Le vampire noir

Given the cheesy title, any viewer would go into "Blacula" expecting a laughable blaxploitation flick. But in fact, not only is "Blacula" well-made, it ranks as one of the best vampire films of all time.

"Blacula" certainly doesn't age very well; the music, clothes, and Afros alone drive a stake into the movie's hip status! But the movie is a lot of fun to watch. William Marshall is a great vampire, with a suave deep voice and quite a brooding presence on screen. He definitely challenges Christopher Lee as most memorable screen vampire. Vonetta McGee and Denise Nicholas provide screams and a love interest and both became very popular in the blaxploitation film industry. I loved them both!!! Everyone else in the cast does a rather good job; one noteworthy bit part is Ketty Lester as the cabbie Juanita Jones. She is great and is only on-screen (alive, that is) for a few minutes! She, too, would continue in a prosperous blaxploitation career!

The Hues Corporation ("Rock the Boat") provide some pretty good music in a club; their three songs and the "Blacula" theme song are good excuses for buying the soundtrack CD! Overall, "Blacula" does deliver the goods. It's got some nice campy parts (jive talk, the forementioned Afros and fashions), but is also filled with hair-raising scare scenes (Juanita Jones attacking the undertaker Elisha Cook, Jr., the warehouse filled with vampires). The ending is certainly a surprise and finishes off a great moviegoing experience. Skip "Blackenstein" and get this, it is certainly worth any horror fan/psychotronic fan's money!

P.S., The term "Blaxploitation" does not mean the exploitation of black actors/actresses, it means advertising schemes exploiting the fact that black people are in the films to lure black moviegoers into the theatres!

BLACULA has always been a favorite flick of mine. Two of my biggest intertests within pop culture are the "blaxploitation" film era and gothic subculture. BLACULA makes a perfect melding of these two genres. I also love the fact that it's unique to all other "blaxploitation" movies in the sense that it has a story with true backbone, and the film's main player, William Marshall, gets so into the role he plays and isn't just another Afro-American leading man that talks the lingo and prances around in a fur. He seems well-dignified and intelligent. I thoroughly enjoy this movie and recommend it highly.

And where the hell is the DVD??!!?

Yeah, I know, it sounds ridiculous. There is, however, quite a lot beneath the hilarious surface of "Blacula." This is a unique take on the vampire legend. It is the first Dracula film I have seen in which the lead vampire is driven by rage, not by lust or blood lust. Blacula is a tragic figure, a man who is angry about his condition. One could even view this film as a microchosm of race and civil rights issues in the seventies. Yes, I know, that's pushing it. Oh, well, even if you don't go in for the sociological aspects of Blaxploitation horror, check this movie out. It's funny and campy--a great party movie. Also, believe it or not, there is a film called "Blackenstein" though I have been unable to find a cop

The blaxploitation genre is now 40 years old, and many films that were big hits back in the day come off as dated and hokey. This one stands up fairly well, despite a limited budget and formula story, thanks to the strong central presence of the deep voiced and dignified William Marshall, plus a good supporting cast that included Denise Nicolas and Vonetta McGee. Plus, the production values are actually quite decent for a low budget, quickly shot movie, thanks to effective use of shadow- filled urban settings that create good nightmare landscapes. A chance meeting with Dracula turns an African prince (Marshall) into a bloodsucker and a further series of plot contrivances release him into modern (or at least modern for 1970) California. Marshall is a reluctant bloodsucker, however, horrified at what he has become and yet powerless to resist his vampiric thirst. Plus, even in the 20th century, vampires are still hunted, just as they must hunt to survive. Again, Marshall's strong presence as an actor saves the more overtly silly aspects of the movie from getting out of hand. Indeed, he is the most interesting and magnetic presence in the film despite being, in essence, the killer. This presents an unusual dilemma to the audience: should we root for the killer or the less compelling types who want him dead? Watch and enjoy, and then try to put that deep resonating voice of Marshall's out of your head. It lingers.

I saw Blacula in the theatre when I was 5 or 6 years old. It scared the bejeesus out of me!!! I had nightmares for weeks, and my mother was very angry at my cousins for taking me to see it. I wasn't allowed to watch a horror flick again until I was old enough to go on my own and buy my own ticket (and even then I stayed away for a while. . . the next one I saw was Nightmare on Elm Street when I was in highschool!!!).

Anyway, I saw the movie for the second time two nights ago, 29 years later.. . and it was not as scary as I remembered. However, I can see how my young mind was terrified at the time. AND, I can see how my teenaged cousins loved it so much. In 1972, this movie was at the early end of the blaxploitation era, and besides the fact that the main character was a bloodsucker, the characters were generally positive (i.e. no pimpin' drug-dealin' gangstas) You'll be hard pressed to find another early seventies black movie that can say that!

I think, for the time, it was a pretty good low budget horror movie. They deserve their own category, you know.