even get on with making stuff for The Vampyres to link on my website too. Because I am. Maybe behind on that. By several months.

Anyway.

I’ve got to start working on some designs for those too while the plushie process is progressing. Pray that my carpals don’t get tunneled.

Nice! Sounds like your plate is pretty full. So that’s it, right?

:)

Arcane?

:3c

Arcane. I need you to tell me this is all you’re working on.

>:}

Arcane.

Please stand by.

I have a little treat brewing for the Dracula Dailiers and @re-dracula folks in honor of a very special day for our good friend Jonathan Harker.

[eddieisashifter]

𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐊

an ask game based on some of my favorite classic novels and stories with a focus on academia and careers in your desired reality! inspired by all the other lovely ask games on tumblr! as always, reblog for asks!

🧪 THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE — are you two different people when you're working versus when you're at home? what side of your personality do you show to which groups of people and why?

⚡️ FRANKENSTEIN — what is your greatest creation? something physical like an artwork, a movie, a song, or a book? or is it something more immeasurable, like an impact you leave behind? why do you consider it your greatest creation?

🪞 THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY — what's something you'd give your heart and soul for? what's a dream and ambition that you'd give anything to achieve? what makes you want it so badly? do you end up getting it?

🩸 DRACULA — what's the most unusual thing you've encountered in your career? what made it unusual? how did you approach and resolve the situation?

⛓️‍💥 CRIME AND PUNISHMENT — have you ever done something just to see how it feels? what did it feel like? was it what you expected or was your perception totally blown out of the water? was it worth it or did you end up regretting it later?

🎻 A STUDY IN SCARLET — do you have someone you love to work with? why do you enjoy having them help? do they make the time pass with laughter? do they provide an insight that you value? do they like to work with you?

💍 THE HOBBIT — what's a way you were pushed outside of your comfort zone? did you bitch and moan about it the whole time? or did you accept it with grace? how did you learn and grown from the situation?

📚 LITTLE WOMEN — what's your biggest dream in your schooling or career? what have been the roadblocks on the way to you achieving it? what sorts of lessons did you learn from them? was it worth it in the end?

🗡️ THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO — did you ever get blamed for something you didn't do? what were the consequences of the false accusation? how did you resolve the situation and clear your name?

[thenightling]

Monster Mash-ups

I love Monster Mash-ups. I don't mean "Versus" movies like Godzilla vs. Kong or Freddy vs. Jason. I mean I love movies, shows, and even songs where the classic monsters co-exist and interact with each other. The earliest "shared universe" cinematic crossovers were in Universal's classic monster movies (now held under the defunct and then revived Dark Universe banner). Universal's first "Versus" movie was Frankenstein meets The Wolfman, which was unfortunately the victim of heavy editing after it "confused" casual audiences who had not followed all the previous monster movies before it and missed the important events of Son of Frankenstein and Ghost of Frankenstein for the continuity. But the first real monster mash-up was House of Frankenstein. There's something about settings where all the classic monsters co-exist that has always delighted me and even as I got older I was very lax about some of the rules of most of the role playing games I DM / GM to allow canon characters from different source material to meet and interact. I also have a particular fondness when they use the literary version of the Frankenstein monster instead of the zeitgeist depiction. The big difference between a "Versus" movie and a Monster mashup is Monster Mashups usually allow three or more monsters to interact instead of just two. Monster Mashup movies include (but are not limited to) The Hotel Transylvania movies and TV shows The monster High movies and TV shows House of Frankenstein House of Dracula Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein Monster Squad Monster Mash (2024) Scooby Doo and the reluctant werewolf Scooby Doo and the Ghoul school Nightmare before Christmas League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Van Helsing _________________ Monster mashup TV shows include (but are not limited to) Penny Dreadful Monster High (TV series) Hotel Transylvania (TV series) Motel Transylvania (TV series) Gravedale High Monster Force Drak Pack __________________________ Monster Mashup songs include (but are not limited to) The Monster Mash by Bobby Boris Pickett Monsters' Holiday (Bobby Boris Pickett Jr. song) A Monster's Holiday (Aurelio Voltaire song, NOT a cover of the Pickett song.) Halloween bash by Irving Fink This is Halloween by Danny Elfman (and several other Nightmare before Christmas songs) Monster by Emma Reinagel (from the 2024 movie Monster Mash) Monster High Fright song (original 2010 first generation Monster High promotional music video and web series theme song.) Coming out of the Dark from Monster High (first live-action movie) Shout the Boo by "Count Crow" (Count Dracula's rock persona for a novelty album). _________________________________________________ The fact that Universal just made a theme park zone in Epic Universe dedicated to the classic monsters (Dark Universe) all year long and the main attraction is a dark ride monster mashup (Frankenstein Experiment: Monsters Unchained) is a source of constant delight for me.

[cecilthecowardly]

I really like the idea of adding (I’m the guy who mentioned Frankenstein) at the top of every ask but I’ll add a signature!

My paper was more on the historical witch hunts and what Stoker may have been trying to represent with Dracula (AP lit was amazing I just got to say whatever I wanted) so I think I’m lacking in the ricean vampire department. I did a cursory search and I might look more into it! I have a bit of free time on my hands and it wouldn’t hurt to be more informed I think. Do you have a reference on where I should start

- 📼 (not using my name hope that’s ok.)

oh you can 100% keep doing the “I’m the guy who mentioned frankenstein” bit. its so fun to me. also no need to use a name!

i think a good place to start in regards to the vampire renaissance brought about by anne rice (starting in the 70s with iwtv and its very dark and brooding protagonist but in my opinion truly kicking off in the 80s-90s with the lost boys, vampire lestat, and the iwtv movie) is really getting into the cultural impacts of her books, particularly when they released. its really fun to compare and contrast ideas of vampirism prior to iwtv versus after. because thats really where the ideas of a sexy mysterious and sad vampire spawned. the romantic european who’s eternally young and for some reason always white. there’s a lot on rice’s facebook and archived letters from fans that give you a good perspective on attitudes of the time which is really fun. older newsletters might be good, too.

i think the 80s-90s is really the golden period to research, though. its that midpoint between romantic vampires and those more campy, uniquely 80s vampire films (i.e. fright night, the lost boys, etc). also the dracula adaptations of this time take some inspiration from that new era ushered in by rice.

which reminds me. since you looked at stoker’s dracula and its impacts + messaging, i think using the idea of dracula could be a great framework for research. he’s evolved into more of a symbol and caricature than a character himself, and the story of dracula has been adapted every few decades to fit the mood and context of its creation. like how dracula 2000 plays into the very action heavy almost spy vibes of the 2000s even down to that cliche of movies all having that “2000” at the end. and the slightly more romantic tone of the 90s adaptation. it’s really cool stuff

[radiantdustreactions]

VERSUS DRACULA 25

the audacity of how much I cared about Frankenstein here and then griffin being like “i don’t rlly think anyone cared about him” or something along those lines during the TTAZZ… no you don’t understand

[karmathenightowl]

At long last, here's my design of Victor Frankenstein from Taz vs Dracula (with a bit of lore sprinkled as well)!

[conwise]

When you give your mad scientist boyfriend a sweater-wearing clone of yourself so you can go off and accomplish your evil plans and he doesn't even like him

Anyways this is my contribution to the TAZ vs Dracula propaganda, this show is incredible

[ethersierra]

I LOVE VERSUS DRACULA SO MUCH ALREADY

all the characters are great like i love their weird shit.

but. i am OBSESSED with lady godwin already. yall know i LOVE frankenstein so much. its awesome. and reckless fancy women? lets fucking go.

[experiment31e]

Experiment 31E has been nominated for an award at the Baltimore Next Media Web Fest! We've been nominated for Best Sci-fi / Horror / Fantasy / Thriller / Mystery Podcast, which is actually a huge category (it looks like most of the podcasts selected to attend were nominated for this), but thankfully it will be split up into multiple awards.

So that means we've been nominated for two awards—one for each web fest we’ve been selected for. Huzzah!

This is an amazing honor, especially looking at all the other awesome podcasts we’ve been nominated alongside. We’re up for the same award as @re-dracula?? How??? I don’t expect to win (lol, no, not with this competition), but it is kinda funny—Experiment 31E is inspired by Frankenstein, and Re: Dracula is a chronological version of Dracula, which means that the BNM Web Fest has set up a showdown of Frankenstein versus Dracula. It’s monster against monster this weekend in Baltimore!