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Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This movie actually has a decent plot.Most of the acting is terrible but the main character is good.I do find it odd that he was just a normal make-up artist for 20 years and as soon as he gets fired he becomes a mad scientist but whatever.Everything that happens is very predictable.Normally that would be bad but somehow it doesn't seem to hurt this movie.This movies does something I have only seen one other time, it goes from black and white to color.It's cool how they do it but there was really no reason for it.It just left me wanting the entire thing in color.I'm sure the director thought it was some great artistic expression but it was totally awkward.If you like old sci-fi/thrillers you should give this a chance.

Everyone knows that makeup artists are expert hypnotists and can make people do things no other hypnotist can do. You must believe this or HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER might make very little sense--as this IS the premise for the film! Let me back up a bit. A long-time studio makeup man who specializes in monsters is fired when his studio is sold. The big-wigs insist that monster films are a dying breed and so his services are no longer needed. So, to get revenge, the makeup man hypnotizes two young men who are in his makeup chair for one final monster film. Made up (very poorly) like Frankenstein and the Wolf Man, they kill studio execs yet have no recollection of it afterwords. That's because as they sit their getting the prosthetics applied, the makeup artist talks to them--hypnotizing them very subtly and giving them the command to forget.By the way, I really, really wish that hypnosis DID work that way--I'd use it for evil and global domination myself...or at least to get out of traffic tickets and get free stuff. I have a decent amount of graduate training in clinical hypnosis and believe me, if you could do this sort of brainwashing, someone would have done it a long time ago! This is the sort of silly drive-in movie that American-International excelled at in the 50s. None of these films were brilliant or had great production values, but they were entertaining on a simple level. And, despite the silly premise and bad makeup I mentioned above, you can't help but like HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER. It's a nice behind the scenes look at the studio and it is a pleasant little diversion.By the way, for a long-time makeup man, you sure think the guy would have done a better job with his Frankenstein. It just looked like some guy who was standing too close to an A-bomb blast and not the famous monster!Also, interestingly the film changes from black & white to color towards the end. At this point, the makeup man shows the actors his little home gallery of masks--it's really actually very cool, as many of the American-International monsters and aliens are there in this room. Cool stuff.

Amusing third sequel to "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" combines the Teenage Werewolf and Teenage Frankenstein. Under fear of termination, a film studio makeup wizard (possibly modelled on one of the family Westmore?) applies "a special fixing agent" to his teenage actor's monster makeup that turns them into real monsters. Given such an unusual, original premise, the results of the film are not too disappointing: several brutal killings, lots of monsters, and even John Ashley's B-grade Elvis impersonation (surely done for laughs, let's hope). the film supposes the existence of "American International Studios" -- a nice thought, but filmmaking had already changed a lot, and AIP was never able to rent a steady digs, so this one just has to stay a fantasy. Did anyone else notice how heavily homoerotic the makeup guy's relationship to the boys was? He always called them "my boys" and talked at one point about having them "in his hands". Plus, note their uncomfortable reaction when he wants them to come to his house for some drinks. Funny stuff, certainly holding up to Herman Cohen's other AIP productions, which were among their best early efforts.

Pseudo "behind-the-scenes" look at Hollywood from American International Pictures, filmed (naturally) on the cheap though still retaining a certain cheesy style that is both commendable and entertaining to watch. A nefarious make-up man for a movie-studio is up to no good, turning the actors he's working on into killers. Has some movie-monster camp appeal, and A.I.P. stable-hunk John Ashley has a fabulous scene midway through (singing "You Gotta Have That Eee-Uuu!" while surrounded by a bevy of fishnet-clad chorus girls!). It's a great bit, with Ashley snarling and snapping his fingers like a post-pubescent Elvis, but the rest of this horror outing is a bit too tame and talky. ** from ****