Doctor Dracula

Doctor Dracula (1981)

BOMB (out of 4)

In 1975 director Paul Aratow made a film called Lucifer's Women but not too much is known about it. It's not clear whether the film was completed and never released or if it was never completed. It's one of those mystery films that ended up being released in 1981 as this film, which features drive-in maverick Al Adamson filming new scenes with John Carradine and throwing it all together. The film never makes too much sense but it has something to do with Dracula working as a shrink so that he can bite on women but there's another man, trained by Svengali, to do battle with him. Dracula vs Frankenstein this is not but I must say Adamson did a very good job at adding the new stuff in because the new scenes really don't stick out and they mix well with the original film. With that said, the film is deadly dull from start to finish without any energy in the movie. The film tries very hard to be dark and mysterious but it never comes off that way. It seems the original film is mainly to blame because we get long dialogue scenes where nothing ever happens. The added scenes at least feature John Carradine hamming it up a little bit. Apparently Adamson also cut out all the nudity from the original film, which certainly wasn't a good thing to do considering how dull the film turned out to be. This is a pretty worthless film but hopefully the history about the original film will come out at some point.

The current DVD edition contains the feature itself, and a selection of well-worn trailers from other Sam Sherman/Independent International releases. These "coming attractions" are featured on a multitude of releases by Image, and it is curious that they did not offer an audio commentary by Sherman. This would have been especially helpful in determining which footage was newly shot by Al Adamson/Gary Graver, and which were from the feature Lucifer's Women (the only new trailer listed in the extras). It is also unclear whether Lucifer's Women was also released on it's own, or whether the footage extant in Doctor Dracula is the only stock currently available. I'm sure Sherman could have clarified all of this. Curiously, of all Adamson films released on DVD, this is the one that cries out for an audio track the most.

As for discussion of the movie itself, other comments in IMDB will suffice, this only to say that I find it an interesting salvage job. After all, in what other movie will you find Count Dracula disguised as a psychiatrist, an author possessed by a fictional character, and Regina Carol wearing too much makeup? (Oops...that's right. Any Adamson film for the latter).

I've been on a quest to see all of Adamson's films for years and so imagine my surprise when this rarity turned up on local TV before Halloween. This is another of Adamson's patchwork features cobbled together using an older unfinished film (LUCIFER'S WOMEN) mixed with newer footage featuring Adamson regulars John Carradine and Regina Carroll. During commercial breaks the host of the show mentioned the overabundance of blue eyeshadow used in the movie and how it doesn't make sense that a person can be possessed by a fictional character (Svengali). Unintentionally funny is the deep voice used by a possessed woman which makes her sound like she's been possessed by the spirit of Suzanne Pleshette. Be sure to take a nap before watching the movie because it may put you to sleep.

Beware this is great stuff if you need to sleep or if you need a mild headache.The back story of these two movies is better than either version. Lucifer's Women (1974/75) was indeed completed and shown theatrically. I believe it ran 65 to 75 minutes in length. So why can't anyone seem to find it haunting a dollar DVD bargain bin nowadays? Well because it was a poor mans hardcore porn/horror flick with very limited distribution. Skip ahead to 1977 and we find a slightly new haphazard plot line made from the footage of Lucifer's Women and newly shot footage by a different crew and actors! Since all the sex scenes were excised out of Lucifer's Women it was sold off to network TV as Dr. Dracula! Yes,network TV as in the ABC Network. Dr. Anton S. LaVey's involvement was only with Lucifer's Women as technical advisory. I believe there were a few of his Church members involved on the production side and that's how he became involved. As for the films them selves, they are only of interests to Satanists and low budget film scholars - from a minor historical point that is. If you can somehow locate one of the handful of bootlegged copies of Lucifer's Women floating around out there watch it (you'll need nerves of steel) on a double bill with Dr Dracula. Pay attention to the differences and learn how not to make a worse movie out of an already bad one.

Not a very well known title in my native UK, but then anything which isn't a Hammer Dracula isn't well known over here. Having just recently watched Doctor Dracula, and knowing nothing about the format I thought this had to be a TV-Movie. While enjoyable, there are some really hammy lines in the dialogue. The character, Svengali, has to steal the show, if even for that beard!

On the whole, this is quite an enjoyable presentation, with an occasional appearance from the soundman's boom, and very little blood. Found the ending quite original though...who would have thought of destroying ..Al Adamson obviously.