They'll do the monster mash-up

Two classic screen horror creations will visit the Alex for a movie and political debate.

October 12, 2012|By L. Thompson

The one sheet for "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man."… (Courtesy of the…)

"Whoever wins, we lose," was the tagline of the first "Alien vs. Predator" movie, and it could be argued by many to be the subtext of every presidential election year. On Saturday, Oct. 27, the Alex Theatre plans to upend both those notions, with a screening of one of "AvP"'s monster mash-up predecessors, "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man," followed by ... a political debate? Yes, two of Universal's most classic creature creations will be recreated and brought back to life onstage in a presentation that's a total win for the audience, as the battling beasties argue the issues and seek ... what?

Makeup artist John Goodwin, who'll be bringing the original designs to life and portraying Frankenstein's monster, said, “Most people don't know there is an election in Monsterland, and they're having the runoff for the president of monsters.” But his friend Daniel Roebuck, best known for playing the exploding Arzt on “Lost,” and donning the hair and fangs here, doesn't limit his sights, and insists his Wolf Man wants to beat Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

“Why should there only be two choices?” he asked. “Frankenstein's an Electrican, and of course the Wolf Man's a Lycancrat. One represents strength, the other represents transformation.” We always knew werewolves stood for change ... it's the “hope” part that becomes more elusive once the full moon rises.

As for the 1943 film itself, it attests both to the fact that franchises, remakes, spin-offs and sequels are not unique to our time; and that they're not the affront to cinema contemporary critics may suppose. “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man” sounds as cynically calculated as any superhero saga on paper — the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr.), rather definitively killed at the end of his own movie, is brought back to life and seeks a cure at the hands of Dr. Frankenstein, only to meet his bolt-necked creation (Bela Lugosi, replacing the more familiar Boris Karloff in a role he had originally been scheduled to play from the get-go); the two monsters don't even actually fight until the very end of the thing, and the outcome is indecisive at best.

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