After a precedent-setting 60-year career, writer, producer, distributor, marketing maven, SAM SHERMAN, shares recollections, industry advice and movie biz war stories in, WHEN DRACULA MET FRANKENSTEIN just released from Murania Press.
An oversized 377-page book, profusely illustrated with behind-the-scenes photos (many never before published), WHEN DRACULA MET FRANKENSTEIN is the story of a kid from the Bronx who grew up a horror fan and became one of the industry’s most successful independent exploitation showmen of the 1960s and 1970s.
With a thick skin and a keen sense of humor, ballyhoo and showmanship, Sherman could literally turn a trashy film into a hit. Sherman and his partner and best-friend, writer/director Al Adamson formed Independent-International Pictures in 1968, releasing dozens of films over the next 20 years.
From a motorcycle gang thriller (Satan’s Sadists) and a biker girls gone bad flick (Angels’ Wild Women) to kung fu action (Dynamite Brothers) & blaxploitation (Murder Gang & Mean Mother ) to cheeky sex romps (The Naughty Stewardesses, Cinderella 2000); whatever the current movie taste was, IIP would create product for it. Most films get their own chapter, including their most famous release, Dracula vs Frankenstein, which started out as an unreleasable dud that Sam Sherman expanded and revised into IIP’s biggest hit.
The casting alone is the stuff of Hollywood legend like finding a record store employee named Roger Engel, who looked like Frank Zappa, and renaming him Zandor Vorkov to create some mystery for the Dracula role to casting a 7- foot accountant named John Bloom to portray the Frankenstein Monster! Sam and Al worked with many odd characters including porn stars like Georgina Spelvin to fast food icon, Colonel Sanders, of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame.
They even had runs ins with Charles Manson and the Family while filming at The Spahn Ranch. In addition, Sam and Al sought out Hollywood’s Golden Age stars in the twilight of their careers – John Carradine, Broderick Crawford, Lon Chaney, Kent Taylor, Angelo Rossitto, The Ritz Brothers, Lawrence Tierney and others, always coaxing one last performance from the aging pros. To complement the fading stars, Sam and Al made an “It-Girl” out of statuesque former Vegas dancer Regina Carrol who became Al’s wife and was featured in many of his films until her untimely death.
Sam also perfected the art of re-releasing the same film with different titles and scenes, promoting them with lurid posters and crazy publicity stunts – innovative ways to coin money from the same project (eg. DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN became TEENAGE DRACULA). Along with hardcore business tales, the book chronicles Sam’s heartbreak when Al Adamson, his partner and “brother I never had” was brutally murdered.
WHEN DRACULA MET FRANKENSTEIN offers a unique look and playbook on independent filmmaking, marketing and distribution from an unsung pioneer of the exploitation film business. Like his films with Al Adamson, Sherman’s memoir is wild beyond belief with tales that will take the reader back to the crazy heyday and zenith of the drive-in and grind house era – once upon a time in Hollywood. The stories behind Sherman’s and Adamson’s pulpy films are the stuff of legend. Their legacy clearly inspired and paved the way for filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, RobertRodriguez, Tobe Hooper, George Miller and even Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam, who once shared an office with Sherman at Warren Publishing.
Mr. Sherman’s drive-in ballyhoo, showmanship and over-the-top films from Hemisphere Pictures and Independent-International Pictures Corp. will be resurrected on THE CIRCLE DRIVE-IN’S 5000-square-foot screen for the FIRST ANNUAL BLOOD-O-RAMA SHOCK FESTIVAL in Scranton, Pennsylvania on October 22nd, complete with a drive-in blood drive and a live appearance by the Frankenstein monster, re-created by Roy Knyrim of SOTA FX Studios (Toxic Avenger 2 & 3; Ed Wood; Gods & Monsters; Sinister 2). Knyrim jumped at the opportunity to tackle the Monster of Frankenstein and sought out whatever reference material he could find.
Knyrim remembers DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN as, “One of my childhood favorites! Having the opportunity to re-create the Frankenstein Monster from DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN was a childhood dream come true for me. I have great memories of this movie on the Saturday afternoon Creature Features in NY. Knyrim added “We are trying our best to make the Monster as accurate as possible using traditional sculpture and mold making techniques. The same way it was made back in the day. What an honor to be able to be a part of this!”
Also on a bloody note, the film DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN was originally conceived with the crimson fluid in titles like SATAN’S BLOOD FREAKS, THE BLOOD SEEKERS and even BLOOD OF FRANKENSTEIN before Sam Sherman decided to add and exploit a classic monster match- up plot with the immortal characters of the King of the Vampires, Dracula, and the man-made Frankenstein Monster.
WHEN DRACULA MET FRANKENSTEIN is published by Murania Press – www.muraniapress.com
ABOUT ROY KNYRIM, SOTA FX STUDIO
Roy Knyrim is an American film director and special effects and makeup artist from Rochester, New York. A film fan from a very young age, Knyrim made his own films as a child. After graduating high school, Knyrim worked on the second an third TOXIC AVENGER films. Roy later moved to California and co-founded SOTA FX and created some of the visuals for THE ABYSS, SOCIETY and ED WOOD. Roy Knyrim & SOTA FX Studios’ long list of genre film credits include, DARKMAN,; SPAWN; WISHMASTER 2-4; SINISTER 2 and Bill Condon’s GODS AND MONSTERS.
About The Circle Drive-In
The Circle Drive-In in Scranton, Pennsylvania has been running movies and more continually since Sept 10,1949, making it one of the longest running drive-ins in America! The Circle Drive-In Theater operates from the Spring to Fall each year showing first run features and retro classics.
The Drive-In has two GIANT outdoor screens, one being over 5000 square feet, one of the largest in the state of Pennsylvania, with the newest technology in the country, and a state-of-the-art digital projection and audio system.
For more information on The Circle Drive-In go to https://circledrive-in.com/
all art – Sam Sherman / Roy Knyrim