Early drafts of the story reportedly involved more characters from the Universal stable, including
the Mummy,
the Ape Woman, the
Mad Ghoul, and possibly
the Invisible Man.
Working titles—which included
Chamber of Horrors (a reference to Lampini's travelling horror show) and
The Devil's Brood—emphasized the multi-monster nature of the story.
The multi-monster approach, which emphasized box office appeal over continuity, was used in
House of Dracula the following year and later in
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
House of Frankenstein marked
Glenn Strange's debut as the monster.
Strange, a former
cowboy, had been a minor supporting player in dozens of low-budget Westerns over the preceding 15 years.
He reprised the role in
House of Dracula and
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and cemented the popular image of the monster as shambling, clumsy, and inarticulate.
Boris Karloff, who had moved on from playing the monster to playing the mad scientist, reportedly coached Strange on how to play the role.
The scream that accompanies Daniel's fall from the roof is actually the voice of Karloff, recycled from the scene in
Son of Frankenstein where the monster howls in anguish at finding
Ygor dead.
The face on the monster dummy used in the ice and laboratory scenes was a mask of Lon Chaney Jr., who had played the monster himself in
The Ghost of Frankenstein.
Strange did his own stunt work on the film, notably in the climax where he flees across a field of burning grass and sinks into a pool of quicksand.
The grass was actually tumbleweeds, which nearly scorched him when they burned more quickly than expected.
Stuntman
Cary Loftin doubled for Boris Karloff in the fire scenes, but Karloff returned for the final scene in the quicksand.
Some continuity errors are evident in the finished film.
After Dracula is thrown from the carriage, he looks over to where his coffin has landed; in a close-up, part of his mustache is gone.
Also, when Talbot transforms into the Wolf Man for the final time, his hands lack fur.
Karloff's performance in this film is his last in Universal's classic horror cycle.
Reception
A. H. Weiler of
The New York Times compared the film's collection of monsters to "a baseball team with nine
Babe Ruths, only this grisly congress doesn't hit hard; it merely has speed and a change of pace. As such, then, it is bound to garner as many chuckles as it does chills. However, lampoon or no, put this item down as a bargain for the bogie hunters."
Variety called it "a solid entry for the attention of the horror addicts" and called Naish "particularly well cast".
Harrison's Reports called it "only a mild horror picture, more ludicrous than terrifying. The whole thing is a rehash of the fantastic doings of these characters in previous pictures and, since they do exactly what is expected of them, the spectator is neither shocked nor chilled."
