Hilarious House Of Frightenstein: Igormania

It's amusing to think that as youngsters we were looked down upon by our elders as being desensitized to violence and gore. Compared to what our juniors are barraged by today, something as kitschy and banal as early '70s variety show The Hilarious House Of Frightenstein is veritable pabulum. However, to anyone over 30, that pabulum still tastes great. We gushed and cooed when we found out that the forgotten collection of goofball antics by characters such as the Count, Igor, Grizelda and the Wolfman was to be released in a three-disc set. And then, as if things couldn't possibly get better, the folks at Critical Mass announced the 65-minute special disc dedicated solely to the loveable, dumb, gigantic assistant Igor. As it is with all things though, memory tends to be better than reality. Looking at Frightenstein with modern eyes, the show was pretty low-fi and because of the aforementioned three-disc collection, Igormania is somewhat redundant. While it's great to have a succession of amusing snippets featuring Igor's befuddled dealings with the Count and the Grammar Slammer, most of them are already included in the set. Moreover, there is a complete lack of discernment about what exactly went into this compilation; it reeks of slap-dash, a hurried grab at anything featuring the green behemoth. Stuffed together and packaged to suck what's left out of the Frightenstein soul, and our wallets, Igormania may pull at our nostalgic heartstrings but in reality it holds little value. Dubious scenes are represented in lieu of some truly original clips, rendering a few moments of the disc rather flat. Speaking of flat, the fact that there are absolutely no extras on Igormania says much about the intent of the Igormania collection. Love Igor as we do, one has to be manic to embrace it.