(Jess Franco, 1972, Spain/France, 85 minutes)

Inspired by Universal’s 1940s monster mashups, writer/director Jess Franco instead delivers one of the most surreal but captivating films of his entire career: using minimal dialogue and maximum gothic atmosphere, Franco crafts a fever dream of horror iconography in which Count Dracula, Dr. Frankenstein, his assistant Morpho, and Frankenstein’s monster battle gypsies, showgirls, Dr. Seward, and a werewolf. Like something born from a dream, spiraling into an almost freeform excursion of classic horror iconography, DRACULA PRISONER OF FRANKENSTEIN melds 1970’s exploitation, gothic horror, and 1920’s German expressionism in a way only Jess Franco could. This future cult classic can finally be seen the way it was meant to, now scanned in 4k from Spanish, French and German release prints to create the longest and most comprehensive version known to exist.

With an introduction by Oscarbate’s Will Morris and John Dickson.