Review & Giveaway: Mad Monster Party

In the category of “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” a couple of years ago we finally admitted that we are a TV viewing family. Why was this such a revelation? Well, our TV died, and a new TV was needed. My husband — Coach Dad — had only a short time to find a replacement TV as we needed our TV — STAT!

Yes, that’s right…we are the type of family who watch TV at least an hour or two per day. Again, I’m not sure whay I need to feel guilty about this, but I do. There are times when I wish we were a more “get back to nature” type family, but we’re not. There I said it! I don’t like bugs, animals, or nature. Oh, I like seeing nature from afar, but a hike is not on my Top 10 list of family activities.

As a family we have limited family time with a kid in two sports, a preteen in two sports and playing one instrument, and a teen in two sports. Between driving hither, thither, and yon, I am tired by the time the week ends or we get home…whichever comes first. So, watching a TV show or a movie is a welcome break for all of us.

A fan favorite in our family — holiday themed DVDs. I spent part of my childhood in New Jersey. I recall watching one or two of the Christmas specials…Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, was my favorite. But what about other holidays? I really don’t recall any other non-Christmas offerings.

I was asked to review Mad Monster Party, a Rankin/Bass classic, newly released on DVD (I received two free copies: one to review and one to give to a lucky reader!). Mad Monster Party was first released in 1967 with a running time of 95 minutes.

I showed the DVD to my kid, preteen, and teen without going in to very much explanation about the age of the film or what it was about. My husband and I watched as well. I have to say that I think we were all pleasantly surprised by how funny the film was. My kids liked all of the classic Halloween characters  — Dracula, Frankenstein, Invisible Man, Wolfman, the Mummy, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, and many others. Basically think of a classic monster or person from scary movies and it will be in this film in a nonscary and nonthreatening way. 

Check out this ecard. Some more Halloween tips.

Do you want to win a copy of Mad Monster Party? Leave me a comment with your best Halloween costume moment. My all-time favorite Halloween moment was dressing in a black t-shirt with an “8” on the front while pregnant. Can you guess what I was? A MAGIC 8 BALL®!

Extra entries — leave a comment:

– Subscribe to this blog via reader.

– Subscribe to this blog via e-mail.

– Follow me on twitter.

– Fan me on Facebook. Bonus entry if you can tell me why my feed is not current on my Facebook page. #notatechie

– Friend this movie on Facebook.

This giveaway is super quick. It will end Wednesday, October 28 at noon. I will send out the DVD so that the winner will have it in time for Halloween! The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.