Blacula (1972)

Blacula (1972)

starring William Marshall, Vonetta McKee, Denise Nicholas, Thalmus Rasulala

directed by William Crain

93 minutes

Prince Mamuwalde (William Marshall) and Luva (Vonetta McKee), his wife, travel to Transylvania in 1780. They ask Count Dracula for help in stopping the slave trade. He rejects their appeal and bites Mamuwalde and then locks him in a coffin deep in his castle.

Almost two centuries later, in 1972, the coffin is locked up is bought by Billy and Bobby, two interior decorators. They transport the coffin back to Los Angeles. They break it open, thus freeing Blacula who repays them by biting them. The investigation into the deaths of Billy and Bobby by Dr. Gordon Thomas (Thalmus Rasulala) leads him to believe that the killer might be a vampire.

Blacula sees Tina Williams (Vonetta McKee) during his first night out prowling the streets of Los Angeles. He is stuck by how much she resembles Luva and chases her. She runs in fear of her life. She gets away but drops her purse while she is running from him.

Mamuwalde finds Tina in a club with her sister Michelle (Denise Nicholas) and Dr. Thomas, Michelle's boyfriend. He returns her purse. Mamuwalde sits with them and talks for a while. He expresses an interest in seeing her again before leaving.

Dr. Thomas digs up the body of Billy, who has already been buried, and find that he is now a vampire. Dr. Thomas destroys Billy by driving a stake through his heart. Dr. Thomas goes to look for more information to convince Lieutenant Peters, his boss, of what they are facing. 

Mamuwalde romances Tina, who falls for him in a big way. She remains interested in him even after she learns that he is a vampire. He wants to transform her into a vampire but she is uncertain. He does not force her to become a vampire like him.

Lieutenant Peters loses whatever skepticism he had after he and Dr. Thomas are attacked in the morgue by one of Blacula's victims. They go looking for more evidence and walk right into a trap that almost gets them killed. Blacula summons Tina using his supernatural abilities. The police follow her which leads to a final confrontation with Blacula in a factory.

Thoughts

This was my first time watching this movie. It is not a great movie but it's fun. I found myself smiling quite a bit and even laughing once or twice. The story takes itself seriously but it's also kind of goofy in ways. The ending of the movie felt weak. I'm sure I would have liked it more if the ending had been stronger.

There is a sequel but I'm not sure I'm going to check it out. William Marshall is the only one of the lead actors who is also in the sequel, Scream Blacula Scream (1973). 

Notes

None of the leads actors in this movie are familiar faces to me. William Marshall was in one episode each of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Star Trek (1966). He was the voice of the Juggernaut on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. I don't recall seeing him in anything else prior to this movie.