The Curse of Dracula

Ironic that when Michael Nouri left daytime's Search for Tomorrow to play the title role in The Curse of Dracula, his soap character, Steve Kaslo, died of a blood disorder....The Curse of Dracula started out as one of the three segments that made up the hour-long t.v. series "Cliffhangers," an homage to the serials of the 50's that ended with, you guessed it, a cliffhanger. In this "What if Dracula were still around in the late 20th century?" premise, he is a college professor - easy access to young students/fresh blood. That is until he meets and falls for a woman out for revenge. She teams up with the also vengeful grandson of the famous vampire hunter Van Helsing. Eventually in the 80's they packaged the popular Curse of Dracula episodes into a television movie - sometimes called Dracula '79. It's a great way to spend a few hours if you can catch it somewhere on cable or on the Late Late Late Show.

This was originally one segment of a short-lived American TV series called "Cliffhanger." It was an attempt to bring the old cliffhanger style to television, but didn't work very well. One segment was about a cowboy that fell into a mine shaft or something and ended up in a strange underworld city. Can't remember what the other segment was about.

I saw this show when I was a teen in 1979 and fell in love. I have been into vampires ever since then (going on nearly 25 years). I highly recommend it as a first taste (no pun intended) for someone who doesn't want a gory vamp flick. It has led me into other great vampire flicks as Interview with a Vampire, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Blade and such shows as Forever Knight and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If anyone knows about this show on DVD, PLEASE!!! Let me know. I would love to add it to my collection. Michael Nouri is a very good actor and played the part of Dracula very seductively. It was a powerful show for a fourteen year old girl and now that I'm forty... it still holds fond memories for me

The "Curse of Dracula" episodes from the "Cliff Hangers" series were SO GOOD that after the series ended, I went scrambling to try to find a copy of them. Feature-length movies were made out of the episodes, including "World of Dracula" and "The Loves of Dracula." Michael Nouri, who played Dracula in the episodes, had to have been the GREATEST actor to play Dracula on the silver screen (big or small.) The acting in these episodes was OUTSTANDING, the special effects were amazing (even by today's standards), the scripts RIVETING, the music crisp and moving, and HOW I WISH THAT UNIVERSAL WOULD RELEASE THE MOVIES MADE OUT OF THE "CURSE OF DRACULA" episodes on DVD or VHS!!! THIS SERIES IS NOT TO BE MISSED, it was so GOOD that I remember it even though I saw it when it first aired on television in 1979!!! I give the "Curse of Dracula" TWO THUMBS UP, A TEN OUT OF TEN. Even if you are not a fan of Dracula, you will LOVE THIS SERIES because it has everything: action, romance, drama, comedy, and tragedy. THIS IS MY FAVORITE SERIES OF ALL TIME!