Movie Review: Transylvania 6-5000

Transylvania 6-5000 

New World Pictures, Balcor Film Investors, Dow Chemical Company, Jadran Film, Yugoslavia, USA, 1985. 

Reporters of Sensation-magazine Jack Harrison (Jeff Goldblum) and Gil Turner (Ed Begley Jr) are sent to Transylvania to write a story about Frankenstein. Boss Mac Turner (Norman Fell) will fire both of them if they do not get the scoop. 

Mac Turner

Jack Harrison and Gil Turner

In Transylvania they become the local laughing-stock. They arrive to their hotel where weird doorman Fejos (Michael Richards) and his puppet welcome them. The other staff of the hotel are eccentric butler Radu (John Byner) and his wife Lupi (Carol Kane). Mayor Lepescu (Jeffrey Jones) seems to be everywhere. Jack tries to make impression on pretty single-mother Elizabeth Ellison (Teresa Ganzel). 

Fejos and Lepescu

Radu and Lupi

Elizabeth Ellison

Something fishy is going on in mysterious sanatorium of Dr. Malavaqua (Joseph Bologna) but  Inspector Percek (Bozidar Smiljanic) does not want to investigate. Soon hot vampire Odette (Geena Davis), Frankenstein's monster Hunyadi (Petar Buntic) and Wolfman (Donald Gibb) are running free as well as Mummy (Ksenia Prohaska) and Swamp Creature (Dusko Valentic). 

Dr. Malavaqua

Odette

Hunyadi

"Transylvania 6-5000" is a horror-comedy that is both unscary and not very funny as much of the jokes feel awkward or forced. It looks that many scenes were improvised and the actors were just told to try to be funny. Rudy De Luca has worked with Mel Brooks, but Mel Brooks managed these kind of parodies much better. 

Inspector Percek

Peek-a-boo!

It is interesting to see "Seinfeld"'s Kramer, Michael Richards, in one of his early roles and also Carol Kane is quite fun as butler's silly wife. Michael Richards role as Fejos is funny because he tries to be funny but he isn't. So he gets funnier the unfunnier he gets. 

The movie was funded by Dow Chemical Company and filmed in Yugoslavia because the local government had frozen their funds so to free the money they paid the production costs.

But at least this is funnier and more sympathetic in its clumsiness than "Scary Movie"-series.

Rating: Bad 

Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Joseph Bologna, Ed Begley Jr., Carol Kane, Jeffrey Jones, John Byner, Geena Davis, Michael Richards, Donald Gibb, Norman Fell, Teresa Ganzel, Rudy De Luca, Inge Appelt, Bozidar Smiljanic, Petar Bunti, Dusko Valentic, Ksenia Prohaska, Sara Grdjan, Nada Abrus, Visnja Babic (as Visnja Konigskneght), Slobodan Milovanovic, Vida Jerman, Vjenceslav Kapural (as Venco Kapural), Thomas H. Brodek 

Director: Rudy De Luca