Blood of Dracula's Castle (1969)

Dracula the Diva, 29 July 2005

A young couple is overjoyed to discover they've inherited a castle and plan to move in right away. But first, they'll have to evict the elderly couple who have been renting the place for 60 years. What the young couple doesn't know is that this is no ordinary elderly couple. It's actually Count and Countess Dracula.

How can a movie with Dracula, a giant hunchback named Mango (no, not that Mango), a serial killer named Johnny who is especially vicious when the moon is full, a crazed butler named George (played by John Carradine) who rants on and on about the Great God Luna, a dungeon full of women chained to the walls, and ceremonial sacrifices be bad? Well, this is Al Adamson we're talking about, so of course it's bad. For the most part it's just a hodge-podge of unrelated ideas thrown together whether it makes any sense or not. There's too much going on.

And take the decision to have the Count and Countess Dracula behave like wannabe divas. In Blood of Dracula's Castle, Dracula can't even be bothered to get his own blood. He has George and Mango draw the blood from the women in the dungeon with a syringe and serve it to him and the Mrs. in wine glasses. What is this, Lifestyles of the Rich and Dead?

Almost every aspect of Blood of Dracula's Castle is bad. The acting is horrendous. Alexander D'Arcy is the worst Dracula I believe I've ever seen. Name anyone else who ever played Dracula and I assure you they were more convincing. Also, the movie is a technical mess. The editing is incredibly sloppy. The girls in the dungeon are kidnapped in a lush forest. Yet every shot of the castle shows it to be in the middle of a vast desert. How is that possible? The sets are cheap. In one scene George is closing the lid of a coffin and it almost falls off. The continuity is terrible. Shoes appear and disappear from one scene to the next. And it goes on and on and on...

With all that being said, the movie is not without a certain charm and some funny moments. Whether the movie was meant to be intentionally funny or not, it is. Much of it is entertaining in that "so bad it's good" sort of way. If you're into cheese filled 70s movies, you might some entertainment in this one.

4/10