This is an abominable C grade horror flick whose greatest claim to fame is the casting of a number of former stars or character actors whose careers were clearly on the decline for them to be willing to appear in such an atrocity.

Cleavage flashing Regina Carroll is a Vegas performer (we briefly see her lounge act) who goes searching for her sister who has disappeared. That search brings her to a town where she meets a beach bum (Anthony Eisley) along with a boardwalk "Freak Emporium" run by a wheelchair bound J. Carol Naish.

Naish is really Dr. Frankenstein, with a mute assistant (Lon Chaney Jr.). Chaney as Lenny likes to hug a baby puppy a lot until he is given a serum by the doctor which turns him into an axe wheeling psychopath ready to lop off the heads of anyone he finds hanging out on a beach. Exactly why Frankenstein wants him to do this and bring back the bodies I can't recall. It is all just so poorly executed. ' Meanwhile Dracula shows up (played by a truly strange dude called Zandor Vorkov, quite possibly the worst actor doing films at the time) and he produces the body of the Frankenstein Monster which he dug up from a grave.

There eventually will be a big fight between the Monster and Dracula and, no surprise, their contest is more comical (shades of Monty Python) than frightening.

This incoherent mess also features Russ Tamblyn as the sleazy head of a drug gang and Jim Davis as the town sheriff. Angelo Rossitto, who had once appeared in Freaks, plays the dwarf barker for the Freak Emporium.

As of the stars who had seen better days, Naish at least has dialogue here but, in playing a mute, Chaney merely has to look frightening with severe overhead lighting playing upon his debauched craggy features and an axe in his hand. It's sad, though hardly surprising, to see him in such a role. While this is mere speculation on my part, I had to wonder if the fact that Chaney was a pretty severe alcoholic at the end of his life played havoc with his ability to handle dialogue, thus the reason for his playing his role as a mute.

It's safe to say that the artwork advertising the film is the best thing about it.

MORD39 RATING: ** (of ****)

Although terribly scripted, ineptly acted, and absolutely senseless, a very good time can be had watching DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN.

Al Adamson has taken bits of different projects and presented a more modern-day follow-up to the old classic monster films from Universal. It's wild to see the participation of HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN vets Lon Chaney and J. Carrol Naish (even if poor Lon looks like he's ready to give up the ghost and Naish's dentures click and clack uncontrollably)

Cheap but colorful, this grade-Z production delivers the goods and is perfect for a Halloween evening's entertainment. Don't take it too seriously, and turn out the lights and have a good time!

BLOOD SEEKERS was Adamson's unfinished gore epic that was filmed in the late 60s. He decided to shoot framing scenes adding the whole Dracula-Frankenstein angle later on, and the whole package goes as follows...

Mad Dr. Frankenstein (J. Carroll Naish) is busy at work reconstructing dead bodies while retarded manservant Groton (Lon Chaney, Jr.) spends most of the time whimpering and petting a puppy. When the doctor injects Groton with a special serum it transforms him into a lurking, laughing, sweating, beach-bunny-decapitating, axe murderer. The cops are already after them, but even more troubles arise when the echo-voiced Count Dracula (Zandor Vorkov) arrives and blackmails the mad doc into resurrecting the Frankenstein monster and giving him the blood of his victims!

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, a lounge singer (Regina Carroll) performs a lounge act called "She Travels Light." They try to make it look like it's a big production number by filming it in a large auditorium, but we only see an audience of about four people. Miss Carrol gets news of her sister's disappearance and heads off to Venice Beach looking for answers. She goes to a club, is slipped LSD in her coffee, has a substandard 70s trip out scene, then teams up with three hippies (led by Anthony Eisley) to find out what's going on.

Possibly Adamson's most famous film, and even though it's cheap, silly, trashy and completely nonsensical, there's enough going on here (and an interesting enough cast) to qualify it as a must see to die-hard horror fans. The cast is just overloaded with familiar faces! Aside from those already mentioned, Russ Tamblyn, Jim Davis, Forry Ackerman, Angelo Rossitto, Gary Kent and other swell folks appear and future director Greydon Clark (of SATAN'S CHERRLEADERS fame) also has a small role. If none of those names are ringing a bell, then you may not be as amused by what you see here.

Side note--Some nudity and violence seem to have been removed so it could pass with a PG rating.