House of Frankenstein (1944)

  And now we come to the final installment of my Frankenstein Legacy collection.

Set after the events of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, the movie opens on an entirely new set of characters.  Dr. Niemann (Boris Karloff) is rotting in prison after his experiments transplanting a human brain into a dog's body --why?  Because SCIENCE!-- reached the public knowledge.  His best friend, in jail for an unspecified reason, is the hunchback Daniel (J. Carrol Naish), who hopes that Dr. Niemann will put his brain into a more suitable body.  They escape and head toward the home of Niemann's hero, Dr. Frankenstein (Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Film), catching a ride with a traveling carnival claiming to possess the very bones of Dracula.  By catching a ride, of course, I mean they murdered everyone and took over.  Frankenstein's castle has been destroyed by irate townsfolk but underneath the ruins, Niemann and Daniel discover the frozen bodies of the Monster (Glenn Strange) and Wolf Man (Lon Chaney).  Wolfie defrosts pretty easily, reverting back to his human form of Larry Talbot.  The Monster is a little worse for wear, prompting Niemann to rush back to his home lab.  They still have to put on a show in their new guise to allay suspicion, as Dr. Niemann is still a well-known name in those parts.  Having spotted one of the men who sent him to jail, Niemann removes the stake from Dracula's bones...and discovers that it is indeed the Count (John Carradine).  He sends the vampire after his nemesis' daughter (Anne Gwynne).  Meanwhile, Daniel is jealous of Niemann's fascination with Talbot and fears the doctor will renege on his promises.  Because, really, if you can't trust a mad scientist to keep his word, who CAN you trust?

Despite having his name in the title, there is fuck all to do with either the scientist or his monster in this film.  I think it was really just an excuse to get all three major horror properties in the same film.  It does rather turn out to be a hot mess of plot threads but it was nice to see Boris Karloff without makeup for once.  I was feeling the lack of Lugosi, though, I'm not going to lie.  John Carradine is suave, certainly, but he's no match for that Hungarian stare.