Monster Mash (2000 film)

Last updated

Monster Mash
Directed by Guido Manuli
Written by
Produced by
Starring
Narrated byPhil Trainer
Edited by
  • Tom King
  • Ian Bartell
Music by John Carnochan
Production
companies
Distributed by Universal Studios Home Video (North America)
RAI Trade [1] (Europe, EMEA, Asia)
Release date
  • August 29, 2000 (2000-08-29)
Running time
60 minutes
Countries
  • Italy
  • United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2 million

Monster Mash (Italian: Chi ha paura?) is a 2000 Italian-American direct-to-video animated musical comedy horror film co-produced by DIC Entertainment, L.P. and Rai Fiction. It is an original story, based on the lore of Frankenstein, the Wolfman, and Count Dracula.

Contents

Plot

Drac, Frank and Wolf were the scariest monsters around and became a inspiration to monsters everywhere, but as the years go by, they lose their ability to scare in which they became associated with fun and other things happening like Drac losing his fangs resorting to wearing false fangs, Frank becoming soft around children and Wolf going bald. They all end up summoned by the Superior Court of Horrors, where the judge orders them to prove that they are still scary by the end of 24 hours or they will be sentenced to an eternity entertaining at children's parties. The trio are assigned to scare the suburban Tinklemeister family.

However, the Tinklemeisters soon end up assisting the monster trio into proving that they are still scary, even when the Grim Reaper Prosecutor sends three modern monsters – Freddie de Spaghetti: King of Carbohydrates (a humanoid spaghetti monster based on Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees), Chicky: the Doll of Destruction (a reality warping wind-up toy based on Chucky) and the Alien Eater (a creature from another dimension based on the Xenomorph) – to make sure that they all fail in their mission.

Cast

Production

The film was originally titled Who's Afraid?, until the then-Disney-owned DIC Entertainment picked up the project from RAI as part of a four-year on-and-off deal between both companies. The movie's title was changed after DIC acquired the rights to the "Monster Mash" song, and brought along Judy Rothman Rofé to modify the script to suit American audiences. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment was originally intended to distribute the film, but backed out of the deal, with PolyGram Video acquiring home video rights, while Buena Vista Television held television distribution rights. The film has a $2 million budget. [2]

Songs

Release

Monster Mash was released on VHS on August 29, 2000, in the United States and Canada by Universal Studios Home Video as part of the Haunted House of Fun promotion, alongside Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman and Archie's Weird Mysteries: Archie and the Riverdale Vampires .

The film saw a VHS and DVD release in Italy in October 2003 by Alfadedis Entertainment and Medusa Video.

In the United States and Canada, the feature was bundled alongside Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein , Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman and four episodes of Archie's Weird Mysteries as part of the Monster Bash Fun Pack DVD on September 7, 2004.

A standalone DVD was released by NCircle Entertainment in 2007. This release of the film removes a metafictional moment towards the end of the film, as well as the "Monster Mash" music video, due to copyright restrictions with the song cover.

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References

  1. "Studios playing it safe in the pick-up game". Kidscreen.com. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  2. "Kidscreen >> Archive >> what's developing in kids production". Kidscreen . January 31, 1999. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  1. Animation outsourced to Phoenix Korea Animation.