Blood of Dracula's Castle

1966's "Blood of Dracula's Castle" was not Al Adamson's debut behind the camera but was the first to achieve wide distribution, picked up in early 1969 by Crown International Pictures with Cameron Mitchell's "Nightmare in Wax" since both were attached to producer Rex Carlton, a May 1968 suicide (both duly included among the 16 Crown titles in Gold Key's Scream Theater television package). Losing this potential money spinner was enough for Adamson and new partner Samuel M. Sherman to form their own company, Independent-International Pictures Corporation, at just the right moment when his unissued backlog already included "Five Bloody Graves," "Blood of Ghastly Horror," "Horror of the Blood Monsters," "Hell's Bloody Devils," and his most recent opus "Satan's Sadists," successes that launched both men into a decade long career of pure hustling showmanship. This was the director's very first collaboration with John Carradine (6 more to follow), its completion in Aug. 1966 confirmed by a shot of the date on a telegram, well before the November shoot for its theatrical cofeature. Promotional gimmicks would abound to lower costs, such as hiring Colonel Harland Sanders for a cameo to provide free chicken for one film shoot, Marineland receiving an early plug here, following the lengthy opening drive featuring session player and recording artist Gil Bernal rendering "The Next Train Out" a year before receiving an Academy Award nomination for his theme from Universal's 1967 release "Banning." The real coup on this picture was securing permission to use a genuine desert location 70 miles north of Hollywood owned by Walter Gaynor, Shea's Castle or Sky Castle still located in Lancaster with its own airstrip for small planes (built in 1924, it remains a private residence). Sherman was delighted to secure the services of top billed Carradine (interiors filmed at the same Ray Dorn studios where he had just finished "Gallery of Horror"), then dismayed to find him cast as butler George rather than Dracula, played by a decidedly unmenacing Alex D'Arcy, Paula Raymond ("The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms," "Hand of Death") replacing Jayne Mansfield as the Countess, Rex Carlton's feeble script allowing for little but camp performances. Robert Dix's psychotic excon was the subject for new additions shot only for the expanded TV version, 7 minutes of silent footage accompanied only by electronic music and heavy breathing, endless outdoor running as his character suddenly becomes a werewolf in cheap Don Post head mask that could be worn by anyone, a lone female extra to be chased if not chaste. With over 17 minutes screen time, Carradine brings an enviable level of seriousness to the silliness, though not above a sardonic remark here and there, essentially present for exposition and the need to provide nubile female sacrifices to 'the great god Luna of the moon,' severely depleting the stock of human blood in the dungeon as the girls get to check in yet never check out. There's the germ of a good idea floating around with vampires growing accustomed to modern life by having their nourishing blood served up in a glass, a cozy domesticity perhaps inspired by THE MUNSTERS, in which Carradine twice played the role of Fred Gwynne's employer at the mortuary of Gateman, Goodbury and Graves.

Dracula isn't going by "Dracula" these days, and his castle isn't really his, it's rented, and it isn't really a castle, but just resembles one. And while there is blood, remarkably Dracula is now so leisure-class that he has servants extract blood with needles from his victims and serve it to him (and his wife) in wine glasses.

A young photographer and his model fiancé take some photos at Marineland (are walruses and seals sexy?). He inherits a "castle" from a 108-year-old relative. They decide they'll live and work out of the castle without having seen it, and that they'll have to evict the old couple who'd been renting it.

Meanwhile, at the castle, mute hunchbacked servant Mango (!?) and genteel butler (and moon god Luna cultist) George are acquiring female "guests" to chain in the basement to keep a ready supply for their vampire bosses. The vampires realize they'll have to get the young couple to let them stay in the castle one way or another.

Also showing up is the vampires' friend Johnny, a homicidal maniac. Just on his way to the castle, he kills four people, and that's when he's on his best behavior! Repeatedly, it is said that he's worse when there's a full moon. He's not a werewolf, though.

It's a pretty silly movie, but it's not awful.

Blood of Dracula's Castle (1969)

** (out of 4)

Let me start off by saying the horror dork inside of me almost shed a tear when I received this screener and realized that this Al Adamson film was included. Back when I was around ten or so I had the pleasure of my dad buying me Adamson's Blood of Ghastly Horror and Dracula vs. Frankenstein, both which lived up to their reputation of being among the worst films ever made. However, they fell into that "so bad they're good" category so I set out to locate this flick. After five years of searching I finally found a copy at a mom and pop store and they took pity on me and gave me the tape for free. Went on, put it in the VCR, the film started and smoke came from my VCR, which was eating my tape. My young heart was broken but I kept on until nearly ten years later when the postman dropped this disc off at my house.

Okay, enough dork talk and on to the movie….

A young couple inherits an old castle and to their shock they soon learn that Count Dracula and his wife are living there. With the assistance of a hunchback and caretaker (John Carradine), the Count and his wife keep the basement full of women so that the blood supply is never low. The young couple wants them out of the castle but Dracula will do whatever it takes to remain there even if it means making the new couple partners.

After a while I soon realized that Blood of Dracula's Castle is to Al Adamson what Jail Bait was to Ed Wood and that is the director's best made film, which means we aren't going to get as many laughs that we might expect. I was also disappointed to see John Carradine wasn't making a return to Dracula but even with that the film is campy enough to enjoy on many levels but just don't expect the goodness of say Dracula vs. Frankenstein.

The biggest flaw with the film is that Dracula and his wife just aren't very interesting and they're overshadowed by Carradine, the hunchback assistant and the werewolf, who never actually transforms. Perhaps Adamson was wanting to make a straight and serious film and while doing that, this one here comes off a bit boring and never reaches its potential of becoming an outrageously funny film. The silly music score and wooden acting brings some charm and minor laughs as done Carradine who chews up the scenery like he always does. But again, what in the hell was Adamson thinking not using the great as Dracula? It's also interesting to note that the cinematographer was Laszlo Kovacs who would later go on to do Easy Rider, Targets, Paper Moon, Shampoo and more recently doing a couple Sandra Bullock films.

A stinky, horrible, ghastly piece of cheese! (To quote the gnome statue in those television commercials for an intenet travel site.) Now that this horror is available for cheap-o prices, I would recommend it for bad film fans. Bad acting, cheap sets and leaden pacing abound. John Carradine is always fun to watch, no matter how bad the movie he is in, and he did many, many stinkers of Z-grade budgets. Probably my favorite part is the gratuitous opening scene which shows nice footage of Marineland in Los Angeles (Rancho Palos Verdes, I believe) closed and torn down decades ago. There was also some nice cinematography; I noted the scene where the robed, torch-bearing figures trudge across the beach in the moonlight. Nice image.

This film had exteriors shot mainly at Scotty's Castle (I think) in Death Valley, hundreds of miles from the ocean. But, through the magic of editing, it appears to be about a mile from the beach!

This movie is part of the Horrible Horrors Volume 2 Box Set from Rhino, eight bad horror movies for only $25 retail (about $18 street!)! Worth the freight for fans of cheesy, crusty, musty, dusty, horror flicks.

Like many of the movies I've been writing reviews for, Blood of Dracula's Castle is part of a twelve movie boxed set from Mill Creek, a company that deals in very cheap (and sometimes public domain) films. The transfer isn't great. In fact, when I first started watching this, the screen was so completely covered with green lines (from wear) that it reminded me of The Matrix. Personally, though, I believe this adds to the aesthetic of the movie; something about the apparent age of the film makes it that much more enjoyable to watch.

In some ways, this movie reminds me a bit of a 60's version of The Addams Family, as it features a sophisticated, middle-aged couple that lives in a rented castle and are quite open about their vampirism (or their being "the living dead," to be grammatically correct). In addition to a standard manservant (George, played by the great John Carradine), they also keep around an orange-skinned feral guy named Mango around, who roams the surrounding wilderness, hunting and capturing the bikini-clad young women who, for some reason, seem to be in abundant supply in this area. The young hotties are collected and contained in a dungeon, where they are harvested for their blood. Occasionally the charming vampire couple also let Mango have one of the babes for his own purposes, which are thankfully never shown or fully described. They also have a younger friend, Johnny, who is an open and quite charming serial killer who goes nuts when the moon is full.

Enter into the picture a young couple, the incredibly condescending Glen and his fiancé Liz. They enter the scene because Glen has inherited the castle from some relative, and the two stumble around in a manner not unlike Scooby-Doo and the gang, slowly discovering the danger that surrounds them. It's actually very cute, in a campy sort of way. The dialog between the spooky castle residents and the innocent young couple is so corny, it could have been penned by Ed Wood himself.

Okay, so the whole premise of this flick doesn't make a lick of sense. And the print the DVD was made from is terrible. And the crazy man-beast that everyone keeps talking about is named after a tropical fruit which does, of course, prevent him from ever being taken as a serious threat to anyone. It doesn't matter. What matters is this is good, cheesy fun for the whole family, if your whole family is plenty drunk.