Tag Archives: dracula

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Udo Kier, 81

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Actor Udo Kier passed away this year. I first encountered one of his movies at the old Midnight Movie circuit: “Blood For Dracula” (1974). Here was a doozy of a horror film. Artist Andy Warhol’s name was attached to the production for reasons I have to go back and research. But it seems that we were looking at a so-called Art House movie promoted by one of the more popular modern artists so maybe it gave the effort more artistic cred.

Kier played the Count in this freaky horror pastiche. He is welcomed into a familial estate and proceeds to decimate the daughters through his blood lust. The overall “Dracula” production is boring and laborious in parts but ultimately culminates in a ridiculous orgy of blood and violence. Worth a peek.

Kier has an interesting presence in this film and would go on to do more villainous turns on the Big Screen through the years.

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“The Night Strangler” (1973) – Monsters Find Him

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We first stumbled into rabid newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak in 1971’s “The Night Stalker”. Kolchak sniffed out a marauding vampire in fun town Las Vegas. His dogged pursuit of the truth and the dire implications it posed to the town’s populace were Kolchak’s undoing as the Powers That Be were decidedly opposed to his efforts. A coverup thus remains as such and Kolchak ends up ruined as a result. Kolchak is forced out of town but eventually blows into Seattle, Washington, trying to peddle his “bizarre” tale of vampirism existing in the modern age. He has no takers until he runs into old managing editor Tony Vincenzo who also got the boot from Vegas. Inexplicably, Vincenzo takes a gamble on Carl again and gets him hired to his Seattle paper. It isn’t long before a beast emerges from the dark, engaging in diabolical activities that Kolchak tracks down. It appears this time that an ancient alchemist is regaining his lost vigor and youth through the murder of young women in order to extract bodily fluids to combine with other ingredients to cook up an “elixir of youth”. Leave it to Kolchak to uncover these creeps or do they (un)naturally gravitate toward him?

Entertaining TV movie which continues the exploits of Carl Kolchak. Not as dread inducing as “The Night Stalker” but definitely engaging. Darren McGavin plays the character more for laughs this time out but his is a very endearing portrayal of the pesky reporter. Simon Oakland returns as harried editor Vincenzo and horror vet John Carridine plays the Seattle paper’s owner. Remember Carridine’s own turn as the undead vampire Dracula in the 1940’s? Haha! Dan Curtis of “Dark Shadows” fame directs.

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“Scream, Blacula, Scream” (1973) – The Restless Undead Never Are Truly At Rest

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William Marshall is at his nocturnal pursuits again as Blacula, the vampire, in this sequel to “Blacula” (1972). The vampire this time out is at the end of his rope with his undead existence and seeks a way to eradicate himself from his vampiric tendencies. Blacula enlists the help of a voodoo practitioner, played by Pam Grier, to create a spell that can free him from his vampire curse.

Marshall exudes a debonair yet deadly presence and he can be an interesting and menacing figure when shifting into his vampire mode.

That being said, I can say that I found “Scream” to be less enjoyable than the first time out. Victims pile up, the police investigate but are unable to make heads nor tails of what they are dealing with or how to stop it and there is a driven, true vampire believer who tries to enlist the authorities’ aide but is castigated as a kook. Hey! Sounds like “Count Yorga” (1970). And I think that is where some of the issue with my boredom lies. We have seen it all before! “Yorga” heralded a mini new wave of bloodsucking villains in the 1970’s (notwithstanding Hammer Studios in England which had been churning out Dracula sequels and vampire yarns since the 1960’s!) that manifested in “The Night Stalker” (1971 US TV Movie), “Blacula” (1972), “Grave of the Vampire” (1972), etc. New blood was injected into the vampire tale for a new audience!

I still think that you should seek out “Scream, Blacula, Scream” and watch it. It is an overall enjoyable romp with the undead and provides us with the further adventures of the charming and monstrous Blacula character.

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“The Last Voyage of the Demeter” (2023) – Hanging with Dracula and his Crew

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Entertaining, creepy, filmic embellishment using Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” novel as its source material. There is a passage in Dracula which recounts the captain’s log of the sailing ship Demeter and its journey from Transylvania to London. It seems that the ship is transporting a large number of crates in its seaward passage. Count Dracula is moving to London! Unknown to the ship’s crew is that this truly uninvited, evil presence is going along for the ride. Slowly but surely, crew members start disappearing and the quest is on to discover just what in fact is going on.

There are many dread inducing moments in this movie. This movie had a notoriously brief run in theatres but it is kind of dark viewing matter. Probably not a crowd pleaser. Oh, well. I say, go seek it out.

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“Horror of Dracula” (1958) – A Different (S)Take on Bram Stoker’s Novel, “Dracula”.

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I have always enjoyed Hammer Films’ “Horror Of Dracula” starring Peter Cushing as Dr. Van Helsing, vampire authority, and Christopher Lee as the undead blood sucker, Dracula. I thought the movie was a very well done horror thriller. Lee is menacing and frightening as a very strong but cold parasitic beast bent on his own survival. Cushing is magnificent as the determined and brilliant expert on folklore and the Supernatural bent on ending the vampire’s reign of terror.

With the current pandemic raging on and being newly unemployed, I found time to finally finish Bram Stoker’s novel, “Dracula”. Now, comparing Hammers’ “Horror” with Stoker’s work, I found definite narrative differences. The Hammer film follows its own logic and twist on the story and is satisfying enough in its own right. Stoker’s work is of course The Source Material and being a 300 page novel having to be adapted by a scriptwriter for a 90 to 120 minute movie, many choice and not so choice bits are left out of the screen treatment for “Horror of Dracula”. I think these are two different visions sharing the same title character and some of the supporting players. Both versions are interesting and entertaining and it is worth investing time in reading the novel and getting a look at the original vision of author Stoker.

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HAMMER HORROR FUN – DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1966)

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Back when Hammer Films were all the rage and knocking horror fans dead at the box office, “Dracula: Prince of Darkness” marked the return of Christopher Lee to the title roll of the infamous undead vampire king.  He had gone away from the role after his turn as the blood sucker in the remarkable “Horror of Dracula” (1958), one of Hammer Films’ first stabs at rebooting the Universal monster cycle from films decades before.  Lee appeared in Hammer Films such as “The Gorgon” (1964) and “She” (1965).  He just wasn’t interested in playing Dracula.  But through whatever form of alchemy and monetary incentive, Lee menaced again in “Dracula: Prince of Darkness”.  It had to be money that got him back because this is not the juiciest script that Lee could have gotten.  He has no lines of dialogue but sneers and hisses a lot and manhandles his intended victims.  This is a fun view, though.  Dracula has a life long human servant who makes sure that two couples spend the night in Dracula’s old castle.  You see, Dracula is now no more than collected dust from the last time he was destroyed in “The Brides of Dracula” (1960).  Lee didn’t appear in that entry.  But, anyway, the servant dispatches one of the guests in the bloodiest way possible in order to bathe Dracula’s ashes in the life giving, red stuff.  Before long, the King of Vampires is back terrorizing the countryside in his endless quest for fresh blood.  Plenty of atmosphere, moody music and heroics from Peter Cushing as Van Helsing and Hammer veteran Andrew Kier.

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BLACULA – 1972- VAMPIRES RUN AMOK!

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African prince is “converted” to blood thirsty, undead vampire by Dracula.  The Prince becomes a vampire and progresses through the centuries turning others in to vampires in his passing.  Very entertaining vampire flick from the 1970’s that follows Blacula’s modern day wake of death and destruction as he feeds his hunger for blood.  Naturally, a lot of the film takes place at night which lends a creepy air and some of the surprise vampire attacks are startling.   Some of the action is clumsy and dumb but William Marshall as Blacula lends a sinister, menacing presence.  Fantasy movie veteran Elisha Cook Jr. turns up as a hospital attendant. (See “The Night Stalker”, “House on Haunted Hill”).  As I have said many times before, they don’t make them like this anymore.  This movie has a look that is ALL 1970’s.

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Vincent Price’s Dracula (1982) – Good Halloween Fare

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A documentary detailing the history of the vampire character Dracula, assembled using various movie clips and the narration of horror icon, Vincent Price.  You’ll see clips from the silent “Nosferatu” and other cinematic appearances featuring the ancient blood sucker such as Lugosi in “Mark of the Vampire”, and the 1950’s alternative vampire film, “The Vampire” .  “VPD” is a good flick to curl up by the fire to watch as we come upon the Autumn season and move closer to Halloween.  Heavy on the garlic fries.  Hehe.

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COUNT DRACULA – 1970

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Christopher Lee commented that he welcomed this take as Dracula because it was a role that followed the novel source material closer than the Hammer Film’s series which brought Lee to international stardom.  Lee also had a chance to emote beyond the various snarls, grunts and invectives that the Hammer Dracula required.  I look back fondly on this film, admittedly. a low budget affair.  Yes.  The interior sets look a bit prefabricated and cheap and spray on spider webs adorn Dracula’s castle to an uncomfortable degree but there are many charming exterior sequences that sustain my interest.  There is also a nice turn by macabre movie veteran Klaus Kinski as a bug eyed, creepy Renfield.  I remember seeing Christopher Lee at a horror movie convention in the 1970’s where he sat not more than five feet away surrounded by fans and talked of his career.  It was a very awesome experience for an impressionable youth, being me.  I always enjoyed Lee’s work, whether it be portraying Frankenstein’s monster, The Mummy, The Man with the Golden Gun, or Dracula.  A true giant in the world of fantasy films, Lee will be greatly missed.

NEWS FLASH – 10/07/16 – I watched some of this flick last night and noticed that Van Helsing (Herbert Lom) had blue hair!  The back of his gentlemanly white pate was an odd shade of blue.  WTF?  Nice touch whether intentional or not.