Development and writing The film had a relatively quick development, being first discussed in 1985 and shot the following year.
Fred Dekker was toying with the idea of
rebooting some classic series, such as
The Little Rascals and the
Universal Monsters. Upon watching
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, he thought about doing a crossover of the two. While Dekker was putting the finishing touches to his debut
Night of the Creeps, he offered
Shane Black, his friend and roommate at a
West L.A. filmmakers residence nicknamed the "Pad O'Guys", to turn that
pitch into a screenplay. Black's first draft, which included several epic scenes that would have sent the picture overbudget, clocked in at 150 to 160 pages, depending on recollections. It was trimmed down in two passes by Dekker, to about 100 pages. The story was originally set in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, although the city was not mentioned in the finished film. As it drew inspiration from their catalogue, the project was first offered to
Universal Pictures, but one executive proved particularly dismissive and they passed on it. However, they later accepted to handle international distribution. Dekker asked one of his favorite directors,
Peter Hyams, for guidance. The veteran helmer sent the script to
Taft/Barish, who quickly expressed interest, and he agreed to serve as
executive producer to help the film move forward. Hyams ended up having a sizeable influence on the venture, and his lean filmmaking approach sometimes conflicted with that of the less methodical Dekker, with the latter calling him "a very stern taskmaster". Hyams also brought in important crew members, such as editor James Mitchell, On the other hand, composer
Bruce Broughton was Dekker's choice, and Hyams would retain his services for his next three directorial efforts, starting with 1988's
The Presidio.
Casting and creature design Duncan Regehr narrowly beat a then little known
Liam Neeson for the role of Dracula. Neeson was still supposed to appear as a human disguise conjured by Dracula to conceal his identity, but that scene was not shot. Following his breakthrough performance as a serial killer in
Manhunter,
Tom Noonan became sought after for similar, unsettling roles. He chose this film over
Near Dark as his next project due to its more lighthearted nature, but
Kathryn Bigelow was persistent and showed up on set to work out an early release with the producers in hope that he could do both. She was turned down. The special effects were contributed by a
Stan Winston Studio team headed by
Tom Woodruff Jr., who worked from Winston's concept arts. The characters were given subtle modifications, as their most famous designs—or in the case of the
Creature from the Black Lagoon, the creature itself—were Universal intellectual properties. Woodruff was assigned to work on Frankenstein's monster,
Shane Mahan was given the Mummy,
John Rosengrant got the Wolfman, and
Alec Gillis took care of Dracula's bat transformation. However, it's the Gillman suit, made by Matt Rose and studio newcomer
Steve Wang, that came to be viewed as a milestone in the development of creature costumes. Based on their
Monster Squad work, Rose and Wang were entrusted with building a similar suit on short notice for
Predator, which helped the struggling production move forward.
Filming and post-production Principal photography kicked off on October 13, 1986. Exteriors were shot at
Warner Bros. Studios and the
Warner/Columbia Ranch in
Burbank, California,
Universal Studios in
Universal City, and on location throughout the
Los Angeles metropolitan area. Many interiors were shot at
Culver Studios in
Culver City. Due to most of the film taking place at night and regulations regarding how late young actors could work, the children filmed their scenes first for about three hours in the early evening, while the rest of the crew remained on set for much of the night. The film was cut by 13 minutes by the producers, who did not want it to run more than 90 minutes. Post-release budget estimates varied between $12.5 and 14 million. ==Release==