Billy the Kid Versus Dracula

MORD39 RATING: ** out of ****

Okay, we know that this is a silly premise with an elderly John Carradine in the Count Dracula role, but as far as "bad" movies go, it's definitely much more fun than most other trash. At the very least, it's miles and miles better than its totally boring companion piece, JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER.

Carradine is deliciously sinister as Dracula, and the story does flow nicely. No awards given here, just a fun afternoon matinee item that is FAR from Carradine's "worst" film. The actor himself often referred to this movie as the lowest of his career, but this was probably because the outlandish title stuck in his mind.

If you want to see truly UNWATCHABLE John Carradine garbage, there are literally DOZENS worse...ASTRO ZOMBIES and GALLERY OF HORROR to name but two.

Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966)

*** (out of 4)

Billy the Kid (Chuck Courtney) has settled down and is now working on a ranch where he has fallen in love with its owner Elizabeth (Melinda Plowman). Her uncle (John Carradine) shows up to pay her a visit and soon Billy realizes that he's really COunt Dracula.

If you go into a movie called BILLY THE KID VERSUS Dracula and take it serious then you really need to take a long, deep look at your life and wonder why you take things so seriously. THis here was obviously meant to be camp and with WIlliam Beaudine behind the camera they managed to get the movie in the can in five days. Who would have thought that all these decades later that the film would still have a nice little following among bad movie lovers?

For my money this here is one of the greatest bad movies ever made and it's entertainment value is pretty much off the charts. The only bad movie that comes closer to such entertainment is PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE so these two really are the kings of their sub- genre. What makes this film so entertaining is the fact that everyone is taking it pretty serious. The cast are all extremely serious and they're treating these events as if they were in a serious drama.

The one exception is Carradine who appears to know this is pure camp. He's simply wonderful here and you can't help but call this a great comic performance. I mean, look at an early scene where he's in a bar and a girl with her parents have accused him of being a vampire. He says "a vampire" and take a look at his eyes as he says the line. Pure camp. The actor was a very smart man and a terrific actor who took roles like this to take care of his children. It's clear he knew he was making a low-budget horror movie and he's just making it fun.

Beaudine actually makes this look like an actual Western and the film comes off as a real production and not just some cheap film. I'd also argue that the entire film is just about as entertaining as something like this could get. The horror elements are all rather silly as is everything else about the film but it has a certain innocent charm that really comes across.

This is one of my favourite bad movies. Rubber bats, Western backdrops, and John Carradine as Dracula. Someone shines a red light on Carradine's mugging face during the scary scenes. It's hypnotically awful, but I'd only recommend it to those with a love for real trash. It seems to be pretty unique, but I haven't seen the companion piece, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter.

While the title is laughable, the production values were okay, as was the cinematography. The acting was...well...less than wonderful, but not bad enough to ruin the fun. Poor John Carradine..."Lo how the mighty have fallen" is about all one can say regarding his appearance in this film, but even old actors have to eat & pay bills, so we forgive him. There were quite a few old favorites working in this one. Roy Barcroft (everyone's favorite "bad guy" in almost all of the Rocky Lane movies), Bing Russell (yes, Kurt's daddy), Harry Carey Jr. with only a few lines early in the film, his mom, Olive Carey,(remember her from "The Searchers"?) as the town Dr., and a few others whose names won't ring any bells but whose faces are instantly recognizable to anyone who has ever seen a Western or a Cop movie/TV show. It was also fun to see the old Corriganville Movie Ranch sets again...a lot of fond memories for us old Western actors there! Chuck Courtney (the star),was quite a horseman. Watching him ride & handle his mounts was almost enough to make you forget that crummy rubber bat. He did a credible job of acting, & his fast draw skills were very good. I did some stunt work with him many years ago, & he was well respected in the industry as both a daring stuntman & a competent stunt coordinator. When you did a fight scene with him, it always looked real & no one got hurt. All in all, this movie is not a "great" horror classic, but it is fun to watch as light entertainment. A real "popcorn & beer" film for late night viewing.

If you're looking for a good Horror-Western then you've come to the wrong place. However, if you are an afficianado of stiff, stagey, stodgy drive-in material then there is much here to entertain. John Carradine hams it up royally, rolling his eyes and barking his lines like he's a silent film star who's just been told he's got to make the transition to talkies...and he gives it everything he's got as he prowls about the Wild West resplendent in top-hat and cape. His face glows red every time he spots a girl he fancies; he even has a red-duvet on the vampire double bed he keeps in the abandoned silver mine that is his lair, should he get lucky, which seems unlikely seeing as he looks older even than the undeadest undead man. Watch out for B-Western legends Harry Carey Jnr. and Roy Barcroft, enjoy the wholesome sixties-chick heroine, ignore the tired convolusions of the plot, try and forget that the whole thing is entirely devoid of creepy atmosphere. Good fun for cheese fans.