Earlier this month, I reviewed two Polar Lights (glue-required) reissues of MPC's Haunted Mansion kits (Play it Again, Tom/Sam & Escape from the Dungeon/Crypt), which are once more in the spotlight due to this summer's Haunted Mansion movie.
For this post, I'd like to focus on the other two entries in the renamed Haunted Manor series, Graverobber's Demise, originally Graverobber's Reward, and Flight of the Vampire, originally The Vampire's Midnight Madness. Like the previous reviewed kits, both Graverobber and Vampire are rubber-band, spring-action oriented (and unlike the 1970s releases, molded in glow-in-the-dark styrene). As a common feature, they both contain parts engineered to be knocked loose upon activation.
Graverobber's Demise, which measures 10" x 6" x 4.5", highlights a capped (half-figure) bloke in a hole, grasping a shovel, with slanted gravestone before him and a removed casket behind him. The casket, when triggered, unleashes a bony corpse that in turn, sends the robber's cap flying. The effect is startling and (because of it) funny.
In much the same vein, the 6" x 6.75" x 9.25" Flight of the Vampire features a cemetery-stationed "count", with gravestones to either side of him. The larger of the two features a gargoyle-relief head, which the vampire, upon raising his arms per a back-figure button, is struck from the stone. Ah, what astonishing, supernatural strength! (BTW: The figure comes with a thin portion of plastic cape, designed to be sandwiched between sturdier styrene pieces to ensure flexibility.)
This particular Haunted Manor/Mansion submission is in sync with Aurora's monster models of the early 1960s. In fact, the diorama smacks of Aurora's original, Bela Lugosi Dracula kit, and the Haunted Manor/Mansion entry invokes the actor's equally celebrated The Return of the Vampire, as well as Eddie Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space/Graverobbers from Outer Space, which began production as The Vampire's Tomb.
The Graverobber and Vampire Manor models run about $30 a piece through most online sources, and they're well worth the price for all the ghoulish delight they bring.
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