BLOOD OF DRACULA’S CASTLE (1969) **

 

 

Blood of Dracula’s Castle marks the first out-and-out horror film directed by Al Adamson.  While it leaves a lot to be desired, it’s certainly his best movie up to that point in his career.  He was still finding his voice as an auteur, but even though there are some slow and sluggish passages, a few Adamson flourishes manage to eke out of the tedium.

The film was a collaboration between Adamson and writer/producer Rex Carlton.  I had high hopes for this one seeing as Carlton was the man responsible for one of my favorite ‘60s horror flicks, The Brain That Wouldn’t Die.  However, the movie is rather tame compared to that one and the pokey pacing doesn’t do it any favors either.

A photographer (Gene O’Shane) receives a telegram that he’s just inherited a castle.  He and his girlfriend (Barbara Bishop) go to check it out and learn that an older couple (Paula Raymond and Horrors of Spider Island’s Alex D’Arcy) are living on the grounds.  Turns out, they are a couple of vampires who keep young women chained in their basement and use their blood to keep them eternal. 

There’s a kernel of a solid story somewhere around here.  It’s a shame that the overabundance of padding more or less prevents it from really taking off.  The opening credits sequence, in which a woman is stalked by the hunchback, goes on seemingly forever.  (I did like the toe-tapping ditty, “The Next Train Out” that plays over this scene though.)  This is almost immediately followed up by a long scene where O’Shane takes lots of pictures of his fiancée at the Marineland amusement park which is padded with footage of dolphins and walruses and shit. 

The plot is also a bit overstuffed.  If it was nothing but the couple investigating their new home and discovering monsters a la Scooby-Doo, it wouldn’t have been so bad.  When you tack on shit like cults, deranged hunchbacks, and human sacrifices, it kind of clutters up the narrative.  The most egregious subplot involves the vampires’ familiar.  The long scene of his escape from prison and subsequent crime spree stops the movie on a dime and could’ve easily been excised without anyone really missing it.  This sequence is further proof that crime pictures really aren’t Adamson’s forte.

It’s funny that the film feels so padded when there’s another version (titled Dracula's Castle) that includes even more material to beef up the running time for TV showings and video releases (it adds about seven minutes of new material in all).  This one features a subplot in which one of the characters becomes a werewolf (it looks like a Don Post mask) that doesn’t really do much for the overall story, but it does add at least one more monster into the mix.  There’s also a repetitive synthesizer score that plays during these scenes.  Throughout his career, Adamson would add new footage to other films (including his own) so they could be repackaged under another title.  This is the first time though another director (in this case, David Huelette) added new footage to one of Adamson’s films.  (Theatrically, it was released by Crown International who put it on a double bill with Nightmare in Wax.)

Despite the sluggish pace and jumbled narrative, there are some bright spots.  The finale is strong and it contains at least one impressive fire stunt.  I also enjoyed the rapport between D’Arcy and his wife.  Their scenes have a half-assed Addams Family vibe to them, and while they don’t get a lot to work with, they make the most of their screen time.  I only wish the FX budget was bigger to make their crumbling-to-dust death scenes worth a damn. 

AKA:  Dracula’s Caste.  AKA:  Castle of Dracula.

 

I reviewed this back in the day (about 2005 or thereabouts) for my old fanzine, The Video Vacuum, which eventually grew into this website.  In those days, due to space constraints, I wrote capsule reviews.  Even though the review was short and sweet, it looks like I didn’t have much to say about it back then.

BLOOD OF DRACULA’S CASTLE  (1967)  **

When the director of Dracula vs. Frankenstein and the producer of The Brain That Wouldn’t Die get together to make a movie, this is what you get.  A photographer and his model fiancée inherit an old castle that happens to be inhabited by Dracula, his wife, a butler, and a disfigured hunchback.  They chain up virgins in the cellar, drain their blood and sacrifice them to the moon god Luna.  With John Carradine as the butler and Alex (Horrors of Spider Island) D’Arcy as Dracula.  The excellent cinematography by Lazlo Kovacs can’t save this tame and slow flick.