Disco Drácula

My review was written in October 1983 after viewing the film on a Media Home Entertainment video cassette.

Made in 1978 and released the following year by Compass Pictures International, "Nocturna" is an oddball vampire comedy in home video distribution. Designed as a vanity production for dancer-actress-producer Nai Bonet, picture never hits its stride, though there are amusing moments.

As with several other horror comedies of its period, especially the hit "Love at First Bite", "Nocturna" capitalizes on the swing in fashions which made decadence and "evil" part of the disco/nightlife scene. Nai Bonet toplines as Nocturna, granddaughter of Count Dracula (John Carradine), who at age 126 is last in the family line. She falls in love with rock guitarist Jimmy (Tony Hamilton) and leaves Transylvania to be with him on tour in New York Film's romantic theme is that Nocturna can become a human by sharing a mortal's love. Main emphasis is on comedy and music, however, with many numbers allowing Bonet to display her body and brand of belly-dancing adapted to disco.

Director Harry Hurwitz (using the nom-de-film Harry Tampa he's also adopted on exploitation assignments) provides some laughs, with stand-up comic Adam Keefe reprising his Boris Karloff vocal impression and Brother Theodore commiting to celluloid snippets of his funny "angry at the world" monologs.

John Carradine's old-age version of the Count is a throwaway, as is Yvonne de Carlo's turn at a different vampire styling than she used in tv's "The Munsters".

Bonet is a sexy vamp, with plenty of skin footage for her fans, but her flat dialog readings are amateurish. Best scene for her, which indicates a better film could have been built, has Nocturna strolling down the tough streets of Manhattan at night, bubbling "I love it" to what appear to be real-life extras (derelicts, etc.).

The allure and inverted glamour of the sleazier aspects of the BIg Apple is viable subject matter for filming, heretofore left to the domain of unwatchable punk-new wave features and cornball drugs-prostitution exposes.

Nocturna (1979)

** (out of 4)

This softcore-disco-vampire flick has pretty much been forgotten to time but for fans of John Carradine it will give you the final chance of seeing the legendary actor playing Count Dracula. In the film he must travel to New York City from Transylvania because his great-granddaughter Nocturna (Nai Bonet) has fallen in love with a drummer from a disco band and she wants to marry him and live life as a normal girl. I'm not sure who would think that a film like this would have been wanted even in 1979 but star Bonet apparently put up all the money to get the film in the can. This is a pretty bizarre little movie that's only going to appeal to those who enjoy campy horror-comedies. I'd be lying if I said I understood what the point was but if you sit back and just take things for what they are then this here isn't too bad. I'll say right up front that I'm not a fan of disco music so I found the extended dance sequences to be rather hard to sit through and I found the music incredibly annoying. The soundtrack includes Gloria Gaynor, Vicki Sue Robinson and Moment of Truth but none of the songs really jumped out at me and there's no question you won't get them confused with the work of the Bee Gees. What does work in the film is some rather nice humor including some bizarre dialogue including one scene where Dracula is complaining that he has to wear denture-fangs and then talks about his younger days when the women would tell him that his fangs were "hung like a walrus". We even get some more funny lines with Carradine delivering them at a high speed and this just adds to the entertainment. Speaking of Carradine, you gotta give the man credit for appearing in a film like this, obviously just picking up some cash, yet giving it all he has. At times he seems like he doesn't know what the heck all the disco stuff is but he's still going through all the motions and ends up turning in a rather memorable performance. Fans of Carradine will want to check this one out since it was his last time playing Dracula and sure enough it's just as strange as his BILLY THE KID VS. Dracula. Mrs. Munster herself Yvonne De Carlo plays a vampire named Jugulia and appears to be having a blast. Bonet was speaking her second language apparently and this certain effects her performance but I still found her to be rather charming in the part. I thought she did a good job getting across her "desire" to be human and I thought she worked well with both Carradine and De Carlo. Not only did Bonet star and put up the money but she also write the screenplay, which as I said features some pretty clever lines but she would have done herself a favor had she cut down on the dance sequences as well as got a director who could have handled the pacing better. I'm guessing at first thing film couldn't be sold so they had to spice things up a bit so we're got quite a bit of nudity including some full-frontal stuff. The most shocking scene is also one of the most gratuitous nude scenes in history and that has Bonet taking a hot bubble bath where she's constantly bend over in front of the camera while she rubs herself down. This sequence runs at least five minutes and is reason enough to track down a copy of this film. NOCTURNA isn't going to be considered a lost masterpiece but it's a shame this hasn't had a legit release because there's enough charm here to make it worth viewing.

Amazingly, Media Entertainment DID release NOCTURNA to home video one time in 1982 as a rental-only item: at the time the tape would have set a store back about $145 ... I found one for about fifty, but I collect these things like old men collect stamps & am a nut. There are some underground outlets that will have recordings of it for about $15 - $20, though do not expect surround sound quality audio, and yes there are probably people who would want this movie just for the musical angle: other than the soundtrack from the film some of these songs may be utterly unavailable, and one or two are performed live on camera.

And I delightfully agree with all of the other commentors: this is a film that could easily be re-discovered & made into an instant Midnight Movies circuit hit. The soundtrack is a disco lovers dream come true, with some interesting jams you won't find on those Rhino Records CD sets with Disco Hits of the 70's; this stuff was pretty much made for the film, and as such is the reason why the film went out of print almost immediately: Royalty issues. There are acts from like three different record lables on the soundtrack and that leads to legality issues when re-releases are sought -- the copyrights for the songs may be unattainable for licensing, a problem with a number of favorites [LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH & TERROR TRAIN being the most well known examples] that are long overdue for re-examination by the culture which spawned them.

Tis a shame: this is one of the few really watchable fangers from this period of time. VAMPIRE HOOKERS is what those schooled in the genre usually think of when you mention late 70's, and while his rheumatism may have gotten worse, the great John Carradine nicely makes up for his role in that debacle with his few scenes. Nai Bonei is of course a marvel to behold, and yes, her bathtub & subsequent scented oiling is reason in itself to seek this one out, though I am drawn to the color & lighting schemes, which have a very "NYC" look to them. Nai also smokes a joint, by the way, and it is odd how the way drug use in movies have changed since 1979: she is actually allowed to enjoy it. Imagne that!

I dunno about the disco dancing segments though: I would have been all of 12 in 1979 and never "got" disco. Unlike the clubbing we know these days, disco was a whole subculture, more like the modern country movement, with specific choreography for specific dances or moves that of course look silly, but are presented with such a tunneled vision that the film becomes about 1979, not just made in 1979, and one of the things that I like to look for in Vampiralia is seeing the conventions & trappnigs of the genre re-defined, and if it took disco dancing vampires to do it for 1979 well whatever.

NOCTURNA may be silly, but is FAR more watchable than that wretched DRACULA with Frank Langella, made the same year, or the excereble VAMPIRE HOOKERS with it's flatulence jokes, gay jokes, Filipino jokes and John Carradine in a white Ugly American silk suit. I'll take the bell bottomed vampires over that junk anyday. Hell some of them a brothers too, and soul food vampires sounds like a pretty cool idea, as long as we're remaking STARSKY & HUTCH and all. I wish more time had been spent on Nocturna's vampirism and less on her quest to find a really good party to dance at, but girls will be girls, and while narcissitic to say the least, Nai Bonei does appear to know how to have a good time, and I always liked girls who liked to party. Especially when they willingly strip down to their bikini's for an attention grabber.

Expect whatever recording you find of NOCTURNA to have some wear just before & after Nai's bath scene; it really is somethin' else, and I've sat through a lot of this stuff. For something to evoke that kind of a reaction from a mind as rotted by filth as mine is remarkable. Worth every penny of my $50 bucks.

*** out of a possible ****

This is one of two films released in 1979 that attempted to combine vampires and disco (the other being the German sex comedy "Dracula Blows his Cool"). I actually don't know why there weren't even more films than this since disco and vampires have a lot in common (i.e. they both suck). This one was produced by and stars Nai Bonet, who made quite an impression belly-dancing naked while rubbing oil all over herself in Charles Band's sexpoitation/musical "Fairy Tales". Bonet was kind of more voluptuous version of 70's sex star Laura Gemser, but she really made the latter look like Meryl Streep when it came to acting. (To be fair though Bonet is acting here in what is obviously her second language while Gemser had the advantage of being dubbed). Once again, Bonet has some nice nude scenes in this movie, but I would strongly recommend turning the sound down during them because the music is SO bad it might end up like the "Clockwork Orange" Ludvico technique where ever afterward the sight of beautiful naked women will remind you of this music and make you violently ill.

Then there's the disco dancing. There's WAY too much of that here. There's also very little blood and gore, and the special effects are so bad they pass good several times before finally alighting back on bad. Oh yeah, then there's the "plot". Bonet plays Nocturna, an ancient bloodsucker and "grandaughter of Dracula", who comes to New York City from Transylvania, falls in love with a mortal man, and loses the urge to kill (which is odd because the blonde male douchebag playing her boyfriend greatly INCREASED my urge to kill).

The real saving grace of this movie though is the supporting cast. John Carradine doesn't give one his better performances as Nocturna's grandfather (aka Dracula), but he certainly doesn't embarrass himself either like he did in "Vampire Hookers" that same year. And speaking of vampire hookers, Sy Richardson has pretty good cameo as a vampire pimp whose stable of sexy vampire hookers serve him the blood of their johns in wine glasses. Yvonne DeCarlo has a rather pointless role as an older female vampire who give Nocturna tips on surviving in the big city, but she's not bad. The best by far though is Brother Theodore who plays Nocturna's manservant, who is madly in lust with his mistress. His inimitable scenery-chewing monolgues are definitely the closest this movie comes to genuine hilarity. This is certainly not good, but it's pretty hard to totally dislike.

Very cleverly written disco vampire flick that could have been terrific were it not for the uneven direction and acting. Nai Bonet, who wrote the script, is extremely good to herself - she not only displays her body to full advantage but has the late Antony Hamilton, a contender for the role of James Bond and one of the handsomest men to hit Hollywood, as her love interest! Some hilarious lines and the casting of Yvonne DeCarlo and John Carradine don't hurt either. The cartoon special effects only add to the overall campiness of the film. If it had just moved a little faster and been a tad slicker, this would be a real classic.