Transylvania 6-5000 (1985 film)
Encyclopedia
Transylvania 6-5000 is a movie about two tabloid
reporters who travel to modern-day Transylvania
to uncover the truth behind Frankenstein
sightings. Along the way, they encounter other horror movie staples — a mummy
, a werewolf
, a vampire
— each with a twist.
Directed by Rudy De Luca
, the film stars Jeff Goldblum
, Ed Begley, Jr.
, Joseph Bologna
, and Geena Davis
. Notable other cast include Michael Richards
, Carol Kane
, Teresa Ganzel
, John Byner
and Jeffrey Jones
.
The title is a pun on "PEnnsylvania 6-5000
", a song made famous by Glenn Miller
.
). Jack is a more serious journalist using The Sensation as a stepping stone to a better career, while Gil is a gangling yes-man ever ready to win his father's approval.
When Mac Turner receives a homemade videotape of two panicked men running from a creature they believe to be Frankenstein's monster, along with a waist-down shot of the suspected monster, he dispatches his son and Jack to Transylvania 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're both fired...unless they can 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 hits on. 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 (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 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 cards. They are met at the gate by Fejos (Michael Richards
), a butler with an odd sense of humor. They meet for brunch with Mayor Lepescu, where they also meet Radu (John Byner
), Lepescu's hunched-over manservant who addresses everyone as "master".
Both Gil and Jack learn that something's amiss about Transylvania, despite being laughed off by the locals, including Inspector Purcek (Bozidar Smiljanic), head of the local police. After meeting the gypsy, who tells them they must continue their pursuit of their find, they encounter a series of real-life horror creatures, including a Wolfman (Donald Gibb
), a female vampire (Geena Davis
), and a swamp monster that grabs Gil by the crotch as Gil tries to escape a frightening face-to-face confrontation with the object of their mission himself.
They eventually learn of a Sicilian doctor, Victorio Malavacqua (Joseph Bologna
), who lost his license to practice medicine. Finding out that Malavacqua has been giving care in a sanitarium, Gil tries to go there to make an appointment but is rebuffed by the guard. Gil eventually sneaks in and finds Percek and Malavacqua talking about the latter's "experiments", including one involving a patient, Kurt Hunyadi, that fits the description of the Frankenstein monster, which Malavacqua claimed had died. An exhumation of the body later proves otherwise.
Gil learns that Radu is in cahoots with Malavacqua, serving as his lab assistant. Malavacqua 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 Malavacqua faked Hunyadi's death, but is also his creator, along with that of the vampire Odette, the wolfman Larry, and the swamp creature Twisto. It is also revealed that Malavacqua has engaged in this type of bizarre work to clear his family's name...his father tried to cure the common cold by injecting foreign viruses but instead was remembered as the man who brought herpes to Sicily.
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 Malavacqua's lab and Elizabeth goes to the festival. As she's 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's later learned she was just sleeping.
Jack and Gil arrive, having confronted Malavacqua, and explain Malavacqua's actions to the townspeople, that Malavacqua 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...more than enough to make up for their failures. And...Mac gets his banner headline.
, most of the movie was filmed on location in Yugoslavia
, using local actors. Because the film was made in a socialist country, order was maintained by the former communist government
. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, and the subsequent civil war that followed, much of the village architecture depicted in the movie had been destroyed and many of the actors participating in the movie had died.
by New World Pictures in November 1985. It grossed $7,196,872 at the box office.
The film was released on DVD
in the United States
by Anchor Bay Entertainment
in 2004.
The film has a 20% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes
.
Tabloid journalism
Tabloid journalism tends to emphasize topics such as sensational crime stories, astrology, gossip columns about the personal lives of celebrities and sports stars, and junk food news...
reporters who travel to modern-day Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
to uncover the truth behind Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
sightings. Along the way, they encounter other horror movie staples — a mummy
Mummy
A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
, a werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
, a vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
— each with a twist.
Directed by Rudy De Luca
Rudy De Luca
Rudy De Luca is an American screenwriter and actor best known for his work with filmmaker Mel Brooks.-As Writer:*The Carol Burnett Show *The Tim Conway Show *The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine...
, the film stars Jeff Goldblum
Jeff Goldblum
Jeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum is an American actor. His career began in the mid-1970s and he has appeared in major box-office successes including The Fly, Jurassic Park and its sequel Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Independence Day...
, Ed Begley, Jr.
Ed Begley, Jr.
Edward James "Ed" Begley, Jr. is an American actor and environmentalist. Begley has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He is best known for his role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich, on the television series St...
, Joseph Bologna
Joseph Bologna
Joseph Bologna is an American actor.-Life and career:Bologna was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Brown University, where he majored in art history. After a hitch with the marines, Bologna was hired to produce and direct Manhattan-based TV commercials.The actor has a long history in film...
, and Geena Davis
Geena Davis
Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis is an American actress, film producer, writer, former fashion model, and a women's Olympics archery team semi-finalist...
. Notable other cast include Michael Richards
Michael Richards
Michael Anthony Richards is an American actor, comedian, writer and television producer, best known for his portrayal of the eccentric Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom Seinfeld....
, Carol Kane
Carol Kane
Carolyn Laurie "Carol" Kane is an American actress. Kane has worked on the stage, on the screen and in television. She appeared on the television series Taxi in the early 1980s, as the wife of the character played by Andy Kaufman. She received two Emmy Awards for her work...
, Teresa Ganzel
Teresa Ganzel
Teresa Ganzel is an actress, comedienne, and cartoon voice-over actress.-Career:Teresa Ganzel was best known as a recurring cast member of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, having replaced the late Carol Wayne as the Matinee Lady in the popular "Mighty Carson Art Players" skits...
, John Byner
John Byner
John Byner is an American actor, comedian, and impressionist who has had a lengthy television and movie career. His voice work includes the cartoon series The Ant and the Aardvark, in which the title characters are voiced by Byner's impressions of Dean Martin and Jackie Mason,...
and Jeffrey Jones
Jeffrey Jones
Jeffrey Duncan Jones is an American actor. He has appeared in many films and television series, but may be best known for his roles as Emperor Joseph II in Miloš Forman’s Amadeus, Charles Deetz in Beetlejuice, and Dean of Students Edward R...
.
The title is a pun on "PEnnsylvania 6-5000
PEnnsylvania 6-5000
PEnnsylvania 6-5000 is claimed by its owner, the Hotel Pennsylvania, to be the oldest continuing phone number in New York City. The telephone number is based on the old telephone exchange name system. The first two letters "PE" in PE6-5000 stand for the rotary dial numbers 7 and 3, making the...
", a song made famous by Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
.
Plot
Jack Harrison (Goldblum) and Gil Turner (Begley) are writers for "The Sensation", a supermarket grade tabloid run by Turner's father Mac (Norman FellNorman Fell
Norman Fell , born Norman Noah Feld, 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.-Early life:...
). Jack is a more serious journalist using The Sensation as a stepping stone to a better career, while Gil is a gangling yes-man ever ready to win his father's approval.
When Mac Turner receives a homemade videotape of two panicked men running from a creature they believe to be Frankenstein's monster, along with a waist-down shot of the suspected monster, he dispatches his son and Jack to Transylvania 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're both fired...unless they can 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
Teresa Ganzel
Teresa Ganzel is an actress, comedienne, and cartoon voice-over actress.-Career:Teresa Ganzel was best known as a recurring cast member of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, having replaced the late Carol Wayne as the Matinee Lady in the popular "Mighty Carson Art Players" skits...
) from New York City, whom he hits on. 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 (Jeffrey Jones
Jeffrey Jones
Jeffrey Duncan Jones is an American actor. He has appeared in many films and television series, but may be best known for his roles as Emperor Joseph II in Miloš Forman’s Amadeus, Charles Deetz in Beetlejuice, and Dean of Students Edward R...
).
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 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 cards. They are met at the gate by Fejos (Michael Richards
Michael Richards
Michael Anthony Richards is an American actor, comedian, writer and television producer, best known for his portrayal of the eccentric Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom Seinfeld....
), a butler with an odd sense of humor. They meet for brunch with Mayor Lepescu, where they also meet Radu (John Byner
John Byner
John Byner is an American actor, comedian, and impressionist who has had a lengthy television and movie career. His voice work includes the cartoon series The Ant and the Aardvark, in which the title characters are voiced by Byner's impressions of Dean Martin and Jackie Mason,...
), Lepescu's hunched-over manservant who addresses everyone as "master".
Both Gil and Jack learn that something's amiss about Transylvania, despite being laughed off by the locals, including Inspector Purcek (Bozidar Smiljanic), head of the local police. After meeting the gypsy, who tells them they must continue their pursuit of their find, they encounter a series of real-life horror creatures, including a Wolfman (Donald Gibb
Donald Gibb
Donald Gibb , sometimes credited as Don Gibb, is an American actor with an imposing 6 ft-4in frame, best known for his roles as the hulking, dimwitted fraternity brother "Ogre" in several installments of the Revenge of the Nerds film series, and as Leslie "Dr...
), a female vampire (Geena Davis
Geena Davis
Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis is an American actress, film producer, writer, former fashion model, and a women's Olympics archery team semi-finalist...
), and a swamp monster that grabs Gil by the crotch as Gil tries to escape a frightening face-to-face confrontation with the object of their mission himself.
They eventually learn of a Sicilian doctor, Victorio Malavacqua (Joseph Bologna
Joseph Bologna
Joseph Bologna is an American actor.-Life and career:Bologna was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Brown University, where he majored in art history. After a hitch with the marines, Bologna was hired to produce and direct Manhattan-based TV commercials.The actor has a long history in film...
), who lost his license to practice medicine. Finding out that Malavacqua has been giving care in a sanitarium, Gil tries to go there to make an appointment but is rebuffed by the guard. Gil eventually sneaks in and finds Percek and Malavacqua talking about the latter's "experiments", including one involving a patient, Kurt Hunyadi, that fits the description of the Frankenstein monster, which Malavacqua claimed had died. An exhumation of the body later proves otherwise.
Gil learns that Radu is in cahoots with Malavacqua, serving as his lab assistant. Malavacqua 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 Malavacqua faked Hunyadi's death, but is also his creator, along with that of the vampire Odette, the wolfman Larry, and the swamp creature Twisto. It is also revealed that Malavacqua has engaged in this type of bizarre work to clear his family's name...his father tried to cure the common cold by injecting foreign viruses but instead was remembered as the man who brought herpes to Sicily.
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 Malavacqua's lab and Elizabeth goes to the festival. As she's 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's later learned she was just sleeping.
Jack and Gil arrive, having confronted Malavacqua, and explain Malavacqua's actions to the townspeople, that Malavacqua 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...more than enough to make up for their failures. And...Mac gets his banner headline.
Production
According to the DVD commentary from director Rudy De LucaRudy De Luca
Rudy De Luca is an American screenwriter and actor best known for his work with filmmaker Mel Brooks.-As Writer:*The Carol Burnett Show *The Tim Conway Show *The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine...
, most of the movie was filmed on location in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, using local actors. Because the film was made in a socialist country, order was maintained by the former communist government
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, and the subsequent civil war that followed, much of the village architecture depicted in the movie had been destroyed and many of the actors participating in the movie had died.
Release
The film was released theatrically in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by New World Pictures in November 1985. It grossed $7,196,872 at the box office.
The film was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
in 2004.
The film has a 20% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.