How to Watch the Halloween Classic ‘Mad Monster Party’?

Mad Monster Party Collage — Everett Collection

Did you know Rankin/Bass Productions made several Halloween specials? In 1965, Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, the producers behind Christmas Holiday specials like Rudolph, decided to make a full-length film featuring all the classic movie monsters.

The film was originally called Monster Convention and starred Boris Karloff and the ghostess with the mostess, Phyllis Diller, along with Allen Swift, who did all of the monster voices. It would eventually be titled Mad Monster Party, which was released to Kiddie Matinees from 1967 to 69 and has become an absolute cult classic.

See, Rankin/Bass had a secret ingredient in their TV specials and films. With the help of their star writer, Romeo Muller, that secret ingredient was either a monster or a villain. This character would usually start out being bad and end up being good, a reformation, which is much more satisfying in a story. This started with the Bumble (a.k.a. the Abominable Snow Monster) in Rankin/Bass’ TV hit Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and continued with characters like the Winter Warlock, the Heat Miser, the Snow Miser, and Evil Irontail, to name a few.

The stop-motion musical comedy follows scientist Baron Boris von Frankenstein (Boris Karloff) as he invites the world’s most famous monsters, including Dracula, the Werewolf, the Mummy, and more, to his secluded island to announce his retirement and name his successor. But when the monsters discover they’re competing for his position — along with the Baron’s nephew Felix — mayhem and murder plots quickly turn the gathering into a wild monster mash. The Baron’s beautiful assistant Francesca (Gale Garnett) also gets in the mix, and initially schemes against Felix, but in true movie fashion ends up falling for him. Together, they battle the other monsters to see who comes out on top.

Other Rankin/Bass Halloween specials

In 1971, Here Comes Peter Cottontail introduced Vincent Price as the Evil Irontail, and Peter Cottontail took a trip to Halloween to meet Esmirelda the Witch! Maury Laws, Rankin/Bass’ musical composer/conductor, reused his “Waltz for a Witch” music, which originally appeared in Mad Monster Party. The Animagic animators also reused the chairs from the party scene in Mad Monster Party in Esmirelda’s place.

A year later in 1972, Rankin/Bass Productions, along with new associate producer Masaki Iizuka, made an hour-long episode of the ABC Saturday superstar movie entitled The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters. This time it was cel-animated, designed by Paul Coker Jr., and voice actor Bob McFadden voiced the Baron (who resembles Boris Karloff). Bob was the voice of Frankenberry, Milton the Monster, and many other Frankenstein knockoffs over the years, so he could pull it off perfectly.

This special has many similarities to Mad Monster Party, including a bachelor party for the monster with a skeleton band, so as a kid I confused the two plots. Basically, this is a retelling of The Bride of Frankenstein. The bellhop Norman (voiced by Bradley Bolke) is sort of a Jerry Lewis-type character, starstruck by all of the famous movie monsters. The Hotel Transylvania Astoria manager is voiced by Allen Swift, who voiced all of the monsters and Felix Flankin in Mad Monster Party.

Rankin/Bass also did the mini-monsters for their comic strip series in 1987 titled Jack O’ Lantern, from their syndicated series called Festival of Family Classics from 1972 to ’73. This is another festive, cel-animated special with traditional ghosts and witches featuring Jack, an Irish leprechaun who embodies a Jack-o’-lantern.

If you’d like to learn more, I wrote an entire book about Rankin/Bass’ Mad Monster Party, which you can purchase here along with other Rankin/Bass books and collectibles.

How to watch Mad Monster Party

The movie recently got a fresh Blu-ray makeover from Umbrella Productions and Justin Beahm at Reverend Entertainment, but it was such a smash that it sold out instantly. If you are a die-hard fan and collector, you can find it on auction sites like eBay. Other reproductions have been made that are still available.

Mad Mad Monster Party via Rick Goldschmidt

If you can’t find it on DVD, Mad Monster Party is available for rent or purchase on most streaming services, to stream on Lionsgate+ with subscription, or watch for free with Ads on Plex.

Rick Goldschmidt is an official historian and biographer at Rankin/Bass Productions and a pop culture collector with a vast collection that has been featured on various television shows. He has written several books on Rankin/Bass Productions (Miser Bros. Press). The most recent release is Rankin/Bass’ The Year Without a Santa Claus and ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas 50th Anniversary Scrapbook. New for 2027, fans can purchase the 13-month limited editon wall Calendar. Fans can also contact Rick at [email protected].