Bordello of Blood – also known as Tales from the Crypt Presents: Bordello of Blood – is a 1996 comedy/horror film starring Dennis Miller, Erika Eleniak, Angie Everhart, Corey Feldman and Chris Sarandon. The movie is based on the HBO television series Tales from the Crypt.

Release:

Buy: Amazon.com

Plot teaser:

Vincent (Phil Fondacaro) and his associates explore a forest, until they find a cave containing a coffin with the skeleton of Lilith, mother of all vampires. Vincent takes a box out of his pocket, which contains the four sections of her heart. He puts it in her body, and she rapidly begins reanimating. Revived, she rips the hearts out of the associates and goes after Vincent, who produces the key artifact seen in Demon Knight. Vincent then explains that the artifact from “Demon Knight” and the blood within it allows him to have full control over her. Vincent then turns to Lilith and asks her if he allows her to eat the last associate would she then behave. She replies “Anything for you, lover”.

The Crypt Keeper is having lunch with the Mummy (William Sadler), who is boring him about film industry life. The Mummy challenges the Crypt Keeper to a contest of rock, paper, scissors which the Mummy wins, and he slices off the Keeper’s hand with a meat cleaver. Laughing, the Crypt Keeper addresses the audience, and the story continues.

Catherine Verdoux (Erika Eleniak) lives with her delinquent brother Caleb (Corey Feldman). He goes out one night against her wishes and, while hanging at a bar, is informed of a secret brothel in the guise of a funeral home. Caleb and a friend go to check it out, where they do indeed find the information true (albeit forced by the mortician McCutcheon (Aubrey Morris). Unknown to them however, it’s run by the fully regenerated Lilith (Angie Everhart). All the women there are vampires turned by Lilith, completely evil, lustful and subservient to her…

Reviews:

“The film works because it doesn’t take itself seriously at all. At one point Guttman says that he feels he is in a bad Tales from the Crypt episode. There is a marvellous slaughter of vampires with water pistols and super soakers (obviously filled with holy water) that, despite being very similar to From Dusk Till Dawn which was released in the same year, really works well probably due to the fact that the soundtrack cuts into ‘Ballroom Blitz’.” Taliesin Meets the Vampires

“The latest feature spinoff from the campy HBO horror-comedy series is another cheesy goulash of smart-alecky humor and full-bore gore, spiced with more shots of topless lovelies than you’d find in a ’60s sexploitation flick. Adolescent boys might groove to the mix, but most other ticketbuyers will avoid this tawdry opus like the plague.” Joe Leydon, Variety

“The big themes in this lackluster second feature under the “Tales From the Crypt” banner are sex and religion. Both are presented with painfully sophomoric irreverence. Sex appears in the form of many women with bare breasts and repeated references to sex acts, some downright kinky. The religious angle involves a born- again Christian preacher and his determination to use vampire women to lure sinners to their deaths.” Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle

“Bordello of Blood is a joyous comedy and gorefest with a gungho cast, a fun story, and some really great effects gags.” The Girl Who Loves Horror

“Triple the length of its cable television inspiration, Tales from the Crypt Presents Bordello of Blood is triple the gore, triple the naked women, but not, alas, triple the fun. Comic takes on vampires have been done better, less bloodily and with more clothing, but always without the benefit of a wildly popular franchise like this HBO series.” Richard Harrington, Washington Post

“If you’re craving a strong story and drawn out characters, look elsewhere. If you’re in the mood for some good laughs, a couple of creamy tits, lots of zany (and well done) visual effects, some quirky side characters, a midget, some hints of lesbianism (always a good thing), lots of ketchup, a holy water squirt gun vampire massacre, Angie Everheart looking like my last solo fantasy and Corey Feldman making an ass of himself, this is the right whore house to smuggle into.” Arrow, Joblo.com

Cast:

• John Kassir – Voice of The Crypt Keeper
• Dennis Miller – Rafe Guttman
• Erika Eleniak – Catherine Verdoux
• Angie Everhart – Lilith
• Chris Sarandon – Reverend J.C. Current
• Corey Feldman – Caleb Verdoux
• Aubrey Morris – McCutcheon
• Phil Fondacaro – Vincent Prather
• William Sadler – The Mummy
• Kiara Hunter – Tamara
• Leslie Ann Phillips – Patrice
• Juliet Reagh – Tallulah
• Eli Gabay – Miguel
• Matt Hill – Reggie
• Eric Keenleyside – Noonan
• Kim Kondrashoff – Jenkins
• Robert Munic – Zeke
• Gary Starr – Jed
• Robin Douglas – Louise
• Dorian Joe Clark – Jonas
• Ravinder Toor – Bartender
• Robert Rozen – Rabbi Goldman
• Jennifer Jasey – Woman
• Heather Hanson – Babe
• Tobias Mehler – Man in Bordello
• Whoopi Goldberg – Hospital Patient (uncredited)

Fright Night Part 2 is a 1988 American horror comedy film directed by Tommy Lee Wallace (Halloween III: Season of the Witch; It; Vampires: Los Muertos ) from a screenplay co-written with Tim Metcalfe and Miguel Tejada-Flores. Composer Brad Fiedel also returned with another synthesizer score.

Cast:

William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowall, Traci Lind and Julie Carmen.

Plot:

Three years after the events of Fright Night, as a result of psychiatric therapy, Charley Brewster now believes that Jerry Dandrige was nothing but a serial killer posing as a vampire. As a result, he comes to believe that vampires never existed.

College student Charley, along with his new girlfriend, Alex Young, go to visit Peter Vincent, who is again a burnt-out vampire killer on Fright Night, much to the chagrin of Charley. While visiting Peter’s apartment Charley sees four coffins being taken into a car. On the way out from Peter’s apartment, Charley sees four strange people walk past him, into an elevator. Charley instantly becomes drawn to one of the four, the alluring Regine…

Reviews:

“Fright Night 2 isn’t close to being a terrible, unworthy follow-up to a cult classic; however, it’s really no closer to being an underrated gem, either. If anything, he [Wallace] gets the effects stuff right — there’s a lot more showcases this time around, as each vampire is dispatched in gruesome and unique fashion (another element borrowed from The Lost Boys?)” Oh, the Horror!

“With Carmen’s fatal allure substituted for Sarandon’s sexually ambiguous charm, the intriguing homoerotic overtones of the original give way to a more blatant equation of hunger and desire. What few innovations there are – notably Carmen’s spectacular usurpation of McDowall’s show – go for nothing. Wallace’s direction lackes the flair and intelligence that Tom Holland brought to Fright Night.” Nigel Floyd, Time Out

” … this gory, uninspired sequel to Fright Night offers neither the fascinating plot twists nor the startlingly horrific gimmicks employed so well by director Tom Holland in the original.” TV Guide

Cast and Characters:

• William Ragsdale as Charley Brewster
• Roddy McDowall as Peter Vincent
• Traci Lin as Alex Young
• Julie Carmen as Regine Dandrige
• Jon Gries as Louie
• Russell Clark as Belle
• Brian Thompson as Bozworth
• Merritt Butrick as Richie Green
• Ernie Sabella as Dr. Harrison
• Josh Richman as Fritzy
• Blair Tefkin as Bernice

Choice dialogue:

Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall): “Such a thing simply couldn’t happen twice, Charley.”

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

In Romanian mythology, strigoi (English: striga, poltergeist) are the troubled souls of the dead rising from the grave. Some strigoi can be living people with certain magical properties. Some of the properties of the strigoi include: the ability to transform into an animal, invisibility, and the propensity to drain the vitality of victims via blood loss. Strigoi are also known as immortal vampires.

Origin

According to Adrien Cremene, strigoi date back to the Dacians. The strigoi are creatures of Dacian mythology, evil spirits, the spirits of the dead whose actions made them unworthy of entering the kingdom of Zalmoxis. As these stories were transmitted only by oral tradition, the legend has lost its original substance, and Romanians have transformed strigoi into bloodthirsty creatures.

Middle Ages

The Croatian Jure Grando, who died in 1656, was allegedly the first vampire whose existence is documented. In his native Istria, he was called strigoi, a local dialect word to describe a vampire. He terrorised the villagers until beheaded in 1672.

A Serbian peasant named Petar Blagojevich, who died in 1725, was believed to become an authentic strigoi after his death. Blagojevich came back to his house to haunt his own son and demand food, but the son refused, so Blagojevich brutally murdered him.

Belle Époque

In 1909, Franz Hartmann mentions in his book An Authenticated Vampire Story that peasant children from a village in the Carpathian Mountains started to die mysteriously. The villagers began to suspect a recently deceased count was a vampire, dwelling in his old fortress. Frightened villagers burned the castle to stop the deaths.

Under communism

In his book In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires, Radu Florescu mentions an event in 1969 in the city of Căpăţâneni, where after the death of an old man, several family members began to die in suspicious circumstances. Unearthed, the corpse did not show signs of decomposition, his eyes were wide open, the face was red and twisted in the coffin. The corpse was burned to save his soul.

In 1970, a series of hideous crimes shocked Bucharest. The attacks took place at midnight during rainstorms. The victims were usually waitresses returning home from work. In 1971, Ion Rîmaru was arrested and identified by teeth marks on the corpses. During the trial he was in a state of continual drowsiness. He was interrogated at night because he was not lucid at any other time. During daylight hours, Rîmaru was intractably lethargic. Sentenced to death, Rîmaru became violently agitated. Several policemen were needed to restrain him. After the execution, Rîmaru’s father died in a suspicious accident. During the investigation of the accident, it was discovered that the father’s fingerprints matched those of a serial killer active in 1944 whose crimes looked remarkably similar to those of Ion Rîmaru. The similarities included the weather conditions and similar or identical names of some of the victims. It was rumored that the accident was engineered by the Securitate, who decided to eliminate the dangerous individual.

During the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the corpse of Nicolae Ceaușescu did not receive a proper burial. This made the ghost of the former dictator a threat in the minds of superstitious Romanians. Noted revolutionary Gelu Voican carpeted the apartment of the Conducător with braids of garlic. This is a traditional remedy against the strigoi.

Today

Before Christmas 2003, in the village of Marotinu de Sus, a 76-year-old Romanian man named Petre Toma died. In February 2004, a niece of the deceased revealed that she had been visited by her late uncle. Gheorghe Marinescu, a brother-in-law, became the leader of a vampire hunting group made up of several family members. After drinking some alcohol, they dug up the coffin of Petre Toma, made an incision in his chest, and tore the heart out. After removal of the heart, the body was burned and the ashes mixed in water and drunk by the family. However, the Romanian government anxious to maintain a good image in preparation for the country’s accession to the European Union had banned this practice, and six family members were arrested by the police of Craiova from Dolj County for “disturbing the peace of the dead”, and were imprisoned and sentenced to pay damages to the family of the deceased. Since then, in the nearby village of Amărăştii de Sus, people drive a fire-hardened stake through the heart or belly of the dead as a “preventative”.

Wikipedia

Embrace of the Vampire is a 2013 American supernatural horror film directed by Carl Bessai from a screenplay by Andrew C. Erin, Alan Mruvka and Sheldon Roper.

It is a remake of the 1995 film of the same name, although reviewers have also noted its similarity to Black Swan. It was released on October 15, 2013 direct to video in the United States by Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Main cast:

Sharon Hinnendael (Nightfall), Kaniehtiio Horn (The Theatre Bizarre), C.C. Sheffield (No Tell Motel), Chelsey Reist, Victor Webster (Wishmaster 4; Ragin’ Cajun Redneck Gators; Fun Size Horror: Volume One), Robert Moloney (Disturbing Behavior; The New Addams Family; Bates Motel), Ryan Kennedy (Blade: The Series; Ogre), Keegan Connor Tracy (Final Destination 2; Bates Motel; Dead Rising: Watchtower), Olivia Cheng, Claire Smithies, Sarah Grey.

Official synopsis:

Charlotte (Sharon Hinnendael) is a timid and sheltered teen who has just left an all-girls Catholic school for a new life at a co-ed university with a fencing scholarship. But an ancient evil has followed her here, tormenting her with disturbing nightmares and tempting her with forbidden desires. It is a hunger that can only be satiated by sensual pleasures of the flesh… and a thirst for blood. It’s a battle for her soul… and one she’s losing. But Charlotte is a fighter. The chaos and torment threatens to unleash her own inner beast, and anyone even close to her may find themselves embracing their own horrific fate…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Reviews:

” … remake of Embrace of the Vampire may be best enjoyed with the old brain mechanism turned completely off. In spite of its setting in the academic world, this film is hardly an intellectual pursuit, not that very many people might make that mistake to begin with. Certainly Embrace of the Vampireisn’t nearly as bad as it could have been, but it’s hardly an evening at the ballet, either.” J.C. Macek III, Pop Matters

“The acting is fair enough – with Sharon Hinnendael convincingly repressed as Charlotte. It perhaps needed a little tightening in the script, there is nothing definitive but it all felt a little loose and takes a while to get where it is going. That said it hangs together much better than the original film … All in all not bad.” Taliesin Meets the Vampires

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

“If you like b-grade vampire movies, this one’s pretty well done, and it’s definitely a better film than the original.  Of course it doesn’t have a naked Alyssa Milano, which was kind of the whole point of the original.  But it does have plenty of beautiful naked women who are not Alyssa Milano and quite a bit more horror, violence, and gore than the original, which may be the whole point of this remake.” Mat Brewster, Cinema Sentries

Cast and Characters:

Sharon Hinnendael as Charlotte Hawthorn
Kaniehtiio Horn [as Tiio Horn] as Nicole
C.C. Sheffield as Eliza
Chelsey Reist( [as Chelsey Marie Reist] as Sarah Campbell
Victor Webster as Professor Cole / Stefan
Robert Moloney as Dr. John Duncan
Ryan Kennedy as Chris
Keegan Connor Tracy as Daciana
Olivia Cheng as Kelly
Claire Smithies as Sorina
Sarah Grey as Young Charlotte

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

Monster Old Maid is a 1964 card game created by the Milton Bradley company from Springfield, Massachusetts for children aged five to ten years-old. Based on the card game Old Maid, it comprises a set of nineteen cards featuring Universal monsters, plus an additional instruction card. The rear of the cards feature a spider web with the word ‘monster’ written across.

Characters in the set include Creature from the Black Lagoon, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, and The Phantom of the Opera. Dracula’s Daughter (image taken from Hammer’s The Brides of Dracula, which Universal distributed in the US) was the Old Maid card.

We are grateful to The Retroist for the information above and Lost & Found Vintage Toys for the directions image.

Horrorpedia on Social Media: Facebook (Follow) | Facebook (Social Group) | Pinterest | Tumblr | Twitter

Yakuza Apocalypse – 極道大戦争 (Gokudō Daisensō) – is a 2015 Japanese action yakuza vampire film directed by Takashi Miike (Gozu; Audition; Ichi the Killer) from a screenplay by Yoshitaka Yamaguchi (Arcana; Samurai Cat).

The film was released on June 20, 2015.

Main cast:

Hayato Ichihara, Yayan Ruhian, Riko Narumi.

Plot:

In the ruthless underground world of the yakuza, no one is more legendary than boss Kamiura. Rumored to be invincible, the truth is he is a vampire. Among Kamiura’s gang is Kageyama, his most loyal underling. However, the others in the gang view Kageyama with disdain and ridicule him for his inability to get tattooed due to sensitive skin.

One day, assassins aware of Kamiura’s secret arrive from abroad and deliver him an ultimatum: return to the international syndicate he left years ago, or die. Kamiura refuses and, during a fierce battle with anime-otaku martial-arts expert Kyoken, is torn limb from limb. With his dying breath, Kamiura bites Kageyama, passing on his vampire powers to the unsuspecting yakuza.

As he begins to awaken to his newfound abilities, Kageyama’s desire to avenge the murder of boss Kamiura sets him on a course for a violent confrontation with Kaeru-kun, the foreign syndicate’s mysterious and seemingly unstoppable leader…

Reviews:

“It is extremely mad, long and often tiresome. Yet it is acted with eerie and absolute conviction, and has an interestingly surreal quality; Miike has a claim to be one of cinema’s genuine surrealists.” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“As a plotter of chaos, this Japanese filmmaker is a past master, canny enough to make you forget the lack of connections between set pieces (or that most of the action seems to transpire on a single street). And there’s a certain humor to the clash between the vagaries of vampirism.” Nicolas Rapold, The New York Times

“The film is a tooth-rotting, mind-scrambling aspartame rush of nonsense, but its brilliance stems from the director’s flat refusal to distinguish between the sublime and the ridiculous. The martial arts battles are played for laughs, but the combat is shot from an over-the-shoulder angle that displays Ichihara and Ruhian’s whip-crack athleticism to its fullest advantage.” Robbie Collin, The Telegraph

“It’s almost two hours long, but it doesn’t feel that long by the time it ends with a comically punishing fist fight … There are moments when the film feels like a runaway train fueled by sheer chutzpah…” Simon Abrams, RogerEbert.com

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Cast and characters:

• Hayato Ichihara as Akira Kageyama
• Yayan Ruhian as Kyoken (狂犬) / Mad Dog
• Riko Narumi as Kyōko Anan
• Lily Franky as Genyō Kamiura
• Reiko Takashima

Red Band Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Mystic… the most eerie stories ever told!’

Mystic was an American horror-suspense anthology comic published by Marvel’s 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics, from March 1951 and August 1957, lasting sixty-one issues.

Mystic debuted shortly before Atlas’ Strange Tales (Marvel, 1951 series), increasing the company’s science fiction/fantasy/horror line from four to six books. Its contributors included artists Bill Everett and John Severin.

Begun prior to the creation of the comic-book industry’s self-censorship board, the Comics Code Authority, Mystic softened its horror and began sporting the Comics Code seal with issue #37 (May 1955).

Mystic ran until the collapse of American News Company, Atlas’s distributor, which forced Atlas to undergo drastic restructuring and the cancellation of most of its titles.

We are indebted to Comic Vine for the cover images above. Visit their site for the more cover images.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

‘Pray for dawn’

Children of the Night is a 1991 American horror film directed by Tony Randel (Hellbound: Hellraiser II; Amityville: It’s About Time; Ticks) from a screenplay by Nicolas Falacci.

Main cast:

Karen Black, Peter DeLuise, Ami Dolenz (Witchboard 2; Pumpkinhead II), Garrett Morris.

Plot:

Before going away to college, two childhood friends, Cindy Thompson and Lucy Barrett (Ami Dolenz), decide to symbolically cleanse themselves of the “dirt” of their small town by swimming laps in an abandoned church crypt. Lucy drops her crucifix necklace, which drifts down onto the submerged remains of an ancient vampire, Czakyr. Czakyr awakes and kills Cindy.

Mark Gardner (Peter DeLuise), a school teacher from a nearby town, gets directed to Allburg by an old friend of his, Father Frank Aldin (Evan Mackenzie). Once there he tries to help Lucy, as she has now become the target of a town-turned-vampires, due to her “virgin blood”. Lucy, Mark, and a drunken preacher make camp in an abandoned building outside of town and make plans to fight the vampire army…

Reviews:

“It’s certainly not the worst vampire movie ever made, but it gets a ribbon for participation. Ridiculous direction, a terrible script, and a passel of actors all vying to win the Shatner Award for Clinical Overacting are just the most basic of problems at hand here.” Classic Horror

“It seems more inspired by films like The Lost Boys and Monster Squad than the older, darker vampire movies. Despite its R-rating, it’s a fun, nonsensical 90 minute ride through teenage vampire movie land, but with a professional look and feel to it.” The Trashy Horror Charlie Show

” … this film is a total mess from start to finish. It never knows whether it wants to be serious or super lighthearted. I like how they kept trying to rip off other horror movies especially with that wannabe Hellraiser soundtrack. You have way too many plot lines that amount to nothing leaving the audience with that script-in-a-blender sensation.” Ryan’s Movie Reviews

“The entire film vies between moments of inspiration and silly campiness with no clear consistency of tone.” Moria

Cast and characters:

• Karen Black as Karen Thompson
• Peter DeLuise as Mark Gardner
• Ami Dolenz as Lucy Barrett
• Maya McLaughlin as Cindy Thompson
• David Sawyer as Czakyr
• Garrett Morris as Matty

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

Suckula is a 1973 American adult comedy horror film directed by Anthony Spinelli [as Jack Armstrong].

Cast:

Pat Arno, Ann Finn, Art Gill, George ‘Buck’ Flower (Criminally Insane; The Fog; Pumpkinhead), Brigitte Maier, Antoinette Maynard, Paul Scharf, Keith Erickson, Jim Sims.

Plot: 

George Smutnam (George ‘Buck’ Flower), a New York news reporter, covers Dracula’s rampage in Hollywood.

Review:

“The movie is like a poverty row version of The Groove Tube or Kentucky Fried Movie. There are goofy commercials interspersed throughout them tracking down Dracula. I did think it odd that the Dracula scenes were done with silent film title cards. Made it a little surreal.” Divine Exploitation

Choice dialogue:

George Smutnam: “Now stay tuned for the late movie, The Mad Motorcycle Monster Who Ate Naked Hippies.”

IMDb

‘The ultimate seduction’

Dance of the Damned is a 1989 American vampire horror film directed by former actress Katt Shea (she also directed Stripped to Kill; Stripped to Kill II: Live Girls; The Rage: Carrie 2) from a screenplay co-written with her then-husband Andy Ruben. It was executive produced by Roger Corman.

Shea recalled filming to TV Store: “Corman wanted to use a strip club again and he had a haunted house set that he had left over from another film. So Andy Ruben and I came up with an idea to shoot in those two locations. Of course we changed the haunted house into this really modern, amazing, great house.”

Cast:

Starr Andreeff (Skullduggery; Out of the Dark; Ghoulies II), Cyril O’Reilly (Bloody Birthday; Carnosaur 3), Debbie Nassar, Maria Ford, Athena Worthy, Tom Ruben, Chuck Rhee.

Plot:

A suicidal stripper (Starr Andreef) spends an evening with a sympathetic vampire (Cyril O’Reilly)…

Reviews:

” … it’s well done. A nice feature is that the camera is occasionally viewing the scenery through the vampire’s eyes and the whole picture then is filmed in dimmed violet colours. It’s another low-budget movie, but one worth watching.” Vampyres Online

“The suicidal stripper and mulleted vampire are two very desperate souls and they connect in a most interesting way. There may be no real dinner other than some blood sucking, but their conversations are unique and the dialogue rings with a real truth and sadness.” Cinema Du Meep

“… Dance of the Damned is the worst type of picture to undertake with a B-movie budget and cast — a terrifying two-headed talkathon. Even under the best conditions, movies of this sort are tricky to pull off and, to put it kindly, Dance falls far short of the mark.” TV Guide

“There’s little here but mood, and there’s tons of mood.” John Stanley, Creature Features

Choice dialogue:

The vampire: “You’ll never understand the emptiness of living forever.”

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘The black prince of shadows stalks the earth again!’

Scream Blacula Scream is a 1973 American blaxploitation horror film directed by Bob Kelljan from a screenplay by Maurice Jules, Raymond Koenig and Joan Torres.

This is the only sequel to the 1972 film Blacula. The movie was produced by American International Pictures (AIP) and Power Productions. It was made under the working titles Blacula Is Beautiful and Blacula Lives Again!

Main cast:

William Marshall, Don Mitchell, Pam Grier,  Michael Conrad, Lynne Moody, Bernie Hamilton, Richard Lawson.

Plot:

After a dying Voodoo queen, Mama Loa, chooses an adopted apprentice, Lisa Fortier (Pam Grier) as her successor, her arrogant son and true heir, Willis, (Richard Lawson) is outraged. Seeking revenge, he buys the bones of Mamuwalde the vampire from the former shaman of the voodoo cult, and uses voodoo to resurrect the vampire to do his bidding.

However, while it brings Mamuwalde back to life, he quickly bites Willis upon awakening. Willis now finds himself in a curse of his own doing: made into a vampire hungering for blood and, ironically, a slave to the very creature he sought to control…

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“Marshall has the kind of pseudo-Shakespearean dialog and delivery that Vincent Price and others have been polishing at Hammer. And Miss Grier, a real beauty, has a spirit and enthusiasm that’s refreshing. Also, she can scream well, and that is always important in these enterprises.” Roger Ebert

“Marshall is again excellent as Mamuwalde/Blacula, this time not motivated by love but by the destiny of ending his curse once and for all. He has a horde of pasty vampires at his command, and the climatic vampires vs. police fiasco set in a dark mansion is a highlight. Lots of scenes stick out…” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

“Scream Blacula Scream is a blaxploitation horror film that takes its influence not just from its predecessor, but the burgeoning subgenre as the whole. This makes for an undeniably entertaining film, but one of lower quality. Further, the morality and social commentary of the first film is lost in the muddled mess that makes up the sequel.” J.C. Macek III, Pop Matters

“It was impressive enough when Blacula got it right, and for the sequel to nail it, too, seems almost too much to ask.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“This sequel is maybe just hair off from Blacula as a whole; some stretches drag, so much so that the mere appearance of a young Craig T. Nelson is noteworthy. But it’s rather fun and gory enough to hold your attention when it wants to, though the film unfortunately peters out at a climax that doesn’t come close in rivaling the splattery theatricality of Blacula’s first send-off.” Brett Galman, Oh, the Horror!

“Still, the sequel is about as fun and accidentally funny as the first, just in different ways. So it’s hardly a disappointment, even if it’s a shame that Grier was stuck with a fairly passive damsel in distress role when she really should have been kicking Blacula ass. She was born to do such things.” Phil Brown, Dork Shelf

“This sequel is less dramatic than Crain’s 1972 film, but what it lacks in pathos it makes up for in pure absurdity. Scream Blacula Scream is almost a parody of Blacula, with some out of sight performances by Grier, Richard Lawson, and the returning William Marshall. The Universal Horror vibe of vampire romance takes a backseat to the voodoo cult craziness of zombie films from the ’30s and ’40s.” Adam Frazier, Geeks of Doom

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Choice dialogue:

Willis: “I ain’t afraid of no power!”

Blacula: “Your only justification for crawling on this Earth is to serve me.”

Cast and characters:

• William Marshall as Prince Mamuwalde / Blacula
• Don Mitchell as Justin Carter
• Pam Grier as Lisa Fortier
• Michael Conrad as Lieutenant Harley Dunlop
• Janee Michelle as Gloria
• Lynn Moody as Denny
• Barbara Rhoades as Elaine
• Bernie Hamilton as Ragman
• Richard Lawson as Willis Daniels
• Arnold Williams as Louis
• Van Kirksey as Professor Walton
• Craig Nelson as Sarge
• James Kingsley as Sergeant Williams

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Art of the Title

‘More vicious than the myth’

Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula is a 2000 horror-war television film directed by Joe Chappelle (Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers; Hellraiser: Bloodline; Phantoms) from a screenplay by Thomas Baum.

The film is about Vlad III Dracula, “the Impaler”, the historical figure who gave Bram Stoker‘s Dracula his name. It is also known as Dracula: The Dark Prince and Dark Prince: Legend of Dracula.

Main cast:

(Robocop), Michael Sutton, Roger Daltrey (The Legacy; Vampirella)

Plot:

Vlad is a dispossessed noble, and a patriot who fights the occupation forces of the Turks hoping to avenge the murder of his father by Romanian nobles and the capture of his brother by the Ottoman sultan. The King of Hungary (Roger Daltrey) becomes Vlad’s ally and, with his support, Vlad and his men attack the occupying Turks and turncoat Romanian boyars, and seizes the throne of Wallachia, in the film called simply (and anachronistically) “Romania”…

Reviews:

“For such a familiar story, Dark Prince has all the excitement of something brand new. These characters can easily become caricatures, growling for gore and calling down vengeance from heaven. But the excellent cast and ferocious battle scenes make for one of the best war movies to hit TV in a while.” John Walsh, Maxim

“Dracula: The Dark Prince is a welcome extension of the Dracula brand. Unlike the multitudes of generic rip-offs that come out annually, this low-key effort finally puts a new spin on an old myth.” Ryan Cracknell, Apollo Movie Guide

“It plays hell with the facts and reduces its potentially gripping subject to cheesy soap operatic melodrama. … It’s not awful, but it is awfully ordinary. For the real goods, find McNally and Florescu’s Dracula: Prince of Many Faces: His Life and Times instead.” Mark Bourne, The DVD Journal

“The combination of above-par acting, interesting storyline, and lovely Eastern European scenery make this USA Network production worth watching.” Judy McGuire, TV Guide

“It’s obviously fluffed up but at the same time it’s a bit repetitious, with countless battle scenes that don’t offer much closure. In the end we’re left with the notion that Vlad the Impaler was (and remains) a national hero, not a demon walking among the dead. And that might put a crimp in your enjoyment of the Bram Stoker stories.” Christopher Null,  Filmcritic.com

Choice dialogue:

Vlad Tepes: “The Pope and the sultans stink alike!”

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

Count Dracula Duck is a character revealed to be the final boss in the NES Duck Tales video game and its remastered version. In the latter, his real name was revealed to be Drake Von Vladstone. The remastered game is available on Xbox 360, Wii U and Playstation3.

Drake von Vladstone’s appearance was modelled on Scrooge, except he wears a more 17th century form of noble-wear, his hat a purple ring around it rather than red, his eyes have purple bags, and he has two vampire fangs.

The big fight takes place in Transylvania. Count Dracula Duck only has one attack. He teleports and summons a bat toward Scrooge McDuck. Scrooge must jump over the bat to get a boost to then jump on him a few times until he is defeated. After his defeat, Magica De Spell and Flintheart Glomgold race Scrooge to the top of the pillar to collect the treasure.

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Vampiria is a 2016 Turkish supernatural horror film written and directed by Hasan Karacadag ((D@bbe and its sequels; Semum; Magi). It stars Murat Sevis, Sultan Köroglu Kiliç.

The film is still in production at the time of writing.

IMDb

‘Two no-hopers. One cursed village. One hell of a night!’

Lesbian Vampire Killers – also known as simply Vampire Killers in the US – is a 2009 British comedy horror film directed by Phil Claydon from a screenplay by Stewart Williams and Paul Hupfield. It was produced by Steve Clark-Hall. It stars Paul McGann (Alien³; The Monk), James Corden, Mathew Horne and MyAnna Buring.

Momentum pictures has claimed that retailers – including supermarket chain Tesco – demanded warning stickers be placed over the word “Lesbian”. A spokesperson from Tesco said that although they did ask for a cover with less cleavage, they “did not suggest that they [Momentum] amend the wording”

Plot:

Jimmy (Mathew Horne) and Fletch (James Corden) are two friends living in London. Jimmy is dumped by his girlfriend and Fletch is fired from his job as a clown for punching a child. They decide to escape their woes and hike to a remote village in Norfolk that they find via an old map. As they arrive at a pub in the village, they see a number of attractive foreign female history students leaving.

Hoping to find more beautiful women inside, they are greeted by a morose crowd of men and approached by a seemingly crazed vicar (Paul McGann) who believes Jimmy is a long lost descendant of a local vampire slayer…

Reviews:

James Christopher of The Times described Lesbian Vampire Killers as “profoundly awful” stating it is an “instantly forgettable lads’ mag farce” and suggested the film was an “appalling waste of a perfectly decent title”.

” … a movie that is much more interested in ogling women and making schoolboy jokes. Any laughs come courtesy of Corden’s randy, blustering Fletch. Phil Claydon directs at a breakneck pace but maybe he just wanted it to be over as quickly as possible. I know exactly how he feels.” Allan Hunter, Daily Express

“The comedy consists mostly in a lot of blokey swearing and Scooby-Doo-style running and gurning, the latter supplied by Paul McGann as an exorcist vicar. It’s pretty woeful, and unimaginably boring.” Anthony Quinn, The Independent

“St. Trinian‘s meets The Descent in the pages of Nuts magazine. It’s mostly pretty awful, but there are one or two crass laughs, largely provided by Paul McGann playing the potty-mouthed priest who is the only one who knows how to slay the Page-3 vampirettes.” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

Santo y Blue Demon vs Drácula y el Hombre Lobo (“Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Wolf Man”) is a 1973 Mexican supernatural horror film directed by Miguel M. Delgado (El fantasma de la casa roja; Santo vs. the Son of Frankenstein) from a screenplay by Alfredo Salazar (The Witch; Doctor of Doom; Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy).

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Trailer:

Whole film:

IMDb | Image credits: VHS Collector | Wrong Side of the Art! | Zombo’s Closet

‘Love sucks’

This Ain’t Dracula XXX is a 2011 American adult movie horror film directed by Axel Braun (This Ain’t Ghostbusters XXX) for Hustler Video. The plot is very loosely based on Bram Stoker‘s novel, Dracula. The film is available in a 3D version.

Italian-born Axel Braun – son of Lasse Braun, a key 1970s European adult filmmaker – now specialises in porn parodies of mainstream movie hits and has directed many, based on Star Wars; Spider-Man; X-Men; Wonder Woman; Batman v. Superman; Avengers vs X-Men and The Empire Strikes Back.

Cast:

Evan Stone (Count Dracula), Jessi Palmer (Mina Harker), Marie McCray (Lucy Westerna), Ryan Driller (Jonathan Harker), Tom Byron (R.M. Renfield), Bridgette B. (Vampire Bride), Jennifer Dark (Vampire Bride), Brandy Aniston (Vampire Bride), Krissy Lynn (Girl in Seward’s Sanatorium), Alan Stafford (Quincey Morris), Joey Brass (Lord Arthur Holmwood), Andy Appleton (Abraham Van Helsing), Amber Cherry (Maid), Steve Crest [as Jack Lawrence] (Dr. John Seward), Michael Troughton (Sailor on the Demeter #1), Rob McEvilly (Sailor on the Demeter #2).

Review:

“This is a basically a very accurate adult version of the 1992 Francis Ford Coppola film Bram Stoker’s Dracula. As weird as it may sound though, the rated R film was a bit more sexual than this version.” Vampire Beauties

” … sticks pretty close to the source material (from what I can tell). And although the end scene unravels some in terms of narrative and timing, Dracula XXX is a serious, sexy flick that I think anyone even marginally into this subculture will enjoy. And the final frames, when Mina bites Dracula’s chest after some incredibly intense sex… well, that was pretty hot.” PV Online

“This Ain’t Dracula XXX worked better in the non-sexual portions of the show than most Hustler titles have in recent years, the sexual encounters coming across as somewhat generic and cramped (as though they couldn’t move for lack of space on the sets) but certainly strokable and worth picking up if you are interested in the subject matter.” XCritic.com

IMDb | Related: Dracula Exotica | Dracula Sucks

Coming Soon: new and future releases

‘Let’s go kill some dead people!’

The Night Watchmen is a 2016 American comedy horror film directed by Mitchell Altieri (The Hamiltons; The Thompsons; A Beginner’s Guide to Snuff) from a screenplay by Dan DeLuca and Jamie Nash.

The film is currently being touted for international sales at Cannes represented by by Automatic Entertainment.

Main cast:

Ken Arnold, Dan DeLuca, Kevin Jiggetts, James Remar, Kara Luiz, Matt Servitto, Max Gray Wilbur, Diona Reasonover, Rain Pryor, Tiffany Shepis, Dan Franko.

Plot:

In a nondescript corporate office building in Baltimore four inept male security guards, along with an attractive and feisty female tabloid journalist, find themselves up against a horde of flesh hungry zombie vampires, or “zompires”, some of whom are dressed as clowns…

IMDb | Source: Deadline Hollywood

Khooni Dracula [“Bloody Dracula”] is a 1992 Indian supernatural horror vampire film written, produced, directed by and starring Harinam Singh as the titular vampire. It should not be confused with Dracula (1999), directed by Bhooshan Lal.

The film stars Harinam Singh, Amrit Pal, Kiran Pal, Kaushal Singh, Kaushal Singh, Usha Singh, Sonia Thakur, Birbal.

Plot:

On a stormy night, an evil ‘uncle’ rapes and murders his maid. Blood from her neck drips down to where Dracula is buried beneath, bringing him back to life…

Reviews:

“If you are in the market for a worthless, idiotic, embarrassing piece of crap horror cinema from the sub-continent, Khooni Dracula delivers, with a dumb looking monster in an awesome hat, gore, lightning, and lots of women taking their clothes off and getting in the shower while still wearing their underwear — and not any sexy underwear, either, but those big ol’ modest granny panties…” Teleport City

” … an utterly atrocious excuse of a movie … production values are virtually nil with bit comedian Birbal being the only “star” name that anyone would have recognized…” Remains of the Desi

IMDb | Image thanks: Vampiria

More Indian horror: 1920 | 1920: Evil Returns | Aatank | Aatma (2006) | Agyaat | Alone | Bandh Darwaza | Bach ke Zara | Bees Saal Baad | Bhoot Returns | Cape Karma |Dahshat | Darling | Darwaza (1978) | Dracula 2012 | Ek Thi Daayan | Horror Story | Khooni Panja |Ludo | Mahakaal |  Mallika | | Miruthan | Mumbai 125KM | Nagin | O Sthree Repu Raa! | The Other Side of the Door | Phoonk | Pizza | Purana Mandir | Purani Haveli | Pyasa Shaitan |  Qatil Chudail | Ragini MMS | Tahkhana | Vaastu Shastra | Veerana (1988)

‘In the dead of night, souls come alive’

Pale Blood is a 1990 American direct-to-video vampire film directed by V.V. Dachin Hsu and Michael W. Leighton. It was written by Hsu an Takashi Matsuoka, and produced by Omar Kaczmarczyk and Leighton. Includes clips from Nosferatu (1922).

The film stars George Chakiris, Wings Hauser (The Carpenter; Tales from the Hood; Watchers III), Pamela Ludwig (Rush Week; Midnight Ride), Diana Frank (Monster High; Dead of Night; Club Vampire), Darcy DeMoss (Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI; Return to Horror High; Night Life), Frazer Smith (Transylvania Twist), Sybil Danning [uncredited]. New wave band Agent Orange is featured twice.

Plot:

Michael Fury (Chakiris) arrives in Los Angeles to investigate a series of mysterious high-profile murders where the victims have been completely drained of blood. Aiding him in his quest is Lori (Ludwig), a junior member at an investigative firm who is obsessed with the occult. Unbeknownst to her, Fury is himself a vampire…

Reviews:

“Plot wise, Pale Blood just oozes along. Michael Fury’s “investigation” into the murders consists of standing at his window looking moody or suffering repetitive and tiresome psychic visions. Despite some prominent makeup artists involved, special effects are amazingly skimpy, consisting mainly of blood, blood and more blood.” TV Guide

“Acting wise I wasn’t too convinced with Pamela Ludwig’s performance, though I have seen a whole lot worse, however Chakiris was excellently mysterious as Fury and Wings Hauser was fantastically mad as the psychotic Van. The whole thing held together well but was perhaps a little too clever for its own good in places and it tended to meander at those points.” Taliesen Meets the Vampires

“Pale Blood is a vacant and stylistically empty attempt at a modern day vampire film. It is all posed mood – washes of synthesizer sound, downbeat lighting, lots of slow-motion and endless street scenes, plus lots of padding footage involving a laughably pretentious New Wave band called Agent Orange. However, the plot is far too insubstantial (read non-existent!) to support anything that is going on.” Richard Scheib, Moria

“A pretty good direct-to-video vampire tale that has an intriguing premise but doesn’t completely live up to its potential … There’s quite a bit of talk in this one, but there’s also a good sense of humor and Hauser contributes a memorably (and appropriately) overwrought performance.” The Bloody Pit of Horror

Buy VHS: Amazon.co.uk

Cast and characters:

• George Chakiris as Michael Fury
• Wings Hauser as Van Vandameer
• Pamela Ludwig as Lori
• Diana Frank as Jenny
• Darcy DeMoss as Cherry
• Earl Garnes as Harker
• Frazer Smith as Frazer Kelly
• Michael Palm as Lead Singer in Band
• Agent Orange as Band
• Steven Bramble as Lori’s Date
• Randy Almazon, Frank Barajas, Sheryl Bence, Wanda Blunt, Den Daniel, Jr., Marc Leighton, Michaele Leighton, Michael Shane Leighton, Michael Rosen, Rita M. Saiz, Lindsay Santos and Tom Sidell as People of the Night

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credit: Taliesen Meets the Vampires