Underplayed Gems

The Hilarious House of Frightenstein (1971)

The Hilarious House of Frightenstein poster
Directed by
Riff Markowitz
Genre
comedy
Country
Canada
Length
1 season, 130 episodes
Rated
B
Rating
7.7 of 10 from 12 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More series like thisWatch the trailer

or watch the trailer on YouTube

How it feels

A Canadian children's sketch comedy series from the 1970s. It features zany humor and some educational content set in a spooky castle with a cast of eccentric characters.

quirkyzanycampylightheartededucationalfast-pacedwhimsicalnostalgic

What happens

The Hilarious House of Frightenstein is a Canadian children's television series, which was produced by CHCH-TV, an independent station in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1971. It was syndicated both in Canada and internationally, and occasionally still appears in some television markets. In Canada, the series has not aired on broadcast TV for several years, and used to be available on the streaming service Crave. 100 episodes are now available on the free streaming service Tubi (2021), and Pluto TV (2024). A quirky sketch comedy series that included some educational content amid its zany humour, the show's cast included Billy Van, Fishka Rais (1919–1974), Guy Big, Mitch Markowitz, Vincent Price, and Julius Sumner Miller. Van played most of the characters on the show. All 130 episodes were made in a nine-month span starting in 1971; the scenes with Miller were all filmed within one summer, and Price taped all of his scenes in four days. In 2018, Headspinner Productions, the production firm of Ken Cuperus and Michelle Melanson, announced that it had acquired licensing and merchandising rights to the series, and was exploring the possibility of creating a new reboot. In 2021, the company announced an animated version for preschoolers, titled Happy House of Frightenstein. In 2019, spoken word label Bleak December Inc completed a full-cast audio production, Return to Frightenstein. The audio drama is a licensed production featuring Malcolm McDowell standing in for Vincent Price as host, Canadian actor Anthony D. P. Mann voicing several of the characters (including The Count, The Librarian, The Oracle and Dr. Pet Vet), Steven Spencer as Igor, and original series actor and co-producer Mitch Markowitz returning as Super Hippy. Other voice actors include Nikolas Yuen as The Wolf, Man!, Terry Wade as Bwana Clyde Batty, comedian Dave Hudson as Harvey Wallbanger, and Anne-Marie Bergman as Grizelda. The album has been announced for release in quarter three of 2019. In 2024, Lev Gleason's New Friday announced a continuation of the series as a one-shot digest comic. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.