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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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“Queen of Blood” (1966) – Hybrid Cosmic Horror

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A very strange film courtesy of director Curtis Harrington. This film is by turns ambitious, clumsy, inspired, dull, beautiful, ugly, and creepy in atmosphere. Harrington compiles, at times, an epic space adventure that involves our world and the inhabitants of another planet.

It seems that Earth has detected an interstellar message that aliens are headed toward our planet to establish a meeting of the races. It is soon discovered that the aliens were waylaid enroute and crashed on the planet Mars. Earth dispatches a rescue mission to assist the downed craft. Our astronauts recover one living specimen but soon regret the encounter as we find out that the creature subsists on blood like all good vampire creatures. One by one, the rescue crew start to turn up deceased. The Outer space settings and Alien Race element combined with the horror element of the vampire-like entity equates to a hybrid fusing of two genres and thus we arrive at the term: “Cosmic Horror”!

This is an ambitious picture and it has a number of memorable elements. Harrington had obtained some footage from some older Soviet film productions of rockets in space flight and incorporated the film bits into this production. A real-life example of “found footage” being utilized in a movie made back in the 1960’s! Here the film is used in an attempt to keep down costs for the special effects budget. There is a rousing scene taking place in a large courtyard with the speaker’s voice loudly resonating through the assembled astronauts and facility workers. There are shots of the aliens’ planet and their eventual departure from their homeland. We see some scenes of the difficult traversing of the Mars landscape in an attempt to escape the harsh surface winds. There are also some unsettling scenes of the vampire using some form of mind control in which to ensnare new sources of “nutrients” on the spaceship. Florence Marley is simply otherworldly in her appearance and performance as the space vampire lady. Wow! John Saxon and Dennis Hopper appear as two of the rescue mission astronauts.

“Queen of Blood” has many engaging elements and will provide you with a scary and enjoyable viewing experience.

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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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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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Deathmaster – 1972

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Here’s a novel idea!  A charismatic drifter spouting off about an idealized lifestyle appeals to a certain youthful segment of the population who become his “family” of followers and unwittingly carry out his hidden, nefarious plans.  Could this be an early Manson biopic?  Are we looking in on any particular politician?  Oh.  One little item that needs to be added to this story description is that the “Deathmaster” is actually a modern day vampire who actually preys upon his flock in order to extend his diabolical undead existence.

Robert Quarry, who stars, came up with this story idea and it was eventually “fleshed” out into this picture.  Quarry had earlier in his career gained notoriety as the title character in “Count Yorga, Vampire”.  Quarry is effective in his role as he adds sophistication and charm when recruiting people to his commune and an evil savagery when the vampire’s hunger for blood gets to be too much to contain!

This film kind of follows in the same vein (pardon the pun) as “Yorga”.  There is plenty of footage shot at night, ample amounts of low budget filmmaking on display and a 1970’s sensibility that just doesn’t exist anymore.

Open this time capsule and relive the delights of the past!

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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.

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THE NIGHT STALKER – 1972

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Classic tale of an otherworldly killing spree set in modern day Las Vegas.  A down on his luck reporter, Carl Kolchak, stumbles upon a series of murders that lead him to the inevitable conclusion that an actual vampire is loose in a city that never sleeps.  Scary upon first and subsequent viewings.  Creepy, nightmarish performance by veteran actor Barry Atwater as the vampire. Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak is superb.  This is definitely one of those films that you don’t want to watch at night with the lights out.  Very chilling and produced as a TV movie, to boot!