The Monkees – Monstrous Monkee Mash – review (TV Episode)

Director: James Frawley

First aired: 1968

Contains spoilers

This was another episode mentioned in the Trash Aesthetics article Top 10 vampire babes of all time - listed as an honourable mention for Arlene Martel as Lorelei. (As an aside Martel would later appear in the very poor vampire flick Zoltan, Hound of Dracula.)

Now I am sure that I must have seen this episode – as a kid I loved the UK re-runs of the Monkees – but I really couldn’t remember it and it must have been some thirty years ago when I last saw any episode from the show. Thus I owe a debt to Nick for giving me opportunity to re-watch this and for also passing to me a very interesting article regarding the Monkees and the deconstruction of television realism by Laura Goostree.

Now, I really didn’t want to bring the issues debated in the article into this review. I wanted to sit down and describe something that was, and still is, good fun. You know what? I can’t ignore the very clever aspects of this show that were lost on me as a kid. You see (a bit like M.A.S.H., a show I adore) I laughed heartily to this as a child and still do as an adult but I am now struck with just how very clever it really was (in the same way M.A.S.H. revealed its political and pathos filled nature to my adult sensibilities).

The actual basic story, however, is a monster mash that owes a debt to Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein. Davy (Davy Jones) enters a room with Lorelei, in her uncle’s castle. He seems a little freaked; the painting moves (actually the painting is a frame with fabric behind and The Count (Ron Masak) is stood as though part of the painting – the gag is used a lot through the show, utilised by the Count, Lorelei and Mike (Michael Nesmith)) and the ornamental bat says “I vant to drink your blood”.

Davy tries to leave and she moves in for a kiss, slipping a necklace around his neck. There is a fantastic gag here. “What a kiss! I've never felt this way before.” exclaims Davy and a triumphant Lorelei retorts “You fool! It was not my kiss, it was the magic necklace!” To this Davy responds “What a necklace. I've never felt this way before.” This keys into the essence of catchphrase humour as two more Monkees are captured by the same method and the same dialogue is used – each time the sequence becomes funnier. The Count has decided that Davy will become Dracula reborn.

The rest of the gang, Mike, Micky (Micky Dolenz) and Peter (Peter Tork), phone Davy to see how he is. The Count answers and enters a perfect villain laughing fit. Realising something is wrong, and despite an outbreak of cowardice, the gang go to rescue Davy. Once at the castle it is decided by the villains that Peter’s brain will be swapped into the Frankenstein’s Monster (given that he is deemed not too bright) and Micky will be turned into a werewolf. It is up to Mike, wearing the Mummy’s bandages, to rescue the gang.

The main rescue sequence is a chase round the castle dungeon whilst the obligatory Monkees’ song is played – in this case Goin’ Down. To be honest it is less a chase and more a saunter punctuated with off the wall comedic moments – but this works so very, very well. The Count rising, cloak open and lifted in a bat wing pose, behind Mike and then stopping to light a cigar from Mike’s torch is one such moment. The resolution to the episode is confused – we do not see the destruction of the monsters – but one feels purposefully so.

The episode is wonderfully referential to the genre as a whole. At one point Davy is chained in the dungeon and the wolfman (David Pearl) is there. Davy laments the werewolf’s servitude and brings it into context with the movies, “what has Dracula ever done for you? All those pictures you've made together: 'Dracula Leaves', 'Dracula Returns'. You know, you've made over thirty movies with him, and you haven't even got second billing!” As in the aforementioned Abbott and Costello film the invisible man makes an ‘appearance’ – but, in true deconstructive style, the boys point out it is only special effects – a book on invisible wires that are then cut.

The deconstructive element of the show cannot be under-estimated. In a sequence (that is mentioned in the article I referenced at the head of this) Micky and Davy enter a fantasy sequence where they have become a vampire and a werewolf. The Count enters the scene. They complain about the intrusion “Yeah, yeah, we're the Monkees, you see, in every show we do a fantasy sequence, where we romp around and jump and do funny things, and nobody interrupts us. Nobody!” The Count challenges them to remove their makeup (which they can’t and prompts a call for the makeup artist) and the camera pulls back to show the set and the Count in the director’s chair – TV reality has been suspended to reveal real reality which has been usurped by TV reality.

There isn’t much vampiric lore. Davy is fed tomato juice to get used to the colour, Mike researches vampires in a conveniently available book (as often happens in vampire films, something I have mentioned before). The Count has magical powers – he makes a string of sausages appear in order to distract wolfman. Masak actually does a very nice line in Bela Lugosi impersonation.

As for Martel, remembering that it was her presence that, ultimately, led to me re-watching this. Well, she deserves her mention on Chick Young’s list. It is not only her physical beauty, however. She has a presence that vacillates between flirtatious and icy, embodying, within her performance, the perfect vamp – undoubtedly the effect that was searched for – and one can’t help but draw a comparison to Fenella Fielding, at least to a small, vampish degree, in Carry on Screaming (released two years before).

This, as you can probably tell, was an absolute hoot. 8 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.