"I know there's no such person as Dracula. You know there's no such person as Dracula."

"But does Dracula know it?"

Hooptober 5.0 #5 (fulfills anniversary requirement)

Yes! Silly Universal monster fun! This is just the break I needed after watching my last three Hooptober selections. My favorite bit might be the early scene in the House of Horrors, in which Costello tells one awesome joke after another while trying to cope with the inconvenient existence and awakening of actual monsters (spoiler: he fails to cope—he can't even). Lugosi, Chaney, and Strange are very good sports and play everything straight, just as if they were doing another sequel to one of their own movies, which of course just makes the boys' antics even funnier.

If I'm going to quibble, I wish Frankenstein's creature, who is easily my favorite Universal monster, had a fraction as much personality and agency as he does in the Whale/Karloff movies, rather than just being Dracula's pawn (though I would kind of love to see the fiendish plan play out—I don't know if Costello's brain in that body would work out for you the way you were hoping, Count). But, again, that's just a quibble. This totally holds up and should continue to be watched for another seventy years.

Also, is this the movie that started the narrative of vampires and werewolves as archenemies? Because Dracula's fight with the Wolf Man here, in addition to being hilarious, is totally iconic and I can easily see it having a lasting influence.