# Hilarious House Of Frightenstein



## BillyVanpire

A 1 hour Canadian horror show for 'kids' produced in 1971 @ CHCH studios in Hamilton Ontario. Featuring Vincent Price & the one-man comedy show Billy Van, playing no less than 10 characters.











It was syndicated across the country for decades, and also made it to the US market in an edited form (30min episodes with added laugh track)

more info here: http://frightenstein.com/

i ran the forum there for a few years back, digging up undocumented show info, connecting the right people together and helping get the show back from the dead and onto dvd.

once it came out most fans got their fix, demand for dvds stopped and are OOP already. ebay prices have jumped accordingly.

If anyone has any frightenstein questions or needs, maybe i can help.


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## Uruk-Hai

Grew up watching Frightenstein! Such an awesome show and I realize now such a huge influence on my haunt. I wish I'd jumped on the DVDs when they came out.


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## Dyad

I was introduced to this series by my older brother and loved the series and watched it well into the 80's in its syndication here in Ontario. I recently looked at amazon.ca to see about getting the DVD LOL upwards of $400 for them and that's not even the for a complete series. I find it absolutely amazing that this entire series over 130 episodes was filmed in a 9 month period! and all of Vincent Price's parts (about 400) were filmed in 4 days... I don't think we will ever see such an amazing show again.


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## BillyVanpire

they created a new way to make a show, all in parts. 
show up in the gorilla costume & do as many takes as you can that day, 
next day a diff costume all day long.

they also created that trippy wolfman effect, 
triple green-screen feedback loops with barn door patterns.

ahead of their time i think.


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## Dyad

Couldn't agree more. In an interview Billy Van said that one day he did about 97 takes as the Librarian alone.


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## Hairazor

Oh My Gosh, I work at a Library and I snickered all the way through the Library clip. Need to send that to some co-workers.


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## BillyVanpire

things are stirring at the castle...

a big budget documentary is in the near future.
working on the 'sizzle reel' first


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## Dyad

Oh.... when is it coming.... MUST SEE!


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## BillyVanpire

i'm hearing about a year, maybe a little more..?

first official merch:
http://store.ghoulishgary.com/

Gary is a talented Toronto artist, having done most of the dvd covers & promo for
the last round of the frightenstein releases.


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## BillyVanpire

if anyone has old episodes on vhs, please msg me, there are 7 missing episode masters.

All the Alliance, Anchor Bay and Empire dvds have been edited and are not original.


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## TheSilentClown

I used to watch this all the time as a kid. We're having a comicon here in May and some of the cast will be here, should be fun!


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## BillyVanpire

Mitch Markowitz, who played Superhippy, will be at the Brockton Comicon in May 2017.
Originally slated for Saturday morning he's been added to the Friday lineup as well.

He is the last living cast member from the show and has lots of great stories to tell.
Share your memories of the show, get a photo with him and a free signed poster.


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## TheSilentClown

BillyVanpire said:


> Mitch Markowitz, who played Superhippy, will be at the Brockton Comicon in May 2017.
> Originally slated for Saturday morning he's been added to the Friday lineup as well.
> 
> He is the last living cast member from the show and has lots of great stories to tell.
> Share your memories of the show, get a photo with him and a free signed poster.


Sad, I wasn't aware there was only one surviving member. All the same, I'll be there that day (assuming you're talking about the Brockville showing). I heard there was some sort of documentary about the show being produced? I was hoping to find a copy there


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## BillyVanpire

TheSilentClown said:


> Sad, I wasn't aware there was only one surviving member. All the same, I'll be there that day (assuming you're talking about the Brockville showing). I heard there was some sort of documentary about the show being produced? I was hoping to find a copy there


I did mean Brockville Ont, sorry for the typo.

Mitch is still working on the documentary, i am part of the team making it happen and we hope to release it later this year to film festivals.

There is a short trailer for investors to view at this point but i can't post it yet.


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## TheSilentClown

Please post here when it is available, I'd love to see it


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## RoxyBlue

Just a heads up - posting a trailer is fine as long as there is no soliciting of financial support either in the trailer or in any posts.


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## TheSilentClown

RoxyBlue said:


> Just a heads up - posting a trailer is fine as long as there is no soliciting of financial support either in the trailer or in any posts.


I did mean the finished documentary, but looking back at my reply I can see how it looked as if I was asking about the trailer, sorry!


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## BillyVanpire

Thanks Roxy, there are no financial requests in the trailer or my posts.


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## Pumpkin5

:jol:Hey Edward, nice info on this....I like your dedication to Billy, it's haunt inspiring...


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## Dyad

Just found out there is a Billy Van Museum in Hamilton Ontario Canada going to have to check it out!!
https://www.facebook.com/billyvanmuseum/?ref=br_rs

Plus there seems like a series reboot is coming too
http://exclaim.ca/film/article/the_hilarious_house_of_frightenstein_is_coming_back


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## BillyVanpire

yup, i'm helping out the museum with content 
and there is a cartoon and tv special coming as well a documentary.

and even more stuff is coming..in due time.


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