Skywald Publications was a 1970s American publisher of black-and-white comic magazines, primarily the horror anthologies Nightmare, Psycho, and Scream.

Skywald’s first publication was Nightmare #1 (Dec. 1970). The company lasted until early 1975, with Psycho #24 (March 1975) being its final publication. Nightmare published 23 issues and Scream put out 11 issues.

The company name is a combination of those of its founders, former Marvel Comics production manager Sol Brodsky (“Sky”) and low-budget entrepreneur Israel Waldman (“wald”), whose I. W. Publications (also known as Super Comics) in the late 1950s and early 1960s published comic book reprints for sale through grocery and discount stores. Skywald was based in New York City.

Brodsky, who also served as editor, brought in Al Hewetson — briefly an assistant to Marvel chief Stan Lee and a freelancer for the Warren Publishing horror magazines and others — as a freelance writer. “Archaic Al”, as he later jokingly called himself in print, quickly became the associate editor, and when Brodsky returned to Marvel after a few months, Hewetson succeeded him as editor. Hewetson, aiming at a more literary bent than the work of industry leader Warren Publishing, developed what he called “the Horror-Mood” and sought to evoke the feel of such writers as Poe, H. P. Lovecraft and Kafka.

Comics professionals who produced work for the Skywald magazines include writers T. Casey Brennan, Gerry Conway, Steve Englehart, Gardner Fox, Doug Moench, Dave Sim, Len Wein, and Marv Wolfman, and artists Rich Buckler, Gene Day Vince Colletta, Bill Everett, Bruce Jones, Pablo Marcos, Syd Shores, Chic Stone, and Tom Sutton. Many who also contributed to rival Warren employed pseudonyms. Future industry star John Byrne published his first professional story, a two-pager written by editor Hewetson, in Skywald’s Nightmare #20 (Aug. 1974).

Editor Al Hewetson, in an interview given shortly before his death of a heart attack on Jan. 6, 2004, asserted the demise of Skywald was caused by:

“…Marvel’s distributor. Our issues were selling well, and some sold out. Such returns as we received were shipped overseas, mainly to England, where they sold out completely… When Marvel entered the game with countless [black-and-white horror] titles gutting [sic] the newsstand, their distributor was so powerful they denied Skywald access to all but the very largest newsstands, so our presence was minimal and fans and readers simply couldn’t find us…”

Buy Skywald: The Complete Illustrated History of the Horror-Mood from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia | Image credits: Comic Vine | Pinterest

“The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula” was a double-episode of The Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries American TV series which aired for three seasons on the ABC network from January 1977 to January 1979.

The series starred Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy as amateur sleuth brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, respectively, plus Pamela Sue Martin (later Janet Louise Johnson) as detective Nancy Drew. Many of the episodes, such as “The Mystery of the Haunted House“,”The Mystery of Witches’ Hollow“,”A Haunting We Will Go“,”The Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom“,”The House on Possessed Hill“, and “Voodoo Doll” featured mild horror themes.

The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were both successful book publishing franchises, owned by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a publishing group which owned many popular children’s book lines.

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries was unusual in that it often dealt with the characters individually, in an almost anthological style. That is, some episodes featured only the Hardy Boys and others only Nancy Drew. “The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula” marked the first time that the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew met and worked together…

Buy The Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries Season Two on DVD from:

Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Plot teaser:

International investigator Fenton Hardy (Ed Gilbert) has gone missing whilst looking into art thefts and so his sons attempt to track him down, which leads them to Paris and then Munich. The Hardy boys hook up with a three piece rock band named The Circus, led by a chirpy English leader, who happen to be playing at a music festival in Castle Dracula hosted by a rock star named Allison Troy. Meanwhile, the boys encounter amateur sleuth Nancy Drew, who is also attempting to track down Hardy Senior.

All roads lead to Transylvania and soon local town dignitaries are being bitten by a vampire. Or so it seems…

Review:

It’s probably not worth waving up a big ‘spoiler’ once guest star Lorne Greene turns up playing a slightly-dour and mysterious Romanian Inspector. He’s clearly the villain-to-be and aforementioned “rock star” Allison Troy is obviously a red herring. Indeed, the playful plot positively encourages this development.

Somewhat arrogant Troy is amusingly played by diminutive composer/crooner Paul Williams (also in Brian De Palma’s 1974 movie Phantom of the Paradise), and is seen to be hosting a world-televised music fest to about twenty-five fans dressed as monsters such as Frankenstein’s creation and a werewolf! Alas, Bernie Taupin, lyricist for many of Elton John’s songs and one-time Alice Cooper collaborator, joins Williams’ on stage for some cringe-inducing soft rock that is only slightly eclipsed when Shaun Cassidy takes his star turn for insipid saccharine songs such as ‘Teen Dream’.

Soon, the Hardy Boys are creeping around Castle Dracula, being mildly troubled by the requisite bats and rats in the caverns, whilst an angry mob (“I say we burn the castle!”) are demanding justice for the mysterious near-deaths in the neighbourhood. All along, Nancy Drew is given less to do, but there is one great female empowerment moment when she floors a bewildered Frank Hardy with a swift move. Elsewhere, there’s some mild humour to be had with two former comedy Nazis being mocked as downtrodden employees at a hotel in Munich.

It all ends with the inevitable revealing of Lorne Greene’s character as the baddie hankering for power, yet there’s at least a coy suggestion that something supernatural was indeed going on. This being a double-trouble TV-episode, the amateur sleuths’ antics are somewhat protracted but, like old episodes of Scooby-Doo, its all done with ’70s-style campy fun and amiable enough to pass nearly a couple of hours if you’re in a pretty charitable mood and willing to endure the soft rock interludes.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

Choice dialogue:

“Why don’t we just come back in the morning? You can almost feel death!”

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Work. It sucks the life out of you.’

Bloodsucking Bastards is a 2015 US comedy horror film directed by Brian James O’Connell (Killer View) from a screenplay by Dr. God and Ryan Mitts. It stars Fran Kranz, Pedro Pascal, Yvette Yates, Joel Murray, Emma Fitzpatrick, Joey Kern, Patricia Rae, Parvesh Cheena, Zabeth Russell, Neil W. Garguilo, Justin Ware, Kyran Danaher, Marshall Givens, James Warfield.

The film is being premiered on January 23, 2015 at the Slamdance Film Festival.

Plot teaser:

Evan is a dutiful and overworked employee stuck at a soul-killing corporation with his beautiful co-worker and girlfriend Amanda (Emma Fitzpatrick) and his slacker best friend Tim (Joey Kern). Evan’s world begins to crumble when Amanda dumps him and his boss Ted (Joel Murray) hands his coveted promotion to his nemesis Max (Pedro Pascal). When his office mates start going through disturbing changes, Evan must find a way to stop the evil brewing amidst the office cubicles, and rescue his workplace pals before his life and career go from dead-end… to just dead.

IMDb

Dracula Lives! was an American black-and-white horror comic magazine series published by Marvel Comics in the mid-1970s. Thirteen issues and one reprint annual were printed.

Dracula Lives! was released concurrently with Vampire Tales and Monsters Unleashed under the Marvel Monster Group brand in 1973.

Following Dracula Lives!‘ cancellation in July 1975, an additional instalment appeared in Marvel Preview #8 (“The Legion of Monsters”), comprising roughly one-third of the novel. After a thirty-year hiatus, Marvel commissioned Thomas and Giordano to finish the adaptation, and ran the reprinted and new material as the four-issue miniseries Stoker’s Dracula (Oct. 2004 – May 2005)

Buy Stoker’s Dracula from Amazon.com

Much of the material in Dracula Lives! was reprinted in a Marvel UK weekly reprint title of the same name. It eventually merged with the Marvel UK Planet of the Apes weekly (!), and with issue 60 the title became Dracula Lives Featuring the Legion of Monsters.

All thirteen issues of Dracula Lives! were collected for an Essential Marvel edition in 2005.

Running concurrently with the longer-running Marvel comic Tomb of Dracula, the continuities of the two titles occasionally overlapped, with story arcs weaving between the two. Most of the time, however, the stories in Dracula Lives! were stand-alone tales by various creative teams. Later issues of Dracula Lives! featured a serialized adaptation of the original Bram Stoker novel, written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Dick Giordano.

The magazine format did not fall under the purview of the Comics Code, allowing the title to feature stronger content — such as moderate profanity, partial nudity, and more graphic violence — than Marvel’s “mainstream” titles. The larger format allowed the interior artists to “stretch out” a bit more. Painted covers of the series were done by artists like Boris Vallejo, Neal Adams, and Luis Dominguez. Dracula Lives!‘ text and photo articles were mostly of the Count’s various film appearances. The title of the magazine’s letter column was “Dracula Reads!”

Wikipedia

‘Pink Plasma’ is a six minute 1975 animated episode of The Pink Panther and Friends directed by Art Leonardi from a story by John W. Dunn. It was produced by Mirisch Films and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises.

Plot teaser:

On vacation in Transylvania, The Pink Panther stops to spend a night at what he believes to be a traveller’s lodge. However, it is in reality a vampire’s spooky castle. He encounters a knife-throwing arm, an invisible monster, a cantankerous spider and ghostly bedsheets. Assuming a coffin to be that of a dead man, the Pink Panther buries it, watched by an audience of bemused rats and a lizard.

Come dusk, amidst ominous rumbling, the enraged vampire (The Little Man) emerges. The Pink Panther utilises bug spray to repel the vampire, who has adopted bat form, and when it splutters out of the castle window, a shark is waiting in the moat (this being 1975 when Jaws fever was at its height).

Buy Pink Panther: The Ultimate Guide from Amazon.co.uk

This occurs a couple of times more before a big chase and sunrise which causes vampire, shark, monster, and the castle to vanish…

Buy The Pink Panther and Friends on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

IMDb

Dracula Sucks, also released as Lust at First Bite, is a 1978 adult horror movie directed by Phillip Marshak from a screenplay by Daryl Marshak (Cataclysm) and David Kern, very loosely based on Bram Stoker‘s Dracula.

The film stars Jamie Gillis (Dracula Exotica), Reggie Nalder, Annette Haven, Seka, Serena, Kay Parker, John Leslie, Paul Thomas, Mike Ranger and John Holmes. Associate producer and editor Nettie Peña directed Home Sweet Home (1980). Second unit director Norman Thaddeus Vane later helmed Frightmare and The Black Room (both 1983).

Plot teaser:

At an exclusive sanitarium, strange things are happening: patients are acting differently and are being found with mysterious bite marks in their necks. Visiting professor, Van Helsing (Reggie Nalder) believes it to be the work of vampires. With the arrival of Count Dracula (Jamie Gillis), things get even stranger and more violent, as the diabolical count sets his sights on the beautiful Mina (Annette Haven)…

Reviews:

“There’s a strain of goony humor that is undercut by a genuinely eerie ambiance. It is an unwell universe where the dysfunctional out-rules the healthy and that includes a large part of the medical staff.  From the incest between the Sewards, the character of Henry (Margold) who, when not assisting the doctors, has a fixation on apples and ends up raping Irene and the fact that Van Helsing (played by character actor heavy Reggie Nalder) manages to out-creep Dracula, there are no real character safety zones here.

On top of that, there is the striking image of the Count’s handmaidens, who look like glamorous ghouls who just escaped Hell’s war zone, creeping across the asylum grounds at night.” Dangerous Minds

“Common sense takes a backseat to cocaine-fuelled nonsense and the audience is expected to make sense of it all. But we can’t. Because it’s annoying. Eventually, the effort to pay attention makes us ambivalent.

Sex is piled on — there’s incest, necrophilia, blow jobs in every imaginable combination, and a shot of a female vampire biting John Holmes’ giant dick. Likewise with the comedy. Racism, comedic sound effects, and loudspeaker announcements about enemas are supposed to be funny, but they’re not. As the plot is forgotten, the film unravels into random, vignette-styled chaos.” Joseph A. Ziemba, Bleeding Skull!

” …uneven in tone but impresses on a number of levels. In terms of style and production value, the film is on par with some of the more ambitious low budget horror films from the period thanks hugely to the time-consuming camera set-ups by cinematographer Hanania Baer (Elvira: Mistress of the Dark), the Castle Hill location, reasonably convincing if not always consistent period costumes and props, and decent to good performances (Haven even resembles Kate Nelligan from some angles).” Eric Cotenas, DVD Drive-In

The film has been released on DVD by Vinegar Syndrome. It includes the following features:

2-disc DVD Set | Region Free | 16:9 Anamorphic
Director’s cut of Dracula Sucks
Alternate Lust at First Bite edit (40+ minutes of alternate footage!)
Commentary w/ Actor and Co-Writer Bill Margold
Return to Castle Hill featurette w/ Producer Darryl Marshak & Bill Margold
Original theatrical trailer
German Art Gallery

Buy Dracula Sucks on DVD from Amazon.com

IMDb | Related: Bloodlust | Dracula Exotica | Sexcula

Kitchen Sink is a 2015 American horror comedy film directed by Robbie Pickering from a screenplay by Oren Uziel (Mortal Kombat: Rebirth; Men in Black 4) The film stars Vanessa Hudgens (Sucker Punch; Machete Kills), Ed Westwick, Denis Leary and Bob Odenkirk. The film’s original title was The Kitchen Sink.

Originally slated to open on January 9, 2015, the Columbia Pictures production will now be released on September 4, 2015 by the company in conjunction with Sony Pictures Releasing.

Plot teaser:

In the town of Dillford, it used to be that vampires, humans and zombies used to get along, but then something unexpected arrived and now it’s humans vs. vampires vs. zombies in all-out mortal combat. Now three teenagers must try to get things back to “normal”…

Cast:

• Ed Westwick
• Vanessa Hudgens
• Denis Leary
• Bob Odenkirk
• Patton Oswalt
• Ian Roberts
• Joan Cusack
• Nicholas Braun
• Keegan-Michael Key
• Utkarsh Ambudkar
• Josh Fadem
• Luke Halpenny
• Nyajima Mayar

Filming locations: 

The film started shooting in Los Angeles on August 15, 2013 and lasted 37 days at different locations in LA including Santa Clarita, Temple City and Van Nuys High School.

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘A cult of undead creatures seek fresh, warm, human blood!’

The Blood Drinkers is a 1964 Filipino horror film – original title: Kulay dugo ang gabi “Blood is the Colour of Night” – directed by Gerardo De Leon (Terror is a Man; Brides of Blood; Mad Doctor of Blood Island) from a screenplay by Cesar Amigo.

In the US, it was released by Hemisphere Pictures in 1966 on a double-bill with The Black Cat. It has also been released a Vampire People.

Producer Cirio H. Santiago also directed a couple of horror movies (Vampire Hookers; Demon of Paradise) but is mainly known for his prolific action movie output.

The film stars Ronald Remy, Amalia Fuentes, Eddie Fernandez, Eva Montes, Celia Rodriguez, Renato Robles, Mary Walter, Paquito Salcedo. Ubiquitous Filipino actor Vic Diaz (Vampire Hookers) provides the voice of a priest and narrator.

Plot teaser:

A vampiric aristocrat, Dr Marco (Ronald Remy), is traumatised that his beloved Katrina is dying. So, he travels to a village to take the heart and blood of her twin sister Christine (both played by Amalia Fuentes) in order to save his beloved. Aided by a hunchbacked assistant, a sexy female vampire named Tanya (Eva Montes), and a flapping bat, he terrorises the local people until a young traveller named Charles (Eddie Fernandez) arrives to fight off evil…

Reviews:

The Blood Drinkers is an odd film that floats back and forth between being quite campy at times, and quite effective at others. On the one hand you have some really cheesy elements. There’s a extremely fake looking bat that keeps showing up, complete with wires attached. Marco’s dwarf henchman has ridiculous snaggletooth makeup and keeps making silly “ooh ooh” noises … On the other hand, Marco is a legitimately creepy vampire. Many scenes are effectively eerie and there is a fair degree of creative photography on display.” Forgotten Films

” …there are striking images on display that show the meeting of traditional Gothic vampire films with the modern age (in this case, 1964). There is a power and sense of humor behind shots of Dr. Marco draped in his black cape, while wearing wrap-around sunglasses. Even more tongue-in-cheek, but no less beautiful, is a shot of a horse-drawn carriage transporting an ornate coffin, with a cherry red convertible right behind it … an interesting, but flawed, entry in the genre.” Obsessive Movie Nerd

Buy The Blood Drinkers on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“Although the editing is jerky and the English dubbing perfunctory, De Leon makes good use of emotive red and blue sequences to punctuate the black and white film. The film also features an interesting fight between the hero and the vampire in which the villain annoys his opponent by constantly rendering himself invisible.” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

” …the atmosphere is remarkable. It’s consistently thick, heady, dreamy, and mysterious, with a subdued sexuality. Most scenes are shot at night, swirling with fog, bathed with moonlight, speckled with candles. The stone cemetery and tall mausoleum appear often enough to be considered characters. The unobtrusive score flows beneath the film like an underground river. A theremin accents the vampire attacks…” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

Buy Claws & Saucers book from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

” …the visual star of the film is the decision to film large parts of it in black and white that was later on tinted, mostly in quite striking red and blue tones.

This lends the film a mood of unreality which fits its rather illogical plot-progression and jumpy editing perfectly, lending the air of a dream to flaws that were probably based on mere incompetence or lack of funds.” The Horror!?

” …some wonderful use of lighting and smoke and what would be a poor budget looks greater than it should. The film has narration throughout from the priest and takes a very Catholic approach to the subject, so there is no attempt at camp or kitsch here. This is indeed a limited script and scenes are clearly lost but The Blood Drinkers is a gem which should appeal to fans of Bava’s gothics or Marins’ Coffin Joe films.” John White, 10k Bullets

“The film is full of baroque, even outrageous touches (an explanation for vampirism and wooden stakes involving the vampirus bacillus (borrowed from Richard Matheson, perhaps?); a suggestion of vampiric fellatio). But perhaps the strangest sequence in the whole film is the moment when Dr. Marco and Katrina are saved by, yes, the power of prayer. The moody black-and-white cinematography gives way to a flood of (somewhat faded), Technicolor (to indicate a return to normalcy), and the two lovers walk through what looks like a botanical garden gone wild, all lush greenery and tropical blooms.” Critic After Dark

IMDb

Santo and Blue Demon vs. the Monsters – original title: Santo y Blue Demon contra los Monstruos – is a 1969 Mexican action horror movie directed by Gilberto Martínez Solares from a screenplay by Rafael García Travesi and Jesús Sotomayor Martínez for Sotomayor productions.

The film stars masked wrestlers Santo and Blue Demon, plus Jorge Rado, Carlos Ancira, Raúl Martínez Solares, Hedi Blue, Vicente Lara, Manuel Leal, Gerardo Zepeda, David Alvizu, Fernando Rosales.

Plot teaser:

To foil his plan for world domination, wrestling superheroes Santo and Blue Demon battle the mad Dr. Halder and his army of reanimated monsters: The Vampire, The Female Vampire, Franquestain, The Cyclops, The Wolfman, The Mummy and zombie thugs…

Reviews:

” …probably the grooviest of the bunch. A mad doctor revives a ton of horror movie monsters (wait, so they’re monsters AND undead?) and brainwashes them to do his bidding. There’s a spanking good sequence at the start of the flick that introduces each monster, one by one …

If you’re a fan of B-movie grandeur, do yourself a favor and check this bad boy out.” Analog Medium

“Despite the budget woes and quality issues, Santo and Blue Demon vs the Monsters still ends up being a fun flick, and is among the Santo films you should see first just to get your toes wet.

If you can handle Santo and Blue Demon punching their way through a castle filled with people in bad masks, you are ready to expand your journey.” TarsTarkas.net

“Still, despite all obstacles, Santo y Blue Demon contra los Monstruos staunchly resists the temptation to laugh at itself, and that is what really sells it. One wink, one moment of intentional camp, and it would have become unbearable, but, instead, every actor who looked upon those pitifully ridiculous monsters reacted to them as if they were the gravest threat ever faced by mankind. And bless them for it.” Teleport City

IMDb | Visit Teleport City for a detailed review and more images | Related: The Ship of Monsters

Blood Ninja is a 2009 British fantasy martial arts vampire novel by Nick Lake, published by Corvus in the UK and Simon and Schuster in the USA. It was followed by sequel novels Lord Oda’s Revenge: Blood Ninja II and Blood Ninja III: The Betrayal of the Living.

Plot teaser:

1565: Taro is a boy from a coastal village in rural Japan, fated to become a fisherman like his father. But in just one night, Taro’s world is turned upside down – and his destiny is changed forever. Skilled in the art of silent and deadly combat, ninjas are the agents of powerful nobles who rule sixteenth-century Japan.

So, why did a group of these highly trained assassins creep into a peasant’s hut and kill Taro’s father? And why did one ninja rescue Taro from their clutches, saving his life at enormous cost? Now on the run with this mysterious saviour and his best friend Hiro, Taro is determined to learn the way of the ninja to avenge his father’s death…

Reviews:

‘ …this is more martial arts adventure than horror. The vampire element takes something of a back seat for long passages in the story, emerging only when really necessary. I think the book is even better for this – Nick Lake could ‘easily’ have written an over-the-top vampire ninja horror story with blood dripping from every page but instead he shows restraint (until the final scenes that is, when it becomes something akin to a Quentin Tarantino Kill Bill bloodbath, not that there is anything wrong with this).’ The Book Zone (for Boys)

‘While the ending sets up an inevitable sequel, the riveting, often gruesome, action and rich, comprehensible mythology should have readers racing through the chapters … Lake uses the story’s familiar elements skilfully, combining them into an imaginative and original whole. And, really, with vampire ninjas, how can you lose?’ Publishers Weekly

‘ …all the minor parts in the book form an amazing, suspenseful plot… Teen Ink

Post suggested by Dylan.

¡Vampiros en La Habana! – English title: Vampires in Havana – is a Cuban animated film directed by Juan Padrón. Released in 1985, the film features trumpet performances by Arturo Sandoval. A sequel to the film, called Más vampiros en La Habana, was released in 2003.

Plot teaser:

Joseph Amadeus von Dracula, known as Pepito to his friends, is a trumpet player in 1930s Havana who spends his time away from the bandstand dabbling in quasi-terrorist plots to overthrow the Cuban government of dictator, Gerardo Machado. He is unaware that he is really a vampire, and that his uncle, Werner Amadeus von Dracula, the son of Count Dracula, has been using him as a test subject for a formula that negates the usually fatal effects of sunlight.

A Chicago-based crime syndicate and a group of vampires with members from several countries in Europe have both learned of the formula and wish to possess it for different reasons—the Chicago group to suppress it and thus maintain their monopoly on indoor, artificial beach resorts, and the Europeans to market it as “Vampisol.” When Pepito learns of his true heritage (and his uncle’s wish to give the formula away to vampires everywhere) he becomes the target of a multi-pronged manhunt, leading all parties involved on a wild chase through some of the seediest neighborhoods of Havana…

Reviews:

‘The animation and sexual themes at work in the film make the Ralph Bakshi comparisons inevitable. These elements also stand to make some viewers less comfortable because the idea of innocuous characterizations was not a part of the crafting here. Generalized ethnic phenotypes are taken to the extreme and female characters spend as much time naked as clothed. If you are looking for all inclusive apolitical and moral content then this is one cartoon you should steer clear of.’ Bloody Good Horror

‘It’s all very hip, with takeoffs on gangster-movie types and Latin lovers, but the animation is nothing special and many of the jokes are standard crash-and-splat stuff. The exceptions, such as the toasts drunk in vintage O-Plus blood, tend to be repeated. The freshest turn shows an audience of cartoon figures being scared by human beings on a movie screen, and the ending, when Pepito sings out the secret formula over Radio Vampire International, has a happy beat. The 14- to 16-year-old crowd may not get the anti-capitalist message, but they might be tickled by the fangs.’ Walter Goodman, The New York Times

‘There is a lot of political subtext to be found in ¡Vampiros en La Habana!. It’s not the type one mulls over, or the type that spurs one on to some sort of political course of action. Instead, the political commentary in ¡Vampiros en La Habana! is of the cheap and easy variety. Cuba is a tiny little island that just wants to get by and it is caught in the games being played between the European and American powers. The film makes this obvious in its first ten or so minutes, and it repeats this commentary for the rest of its run time. Maybe the commentary is true, but that doesn’t make the commentary poignant or well done.’ Bill Thompson, Sight on Sound

Wikipedia | IMDb

Requiem for a Vampire - original title: Requiem pour un Vampire – is a 1971 French erotic horror film written and directed by Jean Rollin.

It was apparently the favourite of all of the director’s own films because he came up with the scenario from his subconscious, and because it was rushed into its written form so quickly (Rollin claimed that he wrote the entire script in only two days), he felt it was his purest work. For its US release, Harry Novak’s Boxoffice International retitled it Caged Virgins.

Plot teaser:

Two women dressed as clowns and a male driver are being chased through the countryside, for unknown reasons. As the man drives, the women shoot at their pursuers. When the man is shot, the women are forced to burn the car with his body inside and once they remove their costumes, they run through a forest, and later a cemetery, in which one of the women, Michelle, is almost buried alive. Walking through a field, they come to the outside of a gothic castle. There they are bitten by vampire bats, which lead them to go into the castle, where they make love.

They tour the castle and discover a few skeletons along with a woman playing an organ.

She begins to follow them, so they shoot at her, but she doesn’t die. They run away and are caught by some men who force themselves on them. A vampire woman stops the men, and the vampire woman who chased them almost bites them until they break away. They soon come across a male vampire, the last of his kind. He has plans for the women. They are bitten in order to continue his bloodline, but they must stay virgins…

Reviews:

‘ …an easily watchable surreal exercise in foreign filmmaking, crammed with bizarre comic art imagery strung together with various incidents of fetishistic kinkiness and sadism. With the usual low budget Rollin was allotted, he makes excellent use of some authentic gothic locations, and the picturesque, massive chateau makes for a better vampires’ liar than any studio could possibly provide. The use of oddball props, including rotted corpses affixed with squirming worms, severed arms protruding from stone walls, a line of hooded standing skeletons and assorted bats real and phony, add to the film’s unique appearance, and the clever use of colored lighting in some of the outdoor nighttime scenes is also noteworthy.’ George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

‘Requiem for a Vampire is not a movie I would recommend to people with a distaste for explicit, rather creepy sexual content, but it is worth watching and discussing from an historic and filmic standpoint. You can tell that Rollin was trying to stretch his filmmaking and storytelling muscles, but was tamped down under the weight of having to make another vampire titty flick.’ Kyle Anderson, Nerdist

‘Apparently Rollin’s always had an eye for beauty in nature and architecture because once again his cinematic eye focuses on beautiful vistas, trees, mountains, night skies, he often times focuses on breathtaking  sunsets and cloud formations. He also shot the film inside this ancient castle, it just looks haunting. The visual compositions that Rollin comes up with is the element of his films I love the most and on Requiem for a Vampire he demonstrates that he’s always had that eye for beauty.’ The Film Connoisseur

Cast:

• Marie-Pierre Castel as Marie
• Mireille Dargent as Michelle
• Philippe Gasté as Frédéric
• Dominique as Erica
• Louise Dhour as Louise
• Michel Dalesalle
• Antoine Mosin
• Agnès Petit
• Olivier François
• Dominique Toussaint
• Agnes Jacquet
• Anne-Rose Kurra
• Paul Bisciglia as L’homme au Vélo

Filming locations:

The movie was filmed in the small village of Crêvecoeur. The graveyard was located outside the village on a knoll. The castle, a historical place entirely furnished with genuine antiques, all of which were worth a fortune, had been rented from the duchess of Roche-Guyon. It wasn’t her castle that Rollin and the crew were interested in, but the ruins of the dungeon above, that overlooked the entire area.

Wikipedia | IMDb

Lady Dracula is a 1977 West German comedy horror film directed by Franz Josef Gottlieb. It stars Evelyne Kraft (The French Sex Murders; The Mighty Peking Man), Brad Harris (who devised the story), Theo Lingen, Eddi Arent, Christine Buchegger, Walter Giller, Klaus Höhne, Roberto Blanco, Stephen Boyd (as Count Dracula).

The film premiered on 16 March 1977 at the Paris Festival of Fantastic Films but wasn’t released until February 1978.

Plot teaser:

1876: Count Dracula kidnaps Barbara, a teenage girl, from a boarding school and is pursued by an angry mob who stake him. The girl is left buried in a sealed coffin…

1976: The coffin is uncovered during construction and stolen by small crooks and sold to an antique dealer. At night, Barbara rises from her coffin and bites the antique dealer. Rejuvenated by his fresh blood, she becomes a beautiful adult woman. Quickly finding her way in the modern world, she finds a job as a beautician’s body in a Viennese funeral home, where she secretly feeds on blood transfusions.

During a costume party Barbara lays hands on the mistress of the funeral director and is thereby discovered. Unfortunately, the company’s building also accidentally burns down. Now without a regular source of blood, Barbara prowls the city at night and soon arouses the interest of the police…

Reviews:

‘The script is repetitive and the jokes often crude (the coffin bounces around when the hero and heroine mate, for instance), but some crazy-comedy situations involving a pair of undertakers and a recalcitrant cadaver work quite well. Kraft and Lingen acquit themselves honourably and the direction is routinely professional’ Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

Whole film online (German language):

Count Dracula is a British television adaptation of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Produced by the BBC, it first aired on BBC2 on 22 December 1977. It is among the more faithful of the many adaptations of the original book.

Directed by Philip Saville, the 150 minute production stars Louis Jourdan (Fear No Evil; Ritual of Evil; Swamp Thing) as Count Dracula and Frank Finlay (The Deadly Bees; Murder by Decree; Lifeforce) as Van Helsing, plus Susan Penhaligon (House of Mortal Sin), Judi Bowker, Bosco Hogan and Jack Shepherd.

Plot teaser: 

Lucy Westenra’s sister Mina bids farewell to her fiancé Jonathan Harker, who is leaving for a business trip. Harker, a solicitor, is travelling to Count Dracula’s castle in Transylvania to expedite his purchase of Carfax Abbey and other properties in England.

At the door of the castle, Count Dracula himself welcomes Jonathan. Abandoned by superstitious locals, Harker was forced to accept a lift there from an anonymous passing coachman. Jonathan agrees to stay for a month to help the Count with his English. Dracula is urbane and gracious, but also vaguely sinister, and casts no reflection. After a series of disturbing events, Harker explores the castle, finds the Count asleep in a coffin, and tries (ineffectually) to kill him with a shovel…

Buy on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

‘A nice plushy production with much galloping off in all directions and sulphurous smoke effects, a pleasant sensation of space and time and money. Something of a hole in the middle though, like a vampire after remedial treatment.’ Nancy Banks-Smith, The Guardian

‘ …a classic for its concentration on acting and a more literal treatment of the Dracula story. Louis Jourdan turns in a terrific performance as the legendary king of all vampires … Much like the book, the Dracula character is only used sparingly to great effect. The longer running time makes the story feel complete, and the English cast play everything serious and tight.’ Brett Cullum, DVD Verdict

‘ …has a rich gothic drama atmosphere that avoids falling too far towards melodrama. It does fail to be horrific, generally, but when it achieves it, such as with the staking of Lucy, it seems so more effective due to the gentile dramatic quality imbued within the production.’ Taliesin Meets the Vampires

‘ …the most careful adaptation of the novel to date, and the most successful.’ David J. Skal, Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen

Buy Hollywood Gothic from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Cast:

• Louis Jourdan as Count Dracula
• Frank Finlay as Abraham Van Helsing
• Susan Penhaligon as Lucy Westenra
• Judi Bowker as Mina Westenra
• Jack Shepherd as Renfield
• Mark Burns as Dr. John Seward
• Bosco Hogan as Jonathan Harker
• Richard Barnes as Quincey P. Holmwood

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: Taliesin Meets the Vampires

Dracula on Horrorpedia:

Assignment Terror aka Dracula vs. Frankenstein | Aurora Movie Monsters (model kits) | Batman Fights Dracula | Blood for Dracula | Blood of Dracula’s Castle | Bram Stoker’s Dracula | Count Dracula uses ATM (advert) | Count Dracula’s Deadly Secret (ice lolly) | Count Dracula’s Great Love | Dario Argento’s Dracula | Dracula (1931) | Dracula aka Horror of Dracula (1958) Dracula (2013 TV series) | Dracula A.D. 1972 | Dracula II: Ascension | Dracula 2012 | Dracula 3000 | Dracula and Son | Dracula Blows His Cool | Dracula: Dead and Loving It | Dracula Exotica | Dracula Glow Putty (toy) | Dracula Has Risen from the Grave | Dracula in Istanbul | Dracula in the Provinces | Dracula Lives! (comic) | Dracula Sucks | Dracula: The Dark Prince | Dracula: The Dirty Old Man | Dracula: The Impaler | Dracula: The Undead (video game) | Dracula Untold | Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971) | Drak Pack (animated TV series) | Drakula halála | Fangs of Dracula (advertising campaign) | Fresh Garlic: Dracula’s Worst Nightmare (food) | Gallery of Horror | Genuine Soil from Dracula’s Castle (merchandise) | Guess What Happened to Count Dracula? | Hammer Presents Dracula with Christopher Lee (album) | The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula | I Vant to Bite Your Finger: The Dracula Game | Kali: Devil-Bride of Dracula (Hammer projects) | Lady Dracula | The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires | Mego Mad Monsters (toys) | The Monster Squad | Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula | The Satanic Rites of Dracula | Scars of Dracula | Son of Dracula (1943) | Son of Dracula (1973) | Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends: The Brides of Dracula! (animated TV episode) | Spider-Woman: Dracula’s Revenge (animated TV episode) | Taste the Blood of Dracula | Tender Dracula | The Batman vs. Dracula (animated) | The Tomb of Dracula (comic) | The Vampire Happening | Vincent Price’s Dracula | X-Men: Apocalypse vs. Dracula | Zoltan… Hound of Dracula

Santo vs. las Mujeres Vampiro is a 1962 Mexican horror film directed by Alfonso Corona Blake (The World of the Vampires; Samson in the Wax Museum) from a screenplay co-written with Rafael García Travesi, Antonio Orellana and Fernando Osés. K. Gordon Murray supervised the American re-edited version, Samson vs. the Vampire Women.

The film stars Santo, Lorena Velázquez, Jaime Fernández, María Duval, Augusto Benedico and Ofelia Montesco.

Plot teaser:

Vampire women are awakened by their leader, The Evil One, in order to find him a bride. Diana, a local professor’s daughter (María Duval) is kidnapped and so he enlists masked wrestler Santo to rescue her…

Reviews:

‘The main problem is that Santo and the vampire film are odd cousins. Santo is a very physical character based around his brute strength and wrestling skill, while the vampire is supernatural in nature. When the two meet, his immediate response is to engage the male vampire slaves in wrestling matches, which only serves to reduce the vampire’s customary aura of mystery to a very mundane level.’ Moria

‘There’s the usual odd dubbing (one of Santo’s opponents talks like Nick Adams), but the special effects (the customary rubber bats notwithstanding) are pretty good, including vampires burning up in flames at the sight of a giant cross or the morning sunlight, or beautiful faces seen as the crusty, aged horrors that they really are when reflected in a mirror. One of the film’s most memorable moments has Santo unmasking his karate-chopping wrestling competitor to reveal a wolf-like kisser!’ George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

‘Some of the concepts in the film go from the sublime to the ridiculous. We have a police inspector who, after the first kidnap attempt, believes in vampires (and thus releases the unfortunate cop he had locked up earlier) … We have a Professor who contacts Samson by video phone – oddly sci-fi and very out of place.’ Taliesen Meets the Vampires

Cast:

• Santo [Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta] as Santo/Sampson
• Lorena Velázquez as Thorina, queen of the vampires
• María Duval as Diana Orlof
• Jaime Fernández as Inspector Carlos
• Augusto Benedico as Professor Orlof
• Xavier Loyá as Jorge – Diana’s fiance
• Ofelia Montesco as Tandra, vampire priestess
• Fernando Osés as Vampire
• Guillermo Hernández as Vampire
• Nathanael León as Vampire
• Ricardo Adalid as Detective at Party

Choice dialogue:

“Follow me, we’ll search for human blood!”

Wikipedia | IMDb

Damn Sea Vampires! – aka Beast of the Bering Sea, Bering Sea Vampires – is a 2013 American horror film, directed by Don E. FauntLeRoy and written by Brook Durham. It stars Cassie Scerbo (Sharknado), Brandon Beemer, Jonathan Lipnicki and Jaqueline Fleming (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter). The film first aired on the SyFy channel.

While dredging for gold beneath the Bering Sea, siblings Donna (Scerbo) and Joe (Lipnicki) are confronted by a horde of horrific sea vampires. When their father falls victim to the insatiable creatures, Donna and Joe join forces with a dedicated marine biologist ( Fleming) and a loyal deckhand (Beemer) to kill or be killed by the beasts…

Buy Damn Sea Vampires! on DVD from Amazon.co.uk

“A mediocre effort that still manages to be quite endearing, Bering Sea Beast is a passable piece of throwaway entertainment that really should have been accompanied by a soft toy line.” Eye For Film

“There are no surprises, the FX are really poor, and there is no consistency afforded to the characters (Joe is particularly badly written – a prankster one minute, the audience’s moral guide the next). But the dialogue is so ripe, the finely chiselled cast so game, and the violent set-piece scenes so unabashedly cheesy, that Damn Sea Vampires! will almost certainly leave you in a good mood. Depending on what you spent to see it, of course…” Sex Gore Mutants

“Fact of the matter is, in 2014 you’re unlikely to convert any new fans to these relentlessly produced low-budget creature features, and similarly the mere sound of the title will elicit a moan of disdain from the haters. If however you are part of that committed army of b-movie cheese aficionados, then this piece of trash will excite and delight in equal measure.” Scream

IMDb

WH

Lake of Dracula – aka Noroi no yakata: Chi o suu me (“Bloodthirsty Eyes”) is a 1971 Japanese film made by the Toho company but following in Hammer’s Gothic tradition. The film is considered the second in a trilogy of films referred to as “The Bloodthirsty Trilogy”, the other films being The Vampire Doll (Yûrei yashiki no kyôfu: Chi wo sû ningyô, 1970) and Evil of Dracula (Chi o suu bara, 1974). All three were directed by Michio Yamamoto.

In a remote coastal setting young Akiko (Midori Fujita) chases after her misbehaving hound, Leo, following him through a wooded area until they both arrive at a rather unlikely European-style mansion. Obliged to snoop around inside, they are faced with a figure appearing out of the gloom, fangs bared and none too welcoming. Skipping forward many years, Akiko is still with Leo and is venturing out to find a handyman, Kyûsaku, to fix her door. As she arrives, the handyman receives an unexpected delivery which he later discovers is a crate containing a white coffin.

Akiko’s simple life, living with her sister Natsuko (Sanae Emi) by Lake Fujimi, allows time for her pastime of painting, her latest work being a large yellow eye featured in a sunset, which she explains was inspired by nightmares she’s been having since a child. The pair, joined by her sister’s boyfriend, wait patiently for Kyûsaku, who never shows – little do they know that having opened the coffin, only to find it empty, the man has been attacked by an unknown person lurking in the shadows.

Events become ever more peculiar, with a dead body arriving at the hospital drained of blood but with two puncture holes in the neck, all of which the local doctor, Saeki (Chôei Takahashi) finds most perplexing. Meanwhile, Akiko has sadly found her beloved dog dead in the woods with the dinner-avoiding handyman close-by and acting oddly. Now referring to his ‘new master’, Kyûsaku’s return coincides with further abductions, all of which lead back to the mansion’s owner, a nameless vampire (Shin Kishida; the familiar star of the Lone Wolf and Cub films, Hanzo the Razor: The Snare and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla). Dr Saeki and Akiko are dragged into the vampire’s web of terror, not least when Natsuko begins to act strangely. Visions from Akiko’s childhood could be key to saving them from an eternity as the undead…

Largely unloved, both at the time and now, Lake of Dracula is an interesting attempt to combine the particularly Japanese style of slow-moving action and gently painted characters with the elements which had contributed to Hammer’s meteoric rise as the bastion of the horror film. Firstly, it’s best to leave your thoughts on Dracula at the door, there’s really no connection here, the reference apparently being a marketing ploy by American distributors (perhaps the same who thought a re-titling of ‘Japula’ might draw in the crowds – fortunately, even they abandoned this quite quickly); neither is it wise to compare this to the other films of the trilogy, there is no storyline to follow between them.

The main issue is an odd desire for the filmmakers to leave the vampire as such a minor character – apart from a pleasing finale and some hiding in corners, he is left with little to do, leaving, sadly, the less arresting actors to do the majority of the heavy-lifting. Fujita is a timid, shallow female lead, difficult to empathise with, even when her dog is killed – in fairness, she has proved herself to be all but useless in terms of preventing him from constantly running way. Likewise, the doctor, certainly no Van Helsing and barely as interesting as Van Morrison, we are presented with a scenario which blights many a horror film – heroes we’d much rather die than succeed.

Fortunately, the cinematography is excellent, the mansion situated in such an unlikely place being that it’s oddly fascinating to see Japanese actors placed within it. Less well exploited is the titular lake, an opportunity for invention well and truly missed. The problem, aside from the issues already mentioned, is largely that Japan has little in the way of vampiric folklore to draw upon, unusual for a nation so large. As such, the sexual element is missing and the vampire’s motive is somewhat muddled – the film’s conclusion supposes the audience has come straight from a Hammer film, otherwise it could only appear as distinctly odd.

Riichirô Manabe’s score is superb, a real shame it is coupled with such a lacklustre film; Western flourishes and Eastern exoticism, fruity glissandi doing their best to convince the audience something exciting is going to happen. He would later score the likes of Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster and Godzilla vs. Megalon. Colourful and often dreamy, it’s a waste of a good setting and an appealing monster, though as a curiosity it’s worth a watch. If nothing else, the film did have some influence – the impressive No Wave band, Lake of Dracula, taking their name from the movie.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Buy Lake of Dracula on DVD from Amazon.co.uk

Suck is a 2009 Canadian rock-and-roll vampire black comedy film starring, written and directed by Rob Stefaniuk. Stefaniuk stars alongside Canadian actress Jessica Paré, Nicole de Boer, Malcolm McDowell and rock legends Alice Cooper (Prince of Darkness; Bigfoot; Dark Shadows), Iggy Pop (Hardware; The Sandman), Henry Rollins and Alex Lifeson of Rush. Production took place in and around Toronto in late 2008.

Plot teaser:

A down and out rock’n’roll band, The Winners, who will do anything for a record deal. Their luck suddenly changes when Jennifer the bass player, disappears one night with a vampire and emerges with a sexually charged charisma that drives the audiences wild. As the band members succumb, one by one, to blood lust, their “gimmick” launches them into the limelight…

Various shots in the movie are meant to evoke classic rock album covers. Some examples: A shot of the band crossing the street is an homage to The Beatles “Abbey Road.” Another shot of the band using a Union Jack flag as a blanket is based on The Who’s “The Kids Are Alright.” In the border station, the first shot is a nod to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The USA”.

Buy Suck on Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Reviews:

“Stefaniuk keeps the energy level high and wisely blends in music liberally with the vampire action. Suck is a rock movie at its heart and Stefaniuk and crew embrace this fact; the bass player’s metal-infused transformation sequence is a stand-out. The story isn’t held back either, as the progression from “bizarre rock band underdog movie” to full-on “vampire hunting spoof” moves along nicely and features some satisfying beats. Staking a vamp with an electric guitar? Genius.” DVD Verdict

“Suck is a movie that doesn’t really have any surprises, take one look at the fangs on the poster and read the corny title and you’ll know pretty much what you are in store for. But that doesn’t mean Suck isn’t actually quite funny and weirdly appealing despite its low-budget origins.” Eye For Film

Wikipedia | IMDb

WH

Las Vampiras (translation: “The Female Vampires”) is a 1968 Mexican masked wrestler horror movie directed by Federico Curiel (The Curse of Nostradamus; The Empire of Dracula; The Mummies of Guanajuato) from a screenplay co-written with Adolfo Torres Portillo (Hellish Spiders; Diabolical Pact).

The film stars John Carradine (Autopsy of a Ghost; Bigfoot; Vampire Hookers), Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Mil Máscaras, María Duval, Marta Romero, Maura Monti, Dagoberto Rodríguez, Vianey Lárraga, Elsa Maria, Manuel Garay, Rossy Ceballos, Sara Benítez and Felipe del Castillo.

Plot teaser:

A masked wrestler (Mil Máscaras) tries to break up a coven of female vampires, led by Branus, king of the vampires (Carradine). Meanwhile, the latter has been caged by his own female followers…

Reviews:

“In his role as Las Vampiras’ vampire king, Carradine leaves teeth marks not only on most of the cast members, but also every inch of the scenery.  And, when he doesn’t look just plain confused, he appears to be having a great time doing it.  If all his mugging, gnashing of teeth and bellowing (in dubbed Spanish, of course) were Las Vampiras’ only attraction, that would be enough, but, happily, the film also delivers pretty much everything else you’d want from one of these movies.” Todd Stadtman, The Lucha Diaries

” … like some half-assed attempt to remake Santo vs. the Vampire Women with none of the style, charm, or fun of that production. Much of the film’s 90 minute running time consists of a half-dozen or so caped dance school floozies wrapped up in vomit-green nylon leggings running around in circles while waving their arms about. How the movie gets to this dour point I’ve done my best to purge from my consciousness.” Silver Emulsion Film Reviews

Buy John Carradine: The Films from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

IMDb

Empire of the Dead is a forthcoming American television series adaptation of George A. Romero’s fifteen-issue graphic novel of the same name – which mixes zombies and vampires in post-apocalyptic New York city – published by Marvel Comics. The series is being developed by Demarest, the production company that backed Kevin Smith’s Tusk,

The TV series will be scripted by Romero and longtime partner Peter Grunwald, both of whom are executive producers with Demarest’s Sam Englebardt and William D. Johnson.

Source: Variety