Greatest Vampire Movies

Hey, crypt keepers!

I debated whether or not to mention this one, given the current social climate, but it deserves mention, so here we go. Today's title is Blacula.

Produced in 1972 at the mid-point of the so-called "blaxploitation" fad, Blacula breaks from the pack to achieve success as a horror film in its own right. And most of that is due to the power, passion and pathos that William Marshall brings to the title role. Marshall was a Shakespearean actor by trade, and here he becomes, for lack of a better term, the black Christopher Lee. Like Lee's Dracula, Marshall's Prince Mamuwalde is extremely charming one moment, violent and predatory the next.

The basic set-up is this: in 1780, African prince Mamuwalde and his wife Luva travel to Transylvania to seek Count Dracula's help in ending the slave trade that terrorized West Africa. Not only does Dracula refuse, he inflicts the sadistic punishment of turning Mamuwalde into a vampire, sealing him in a coffin and leaving Luva to starve to death. Blacula (as Dracula names him) is set loose in 1970s Los Angeles and the fun begins.

Aside from Marshall's magnetic performance, there are several touches that make this one a historical curiosity if nothing else. Number one, the people at AIP realized they had something when Count Yorga, Vampire proved a success, and they wanted to keep going. They gave us this one and the Dr. Phibes movies with Vincent Price. It's like they were trying to establish their own horror studio. But, then the Exorcist was released, and old-fashioned monsters seemed to be done with until they were revived in the 1980s.

Secondly, this film does what Hammer's Dracula AD 1972 chickened out on: it actually shows the vampire interacting with the modern world. In this case, he's in the city of Los Angeles as seen by blaxploitation directors.

Which brings me to point three, which will probably get me in some trouble. Blaxploitation movies are one of those sub-genres which is looked at today as camp fun or offensive insult, depending on who you ask. For the most part, they featured hammy actors playing aggressive (physically and sexually) characters speaking a new kind of street slang, known today--often derisively--as "jive turkey." That was a common insult in these films--"you jive turkey!" "Sucka," "honky," and other such epithets were common as well. (Airplane parodied this brilliantly.) And for some reason, this was seen--by the film makers, if no one else--as empowering to black Americans. One of the traits that sets Blacula apart from the blaxploitation pack is that Blacula himself does not indulge in that. William Marshall had considerable input as to his character, and he insisted that Blacula not do that. Thus, the film presents the revived Mamuwalde as a cultured, educated, traveled man (probably how he heard of Dracula in the first place) who is confronted by modern black Americans who do speak that way, and is saddened and disgusted by it. He--and by extension, the film--seem to be suggesting that this "jive turkey" speech and attitude is not empowering to black Americans at all, but rather a symptom of what a terrible disservice has been done to them by centuries of slavery and second-class citizenship. I've always found that interesting.

Oh, and just so we don't stray too far from the main point, this film takes a cue from Return of Count Yorga in that Blacula finds a modern woman who is the reincarnation of his lost love and seeks to possess her. That's a common cliche in vampire films now, but back then it was still innovative. (God knows where that idea originally came from. The Mummy from 1932 uses it, but it's likely to be much older than that.)

All of this leads to a climactic showdown with the police, which, given certain developments since this film's release, gives it different layers of resonance. Make of it what you will.

And you can now. Shout!Factory has released both Blacula films on a double-feature Blu-ray loaded with special features. The sequel, Scream Blacula, Scream is, perhaps disappointingly, more of a standard campy blaxploitation film. It even stars the undisputed queen of blaxploitation, Pam Grier herself. That may be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. But this is one you should not pass up.