Blacula

Blacula is better than any movie with a name that dumb has a right to be. The name is sort of a blessing and a curse. I think a lot of people watch the movie because of the dumb name. I think maybe there are some who refuse to watch it because of the dumb name. It was obviously made with the intention of being a blaxploitation Dracula, but it is better than that idea would make you think it is. It has a story that is interesting, good actors, and special effects that are charming in their cheesiness. The look of the movie seems to owe a lot to the Hammer films that were popular at the time. There is one sort of surprising element that may have actually led to the movie's popularity with general (read white) audiences.

Blacula begins in the late 1700's with a meeting between an African prince and the infamous Count Dracula. The prince wants help to stop the slave trade, but Dracula digs the idea of people as property. He is, after all, a monster. In fact he decides he'd like to own the prince's wife. The prince fights back, so Dracula turns him into a vampire, locks him in a coffin, and leaves his wife to slowly starve to death while she listens to him struggling to escape. Now the obvious setup from this is Blacula taking vengeance on white people, with an ultimate showdown with the Count himself. But that's not the direction the movie takes.

When Blacula gets out of his coffin, his first victims are a mixed race openly gay couple. He kills a black cab driver and a black photographer. He also kills several white cops, but those are mostly because they are chasing him. He doesn't seem intent on any kind of vengeance, but seems more focused on winning the reincarnation of his dead wife. (Speaking of whom, when the gay couple are at the castle her bones are not in the room where she was locked away to die. Did someone come in and clean up in the interim?) The story is more focused on this and on the doctor (who is also a policeman?) who is trying to stop the epidemic of vampires that Blacula leaves in his wake. Incidentally this vampire horde is where the cheesiness comes into play for the movie, with less time and money being spent on fangs and make-up for them than for Blacula himself.

The ending could have used a little editing to tighten up, as it seems to drag just a tad. And there is not much of a climactic showdown, opting instead for a big dramatic moment that actually plays really well. I was struck by just how good a movie this is. Even my 13 year old who mostly wants to watch gore fests like Terrifier enjoyed it. I will say, it is a movie of its' time and has several racist and homophobic slurs throughout. But it also treats it's black and gay characters with a lot of respect. The gay couple is a little bit stereotypical, but not ridiculously so. There are a couple of mentions of racial issues but they do not dominate the narrative or the dialogue. In fact, I felt like if anything they could have been played up more without danger of getting "too preachy". It's not exactly action packed or a scare fest, but it's a solid movie with mostly good acting that keeps your attention throughout. All in all I'd say it's a good addition to any vampire movie marathon.