DVD Artwork
Back when this bad boy came out it must have been the special effects blockbuster of the year. On top of that it has what have to be some serious firsts for the vampire genre. It uses the name “Alucard” for Dracula, it has the “morbid” girl who wants really badly to become a vampire, and it relies on it’s special effects more than plot to drive the movie forward.
Count Alucard (Lon Chaney, The Wolfman), has come to the Deep South (wouldn’t Anne Rice be proud). To hook up with a vixen that he met in his home country of Transylvania. Katherine (Louise Allbriton, “The Invisible Man”) is the willing participant in this vamp change over and Dracula is more than happy to oblige. Now only the good doctor Harry Brewster (Frank Craven), his Hungarian friend Proffesor Laslo (J. Edward Bromburg, Phantom of the Opera), and Katherine’s jilted lover Frank (Robert Paige, The Monster and the Girl) can stop his evil pursuits. It all comes to an inevitable end that I won’t give away because it is rude.
This suffers from some serious sequel-itis. They spend a god’s age reminding you of all the things that vampires can and can’t do. They spend a bunch of time reminding you that Katherine is a little on the goth side. They spend time showing you that these people are still basically slave owners. And they spend way to much time on the effects.
For their time they are half ways decent, if a little campy, and dated. I can handle that. What I can’t handle is that the plot eventually begins to be an excuse for Dracula to show up in a puff of fog or turn into a bat. And what is worse is that the Dracula that Lon Chaney portrays has about as much charisma as the real life Lou Ferrigno. Man it almost hurt to watch him deliver some of those lines.
Another thing that this suffers from is that there is no strong vampire hunter character. Without a Van Helsing to play against Dracula just seems kind of impotent. There is no struggle of wills and wits only a crazy guy running around trying to kill him and a couple of professors that are always a few minuets to late.
After the follow up Daughter of Dracula this was a total let down. It is one of those things that had to look great on paper and just flopped when it got put on film. But I bet in 1943 that bat to Dracula effect kicked ass.
As part of the Dracula Legacy Edition DVD there are really no special features to speak of, but one thing that I was more than impressed with was the transfer. It is about as pristine as something coming from that far back from get. I wish the same could be said for the actual Dracula.
In the long run though this is some good campy fun. I bet it would have been a blast to watch this in the theater when you were a kid. Unfortunately that is an opportunity that I will probably never get.
