Gene Wilder, Mad Scientist

"Dracula and Frankenstein are significant modern myths, gods that have descended periodically into ineffectual kitsch, but only to rise again, stronger than before. Each icon defines the other; they rarely travel alone. They embody nothing less than the centuries-long war between science and superstition - Apollo and Dionysus at the Saturday matinee. In the age of AIDS they have spent an inordinate amount of time admiring each other, perhaps, in part, because they both 'reproduce' as AIDS does - one through transfusion and one through transplantation. The dark twins are palpably present when the most advanced communication technology in history brings home, almost nightly, the most psychically primitive juxtapositions of blood, sex, and pestilence, a new kind of living-room war, a psychosexual Vietnam." (David J. Skal, The Horror Show: A Cultural History of Horror, p. 351)

I'll be honest, Young Frankenstein (two and a half stars total) is the only Mel Brooks movie I've watched all the way through besides The Producers (1968), which I saw for the first time a few years ago and enjoyed for Zero Mostel. I made a friend change the channel when he tried to get me to watch The History of the World, Part I (1981) and over the years, I've seen enough bits and pieces of Spaceballs (1987) to equal a whole movie, but they never made me laugh. Recently, I started Blazing Saddles (1974) but quit early and while I have Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) on my Netflix instant queue, we'll see how far I make it. Audiences nowadays have been trained by the marketing machines to expect a movie to be all funny or all serious. Were Young Frankenstein (1974) released today, I'm sure they would call it a comedy, but to me, it's pretty serious stuff. As with William Castle's The Old Dark House (1963) and The Munsters (1964; have you heard they're remaking it on NBC?), the atmosphere and the scenery is so perfect. They're even better than the movies they're spoofing. You could almost turn the volume down, ignore the sitcom setups and dreadful music numbers ("Puttin' on the Ritz") and pretend that you're watching a classic horror movie with modern sensibilities. I expected all of Young Frankenstein to be double entendres and general '70s sleaze, but that doesn't start until twenty minutes in. Before that, it's quality time with Gene Wilder, who co-wrote the script and has the kindest eyes south of Santa Claus. If you can stand all the standard, horror movie screaming from the twenty minute mark on to the end, you'll be treated to an early Gene Hackman comedy cameo. And that's funny.