Monster Mash: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|''The zombies were having fun

 

Hey, wouldn't it be cool if [[Dracula]], the [[Wolf Man]], the [[Mummy]], [[Frankenstein's Monster]], [[Fish People|Gillman]], and all those other classic monsters hung out?

This is prevalent in a setting where the heroes live on [[Planet Eris]] as part of a [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]] with a sprawling [[Crossover Cosmology]], especially if they themselves are supernatural. The creatures, rather than become shut-ins, never leaving their designated niche or dark corner of the world... ''socialize''. The Vampires and Werewolves, though [[Fur Against Fang|antagonistic]], agree to hold up a mutual [[Masquerade]] against humans. [[The Fair Folk|Fairies]] and ghosts work together to scare local homeowners. And the wizards work with all of them to [[Save Both Worlds]].

 

 

* [[Our Vampires Are Different|Vampire]] (often [[Dracula]])

* [[Our Ghosts Are Different|Ghost]]

* [[Creature from the Black Lagoon]]

* [[Our Witches Are Different|A Witch]]

* [[Jekyll and Hyde|Dr. Jekyll]]

* [[Our Zombies Are Different|Zombie]]

 

Not to be confused with the PC game ''[[Monster Bash]]'', nor the coin-op of the same name, although both are very much examples of this.

 

== [[Anime]] ==

** They also have caretaker of sorts - an invisible ghost named Cammy. In one of the special episodes, she appears as a nurse wrapped in bandages, so possibly invoking The Mummy or The Invisible Man.

* ''[[Rosario + Vampire]]'' has a vampire, two witches, an ice woman, and a succubus as part of the [[Unwanted Harem]] and a werewolf as their sempai, with just about every other monster you can think of as antagonists. There's even a [[Shout-Out]] to a famous monster ''hunter'': at one point [[Unlucky Everydude]] Tsukune is given a whip that apparently was owned by [[Castlevania|Simon Belmont himself]].

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' has a vampire, a [[Cute Ghost Girl]], a [[Robot Girl]], and a half-bird demon in Negi's class, as well as a half-dog demon as his closest male friend.

** As of Chapter 294 you can add another half-demon and a demon.

** Actually Perona is a ghost girl, just not the undead type. It's her devil fruit power.

* ''[[Princess Resurrection]]'' has vampires, werewolves, robot girls and a demonic princess as the main cast. Most of the above are living in the same house.

* With a name like ''[[Monster Soul]]'', one would say it's about oh um...monsters? =P

* ''[[Legendz]]'' is a [[Mons]] series where all the creatures are based on monsters of folklore, myth, and urban legend.

* ''Magetsukan Kitan''

 

* In a recent issue of [[Marvel Zombies]], we have [[Our Vampires Are Different|Morbius the Living Vampire]], [[Our Werewolves Are Different|Werewolf-By-Night]], [[Dark Magical Girl|Jennifer Kale]], [[The Antichrist|Damien Hellstrom]], [[Plant Person|Man-Thing]], [[Our Demons Are Different|Dormannu]], and eventually [[Powers Via Possession|The Hood]] all team up to fight against [[Fish People|Pirahna]], [[Everything's Deader with Zombies|The Zombie]], and [[Ninja Pirate Robot Zombie|Deadpool's]] [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|severed]] [[Handicapped Badass|head]], which, by the way, is the most dangerous entity in the series. Yes, a severed head racks up one of the largest bodycounts in a [[Zombie Apocalypse]].

* The eponymous rock band in the DCU comic ''[[Scare Tactics (comics)|Scare Tactics]]'' had a vampire lead singer, a werewolf on lead guitar, a snake-boy on bass guitar, and a walking pile of sludge for a drummer.

** In the ''[[Flashpoint (comics)|Flashpoint]]'' timeline, the equivalent group is headed by the [[Seven Soldiers|Frankenstein monster]] himself, with Velcoro as the vampire (the spelling of his name changes in modern versions), Griffith as the werewolf, and Nina Mazursky as a gillwoman. Lt. Shrieve fights alongside them in the war.

** DC's 2011 reboot has a modern-day version of the team, featuring Frankenstein, Velcoro, Griffith, Mazursky, Frankenstein's Bride, and Khalis, a mummy.

 

== [[Film]] ==

* Universal Studios' ''[[Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man]]'' had, well, [[Frankenstein's Monster]] meet the [[Wolf Man]]. This was followed by ''[[House of Frankenstein (film)|House of Frankenstein]]'' and ''[[House of Dracula]]'', each uniting [[Universal Horror|their "big three" monsters]] (Drac, Wolfie & F's M) on screen. The series ended... nay, ''climaxed'' with the brilliant parody ''[[Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein]]''.

* The film ''[[Van Helsing]]'' includes, among other things, Dr. Frankenstein, his monster, Dracula, his brides, several werewolves, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and [[The Igor|a certain hunchback]] thrown in for good measure.

* Several legendary creatures decide get together to beat the shit out of each other in a wrestling-style tournament in ''Monster Brawl''.

* ''House of the Wolfman'' is an attempt at a Monster Mash in the vein of the classic Universal films.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* ''[[Kitty Norville]]'', likewise, features both friendly and unfriendly [[Our Werewolves Are Different|werewolves]] and [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampires]]. As the [[Meaningful Name|ironically named]] main character is a werewolf, you'd expect most of the bloodsuckers to be villains, but she's allied to more than she's made enemies. The werewolf packs and nearest vampire families usually keep a cooperative connection.

* ''[[Tales of MU]]'' initially appears to be based on this to most readers, though it is not exactly on a voluntary basis - the [[Wizarding School]], Magisterius University, has ''graciously'' established a separate dorm for the non-humans and part-humans, supposedly to make them feel less pressured to conform to human ways but in actuality at least in part to keep the freaks out of sight. The characters' foibles, both personal and racial, make up a significant part of the series.

* ''[[The Dresden Files]]''. The main character is a wizard and frequently [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire|teams up with an incubus]], which in this setting is the [[Our Vampires Are Different|most humanlike kind of vampire]]. Other occasional assistants/sidekicks include werewolves, faeries and [[Knight in Shining Armor|Knights in Shining Armor]].

* Clive Barker's short novel Cabal, later filmed as ''[[Nightbreed]]''. The monsters live in Midian in Canada. In the book Clive Barker's Nightbreed Chronicles, Barker explains the origins of many of these monsters, indicating that they did not share a common origin. One monster had its origin as a mutant engineered by the Central Powers during World War I (reminiscent of the G-8 series, which often featured paranormal entities devised by Central Powers researchers) and another a person mutated by a meteor (similar to Doc Savage's foe Mo-Gwei, Vandal Savage, Meteor Man, and L?Île aux trente cercueils by Maurice LeBlanc).

* Neil Gaiman's ''[[The Graveyard Book]]'' not only features a boy raised by ghosts, but also an organisation called the Honour Guard consisting of a vampire, a werewolf, a mummy and some sort of djinn.

* The novel ''[[Family Bites]]'' by Lisa Williams is about a family of friendly neighbourhood werewolves whose new neighbours turn out to be [[Friendly Neighbourhood Vampires]].

* Kelley Armstrong wrote a novel with only werewolves. She then called the series Women of [[The Otherworld]] and included witches, demons, and other supernaturals to be able to not be stuck only writing about werewolves.

* With the possible exception of Godzilla, anything on the list above is likely to be found drinking in Strangefellows in one [[Nightside]] book or another.

 

* The BBC 3 show ''[[Being Human (UK)]]'' has a vampire, a werewolf and a female ghost as flatmates.

* ''[[Big Bad Beetleborgs]]'' had a mummy, a vampire, a frankenstein-style monster, a group of pixies, a ghoul, a living statue, and a "phantasm" all sharing a haunted house. Surprisingly, while ''they'' were real, the [[Metal Heroes|heroes]] and villains of the show were ''not'', being, respectively, the product and side effect ([[Gone Horribly Wrong]]) of a spell the phantasm cast.

* ''[[Supernatural]]'' is a veritable [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]], but this trope is explicitly invoked in one episode during Season 4, "Monster Mash", where the Winchesters investigate killings apparently perpetrated by the famous silver-screen monsters (See header picture above) themselves. {{spoiler|It turns out to be a [[Shape Shifter]] who specifically tries to emulate them}}. The entire episode is a [[Shout-Out]] to classic horror movies.

* From [[Mr. Show]]: Monster Parties: Fact or Fiction?

** If it had lasted long enough, they might have gotten mummies and a robot. ''[[Kolchak the Night Stalker]]'' (original version, also produced by Dan Curtis) made up for the lack.

 

* ''[[The World of Darkness]]:'' Depending on the game, PCs are any one of a number of horror movie mainstays, including [[Vampire: The Requiem|Vampires]], [[Promethean: The Created|Frankensteins]], and [[Werewolf: The Forsaken|Werewolves]], and at the behest of the Storyteller, can encounter (and most likely) try to kill each other.

* In [[The Trail of Cthulhu]] adventure book ''Shadows Over Filmland'', the player characters have the opportunity to battle [[Captain Ersatz]] versions of [[Frankenstein]] ('Doctor Gravenhurst'), the [[Invisible Man]] ('the Non-Euclidean Man'), and [[Dracula]] (a vampiric dream-spirit of the historical [[Vlad The Impaler]]) in individual adventures. In the the adventure "The Preserve", all three are lured to an island where they can face off against their old foes, the player characters in exchange for the Necronomicon.

** Especially [[Ravenloft]], the gothic horror setting. And ''especially'' "Ravenloft: [[Masque of the Red Death]]", set in 19th century Earth, complete with stats for Dracula and Frankenstein.

* This is basically the entire premise behind the game ''NightLife'', which features a bewildering array of monsters (many of them usable as player characters) trying to maintain a common [[Masquerade]] viz. a humanity that still has them horribly outnumbered while ''also'' keeping themselves both fed and sane.

* ''[[Creature Feature]]'', a supplement for the ''Chill'' RPG, may have been the first to do this for player characters. Unlike WoD or ''NightLife'', it kept the monsters as inherently evil, and gave points for killing heroes and scaring the crap out of hapless human victims.

 

== [[Theatre]] ==

* Just add "the children of" right before the word "[[Dracula]]" in the above description of the trope and you have the basic premise of ''[[Monster High]]''.

* The defunct Xevoz line had an undead faction (the "Unnaturals") that included vampires, ghosts, skeletons, mummies, and Frankenstein monsters in their ranks (the wolfman ended up in the "[[Furry Fandom|Meta-Beast]]" faction). And this isn't counting the insects, cyborg/robots, dragons, ''elemental forces of nature personified...''

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* The Council in ''[[City of Heroes]]'' have ''scientifically created'' ([[Applied Phlebotinum|somehow]]) vampires and werewolves that can work together (though are rarely seen together at the same time). During the Halloween event, generic vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghosts, witches and pumpkin people are all about as likely to spawn from Trick or Treating. Really.

* [[Touhou Project|Gensokyo]], being pretty much the definition of a [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]], hosts plenty of tea parties bewteen witches, vampires, [[Miko]], ghosts, fairies, aliens, oni, goddesses, and more.

* ''[[MadWorld]]'' has the Mad Castle level for this. The [[Mooks]] are zombies (but bandaged up like mummies); the first area's bosses are the Shamans, a pack of werewolves; the second area's boss is [[That One Boss|Frank]], [[Frankenstein's Monster]]; and the last area's boss is Elise, somewhere between a [[Horny Devils|succubus]] and a vampire.

* The pinball machine ''Monster Bash'' is centered around Universal mainstays Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, Bride of same, the Wolfman, the Mummy, and the Creature From The Black Lagoon forming a rock band.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' features a fox demon, a [[Living Shadow]], a ghost, and a Minotaur.

* ''[[Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name]]'' has thus far had a zombie [[Supporting Protagonist]], a werewolf, some vampires, a [[Half-Human Hybrid|half-selkie]], and a ghost. And it's barely into its third chapter.

** Pretty much every main character seems to have ''something'' paranormal about them. We don't even know what's up with Hanna or Ples yet, but at best even they are only [[Ambiguously Human]].

*** Coin toss says that even [[Fan Nickname|CA]][[Ensemble Darkhorse|$H]] is going to turn out to be a Pwca or a necromancer or something.

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''. The main character is currently a [[Mooks]] in the service of a supervillain, and has a sword powered by the blood of the innocent. He's good friends with an alien from a species that reproduces by destroying the host planet, a vampire, a witch, a psychotic [[Killer Rabbit]], and a mad scientist. He also owns a zombie head on a stick. And he's one of the good guys. Ostensibly.

* ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'' has a mismash of different monsters going to an [[All-Ghouls School]].

* ''[http://www.monsterful.com/ Monsterful]'' has a world full of monsters of all kinds, from classic undead ones (zombies, vampires, ghosts) to mythological ones (gorgons, Loch Ness monsters, mummies), uncommon ones like ragdolls, golems and homunculi, and even some hybrid monsters (Zombpyre). The first chapter focuses on the Addams High [[All-Ghouls School]].

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* The ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'' episode "Revenge of the Monsters" featured a team-up between robotic vampire NOS-4-A2, cyborg werewolf the Wirewolf, and the Frankenstein's Monster-esque [[Psycho Prototype]] XL.

* [[Genndy Tartakovsky]], after leaving [[Cartoon Network]], is now directing a film called ''[http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/03/26/genndy-tartakovsky-taking-over-the-hotel-transylvania/ Hotel Transylvania]'', about several [[Universal Horror]] monsters living in a hotel, specifically [[Dracula]] and his daugher, [[Frankenstein's Monster]] and his bride, [[The Wolf Man]] and his family, Quasimodo and a mummy.

* An animated special based on ''The Monster Mash'' had the Universal Monsters, as well as a group of antagonistic creatures composed of a slasher, an alien, and an [[Enfant Terrible]].

 

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