I ****ing LOVE this movie. I was 12 when it came out and was obsessed with it, so this movie was pretty much tailor made to appeal to me.
Those feelings aside, I still love it. It's a dumb, loud movie about a guy who kills monsters. And it pretty much delivers on it. The plot is dumb, contrived to justify all of these monsters in the same movie, but you cannot fault a man like Sommers with a vision and wills it into existance as much as he can. Part of what makes this movie fun is just the sheer idea of it. It's so bonkers, it's trivial and unfair to dissect the idea of it. Just go with it. And critique the execution after the fact. The bad dialogue, over acting, and a CGI Frankenstein's monster swinging over a chasm is hilarious. It's a bonkers combo of passion and early 00's over CGI. But it's all there because of the quaint, harmless intent of this bonkers vision.
It's no Mummy, but you can tell this is a labor of love for him. No cynicism, no trying to set up a plan of a cinematic universe, he just had this idea and wanted to make it. Kind of like Mummy Returns. Not as good as The Mummy, but goddamn if he doesn't try and push himself.
Whatever you may think of it, Sommers is a man who knew what he wanted and seemed to tell a movie on his own terms. He at least succeeds in creating a roller coaster ride of an experience. It's not a generic movie. Look, it ends with a CGI wolfman fighting Dracula. It's the equivelant of a kid playing with his action figures. There's child like glee to everything and that's great.
I'd recommend Ebert's review of it. He got it.
It's such a shame what happened to Sommers. He instills his movies with more imagination and excitement than what you see in blockbusters today. I wish he was still making them. I wish Kevin Feige would give him a chance. Give him an obscure Marvel character and leave him alone to his vision.
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