''Transylvania 6-5000'' is a 1985 American/Yugoslav horror comedy film about two

tabloid Tabloid may refer to: * Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism * Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size ** Chinese tabloid * Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size * Sopwith Tabloid The Sopwith Tabloid an ...

reporters who travel to modern-day

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the A ...

to uncover the truth behind

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ...

sightings. Along the way, they encounter other

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...

staples — a

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

, a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely ...

, a

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

— each with a twist. Written and directed by

Rudy De Luca Rudy De Luca is an American screenwriter and actor best known for his work with filmmaker Mel Brooks. In April 1972 he opened The Comedy Store with Sammy Shore. Filmography As writer *''The Carol Burnett Show'' (1967) (TV) *'' The Tim Conway S ...

, the film stars Jeff Goldblum,

Ed Begley Jr. Edward James Begley Jr. (born September 16, 1949) is an American actor and environmental activist. Begley has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He played Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the television series ''St. E ...

Joseph Bologna Joseph Bologna (December 30, 1934 – August 13, 2017) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter notable for his roles in the comedy films ''My Favorite Year'', ''Blame It on Rio'' and '' Transylvania 6-5000''. Life and career Bolo ...

, and Geena Davis. Notable other cast include

Michael Richards Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor, writer, television producer, and comedian best known for playing Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom ''Seinfeld''. He began his career as a stand-up comedian, first enterin ...

Carol Kane Carolyn Laurie Kane (born June 18, 1952) is an American actress. She became known in the 1970s and 1980s in films such as '' Hester Street'' (for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress), '' Dog Day Afternoon'', ''Annie ...

, Teresa Ganzel, John Byner, and Jeffrey Jones. The title is a pun on "

Pennsylvania 6-5000 PEnnsylvania 6-5000 is a telephone number in New York City, written in the 2L+5N (two letters, five numbers) format that was common from about 1930 into the 1960s. The number is best known from the 1940 hit song " Pennsylvania 6-5000", a swing ...

", a song made famous by

Glenn Miller Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the US Army Air Forc ...

Plot

Jack Harrison ( Jeff Goldblum) and Gil Turner (

) are writers for ''The Sensation'', a supermarket-grade tabloid run by Turner's father, Mac Turner (

Norman Fell Norman Fell (born Norman Noah Feld; March 24, 1924 – December 14, 1998) was an American actor of film and television, most famous for his role as landlord Mr. Roper on the sitcom ''Three's Company'' and its spin-off, ''The Ropers'', and his fi ...

). Jack is a more serious journalist, using ''The Sensation'' as a stepping stone to a better career and aspires to work for ''Time'' magazine, while Gil is a gangling yes-man, ever ready to win his father's approval. When Mac receives a homemade videotape of two panicked men running from a creature they believe to be

Frankenstein's monster Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compar ...

, along with a waist-down shot of the suspected monster, he dispatches his son and Jack to

to follow the lead. Jack tries unsuccessfully to beg off, but is told by Mac that if they both again come back with nothing, they are both fired. They have to bring a story that will bring a banner headline "Frankenstein Lives!" Planes, trains and buses later, Jack and Gil arrive at their destination. Once off the bus, Jack immediately spots Elizabeth Ellison, a pretty female tourist ( Teresa Ganzel) from New York City, whom he propositions. Gil immediately sets out on their assignment, just as quickly drawing hysterical ridicule when he tries to question a hotel desk clerk about the whereabouts of Frankenstein, who shares Gil's inquiries with the staff and patrons, including the mayor Lepescu ( Jeffrey Jones). Jack rescues Gil and pulls him out of the hotel to avoid further embarrassment. Both then take off for their hotel. Seeing them leave, a gypsy woman named Madame Morovia ( Inge Appelt) orders her male companion to bring them to her. Jack and Gil arrive at their hotel, which resembles a 17th-century castle, complete with a gated entrance, but adorned with an "Opening Soon!" banner and signs denoting the acceptance of

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the ...

s. They are met at the gate by Fejos (

), a butler with an odd sense of humor. They meet for brunch with Lepescu, where they also meet Radu ( John Byner), his hunched-over manservant who addresses everyone as "master" and his wife Lupi (

). Both Gil and Jack learn that something is amiss about Transylvania, despite being laughed off by the locals, including Inspector Percek (

Božidar Smiljanić Božidar Smiljanić (20 September 1936 – 7 April 2018) was a Yugoslav-Croatian actor. He appeared in more than 70 films from 1953 to 2018. His son is popular actor Mitja Smiljanić. Filmography References External links * 1936 b ...

), head of the local police. After meeting Morovia, who tells them they must continue their pursuit, they encounter a series of real-life horror creatures, including a Wolfman Larry ( Donald Gibb), a nymphomaniac vampire Odette ( Geena Davis), and a swamp monster Twisto that grabs Gil by the crotch as he tries to escape a frightening face-to-face confrontation with the object of their mission himself. They eventually learn of a Sicilian doctor, Victorio Malavaqua (

), who lost his license to practice medicine. Finding out that Malavaqua has been giving care in a sanitorium, Gil tries to go there to make an appointment but is rebuffed by the guard. Gil eventually sneaks in and finds Percek and Malavaqua talking about the latter's "experiments", including one involving a patient, Kurt Hunyadi, that fits the description of the Frankenstein monster, which Malavaqua claimed had died. An exhumation of the body later proves otherwise. Gil learns that Radu is in cahoots with Malavaqua, serving as his lab assistant. Malavaqua also displays a tendency towards madness when within the confines of his laboratory, but returns to normal when he leaves it. It is later revealed, as Gil and Jack go on a search for Elizabeth's missing daughter Laura, that not only has Malavaqua faked Hunyadi's death, but is also his creator, along with that of Odette, Larry, and Twisto. It is also revealed that Malavaqua has engaged in this type of bizarre work to clear his family's name. The story ties together after Jack is attacked by the Wolfman. In an attempt to rescue Jack, Gil pulls him off Jack, only to be carted off by the Wolfman. The police arrive, but refuse to listen to Jack's story and order him put in the local police lockup. Elizabeth rescues him and learns that the entire police force is at the wine festival instead of searching for her missing daughter. Jack heads off to Malavaqua's lab and Elizabeth goes to the festival. As she is being hauled away by police after confronting Percek, the town is horrified as the monster returns in the flesh, carrying Laura in his arms. Perceived to be dead, it is later learned she was just sleeping. Jack and Gil arrive, having confronted Malavaqua, and explain Malavaqua's actions to the townspeople, that Malavaqua was legitimately trying to create normal lives for those seen as outcasts or freaks by the townspeople, who now welcome them with open arms. Finding out that the story is even bigger than what they bargained for, Gil takes enough pictures and both gather enough material to last weeks for the tabloid. They more than make up for their failures and Mac gets his banner headline.

Cast

* Jeff Goldblum as Jack Harrison *

as Dr. Malavaqua *

as Gil Turner *

as Lupi * Jeffrey Jones as Mayor Lepescu * John Byner as Radu * Geena Davis as Odette *

as Fejos * Donald Gibb as Larry the Wolfman *

as Mac Turner * Teresa Ganzel as Elizabeth Ellison *

as Lawrence Malbot * Inge Appelt as Madame Morovia *

as Inspector Percek

Production

The film was first announced in 1980 under Krofft International, but no progress occurred.

, Arnie Fishman, and Paul Lichtman unsuccessfully tried to sell the film to

New World Pictures New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 19 ...

for five years. The studio only expressed interest after producers Mace Neufeld and Thomas H. Brodek entered the project. New World Pictures secured financing for the film from the

Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastics ...

, a company rarely associated with filmmaking. Yugoslav law at the time prevented the company from repatriating funds that it had accumulated in the

Yugoslav dinar The dinar (Cyrillic script: динар) was the currency of the three Yugoslav states: the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (formerly the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes), the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the Federal Republic of Yu ...

. To free these frozen funds, Dow decided to use them to invest in a film production inside the country. According to the DVD commentary from director

, most of the film was shot on location in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

, using local actors. Filming locations included

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

Samobor Samobor () is a city in Zagreb County, Croatia. It is part of the Zagreb metropolitan area. Administratively it is a part of Zagreb County. Geography Samobor is located west of Zagreb, between the eastern slopes of the Samobor hills ( hr, ...

, and Mokrice Castle. De Luca also mentioned in the commentary that it was the tallest cast he had ever worked with, with Goldblum, Begley, Jones, Davis, Gibb, and Richards all standing over six feet tall.

Release

The film was released theatrically in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

on November 8, 1985. It grossed $2,507,542 for the weekend, finishing in fifth place. Overall, it grossed $7,196,872 at the United States and Canada box office against a $3 million budget, making it a modest box office success. It received mainly negative reviews from critics. The film scores an 18% with 11 ratings at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

. ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American first-run syndicated news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Paramount Streaming. ET also airs in Aus ...

'' critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

gave a notable one-word review of the film. His review began with him swaying along with the Glenn Miller recording; at the point in the song where the words "Pennsylvania 6-5000" are uttered, Maltin spoke the title of the film, followed by the word "stinks." In a later interview with ''

Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...

'' magazine, Maltin stated he felt his review was complete and also categorized it as one of the reviews he was most proud of and most remembered for.

Home media

The film was released on DVD in the

Anchor Bay Entertainment Anchor Bay Entertainment (formerly Video Treasures and Starmaker Entertainment) was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, television se ...

in 2004. It was released on BluRay by

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art house films ...

under their Studio Classics banner in 2019.

References

External links

* {{Frankenstein, state=collapsed 1985 films 1980s comedy horror films 1985 horror films American comedy horror films American parody films American werewolf films Vampire comedy films Frankenstein films English-language Yugoslav films Yugoslav comedy horror films Romania in fiction Jadran Film films Films produced by Mace Neufeld Films scored by Lee Holdridge Films shot in Croatia Films shot in Slovenia Films shot in Yugoslavia New World Pictures films Films set in Transylvania Parodies of horror 1980s parody films 1985 comedy films American vampire films Films about journalists Films with screenplays by Rudy De Luca Films directed by Rudy De Luca 1980s English-language films 1980s American films