WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Blacula 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.760 Hello, and welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind. My name 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:11.440 is Joe McCormick. Today we're bringing you an older episode 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:14.760 of Weird House Cinema. This was our feature on the 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:20.440 nineteen seventy two tragic romantic horror classic Blackula, directed by 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:25.560 William Crane starring William Marshall. This episode originally aired on 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:27.720 February two, twenty twenty four. 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:34.240 Enjoy, Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:35.080 of iHeartRadio. 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:44.280 Hey you, welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.159 This is Rob Lamb and I am Joe McCormick. And 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:49.800 today on Weird House Cinema, we are going to be 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:56.000 talking about the nineteen seventy two tragic romantic horror film Blackula. 0:00:56.680 --> 0:01:01.160 Yeah. Yeah, so this is in a sense another Dracula movie. 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:03.800 We'll get into that in a bit, and I'm generally 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:07.160 down for any Dracula film. We've covered various Dracula movies 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:10.399 already on Weird House Cinema. Most recently we talked about 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:14.160 nineteen seventy two's Dracula Ad nineteen seventy two, in which 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:18.240 the Count awakens in contemporary London. Today's movie is also 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:21.319 a nineteen seventy two release, and it also centers around 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:25.480 a vampire prints awakening in the contemporary world, only this 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:26.840 time it's Los Angeles. 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:29.600 Is it Los Angeles? I kept thinking that the exterior 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:33.160 shots looked like LA, But then I would see, like 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.280 there was a scene at the police station where in 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:37.200 the background, I'm pretty sure they had a map of 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:38.800 Staten Island on the wall. 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:42.840 Well, I didn't notice that. I believe the movie when 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:44.520 it told me it was Los Angeles. 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:46.479 Well wait, did the movie even say it was LA? 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:47.440 I didn't remember that. 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:52.520 Yeah, our character, doctor Thomas, supposedly works for the Los 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:53.640 Angeles Police Department. 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:57.000 Oh okay, then, oh, maybe he's just like a Staten 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:58.480 Island map hobbyist. 0:01:58.960 --> 0:01:59.920 That's up there. 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:03.840 I don't know, but you know what. So this movie 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:06.080 had been on my radar for many years, but I 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:09.800 hadn't seen it until you picked it for the show. Rob. 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:12.880 First of all, I really liked it, But second, it's 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.919 a very different movie than I imagined. I think because the 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:20.760 title is a pun and because I understood it to 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:24.720 be part of the black exploitation wave, I had always 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:28.440 expected it would be more of a satirical horror comedy 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.440 that it would be sort of a satirical take on 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:36.360 American culture from a black perspective, using some using like 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:41.160 vampire themes to get across some of its like comedic observations. 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:44.680 But it's really not a comedy at all. Instead, it 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:49.040 is a I think, very serious and very effective, tragic, 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:50.640 romantic horror film. 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:54.200 Yeah, yeah, and it's interesting it. We'll be discussing this 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:57.560 a bit, like the degree to which that transformation seems 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:59.919 to have taken place, because I think the studio initially 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:03.160 envisioned something that was more of a comedy and was 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.360 more of a more satire and was just about, you know, 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:09.720 given the audience a good time. But this was transformed 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.440 by at least two of the key individuals involved, if 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:12.960 not more. 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:16.440 Also, I have to say the comparison to Dracula nineteen 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:20.720 seventy two AD is hilarious because multiple things. So, first 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:22.840 of all, I think Blacula is a much better film 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:24.919 than that. But the other thing is that we kept 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:27.840 joking in that episode that Dracula in nineteen seventy two 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:31.440 a D did not really put Dracula in nineteen seventy 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:33.560 two a D. He was almost like he just hangs 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:37.120 out in and abandoned church the whole time, and then 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:40.880 victims are brought to him, so he never encounters modern 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:44.320 culture or anything like that. And we talked about the 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:48.200 potential for realizing, you know, Dracula as a sort of 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.280 fish out of time character who's running into all of 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:55.920 the texture of the modern world and having friction when 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:59.720 interacting with it. You could expect that that Blacula could 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.360 be like that as well, but really there is not 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:05.360 much fish out of time about it at all. In fact, 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:10.960 by the time our our vampire hero arrives in nineteen 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:14.440 seventy two, he's like the coolest person in nineteen seventy two. 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:17.720 He's like more at ease and at home than anybody 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:19.760 who just normally lives their life here. 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:24.279 Yeah, absolutely so. Yeah, Black Youa is a very well 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:27.039 known film in the history of horror and vampire movies 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:31.560 and certainly has a has its place in the history 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.400 of black cinema. So like yourself, Yeah, I've been familiar 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:36.680 with it for a long time, but I'd never taken 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:39.200 the time to actually sit down and watch it. And 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:40.599 and part of, you know, part of that was, like 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:43.039 I assumed it was more of a comedy, you know, 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:45.000 I wasn't sure how it might have aged, how it 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:47.680 was received, and what his legacy was, because you know, 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.039 not everything that is often categorized into the broad label 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:53.280 of black exploitation is worth a revisit. But I just 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:58.359 kept seeing more film creators, more artists, more historians, especially 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:01.520 artists and historians of color, singling it out for its strengths. 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:06.919 One such artist is Rodney Barnes, an American screenwriter and 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:12.000 producer whose writing credits include Everybody Hates Chris, The Boondocks, 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:16.040 and also the TV series Winning Time on HBO. He 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.520 was also apparently and he has an additional crew credit. 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:21.120 I'm blade. I'm not sure what he did on that, 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:25.840 but still in nice vampire connection. But I picked up 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:29.720 his twenty twenty three graphic novel Blacula, Return of the King, 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.240 illustrated by Jason Sean Alexander, and it's really fun. It's 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:40.600 a modern sequel to the film Blacula, reawakening our central 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:44.919 Prince character once more in contemporary Los Angeles and on 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:48.599 a collision course, this time with his vampiric maker. It's 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.320 really again, really good, really fun, and it includes an 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:55.360 extended intro in which Barnes describes being a horror fan 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:59.160 as a kid and being at the time mostly dependent 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:03.120 on a diet of hammer horror films which featured predominantly 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:08.000 white casts and never a black vampire. So he mentions 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.440 like seeing the ads for the first time. I think 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.480 he says that he saw them during the commercial breaks 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:17.120 for a Soul Train and he was instantly excited. As 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:19.320 a child, he was like, you know this, this is 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:22.159 something different. This is here. Here is a case where 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.960 I get to see like a black vampire character in 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.479 a film. So black Yela the movie called to him 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:33.280 ultimately helped inspire him to become a creator himself. And 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.360 you know, he acknowledges that the film has its flaws, 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:39.440 but that its power was undeniable. Now, I want to 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:42.000 throw into one quick note about the language of the film. 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:45.279 While the film is rated PG and doesn't really contain 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:49.200 anything objectionable in terms of gore or sexuality, we should 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:52.640 stress that a homophobic slur is used at least a 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:56.640 couple of times, one instance by a key protagonist, and 0:06:56.680 --> 0:07:00.359 once in a really unnecessary and hurtful way. It certainly 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.560 ding's enjoyment of the film, especially since there's so many 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:07.400 captivating elements of the picture otherwise, so I wanted to 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:09.400 single that out. I was reading a little bit more 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:13.080 about this in The Dracula and the Blacula nineteen seventy 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:16.600 two Cultural Revolution by Lemon and Browning. This was published 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:19.560 in two thousand and nine's Draculas, Vampires and Other Undead 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:23.040 Forms Essays on Gender, Race, and Culture. And this article 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.440 makes the case that we also see efforts in the 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:30.680 movie at challenging homosexual stereotypes, just as the film challenges 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:34.920 stereotypes of black and African characters, though the authors here 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:38.200 acknowledged that the film fumbles in this and ultimately quote 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:43.400 encourage stereotypes and bigotries concerning homosexuality more than they challenged them. 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:45.040 So I just wanted to throw that out there in 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:48.200 case anyone was looking to pause the podcast go watch 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:50.160 the film. I think it's just a good heads up 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:52.960 to have. All Right, well, at this point, let's go 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.240 ahead and have a little trailer audio. The actual trailer 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:58.400 for the film is a bit long, but we were 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:00.960 able to dig up the radio spot here. I love 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:03.280 a good radio spot, so let's listen to the original 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:04.640 radio spot for Blackula. 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:18.320 You Shall Black Prince. I pressure with my name, you 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:27.120 shall be black Cula, Blackcula, the black avenger rising from 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:30.280 his tomb to fill the night with horror. 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:42.880 Blackcula, tracula soul brother, deadlier even than he Blacula. He 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:47.280 first for your blood, he hung less for your soul, 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:58.160 more horrifying than Draccular, the Black of anger. Blackcula, an 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:03.960 American International really rated PG. Parental guidance suggested. 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:11.040 Now, of note that voice you heard at the beginning, 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:15.040 that is the voice of Count Dracula, as we'll discuss. 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:17.800 M You know, that raises another way in which this 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:19.920 movie I think is different than what some people might 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.640 assume going into it, which you might assume of the 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:26.360 premise is what if Count Dracula were black, but instead 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:28.760 our black vampire prints in the movie is very much 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:32.600 set in opposition to Count Dracula, Like Count Dracula is 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:33.480 still the villain. 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:38.000 Oh yeah, absolutely complete and utter villain, but then also 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:42.040 one that will not factor into the film directly after 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:45.280 after just a few minutes into the film, really. 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:47.680 Yeah, he disappears after like three or four minutes in. 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:51.240 Yeah. All right, Well, if you're intrigued, if you're interested 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:53.839 in watching this one on your own, before proceeding with 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:57.920 the rest of the episode. It's pretty widely available. We 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:01.760 watched it on the twenty twenty three Blue from Sandpiper Pictures. 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.559 It's bare bones, doesn't really have anything in the way 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:07.040 of extras, but the quality is great. We rented it 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:09.600 from Video Drum here in Atlanta, though I believe it's 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.120 also streaming on Prime and other sources. So again, you 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:14.959 shouldn't have any problem getting a hold of this movie. 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:19.360 All right, let's get into the people who made this film, 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.920 starting at the top with the director. William Crane born 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:27.400 nineteen forty nine, American director in UCLA Film School graduate, 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:31.280 best remembered for this film and thus his contributions to 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.080 black cinema of the seventies and more broadly, the horror 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:38.040 genre itself. Prior to Blacula, he'd worked in TV. He 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.360 directed a nineteen seventy one episode of Mod Squad, though 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:44.240 he apparently worked as an uncredited intern director on the 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:48.480 nineteen seventies Sydney Quadier movie Brother John, which also features 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:53.000 Paul Winfield. But anyway, after Blacula, he continued to direct 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:56.520 episodes of such TV series as Starsky and hutch Swat 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.840 and The Rookies, before returning to the world of black 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:02.960 centric horror films with nineteen seventy six is Doctor Black 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:06.720 Mister Hyde, starring Bernie Casey in the lead roles. 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:09.160 No, I'd be interested to see that one too. 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:12.920 Yeah. Yeah, I saw a bit from an interview with 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:15.600 him where he said he had more freedom in that one, 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:18.439 So I'm interested to read more about it, see how 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:21.560 it was received, and potentially watch it now. Afterwards, he 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:25.480 directed episodes of The Dukes of Hazzard, Matt Houston, and 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.040 Designing Women. There are a lot of interviews with him 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:30.360 out there. I ran across one from a This is 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:34.280 a twenty twenty one interview on WBBM News Radio with 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:39.679 Mike Ramsey. He says, AIP, that's American International Pictures. They 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:42.480 were doing exploitive movies. The rumor was they were in 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:44.200 the red and so they were going to do a 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:47.199 black vampire movie. I happened to be in the right 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.920 place at the right time. The original concept was Count 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:54.880 Brown's in Town. It was this Shuckin' and jivin and 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:57.040 I didn't want to do it, but they hired me 0:11:57.120 --> 0:12:00.600 to do this movie. William Marshall said, let's just make 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:01.200 this straight. 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:05.480 So William Marshall is the actor who plays Memo Walde, 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:08.640 the main vampire in the movie, And yeah, this is 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:10.560 in line with what I've read that he was a 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.640 big force in reimagining the movie as a more serious 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:14.839 dramatic project. 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.520 Yeah, according to Lemonon Browning in that article, I decided 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:20.319 when he came on board to star in the picture, 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:24.280 he insisted on certain changes to Mamalwalde's character and wrote 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:28.080 or rewrote key scenes concerning Memalwalde's eighteenth century mission to 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:31.760 Europe as well as his connection to his wife Luva. 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:34.400 So he seems to have been heavily involved in the 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:36.800 choices that made this film notable. 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.560 But by emphasizing the tragic romance at the core of it, 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.120 I don't want to undersell the horror elements of this 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:47.040 film now because, to come back to Crane's approach to 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:50.319 it as a horror film, I think the scary scenes, 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:53.400 though it's not wall to wall scares, the scary scenes 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:57.000 are quite effective. There are some extremely creepy shots in 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:00.720 this movie, like it does a thing a couple of 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:05.560 times where a character like a monster, a vampire character 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:09.400 is just directly approaching the camera, So the camera is 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:13.880 at a fixed position and the vampire is just gliding 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:16.840 straight into your face. And I don't know, that's not 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:19.000 a kind of shot that I think of is very 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:23.240 common in horror films. But even though it seems like 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:24.840 it would be, I don't know why it's not. But 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:26.240 it's very effective here. 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:31.240 Yeah. Yeah, you can imagine these scenes really sizzling on 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:34.200 the big screen in front of a packed house. And 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:36.640 it's worth noting that this film was quite a success 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:41.480 and certainly played an important part in sort of paving 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:47.240 the way for additional black horror films that came out afterwards, 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.040 though we should also note this was not I think 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.760 sometimes this is described as the quote first black horror film, 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:58.520 which is not the case. There were earlier examples of this. 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:02.400 The credited right on this are Joan Torres and Raymond Koenig. 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:05.480 I don't have dates for them. I don't think dates 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:08.280 are available, though I believe Joan Torres at least is 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:12.280 still still around. This and the nineteen seventy three sequel 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:16.480 Scream Blacula Scream are their only credits. Joan Torres has 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.680 a website, Joan Torres dot com, which details her additional 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:23.040 work as a playwright and a novelist. Given the subject 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.200 matter the film, it's notable that neither of the credited 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.680 writers was themselves black, But again, the film's black director 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:32.920 and black lead evidently further crafted the screenplay in this 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:33.920 more serious direction. 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:37.680 Just wanted to note you mentioned the sequel Scream, Blacula Scream, 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.720 which does also have William Marshall in it. I don't 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:42.760 know anything about the reputation of that movie, but I 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:44.880 wanted to note it does have Pam Greer in it. 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:47.160 So that's the reason to watch true. 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.240 All right, Well, let's come back to William Marshall again. 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:54.840 This is our star who plays Prince Mama Walde, the vampire. 0:14:55.720 --> 0:15:00.000 William Marshall lived nineteen twenty four through two thousand and three. Yeah, 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:02.680 the star of this picture and just an irrefutable central 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.880 force in the making of the film. What it making 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:08.640 the film what it is bringing dignity, power and complexity 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:11.560 to a character that otherwise could have unlikely would have 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:15.520 been a much more shallow exercise in vampire horror. Marshall 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:19.280 was an American actor, director, and opera singer with impressive 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:22.520 credits across stage, screen and TV. He studied at the 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:25.680 Actor's Studio in New York and was I believe had 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:29.640 some opera training. I'm not as informed about his career 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:32.960 regarding opera, but he performed on Broadway in the late 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:36.280 forties and early fifties, and he played the title role 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:39.440 in Othello in both the US and Europe. There's a 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:42.360 nineteen eighty one production of A Fellow with him in 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:45.720 the lead role that was filmed and I believe is available. 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:48.720 I'm not surprised to hear that he was an opera 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:53.720 singer because he has an absolutely magnificent voice, just a 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:57.600 beautiful bass, like a I'm trying to think, what's the metaphor, 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:01.000 it's like a ship sailing through smooth Is this just 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:03.480 like an amazing voice. It is the kind of voice 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.080 that every time he speaks, people just turn and listen. 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:10.760 Yeah, it's captivating. So his TV credits, he has a 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:13.440 lot of TV credits, include a second season episode of 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.040 The original Star Trek. This one was titled The Ultimate 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.320 Computer in which he played a brilliant human computer scientist. 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:23.520 And then he may also be a familiar face from 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:25.400 his later years for some of you because he played 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:28.800 the King of Cartoons on Peewee's Playhouse, according to his 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:32.160 New York Times obit. In nineteen eighty three, he appeared 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:34.720 in a one hour, one man show for PBS called 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:38.480 Frederick Douglas, Slave and Statesman, and he adapted this for 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:41.760 the theater as inter Frederick Douglass, which he performed for 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:45.800 many years. And yeah, he has a whole bunch of credits. 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:48.880 I did note that on the old nineteen eighty Spider 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.360 Man cartoon he voiced both the Juggernaut and Tony Stark, 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:57.520 whoa in cinema. His other credits include nineteen fifty four's 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:01.880 Demetrius and the Gladiators, nineteen seventy three sequel Screen Blackula, 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:05.320 Scream of Course, the nineteen seventy four zombie movie Abby, 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:09.760 seventy seven's Twilight's Last Gleaming, and nineteen ninety four's Maverick. 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:12.919 So again, yeah, he's absolutely commanding in this role. You 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.240 can see how he was such a powerful force on 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:17.640 the trajectory of this film as well, first of all 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:21.240 in pushing for these changes, and secondly, according to Crane 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:23.800 in that interview, I was looking at in being able 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.240 to deliver on those changes in such a way that 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:29.200 as the dailies or the raw footage was rolling in 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:32.640 from the filming the studio like they just followed suit. 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:34.359 They didn't fight it because they saw that it was 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:46.280 absolutely working, all right. So moving on to the rest 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:48.800 of the cast, we have a dual role here of 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:51.920 Tina and Luva, which we'll get into what that means 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.280 here in a bit. But these characters are played by 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:59.080 Vanetta McGhee, who lived nineteen forty five through twenty ten, 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:02.040 American act who'd been in several films prior to this, 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:06.480 including the Italian western The Great Silence. Her subsequent films 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:10.040 included nineteen seventy three as Shaft in Africa and Detroit 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:13.119 nine thousand. In nineteen seventy five, she was in The 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:17.280 Eiger Sanction opposite Clint Eastwood. I believe that was She's 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:20.359 like second build on that. She's in nineteen eighty four's 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:24.040 Repo Man in nineteen nineties to Sleep with Anger, all right, 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:28.840 now playing Tina's sister in nineteen seventy two. The sister's 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:32.440 name is Michelle, played by Denise Nicholas born nineteen forty four, 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:36.159 American actress with extensive television credits, including an episode of 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:40.520 Night Gallery Love American Style, Different Strokes, The Love Boat, 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:43.240 and sixty nine episodes of In the Heat of the Night. 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:47.879 Her film credits include seventy seven's capricorn I, nineteen nineties 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:50.879 Ghost Dad, in two thousand's Ritual. She won a nineteen 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:54.240 seventy six NAACP Image Award for her role in Let's 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:54.800 Do It Again. 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:57.480 I feel like a big part of Michelle's role in 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:00.560 the plot is we have to have somebody who is 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:05.479 skeptical of the vampire stuff, because Tina ultimately is going 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:08.960 to become wooed by the power of Memo wall Day, 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:12.000 and you know, she ultimately is like, yeah, Okay, I'll 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:14.840 be a vampire because I love you. The character we're 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:18.520 about to talk about, doctor Gordon Thomas, he's pretty much 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:21.320 from the beginning is like, I think a vampire could 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:24.840 be responsible for these killings. So Michelle is going to 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:27.159 be the one who's like, I don't believe this, and 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.119 I do not want to go dig up a grave tonight. 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:33.680 Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So let's get to doctor Gordon Thomas 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:38.240 because he's essentially the Van Helsing character yes of the movie. 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:40.640 He's the investigator, the human hero. 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:47.240 Yeah, and he is played by Thalmus Rassulula. He lived 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:50.600 nineteen thirty nine through nineteen ninety one American actor with 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:54.840 extensive TV credits going back to nineteen sixty including Perry Mason, 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:58.439 The Original Twighlight Zone, All in the Family, Mission Impossible, 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:02.840 Sanford and Son, The Jefferson Kojak, The Incredible Hulk. He 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:05.159 also shows up in an episode of Star Trek The 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:10.160 Next Generation, playing the character Captain Donald Varley. Also notable, 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:14.000 he pops up on a nineteen seventy five episode of 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:19.280 Saturday Night Live, specifically in a skit titled Exorcist two 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:22.159 in which he plays Father Marrin. 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:26.040 I like that the implied comedy of this skit is 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:28.600 how ridiculous it would be to make a sequel to 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:31.000 the Exorcist. But then just a couple of years later, 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:35.320 they literally did yeh of. 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:38.280 Note that episode of Saturday Night Live was hosted by 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:41.600 Richard Pryor, you know, the great stand up comedian, and 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:46.120 the musical guest was a legendary Gil Scott Heron. Reportedly, 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:49.240 Pryor only agreed to host the show if both of 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:52.080 these men were involved, so they were like handpicked. He's like, 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:53.560 I'll do it. You got to bring in gil Scott 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.679 Heron and you got to bring in Thalmus to be 0:20:56.720 --> 0:20:57.639 in this skit with me. 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:02.240 He's really effective in this movie. And he has a 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:05.960 sort of thankless role to play because William Marshall's character 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:08.160 gets to be the vampire, gets to be the tragic 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:11.400 prince and at the center of this tragic love story, 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:17.720 whereas Gordon Thomas Thomas Roussoula's character has to be hunting 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:21.159 him down and doing so in a like. The character 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:25.480 is written as an irascible and business oriented man. Like 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:28.399 he's not fun, and yet it is fun watching the 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:29.520 character do what he does. 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:32.480 Yeah. I think it's a really solid performance. You know, 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:38.640 he's like he's a grumpy but smooth Van Helson character. Yeah, 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:40.680 all right, this is a minor character. But I also 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:43.800 want to call out that Jaitu Kombuka is in this 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:49.080 playing the character Skillet. Skillett is a bit comic relief 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:53.560 character who really likes Memwalde's Kate. Yes, but it's a 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:57.760 memorable brief bart. He lived nineteen forty through twenty seventeen. 0:21:57.840 --> 0:22:00.320 He was a main cast member on the Spice series 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:03.399 A Man called Sloan with Robert Conrad and Dan o'hurlehay. 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:08.680 He was in Roots's. His other credits include Doctor Black, 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:12.119 Mister Hyde, nineteen seventy one's Brian Song, seventy six is 0:22:12.119 --> 0:22:15.720 Bound for Glory, eighty five Brewsters Millions, and nineteen eighty 0:22:15.800 --> 0:22:16.760 nine's Harlem Knights. 0:22:17.359 --> 0:22:21.200 This character appears multiple times to admire Memolde's cape and 0:22:21.320 --> 0:22:23.479 to comment that he has one strange dude. 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:27.240 Yeah, that's his sole purpose here. All right. We mentioned 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:30.520 that Dracula is in this movie, and we'll discuss the 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:33.639 way Dracula is envisioned in this film here in a 0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:37.119 bit in more detail. But Dracula here is played by 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:41.040 Charles McCauley, who lived nineteen twenty seven through nineteen ninety nine, 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:44.160 an American actor of stage, screen, and TV, whose earliest 0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:47.520 film role is an uncredited part in Roger Corman's horror 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:51.480 comedy Creature from the Haunted Sea nineteen sixty one. We 0:22:51.520 --> 0:22:53.520 haven't watched this one on Weird House, but it's often 0:22:53.560 --> 0:22:57.960 considered part of a trilogy of horror comedies that Corman did, 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:02.399 along with Bucket of Blood and The Little Shop of Horrors. 0:23:03.680 --> 0:23:06.679 McAuley also worked with Corman, credited, this time in nineteen 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:10.080 sixty two's Tower of London. His filmography features a great 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:12.639 deal of mainstream TV work, along with various entries in 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:15.760 the horror genre. On TV, he appeared on two episodes 0:23:15.800 --> 0:23:18.320 of The original Star Trek, thirty five episodes of Days 0:23:18.359 --> 0:23:21.920 of Our Lives, He was on Mission Impossible, Night Gallery, Colombo, 0:23:22.320 --> 0:23:26.120 and much more. In film, his credits include sixty eight's Head, 0:23:26.440 --> 0:23:29.560 seventy twos, Twilight People, seventy four's The House of Seven 0:23:29.600 --> 0:23:33.239 Corpses seventy five is the Hindenburg Airport seventy seven, and 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:35.159 he played the President of the United States in the 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:39.720 nineteen eighty four Mermaid comedy Splash, which just I haven't 0:23:39.720 --> 0:23:41.439 seen Splash in a while. Watched it a lot as 0:23:41.480 --> 0:23:44.080 a kid, but now I'm just imagining, like President Dracula. 0:23:44.440 --> 0:23:46.520 Uh huh, I've never seen it, but now there's a 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:47.600 treat waiting for me. 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:50.320 If I ever get there. Oh yeah, I remember it 0:23:50.320 --> 0:23:54.199 as being fun. More on Dracula in a bit, but 0:23:54.280 --> 0:23:57.919 it is. It's a very memorable Count Dracula. Yeah. This 0:23:58.040 --> 0:24:00.479 is just an aside, I guess mostly for people who 0:24:00.560 --> 0:24:03.200 were big into like the history of stunt work and 0:24:03.400 --> 0:24:07.080 or grappling and so forth. And pro wrestling. But one 0:24:07.080 --> 0:24:10.560 of Dracula's henchmen is played by Jean LaBelle, who lived 0:24:10.600 --> 0:24:14.480 nineteen thirty two through twenty twenty two. Noted grappler, judo practitioner, 0:24:14.560 --> 0:24:17.119 pro wrestler, stunt man. He pops up in a lot 0:24:17.160 --> 0:24:18.919 of things, often in just like really small roles. 0:24:19.320 --> 0:24:21.520 It is funny in this movie that Dracula just has 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:24.600 wrestlers working for him, Like he calls out his wrestlers 0:24:24.640 --> 0:24:26.879 and they've got the you know, the Lacey cravats on, 0:24:27.040 --> 0:24:28.880 but they're just like these beefy. 0:24:28.600 --> 0:24:34.000 Guys, all right. Get a few credits from behind the 0:24:34.040 --> 0:24:38.080 scenes here. Sandy DeVore is the title designer on this 0:24:38.160 --> 0:24:42.119 film who lived nineteen thirty four through twenty twenty American artist, 0:24:42.200 --> 0:24:44.920 graphic designer, and title designer who worked with some big 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:48.479 recording artists of the day, including Sammy Davis Junior, and 0:24:48.520 --> 0:24:51.040 went on to create title sequences for such TV shows 0:24:51.040 --> 0:24:55.560 as The Partridge Family. We've actually seen some of Sandy 0:24:55.600 --> 0:24:58.440 Devorre's work on Weird Howse Cinema before, because he did 0:24:58.480 --> 0:25:01.760 the excellent title sequence four The Dunwich Horror, which had 0:25:01.760 --> 0:25:05.520 a very similar style only instead of like red black 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:08.080 and white, it was like blue and black. 0:25:09.119 --> 0:25:11.840 Yeah. I really like the title design in this movie. 0:25:12.119 --> 0:25:15.879 It's sort of a like an animated bat chasing a 0:25:15.920 --> 0:25:19.199 red outline of a woman around in this abstract landscape 0:25:19.280 --> 0:25:23.360 that almost looks like you've zoomed in a lot on calligraphy, 0:25:23.600 --> 0:25:26.880 and the figures are trying to navigate in the spaces 0:25:26.880 --> 0:25:28.440 between the bars of the letters. 0:25:29.280 --> 0:25:31.920 Yeah. Yeah, it's really cool and it's like a nice 0:25:32.280 --> 0:25:33.760 I like how it breaks up the film too, because 0:25:33.760 --> 0:25:36.840 we have a very heavy opening and then we get 0:25:36.840 --> 0:25:40.119 this fun title sequence before Trent's pourting to the modern 0:25:40.200 --> 0:25:43.359 day of nineteen seventy two. And I'll also add that 0:25:43.400 --> 0:25:47.160 there's an excellent website called artofthetitle dot com and they 0:25:47.240 --> 0:25:51.800 have multiple examples of Divorre's work, including the intros to 0:25:51.880 --> 0:25:55.359 Blacula and the intro to The Dunwich Horror. He also 0:25:55.440 --> 0:25:58.240 did one on a nineteen sixty nine film called DSAD. 0:25:59.400 --> 0:26:03.200 This was a Row Roger Corman film starring Kerr Dooley 0:26:03.760 --> 0:26:06.439 as the Marquis de Sade. Also has John Houston in it. 0:26:06.680 --> 0:26:09.880 But it's also like similar style and also very amusing 0:26:09.880 --> 0:26:14.080 to watch the composer on this film on Blackula is 0:26:14.200 --> 0:26:17.640 Gene Page, who lived nineteen thirty nine through nineteen ninety eight, 0:26:18.119 --> 0:26:21.879 American composer and record producer. He also did arrangements on 0:26:22.000 --> 0:26:25.200 tracks for some of the biggest musical acts of the 0:26:25.560 --> 0:26:29.919 time period. He has something like fifteen hundred and fifty 0:26:29.920 --> 0:26:33.680 five writing and arrangement credits on discogs what including Yeah, 0:26:33.720 --> 0:26:36.320 it's like this man works a lot working with artists. 0:26:36.480 --> 0:26:38.119 I can't even list them all, but just as a 0:26:38.240 --> 0:26:44.160 brief overview, people like Barry White, James Taylor, Michael Jackson, Cher. 0:26:46.160 --> 0:26:49.960 It seems to be the main main work that he did. 0:26:50.040 --> 0:26:52.919 This is his most well known film score out of 0:26:52.960 --> 0:26:55.600 only a handful of score composition credits. 0:26:55.960 --> 0:26:58.520 I love the music in Blackula, and it works I 0:26:58.560 --> 0:27:02.560 think on every level. Like there's i'm just non diegetic 0:27:02.680 --> 0:27:07.960 background music that you know, it brings the right horror ambiance. 0:27:08.000 --> 0:27:10.879 But then there is also plenty of funk in the movie, 0:27:10.920 --> 0:27:15.359 and then even some diegetic on screen band performances that 0:27:15.400 --> 0:27:16.720 are fantastic as well. 0:27:17.920 --> 0:27:21.399 Yeah, yeah, we're going to discuss them in just a second, 0:27:21.400 --> 0:27:24.679 but yeah, I all agree, absolutely wonderful score. It's funky 0:27:24.680 --> 0:27:28.040 and soulful, blazingly upbeat in places, but it also does 0:27:28.080 --> 0:27:30.199 get into that what I like to think of is 0:27:30.240 --> 0:27:34.200 like the horror jazz night gallery zone as well, tweaked 0:27:34.200 --> 0:27:37.439 with some synth weirdness in places. It really drives on 0:27:37.480 --> 0:27:41.800 the creepy moments. Now, the musical performances that you mentioned, 0:27:41.800 --> 0:27:45.640 these are performances by the Hughes Corporation. They were a 0:27:45.680 --> 0:27:49.159 pop and soul trio, best known for a hit that 0:27:49.200 --> 0:27:51.600 would come out a couple of years later in nineteen 0:27:51.640 --> 0:27:54.600 seventy four, Rock the Boat. I mean, I don't even 0:27:54.680 --> 0:27:56.560 have to humme it. You all know it. You've all 0:27:56.600 --> 0:28:00.560 heard Rock the Boat. At the time of Black consisted 0:28:00.680 --> 0:28:04.200 of Saint Clair Lee who lived nineteen forty four through 0:28:04.240 --> 0:28:08.879 twenty eleven. This is the vocalist with the headband H. M. 0:28:09.000 --> 0:28:13.280 Kelly born nineteen forty seven, and Carl Russell. I believe 0:28:13.320 --> 0:28:17.480 he left the group after the movie, but also maybe 0:28:17.520 --> 0:28:20.479 returned later during a time period when they got back 0:28:20.480 --> 0:28:24.119 together again. I'm a little foggy on how all that works, 0:28:24.160 --> 0:28:27.240 but they are a lot of fun in their performances 0:28:27.280 --> 0:28:27.920 in Black Law. 0:28:28.240 --> 0:28:31.879 They get at least two on screen musical performances in 0:28:31.880 --> 0:28:33.880 the film, or are there even more. 0:28:34.560 --> 0:28:37.920 They have at least three tracks on the soundtrack. There's 0:28:38.320 --> 0:28:40.160 There He Is Again, which we'll talk about in a bill. 0:28:40.160 --> 0:28:43.640 Oh yeah, wonderful. There's What the World Knows, which is 0:28:43.840 --> 0:28:47.120 a more soulful, romantic number, and then I'm Gonna Catch You, 0:28:47.800 --> 0:28:50.040 which is also a really fun song. It's like a 0:28:50.120 --> 0:28:52.240 cheating heart song, but it's really good. 0:28:52.640 --> 0:28:55.360 There He Is Again is my favorite because it's it 0:28:55.400 --> 0:28:57.760 can the lyrics can be read as a song about 0:28:57.760 --> 0:28:58.360 a vampire. 0:28:59.080 --> 0:29:02.280 Yeah, absolutely like it if you're not analyzing the lyrics 0:29:02.280 --> 0:29:05.080 too closely, like, yeah, yeah, of course it's about Mamawaldi, 0:29:05.160 --> 0:29:08.960 it's about this vampire. I also note there are two 0:29:09.040 --> 0:29:13.200 tracks on the soundtrack by the twenty first Century LTD. 0:29:14.240 --> 0:29:17.960 This is or I guess I would say twenty first 0:29:18.000 --> 0:29:22.320 century limited heavy changes and main chance. These are both 0:29:22.400 --> 0:29:25.920 romantic numbers, and I honestly can't remember how they're integrated 0:29:25.960 --> 0:29:28.680 into the film or you know, to what extent they are. 0:29:37.160 --> 0:29:39.720 Okay, you're ready to talk about the plot, let's do it. 0:29:39.880 --> 0:29:42.640 So we open on the exterior of a castle on 0:29:42.680 --> 0:29:46.960 a darkened, stormy night. Rain pours down, battering the castle towers, 0:29:47.000 --> 0:29:50.560 and bolts of lightning cut through the darkness, and a chiron. 0:29:50.720 --> 0:29:55.960 Text on the screen says Transylvania seventeen eighty Castle Dracula. 0:29:56.880 --> 0:29:59.880 So we cut inside the castle to an ornate dining 0:30:00.200 --> 0:30:04.120 room illuminated by candles and a roaring fireplace, and Count 0:30:04.240 --> 0:30:07.440 Dracula is here and he is hosting a pair of 0:30:07.520 --> 0:30:10.680 guests after what seems to have been some kind of 0:30:10.760 --> 0:30:15.840 international diplomatic function meeting with dignitaries. Now, this Count Dracula 0:30:16.040 --> 0:30:20.640 is not exactly of the Bela Lugosi variety. He has 0:30:20.680 --> 0:30:23.640 like longer hairs, kind of grayish brown in color, and 0:30:23.720 --> 0:30:27.120 a goateee. He's wearing a black and gold coat over 0:30:27.160 --> 0:30:31.000 a blue vest with a frilly white cravat, and he 0:30:31.080 --> 0:30:36.880 is immediately unlikable, smarmy palpably untrustworthy, and we will soon 0:30:36.960 --> 0:30:41.120 come to realize racist he is. He's at first kind 0:30:41.120 --> 0:30:44.360 of superficially friendly to his two guests, and the guests 0:30:44.400 --> 0:30:48.479 are Prince mam U Walde and his wife, Princess Luva, 0:30:48.600 --> 0:30:53.760 who are royalty from what is initially an unnamed African country, 0:30:53.800 --> 0:30:55.880 but we will later learn that they are from the 0:30:55.920 --> 0:31:00.800 Ibani nation in the northeast of the Niger Delta. Memoalde 0:31:00.840 --> 0:31:03.960 is dressed in a dark suit with a powder blue cravat, 0:31:04.320 --> 0:31:08.239 and Luva is wearing a beautiful, elaborate multicolored dress with 0:31:08.440 --> 0:31:12.600 beadwork jewelry. So they've just seemingly finished a meeting with 0:31:12.720 --> 0:31:15.600 an array of diplomats and heads of state from around 0:31:15.600 --> 0:31:20.240 the world, and Dracula is pouring cognac all around. Memoalde 0:31:20.280 --> 0:31:23.760 and Luva explained to Count Dracula that they're here for 0:31:23.800 --> 0:31:27.400 a reason. They are on a mission to gain international 0:31:27.960 --> 0:31:31.320 allies in support of what seems to be a treaty, 0:31:31.800 --> 0:31:36.160 a treaty to do what well. Luva pulls out a text, 0:31:36.560 --> 0:31:39.560 a document to present to Count Dracula, and he reviews it, 0:31:40.040 --> 0:31:44.080 and then he recoils from the document in disbelief. Apparently, 0:31:44.120 --> 0:31:47.480 this treaty that they're pursuing would bring about the cessation 0:31:47.880 --> 0:31:52.320 of the international slave trade. Dracula doesn't like this idea. 0:31:52.400 --> 0:31:56.160 He counters that. He says, surely slavery has merit, and 0:31:56.240 --> 0:31:59.680 Memoalde raises an eyebrow. He asks how one would find 0:32:00.320 --> 0:32:04.160 in barbarity, but Dracula says, well, slavery may be barbaric 0:32:04.240 --> 0:32:06.120 from the point of view of the slave, but it 0:32:06.200 --> 0:32:09.120 holds lots of appeal to the slave owner, and then 0:32:09.160 --> 0:32:13.880 he transitions to making revolting comments with sexual overtones about 0:32:13.880 --> 0:32:16.520 how it would in fact be appealing to him to 0:32:16.680 --> 0:32:17.480 own luva. 0:32:19.000 --> 0:32:23.240 Yeah, the overt racism of Dracula is quite fascinating here. 0:32:23.480 --> 0:32:26.400 I think the film delivers the vibe in a way 0:32:26.480 --> 0:32:29.360 that a mere summary doesn't really capture. But yeah, this 0:32:29.480 --> 0:32:32.880 Dracula is, in many respects presented, is almost a kind 0:32:32.920 --> 0:32:37.400 of He's almost the institution of slavery incarnate. You know, 0:32:37.920 --> 0:32:40.320 it's all done in a few short scenes here, but 0:32:40.760 --> 0:32:44.000 you know, he dismisses objections to the practice on economic 0:32:44.080 --> 0:32:46.880 and sort of this is the world grounds, but quickly 0:32:46.920 --> 0:32:52.560 slides into it increasingly overtly racist rhetoric before directly provoking 0:32:52.800 --> 0:32:56.080 Mamma Walde by offering in cruel jess to buy his wife. 0:32:56.480 --> 0:33:01.240 And this then quickly transcends into physical assault, separation, murder, 0:33:01.520 --> 0:33:04.760 and a curse that transcends human lifetimes. And we also 0:33:04.840 --> 0:33:09.320 see his aristocratic mass completely slip from again from this 0:33:09.480 --> 0:33:13.920 like snide aristocrat to just absolute evil, cruelty and hunger. 0:33:14.520 --> 0:33:17.720 Yeah. So at the beginning of the exchange, Dracula is 0:33:18.960 --> 0:33:22.760 condescending and smarmy, but it's interesting to see how it 0:33:22.840 --> 0:33:25.960 just flips to overt hostility as soon as he is 0:33:26.240 --> 0:33:30.680 faced with something he disagrees with. So, of course Mamowalde 0:33:30.720 --> 0:33:34.600 won't tolerate this shocking behavior from Dracula, but he keeps 0:33:34.600 --> 0:33:38.640 his composure. He rises from his seat and he gathers 0:33:38.720 --> 0:33:41.440 Luva and says that they are leaving, but the evil 0:33:41.480 --> 0:33:45.080 Count will not allow it. He summons his minions, his 0:33:45.200 --> 0:33:48.320 hinchman to take hold of them, and then violence breaks out. 0:33:49.000 --> 0:33:52.280 Memowalde puts up a valiant fight. He uses like improvised 0:33:52.320 --> 0:33:54.600 weapons from the room. I think he grabs a torch 0:33:54.680 --> 0:33:57.320 off the wall, and then one of the henchmen grabs 0:33:57.320 --> 0:34:00.720 a saber off the wall and they fight there in 0:34:00.760 --> 0:34:04.400 front of the fire. But eventually Miawalde is outnumbered and 0:34:04.560 --> 0:34:07.840 overpowered by the Count's fighters, and eventually we see the 0:34:08.160 --> 0:34:11.680 Count's side including not just like the muscly wrestlers the 0:34:11.960 --> 0:34:14.640 stuntman we were talking about earlier, but like a whole 0:34:14.719 --> 0:34:19.080 coven of looming ghouls and these wheezing hooded blood drinkers, 0:34:19.600 --> 0:34:23.960 and this whole group approaches Prince Mama Welde and then 0:34:24.120 --> 0:34:27.000 Dracula exposes his neck and bites. 0:34:27.120 --> 0:34:28.719 It's all very well done, but I will note that 0:34:28.760 --> 0:34:32.600 one of the vampires in that scene does look to 0:34:32.640 --> 0:34:36.440 be an actual, actual, actual vampire from the apple she has. 0:34:36.520 --> 0:34:39.280 It's kind of like wide eyed and big, big fangs, 0:34:39.360 --> 0:34:43.760 But that's still it doesn't doesn't attract from the sequence. 0:34:43.640 --> 0:34:48.520 But it goes onto a horrifying escalation here. So there 0:34:48.600 --> 0:34:52.000 is an interment scene. Luva and Mama Welde are walled 0:34:52.080 --> 0:34:55.680 up in a secret room in the castle where Dracula 0:34:55.800 --> 0:34:58.440 is going to doom Luva to die of thirst and 0:34:58.480 --> 0:35:02.520 starvation in the room, while Mamo Walde is locked inside 0:35:02.520 --> 0:35:06.680 a coffin to transform into a vampire and forever yearn 0:35:06.800 --> 0:35:10.040 for blood that he cannot have. And here Dracula he 0:35:10.880 --> 0:35:13.640 places a curse. He says, quote, I shall place a 0:35:13.719 --> 0:35:16.160 curse of suffering on you that will doom you to 0:35:16.239 --> 0:35:20.560 a living hell. A hunger, a wild, gnawing animal. Hunger 0:35:20.600 --> 0:35:24.000 will grow in you, a hunger for human blood. Here 0:35:24.080 --> 0:35:27.800 you will starve for an eternity, torn by an unquenchable lust. 0:35:28.160 --> 0:35:31.680 I curse you with my name. You shall be Blacula, 0:35:32.000 --> 0:35:35.640 a vampire like myself, a living fiend. You will be 0:35:35.719 --> 0:35:38.720 doomed never to know that sweet blood which will become 0:35:38.800 --> 0:35:43.239 your only desire. And then slam slam shut the coffin door. 0:35:43.320 --> 0:35:46.919 They pad lock it, and they close the wall, and 0:35:47.080 --> 0:35:51.040 the curse to Mamowalde and Luva are left trapped in 0:35:51.120 --> 0:35:52.160 this room forever. 0:35:52.840 --> 0:35:56.719 Yeah, it's heavy stuff, and it's also worth noting here 0:35:56.760 --> 0:36:00.319 like this. We hear the name Blacula here, and we'll 0:36:00.320 --> 0:36:03.399 hear an echo of this later. But Mama Walde never 0:36:03.760 --> 0:36:06.600 in this film self identifies as Blacula, Like this is 0:36:06.640 --> 0:36:09.960 the name uttered by Dracula as he curses him. 0:36:10.280 --> 0:36:16.080 Yes, now, it might seem curious why Dracula is portrayed, Robin, 0:36:16.400 --> 0:36:17.920 I bet you picked up on the same thing. He's 0:36:17.920 --> 0:36:22.080 portrayed not just as being cruel to them, but specifically 0:36:22.120 --> 0:36:27.240 as having an orientation of vengeance. He is vengeful towards 0:36:27.280 --> 0:36:30.799 Mamma Walde and Luva, and they've done nothing whatsoever to 0:36:30.800 --> 0:36:34.360 harm him, Like there's no reason for him to be vengeful. 0:36:34.600 --> 0:36:36.960 But I think it fits. It goes with the theme 0:36:37.080 --> 0:36:41.080 like this is a common posture of racism, like vengeance, 0:36:41.360 --> 0:36:44.840 a feeling of need for vengeance in response to nothing. 0:36:45.400 --> 0:36:49.440 Yeah, I think that's a great point. I want to 0:36:49.840 --> 0:36:52.640 again mention that Macaulay is really great in this sequence. 0:36:53.000 --> 0:36:57.680 He continues to lay on Dracula's evil very effectively, and 0:36:57.760 --> 0:36:59.400 I love the way that they made him up, so 0:36:59.600 --> 0:37:01.840 blood dripping from his lips after he has fed on 0:37:01.880 --> 0:37:05.880 Mama Walde and he's taunting Luva, but is also draining 0:37:05.920 --> 0:37:09.600 from his eyes, you know, like he's like he's he's 0:37:09.640 --> 0:37:12.600 a vicious beast that's so fatted on blood that his 0:37:12.719 --> 0:37:15.040 body can't contain it all anymore, and it's just kind 0:37:15.040 --> 0:37:19.520 of leaking out of every orifice. And yeah, it's just 0:37:19.520 --> 0:37:20.240 brutal stuff. 0:37:20.440 --> 0:37:22.279 Well yeah, and I think the blood running out of 0:37:22.320 --> 0:37:24.880 the eyes, to me, it is a visual signal to 0:37:24.960 --> 0:37:27.319 convey hate. Do you get the same thing? 0:37:28.000 --> 0:37:28.279 I think? 0:37:28.320 --> 0:37:29.200 So? Yeah. 0:37:29.239 --> 0:37:31.560 So here we go to the credits, and again I 0:37:31.680 --> 0:37:35.200 love the design of the credits. There's groovy modern music. 0:37:35.280 --> 0:37:37.840 There's the animated bat chasing a woman around in the 0:37:37.880 --> 0:37:42.280 abstract landscape. It's very cool. After the credits, we return 0:37:42.360 --> 0:37:46.000 to Dracula's castle, but it's the present. Dracula's house is 0:37:46.120 --> 0:37:49.200 undergoing an estate sale, and we've got a couple of 0:37:49.320 --> 0:37:53.799 wholesale antique buyers from America who are here too. They're 0:37:53.800 --> 0:37:56.800 about to sign the paperwork to buy everything from the castle. 0:37:57.200 --> 0:38:00.480 The two antique dealers are the character's Bobby McCory and 0:38:00.520 --> 0:38:03.480 Billy Schaeffer. And these are the characters I think you 0:38:03.520 --> 0:38:07.399 alluded to earlier, rob who are portrayed as very stereotypically gay. 0:38:08.800 --> 0:38:12.120 Apparently they don't find out until the last minute that 0:38:12.320 --> 0:38:15.239 all of the stuff they're about to buy belonged to 0:38:15.560 --> 0:38:19.359 Count Dracula. The seller is worried that this is going 0:38:19.400 --> 0:38:22.120 to endanger the deal and gives them a discount. But 0:38:22.480 --> 0:38:25.080 do they really need one, answer is no, because the 0:38:25.160 --> 0:38:28.799 Dracula thing is a bonus to them. Bobby says, where 0:38:28.840 --> 0:38:31.520 we come from, Dracula is the Krim de la crim 0:38:31.640 --> 0:38:34.080 of camp. We're going to get a fortune for these things. 0:38:34.719 --> 0:38:38.160 Yeah, the guy here was worried about, you know, about 0:38:38.200 --> 0:38:41.279 about having a deal with a Dracula refund or a 0:38:41.360 --> 0:38:44.480 Dracula discount. He should have been he should have been 0:38:44.520 --> 0:38:46.399 adding to the price. He should have been asking more 0:38:46.480 --> 0:38:47.760 for all this Dracula stuff. 0:38:48.400 --> 0:38:51.880 Billy also says that he has seen all of Dracula's movies, 0:38:52.880 --> 0:38:55.480 So I think it's interesting that it, like, what is 0:38:55.600 --> 0:38:59.920 the understanding of Dracula in the world of this movie. 0:39:01.400 --> 0:39:03.200 Here's what it seems to be. First of all, in 0:39:03.239 --> 0:39:07.600 this movie, vampires are real. Count Dracula was a real 0:39:07.880 --> 0:39:12.520 historical vampire in the late seventeen hundreds, though some modern 0:39:12.640 --> 0:39:16.000 characters believe he was just a myth. And this character 0:39:16.080 --> 0:39:20.920 is separate from Vladim Paler who lived in the fifteenth century. Also, 0:39:21.120 --> 0:39:25.239 in this universe, Dracula exists as a character known in 0:39:25.560 --> 0:39:30.520 horror films and stories. Presumably the novel Dracula exists. 0:39:30.840 --> 0:39:33.920 Yeah, it's interesting to tease all this apart. Rodney Barnes 0:39:33.920 --> 0:39:36.960 in the in blacular Return of the King, the way 0:39:37.000 --> 0:39:41.200 he kind of treated it was okay, Mama Walde had 0:39:41.680 --> 0:39:44.120 knew that this Count Dracula had there were some rumors 0:39:44.120 --> 0:39:46.919 about him about how he might be connected to this 0:39:47.280 --> 0:39:52.640 earlier tyrannical figure, but he just dismissed it as myth. So, yeah, 0:39:53.080 --> 0:39:57.160 there are multiple layers of fiction and history and fictional 0:39:57.239 --> 0:39:59.680 history that you have to juggle in this scenario. 0:40:00.080 --> 0:40:04.400 But it also portrays the historical figure Count Dracula in 0:40:04.440 --> 0:40:08.920 the late seventeen hundreds as having been an influential player 0:40:09.120 --> 0:40:13.879 in international politics, because like the reason Luva and Mama 0:40:13.920 --> 0:40:16.640 Walde are going to his castle is to get his 0:40:16.760 --> 0:40:20.160 support for trying to get allies for an international treaty. 0:40:20.280 --> 0:40:22.279 So he's not just seen as like, you know, a 0:40:22.360 --> 0:40:25.480 reclusive figure of mystery. This is like somebody who has 0:40:25.600 --> 0:40:27.680 influence over the affairs of state. 0:40:28.280 --> 0:40:31.600 Yeah, he is not an evil in the background of 0:40:31.640 --> 0:40:36.640 Europeans aristocracy. He is in the forefront, which which I 0:40:36.640 --> 0:40:39.799 think is key here. But anyway, he's long dad at 0:40:39.800 --> 0:40:40.400 this point. 0:40:40.560 --> 0:40:42.719 Oh that's right. In fact, the guy at the estate 0:40:42.800 --> 0:40:45.200 sale mentions how Dracula died. 0:40:45.760 --> 0:40:49.239 Yeah, he says, you know, don't worry about him. It 0:40:49.320 --> 0:40:52.920 was all over hyped anyway, and Van Helsing destroyed him 0:40:52.960 --> 0:40:56.160 one hundred and fifty years ago. So it's interesting, you know, 0:40:56.200 --> 0:41:00.520 we're set to encounter a reawakened mamal Wal in a 0:41:00.560 --> 0:41:05.239 world where his greatest adversary is him is himself long destroyed, 0:41:05.600 --> 0:41:07.920 but the legacy of his crime still resonate. 0:41:08.400 --> 0:41:08.640 Right. 0:41:09.600 --> 0:41:11.880 So while going around with the seller, Bobby and Billy 0:41:11.960 --> 0:41:15.319 in the castle here discover an undisturbed coffin in a 0:41:15.440 --> 0:41:19.360 hidden room behind a wall, and we see, we the 0:41:19.440 --> 0:41:22.120 audience know that this is the room where Memo, Wilde 0:41:22.239 --> 0:41:26.280 and Luva were buried alive so they add the coffin 0:41:26.400 --> 0:41:28.880 to their haull and we see it brought back to 0:41:29.000 --> 0:41:31.799 the States via cargo ship. And here we get some 0:41:32.239 --> 0:41:34.960 a little bit of fish out of time texture, so 0:41:35.000 --> 0:41:37.640 we see modern streets and traffic and it's set to 0:41:37.719 --> 0:41:41.440 a funk soundtrack. Get some you know, wuah wah guitar, 0:41:41.760 --> 0:41:45.520 and then we see Bobby and Billy get the coffin 0:41:45.600 --> 0:41:49.320 back to their warehouse and Billy is discussing the idea 0:41:49.360 --> 0:41:51.840 of using it as a guest bed at their house. 0:41:52.000 --> 0:41:53.040 I like this idea. 0:41:53.800 --> 0:41:57.239 Bobby is doubtful, though, He's clearly doubtful of this idea, 0:41:57.280 --> 0:41:58.239 and he's like, okay. 0:41:58.520 --> 0:42:01.160 So they start trying to open the stuff. But before 0:42:01.239 --> 0:42:03.840 Bobby can get the coffin open, I think he breaks 0:42:03.840 --> 0:42:06.239 off the lock, but he doesn't open it yet. At 0:42:06.239 --> 0:42:08.560 the other end of the room, Billy cuts himself while 0:42:08.600 --> 0:42:11.400 prying at the lid of another crate, and it seems 0:42:11.440 --> 0:42:15.080 the smell of fresh blood stirs something inside the coffin, 0:42:15.600 --> 0:42:18.200 and so while Bobby and Billy are not looking, the 0:42:18.239 --> 0:42:23.040 lid creaks open and Mama Walde, now transformed into a vampire, 0:42:23.280 --> 0:42:24.560 begins to rise. 0:42:25.280 --> 0:42:27.560 Yeah, this is our first real shot of the awakened 0:42:27.600 --> 0:42:32.719 prince Man Wwalde facing the camera, Dracula's curse audibly resonating 0:42:32.719 --> 0:42:35.319 in his mind. Pretty haunting stuff. 0:42:35.480 --> 0:42:38.279 Right, So he rises from the coffin and he he 0:42:38.320 --> 0:42:43.400 looks almost confused, like he's he's changed now, but he's 0:42:43.400 --> 0:42:47.839 torn between his conscious horror at his fate and his 0:42:47.920 --> 0:42:51.440 immediate thirst for blood. Like the you know, his conscious 0:42:51.520 --> 0:42:55.319 mind is fighting the vampire within him, and here might 0:42:55.360 --> 0:42:59.160 be a good place to discuss memo. Walde's two looks 0:42:59.320 --> 0:43:03.480 as a vampire. So sometimes basically, when he's not about 0:43:03.480 --> 0:43:05.960 to bite someone, he just looks like himself. He looks 0:43:06.000 --> 0:43:09.200 like the regular Prince Mamuelde from before. But when he 0:43:09.400 --> 0:43:12.560 goes into vampire mode, when he is about to bite 0:43:12.560 --> 0:43:16.520 someone or transform into a bat or something, he grows fangs, 0:43:16.520 --> 0:43:19.640 of course, but he also grows an interesting pattern of 0:43:19.760 --> 0:43:23.280 facial hair where it's like his eyebrows become very bushy 0:43:23.719 --> 0:43:26.880 and they sort of connect to the hair on his temples, 0:43:27.360 --> 0:43:30.439 and his mustache grows out longer, and he gains these 0:43:30.480 --> 0:43:36.840 sharply sculpted sideburns, and there's a redness added to his eyes. 0:43:36.880 --> 0:43:40.600 He has a different look when he is about to 0:43:40.880 --> 0:43:44.759 behave more like a predatory vampire, and the fact that 0:43:44.800 --> 0:43:48.439 there is this physical transformation is almost a bit werewolfy. 0:43:48.880 --> 0:43:53.080 I like the visual transformation because it coincides with the 0:43:53.200 --> 0:43:57.040 dual nature of Mamouelde the vampire, so he hasn't been 0:43:57.160 --> 0:44:00.880 changed into just a demon of pure evil. Most of 0:44:00.920 --> 0:44:03.960 the time he is simply like himself, like he was 0:44:04.040 --> 0:44:07.640 before the change, and even in the form of even 0:44:07.680 --> 0:44:12.200 as a vampire, Mema Waldey is shown to be a 0:44:12.200 --> 0:44:16.240 good and moral man. He is thoughtful, kind, suave, even 0:44:16.320 --> 0:44:20.960 tempered charming. But when he goes into vampire mode, he 0:44:21.040 --> 0:44:23.960 thirsts only for blood and it is almost like a 0:44:24.000 --> 0:44:25.080 werewolf transformation. 0:44:25.719 --> 0:44:25.879 Yeah. 0:44:25.920 --> 0:44:29.839 I think the pronounced widow's peak he develops when he's 0:44:29.880 --> 0:44:33.560 in full vampire mode in hunger mode is key. And 0:44:33.640 --> 0:44:35.920 I think the real take home here is if someone 0:44:35.960 --> 0:44:38.279 you know you suddenly encounter them and they have a 0:44:38.360 --> 0:44:44.759 pronounced widow peak that extends further down than their hairline 0:44:45.080 --> 0:44:47.960 originally was, then you need to run because that person 0:44:47.960 --> 0:44:49.799 has become a dracula of some sort. 0:44:50.320 --> 0:44:54.040 So Memo Walde bites and drains Billy and Bobby there 0:44:54.080 --> 0:44:57.400 in the antique warehouse, and next we go to a 0:44:57.440 --> 0:45:00.399 scene at a funeral home where we're going to meet 0:45:00.400 --> 0:45:04.680 our other main characters. So Bobby's body is lying out 0:45:04.800 --> 0:45:08.160 for it's lying out in the coffin for visitation, and 0:45:08.280 --> 0:45:11.560 somehow Mima Walde is there like he's looking on from 0:45:11.600 --> 0:45:14.279 behind a curtain at the back of the room, and 0:45:14.400 --> 0:45:17.799 slowly we see Bobby's hand begin to move from its 0:45:17.840 --> 0:45:21.440 resting place and grip the wall of the coffin, but 0:45:21.520 --> 0:45:24.920 then Bobby stops moving when the living approach, and our 0:45:24.960 --> 0:45:29.480 living characters are Michelle this is Denise Nicholas we mentioned 0:45:29.520 --> 0:45:34.680 her earlier. Michelle's co worker and romantic partner, doctor Gordon Thomas. 0:45:34.760 --> 0:45:39.919 This is Thelmas Resulola. We get Michelle's sister, Tina, who 0:45:39.960 --> 0:45:43.680 is played by Vanetta McGhee, the same actress who played Louva. 0:45:45.160 --> 0:45:48.600 And so Michelle and Tina are visiting Bobby because they've 0:45:48.640 --> 0:45:51.960 known him since childhood. And at first, Tina is wearing 0:45:52.000 --> 0:45:54.879 a hood covering her face when she comes into the room, 0:45:55.600 --> 0:45:57.960 but there's a reveal moment. She pulls it back to 0:45:58.000 --> 0:46:02.240 reveal her face and Mamma Walde sees her and he whispers. 0:46:01.840 --> 0:46:05.000 Luva, the hood is almost too much because I initially 0:46:05.040 --> 0:46:07.080 thought she was gonna be some sort of sorceress or 0:46:07.560 --> 0:46:10.040 cult member or something, but we quickly learned that she's 0:46:10.080 --> 0:46:11.640 just very stylish. 0:46:11.800 --> 0:46:14.400 Well, I would say, by and large, all of the 0:46:14.440 --> 0:46:18.400 modern costumes in this movie are awesome. Like everybody's clothes 0:46:18.440 --> 0:46:20.880 look really cool. I was gonna mention this later, but 0:46:21.360 --> 0:46:25.719 like essentially everything Thalmas rasulil awares looks awesome. He has 0:46:25.760 --> 0:46:29.080 this great collection of coats and jackets. He has this 0:46:29.160 --> 0:46:33.400 cool like a herringbone blazer, and he has a double 0:46:33.440 --> 0:46:36.280 breasted jacket he wears later that looks really cool, often 0:46:36.320 --> 0:46:40.680 paired with a turtleneck. He's got a great look. But Michelle, 0:46:40.719 --> 0:46:44.799 Michelle and Tina also have really cool clothes. Absolutely, and 0:46:44.840 --> 0:46:46.840 I would put the sorceress hood and cloak in that 0:46:47.640 --> 0:46:50.880 category as well. I think it looks great. You know, 0:46:50.880 --> 0:46:55.480 people should dress like sorcerers more often. So anyway, Tina 0:46:55.520 --> 0:46:58.239 and Michelle, they're confused about what happened to Bobby. His 0:46:58.320 --> 0:47:02.600 death doesn't make any sense, and they're asking Gordon if 0:47:02.600 --> 0:47:05.440 he can get any answers for them, because Gordon is 0:47:05.480 --> 0:47:10.000 not just any boyfriend of Michelle. Gordon is some kind 0:47:10.120 --> 0:47:13.160 of science cop. We've talked about science cops on a 0:47:13.160 --> 0:47:18.000 weird House before. He is a forensic investigator. We're later 0:47:18.080 --> 0:47:22.480 told he works for the Scientific Investigation Division I suppose 0:47:22.560 --> 0:47:25.200 of the police, so it seems I think he's supposed 0:47:25.200 --> 0:47:28.000 to be a medical doctor at Core, but he works 0:47:28.000 --> 0:47:32.480 as a forensic investigator. So after Tina and Michelle leave, 0:47:33.080 --> 0:47:37.239 the funeral director is there alone with Gordon, and he explains, 0:47:37.280 --> 0:47:39.800 I worked very hard on that neck wound, trying to 0:47:39.840 --> 0:47:41.800 make it look as natural as I could so it 0:47:41.800 --> 0:47:44.719 wouldn't be offensive to his loved ones. The flesh was 0:47:44.840 --> 0:47:47.560 just torn right out in a big chunk. I've never 0:47:47.640 --> 0:47:52.400 seen a rat bite that size, and Gordon says rat bite. 0:47:52.719 --> 0:47:55.320 He wants to know how deep was the wound before 0:47:55.360 --> 0:47:57.960 it was repaired, and the funeral director says two or 0:47:57.960 --> 0:48:04.480 three inches at least. Gordon his radars pinging. Something is 0:48:04.760 --> 0:48:08.160 seeming off to him, and he's perplexed by what he sees. 0:48:08.200 --> 0:48:10.239 So a rat bite in the neck two or three 0:48:10.280 --> 0:48:14.040 inches deep. He starts looking at other things about Bobby's body. 0:48:14.080 --> 0:48:17.120 He notices that the body is drained of blood, even 0:48:17.160 --> 0:48:21.160 though the funeral director says that no embalming has taken place. 0:48:22.520 --> 0:48:26.080 Gordon points out that the veins collapse under pressure. Why 0:48:26.120 --> 0:48:29.440 would he have been drained of blood? Gordon decides he 0:48:29.480 --> 0:48:31.799 wants to see the body of the other victim. But 0:48:32.640 --> 0:48:36.279 the other victim, Billy, is not at his funeral home. 0:48:37.239 --> 0:48:38.919 He was white and he was sent to a white 0:48:39.000 --> 0:48:43.879 funeral home, the funeral director tells us, So our investigator 0:48:43.960 --> 0:48:47.000 is now on the case. He can tell something weird 0:48:47.120 --> 0:48:50.600 is up. We cut to Michelle and Tina walking outside 0:48:50.600 --> 0:48:53.120 the funeral parlor and they split up because Michelle is 0:48:53.160 --> 0:48:56.239 going to go visit Bobby's family. Tina is tired and 0:48:56.280 --> 0:48:59.200 she wants to go straight home. And while walking alone 0:48:59.400 --> 0:49:02.640 on the sidewalk at night, Tina starts to become uneasy. 0:49:02.920 --> 0:49:06.319 Something doesn't feel right. She picks up the pace. She 0:49:06.440 --> 0:49:10.240 glances around nervously. Then suddenly she comes round a corner 0:49:10.440 --> 0:49:13.719 and runs straight into Mamma Walde. And he's not in 0:49:13.840 --> 0:49:17.440 vamp mode here, but he is in a full vampire costume, 0:49:17.480 --> 0:49:20.920 which he pretty much always wears, so he's in his 0:49:21.000 --> 0:49:24.000 dark suit. He's got the cravat, and he's got this 0:49:24.080 --> 0:49:28.160 trailing black cape and he addresses her hopefully at first, 0:49:28.239 --> 0:49:31.840 saying luva, but Tina doesn't know what he's talking about. 0:49:31.880 --> 0:49:34.640 She tries to back away and he takes hold of her. 0:49:34.719 --> 0:49:37.960 He says, Luva, it's me, but she doesn't know him. 0:49:38.200 --> 0:49:41.680 She screams let go, and he does. She runs away 0:49:41.680 --> 0:49:44.239 in a panic, and she drops her purse in a 0:49:44.280 --> 0:49:48.520 pedestrian underpass tunnel and Mema Walde follows and picks up 0:49:48.560 --> 0:49:51.279 the pocketbook. He's still looking around for where she went 0:49:51.400 --> 0:49:53.520 when suddenly he is hit by a cab. 0:49:54.080 --> 0:49:56.600 I also want to just mention really quickly William Marshall 0:49:56.800 --> 0:49:59.680 a very physically imposing actor as well. I think he 0:49:59.719 --> 0:50:03.440 was like six five, so that's notable in all of 0:50:03.480 --> 0:50:05.960 these scenes where he is either perceived as a threat 0:50:06.280 --> 0:50:08.560 or is an active threat in vampire mode. 0:50:09.000 --> 0:50:11.520 That's right, and he is about to change from pining 0:50:11.560 --> 0:50:15.759 for his lost love to thirsting for blood because he 0:50:15.840 --> 0:50:18.120 was hit by a cab. The cab driver gets out, 0:50:18.160 --> 0:50:22.319 and this is a character named Juanita. She is sort 0:50:22.360 --> 0:50:25.719 of vulgar and starts scolding Memo Walde, telling him that 0:50:25.840 --> 0:50:29.759 chasing Tail could get him killed. Mema Walde is very frustrated. 0:50:29.800 --> 0:50:32.480 He says, I lost her because of you, and they 0:50:32.520 --> 0:50:36.239 trade insults and after she hurls some disrespected him. We 0:50:36.320 --> 0:50:39.200 suddenly see a change come over him. He needs blood 0:50:39.239 --> 0:50:43.279 once again, and he transforms into vampire mode and bites her. 0:50:43.760 --> 0:50:46.840 Now later, Tina makes it back home. She has to 0:50:46.920 --> 0:50:49.240 use a hidden spare key to get into her apartment 0:50:49.280 --> 0:50:51.439 because she lost her purse in the tunnel and she's 0:50:51.520 --> 0:50:55.800 extremely rattled. Michelle comes home and Tina confesses what happened. 0:50:56.160 --> 0:51:00.720 Michelle says, maniacs are running in the streets. And meanwhile, 0:51:00.760 --> 0:51:03.800 mim Waldey goes back to his coffin in the antique 0:51:03.800 --> 0:51:08.239 warehouse dejected. He's broken by the fact that his louver 0:51:08.440 --> 0:51:11.200 ran away from him. Now, the next day we see 0:51:11.600 --> 0:51:15.000 Gordon Thomas on the case. The doctor is paying a 0:51:15.080 --> 0:51:17.560 visit to the city Morgue to check out the body 0:51:17.600 --> 0:51:21.279 of a cab driver found dead the night before, and 0:51:21.400 --> 0:51:24.560 here we meet a minor character, Sam the morgue worker 0:51:24.640 --> 0:51:27.640 played by Elisha Cook Junior, who is a character actor 0:51:27.680 --> 0:51:30.440 you've probably seen in lots of stuff. In this movie, 0:51:30.440 --> 0:51:33.360 he plays a surly mortician with a hook for a hand. 0:51:34.080 --> 0:51:36.479 Yeah. He lived nineteen oh three through nineteen ninety five, 0:51:36.760 --> 0:51:39.240 probably best known for such films as The Maltese Falcon 0:51:39.520 --> 0:51:43.200 the Killing House on Haunted Hill and Rosemary's Baby. I 0:51:43.280 --> 0:51:45.719 found an image here for you Joe from nineteen forty 0:51:45.719 --> 0:51:48.960 four's Phantom Lady, in which he's pulling this shocked face 0:51:49.000 --> 0:51:52.160 that I'm pretty sure he pulls at least once in 0:51:52.880 --> 0:51:53.400 this movie. 0:51:53.560 --> 0:51:55.600 It's his signature. Look, it's his blue steel. 0:51:56.600 --> 0:51:59.120 He's like, oh, and then inevitably he's about to be 0:51:59.520 --> 0:52:02.000 murdered or has discovered a murder, or is about to 0:52:02.000 --> 0:52:02.800 be killed by a monster. 0:52:03.200 --> 0:52:06.280 Yeah, or in these movies from the forties and fifties, 0:52:06.320 --> 0:52:07.480 he just saw a skeleton. 0:52:07.960 --> 0:52:09.200 Yeah. 0:52:09.360 --> 0:52:12.160 So Sam leads Gordon inside. They pulled the victim out 0:52:12.200 --> 0:52:15.759 of the freezer. Sam's just kind of like gabbin at him, 0:52:15.800 --> 0:52:18.080 so Gordon has to get him to leave, leave him 0:52:18.080 --> 0:52:20.359 alone so he can investigate. And what do you know, 0:52:20.800 --> 0:52:24.359 He finds bite marks on the victim's neck. This cab 0:52:24.440 --> 0:52:28.120 driver was also bitten, just like Bobby. So we know 0:52:28.200 --> 0:52:30.920 what he's thinking, and we see him reacting to his 0:52:30.960 --> 0:52:33.919 own thoughts. He laughs and says to himself, come on, now, 0:52:34.080 --> 0:52:38.399 that's ridiculous. But he's still he has to pursue this lead. 0:52:38.480 --> 0:52:42.640 So Gordon goes to consult with police lieutenant Jack Peters. 0:52:43.200 --> 0:52:46.960 Gordon says he needs reports on the post mortem examinations 0:52:47.000 --> 0:52:50.279 of both Bobby and Billy, the first two victims, but 0:52:50.440 --> 0:52:53.200 the department bureaucracy is giving him the run around while 0:52:53.200 --> 0:52:55.800 he's been looking for these reports, and eventually they admit 0:52:55.920 --> 0:52:58.520 that the reports seem to have been lost. They don't 0:52:58.560 --> 0:53:01.799 know where they are, and Gordon says, strange, how many 0:53:01.800 --> 0:53:07.040 sloppy police jobs involve black victims. Peters, who is a 0:53:07.040 --> 0:53:10.239 white police commander, seems to suggest he's like, hey, what 0:53:10.280 --> 0:53:12.600 if all these neck bite murders were caused by the 0:53:12.640 --> 0:53:16.360 black panthers? Think about it? And Gordon is like, get real. 0:53:17.160 --> 0:53:20.720 So Peters promises they will keep looking for the info 0:53:20.800 --> 0:53:24.280 that Gordon needs, and he puts a cop named Watson 0:53:24.320 --> 0:53:27.920 on the job. Gordon explains that if they find the reports, 0:53:28.200 --> 0:53:30.799 he'll need them brought by the club tonight because he's 0:53:30.840 --> 0:53:33.160 going to be at the club tonight with Michelle celebrating 0:53:33.200 --> 0:53:36.040 her birthday. Oh and we also see here Gordon wants 0:53:36.040 --> 0:53:38.600 to do an autopsy on Bobby, so he calls the 0:53:38.640 --> 0:53:41.000 funeral home and says that he's going to send some 0:53:41.080 --> 0:53:52.240 cops over after closing to collect the body. So next 0:53:52.239 --> 0:53:55.359 comes the club scene, a scene that is great for 0:53:55.440 --> 0:53:59.480 multiple reasons, one of which is the awesome performance by 0:53:59.520 --> 0:54:03.720 the house banned the Hughes Corporation, who we already mentioned earlier. 0:54:04.440 --> 0:54:07.000 But this is a full musical number. We get to 0:54:07.040 --> 0:54:11.200 see the entire song, full band playing. There are three 0:54:11.600 --> 0:54:15.439 lead singers like a singing ensemble in the group, and 0:54:15.880 --> 0:54:18.560 they are awesome dancers. They each have their own like 0:54:18.640 --> 0:54:21.640 solos and all that. The song is called There he 0:54:21.719 --> 0:54:25.120 is again, and the Hughes Corporation just rocks. I thought 0:54:25.120 --> 0:54:28.359 the song was killer as we I think we said 0:54:28.360 --> 0:54:30.640 this earlier, but it sounds like the lyrics could be 0:54:30.880 --> 0:54:34.759 about the vampire in the film. So the lyrics are like, 0:54:34.800 --> 0:54:37.600 there he is again looking at me from across the street. 0:54:37.960 --> 0:54:40.440 There he is again, making my heart skip another beat. 0:54:41.000 --> 0:54:43.640 There's some line in there, oh well. The chorus is 0:54:43.719 --> 0:54:46.279 look the other way when he comes by you. There's 0:54:46.320 --> 0:54:48.239 one part where they're talking about how they think he 0:54:48.280 --> 0:54:51.080 can read your mind. There's a line where he says, 0:54:51.160 --> 0:54:53.600 I know he thinks I want his love so much. 0:54:53.760 --> 0:54:56.160 I love the levels of mental simulation in that. 0:54:58.080 --> 0:55:01.960 Yeah, this is my favorite of the Corporation tracks. And 0:55:02.840 --> 0:55:05.520 if I haven't mentioned it already. The combined score and 0:55:05.640 --> 0:55:09.120 soundtrack is widely available on music streaming platforms, so you 0:55:09.160 --> 0:55:11.000 can definitely dip in and get a taste of this. 0:55:11.600 --> 0:55:13.640 It originally came out on vinyl as well, but I 0:55:13.680 --> 0:55:16.120 don't think it's benefited from one of those awesome modern 0:55:16.239 --> 0:55:18.880 vinyl restorations, which which seems like a missed opportunity. 0:55:19.239 --> 0:55:22.000 Oh yeah, this is truly great stuff. It doesn't just 0:55:22.160 --> 0:55:24.080 like work in the movie. I'd love to just put 0:55:24.080 --> 0:55:29.040 this on anytime. So anyway, Gordon, Michelle, and Tina are 0:55:29.120 --> 0:55:33.320 at the club. They're celebrating Michelle's birthday and Mama Welde 0:55:33.480 --> 0:55:36.799 arrives and at first it's like, oh no, But then 0:55:37.160 --> 0:55:41.719 he meets with Tina and maybe she's a little apprehensive 0:55:41.760 --> 0:55:45.040 at first, but he very kindly returns the purse that 0:55:45.120 --> 0:55:49.040 she dropped the night before, and she rethinks her initial 0:55:49.080 --> 0:55:53.800 impression of him, and Tina then surprisingly invites Mama Welde 0:55:53.920 --> 0:55:57.360 to join them at their table. And this is not 0:55:57.840 --> 0:56:01.840 vamp mode Mama Welde, obviously, this is evening attire Mama 0:56:01.840 --> 0:56:05.320 wall Day. He is super charming, at the absolute height 0:56:05.480 --> 0:56:09.320 of debonair sophistication. Now it's been kind of a running 0:56:09.360 --> 0:56:13.360 theme so far that Gordon, despite being our hero in 0:56:13.400 --> 0:56:17.040 a way, he is somewhat brusque and anti social. He 0:56:17.080 --> 0:56:20.719 doesn't exactly play nice with people. He's not polite. The 0:56:20.760 --> 0:56:23.120 more charitable way of putting this that is that I 0:56:23.160 --> 0:56:25.560 think he's very like task oriented and most of the 0:56:25.600 --> 0:56:27.120 time he's all business. 0:56:27.400 --> 0:56:30.240 Yeah. Yeah, and sometimes ruffles and feathers for sure. 0:56:30.520 --> 0:56:35.279 Yeah. But his sort of anti socialness comes through in 0:56:35.400 --> 0:56:38.680 this scene as well, because Mama Walde sits down and 0:56:38.719 --> 0:56:42.359 tries to order French champagne, and Gordon is like, that 0:56:42.400 --> 0:56:46.239 won't be necessary, but then the ladies overrule him, so 0:56:46.280 --> 0:56:47.800 they do get the champagne service. 0:56:48.080 --> 0:56:51.560 Now. Side note, this is another scene in a film 0:56:51.680 --> 0:56:55.000 where they're sipping champagne from coop glasses, you know, from 0:56:55.040 --> 0:56:58.680 wide glasses as opposed to flutes. I really need to 0:56:58.719 --> 0:57:00.600 dive into the history of a pro we're at glass 0:57:00.600 --> 0:57:03.560 wear for Bubbley, because I've seen that. I feel like 0:57:03.600 --> 0:57:05.760 we've seen this in some films we've watched on Weird House. 0:57:06.200 --> 0:57:08.640 In HBO's The Gilded Age, which is set in the 0:57:08.680 --> 0:57:11.200 eighteen eighties, they're also drinking all their champagne out of 0:57:11.239 --> 0:57:13.960 coop glasses or something very close to a coup glass, 0:57:15.239 --> 0:57:18.600 and I feel like I've always heard that that argument 0:57:18.720 --> 0:57:20.480 was like, oh no, you want a narrow glass because 0:57:20.560 --> 0:57:22.880 you know the way the bubbles form, and so forth. 0:57:24.080 --> 0:57:27.600 I feel like coop blesses for Champagne have come in 0:57:27.680 --> 0:57:29.080 and out of fashion over time. 0:57:29.600 --> 0:57:31.560 It would seem to be. But my main area of 0:57:31.600 --> 0:57:34.800 research on this is seeing it in movies that sometimes 0:57:34.800 --> 0:57:36.040 have vampires in themselves. 0:57:36.360 --> 0:57:39.520 I don't know well anyway. One interesting thing about the 0:57:39.640 --> 0:57:42.960 scene is that I had expected Mama Welde would be 0:57:43.080 --> 0:57:48.400 more coy about who he is and his relationship to Tina, 0:57:48.440 --> 0:57:51.520 but instead he comes right out and tells, Tina, you 0:57:51.640 --> 0:57:54.600 bear in You bear an amazing resemblance to my wife, 0:57:54.680 --> 0:57:57.280 whom I lost a short while ago. I loved her 0:57:57.400 --> 0:58:00.080 very much. When you left the mortuary, I had to fall. 0:58:00.640 --> 0:58:04.000 I didn't consider that I might frighten you so leading 0:58:04.080 --> 0:58:08.040 with you look like my beloved dead wife. And just 0:58:08.240 --> 0:58:10.880 judging by the way she looks back at him, I 0:58:10.920 --> 0:58:15.600 think Tina is already over whatever apprehension she had previously. 0:58:15.720 --> 0:58:16.600 She is charmed. 0:58:16.720 --> 0:58:19.600 Now. Yeah, the film will stress this later, but it's 0:58:19.640 --> 0:58:23.360 definitely worth noting that she is charmed. But not bewitched. 0:58:24.720 --> 0:58:27.960 We see either and perhaps sometimes both in different vampire movies. 0:58:28.000 --> 0:58:32.160 You know, sometimes a Dracula figure or a vampire lord 0:58:32.200 --> 0:58:35.960 figure is definitely controlling people and overwhelming their senses. Other 0:58:36.000 --> 0:58:38.200 times it is more of a I guess, a pure 0:58:38.280 --> 0:58:42.480 charisma role. So, yeah, he is not controlling her, and 0:58:42.560 --> 0:58:45.840 their connection across time would seem to be legitimate. 0:58:46.400 --> 0:58:50.439 That's right, And she seems to imply in a later 0:58:50.520 --> 0:58:53.160 scene that maybe she feels this is true as well. 0:58:53.760 --> 0:58:55.280 But I guess we'll get there in a few minutes. 0:58:55.280 --> 0:58:57.720 So first of all, there's a cutaway to the funeral 0:58:57.760 --> 0:58:59.960 home where we mentioned that the cops were going to 0:59:00.080 --> 0:59:02.880 go collect Bobby's body. But when they get there, they 0:59:03.080 --> 0:59:05.080 like throw open the lid to the coffin in the 0:59:05.160 --> 0:59:08.760 visitation room and the body is missing. Gordon gets a 0:59:08.800 --> 0:59:11.840 call at the club reporting this. He has to like 0:59:11.880 --> 0:59:13.800 go up to the bar and take a phone call, 0:59:14.160 --> 0:59:16.240 and then for some reason, when he comes back to 0:59:16.320 --> 0:59:19.360 the table for Michelle's birthday party, he shares the news 0:59:19.400 --> 0:59:24.080 that Bobby's body is missing, and Mama Walde says, perhaps 0:59:24.080 --> 0:59:27.160 he wasn't dead. At Gordon is like, what does that mean? 0:59:27.240 --> 0:59:30.560 He was dead? I examined him myself, and Mama we 0:59:30.560 --> 0:59:33.680 Alde says just a passing thought. But then we get 0:59:33.680 --> 0:59:36.800 the arrival of Skillet. This is the guy who keeps 0:59:36.800 --> 0:59:41.000 showing up to admire Mamaelde's cape and to say that 0:59:41.040 --> 0:59:46.240 he's strange. But Mama Walde is suddenly driven away from 0:59:46.320 --> 0:59:50.360 the table because a photographer comes by, and as soon 0:59:50.400 --> 0:59:54.120 as she snaps a photo of their table, Mamaulde stands 0:59:54.200 --> 0:59:57.520 up and abruptly excuses himself, saying that it has been 0:59:57.520 --> 1:00:00.720 a rare pleasure. Tina chases after him, and then near 1:00:00.760 --> 1:00:02.960 the door, she catches him to say that she wants 1:00:02.960 --> 1:00:06.080 to see him again, and they promised to meet again 1:00:06.160 --> 1:00:10.400 at the club the next night. But the photographer comes 1:00:10.480 --> 1:00:12.560 it barges in one more time and takes a picture 1:00:12.600 --> 1:00:15.160 of them a second time. This picture is just Mama 1:00:15.200 --> 1:00:18.680 well Day and Tina, and this drives Mama well De away. 1:00:19.040 --> 1:00:22.240 He seems alarmed at having his picture taken. So here 1:00:22.280 --> 1:00:25.240 I guess we should describe what appears to be the 1:00:25.280 --> 1:00:28.840 photographer's business model. Maybe this is a thing that used 1:00:28.840 --> 1:00:31.080 to happen. I don't know, but it seems what she 1:00:31.840 --> 1:00:35.240 goes around the club taking pictures of people, and then 1:00:35.360 --> 1:00:37.960 she has a house right next door to the club, 1:00:38.320 --> 1:00:41.200 and so she runs out of the club next door 1:00:41.240 --> 1:00:44.840 to her house, develops the photos and makes prints, and 1:00:44.880 --> 1:00:47.560 then brings the prince back to the club the same 1:00:47.680 --> 1:00:49.640 night and sells them to people. Is that how you 1:00:49.720 --> 1:00:50.320 understood it? 1:00:50.880 --> 1:00:52.520 I think so, yeah. I feel like this might be 1:00:52.560 --> 1:00:54.320 something that would have been more clear to the audience 1:00:54.360 --> 1:00:57.520 of the time. And I know, based on conversations with 1:00:57.880 --> 1:01:02.080 my wife, who's a photographer, were you know, there were 1:01:02.160 --> 1:01:04.400 all sorts of practices kind of like this back in 1:01:04.400 --> 1:01:06.840 the day when you had to develop your film. There 1:01:06.880 --> 1:01:09.200 was one in particular that I remember hearing that involved 1:01:09.200 --> 1:01:11.160 like a zipline, Like they had to like take the photo, 1:01:11.720 --> 1:01:13.640 get the film, zipline it down to where it was 1:01:13.680 --> 1:01:15.520 going to be produced. So there are all sorts of 1:01:15.560 --> 1:01:18.040 things like that that had to occur given the limitations 1:01:18.080 --> 1:01:21.240 of film technology. Nowadays, you know, it's all digital and 1:01:21.280 --> 1:01:23.520 so you have an entirely different model and everything moves 1:01:23.520 --> 1:01:24.120 so much faster. 1:01:24.680 --> 1:01:26.840 The only other way I could understand this is if 1:01:26.920 --> 1:01:29.520 she's is if this is not her job and she's 1:01:29.640 --> 1:01:32.880 just like a hobbyist photographer and taking pictures of her 1:01:32.880 --> 1:01:35.480 friends and happens to live next door to the club. 1:01:35.640 --> 1:01:36.200 I don't know. 1:01:36.640 --> 1:01:39.800 How, but the real take home here is that it 1:01:39.840 --> 1:01:42.600 gives us an excuse for a dark room scene, which 1:01:42.640 --> 1:01:44.280 I absolutely love in my movies. 1:01:44.440 --> 1:01:47.080 Oh yeah, this is great. So she runs off next 1:01:47.080 --> 1:01:49.880 door to develop the photos, and here we get a 1:01:49.920 --> 1:01:53.080 vampire attack, and I think a very creepy one at that. 1:01:53.520 --> 1:01:55.560 So she's in her house, she puts on a record. 1:01:55.760 --> 1:01:58.560 Music is playing, but other than the music playing, it's 1:01:58.680 --> 1:02:03.920 very still inside, and she's developing the photos and she 1:02:04.200 --> 1:02:07.680 notices when looking at the negatives that Mama Walday is 1:02:07.800 --> 1:02:10.760 missing from the pictures she took. So it's just like Tina, 1:02:11.160 --> 1:02:14.880 they're embracing with no one. And then she peeks out 1:02:14.920 --> 1:02:17.480 through the curtains of her dark room and suddenly Mama 1:02:17.520 --> 1:02:23.600 Waldey's there in vampire mode, gliding frictionlessly directly toward her 1:02:23.760 --> 1:02:26.560 fangs showing. It's a really scary moment. 1:02:26.880 --> 1:02:29.280 Absolutely yeah, this is this is This is one of 1:02:29.480 --> 1:02:33.120 two really good scares in the picture. This is probably 1:02:33.200 --> 1:02:33.800 my favorite. 1:02:33.840 --> 1:02:36.440 And in fact, this scene develops into a double scare. 1:02:37.160 --> 1:02:39.800 No pun intended on develops with the dark one, but 1:02:40.240 --> 1:02:43.520 it's a double scare because Shortly after this, a cop 1:02:43.560 --> 1:02:46.560 shows up, because remember Gordon was supposed to get those 1:02:46.760 --> 1:02:49.800 reports delivered to him at the club. So this cop 1:02:49.880 --> 1:02:53.640 named Barnes appears to deliver the reports and he's in 1:02:53.720 --> 1:02:56.120 the parking lot of the club and he sees at 1:02:56.160 --> 1:02:58.720 the house next door a woman stumbles out of the 1:02:58.760 --> 1:03:00.800 front door and she appears to be dying, so he 1:03:00.880 --> 1:03:03.160 goes to help her. But when he picks her up 1:03:03.160 --> 1:03:07.160 to carry her inside, fangs it's the photographer and she 1:03:07.280 --> 1:03:11.960 has changed rapidly, so in the the way the mythology, 1:03:12.040 --> 1:03:14.920 the vampire mythology works here, you can change and I 1:03:14.960 --> 1:03:16.160 don't know, it seems like minutes. 1:03:16.600 --> 1:03:18.520 Yeah, yeah, it's very viral. 1:03:18.880 --> 1:03:22.440 So she vamps the cop and Gordon never gets his reports, 1:03:23.160 --> 1:03:25.520 and he tells Peters as much. The next day at 1:03:25.560 --> 1:03:29.280 the police station, Peters is mad about this. Gordon wants 1:03:29.280 --> 1:03:32.840 to get permission to dig up Billy Schaefer's grave to 1:03:32.920 --> 1:03:35.920 do an autopsy. Peters tries to get a permit for this, 1:03:36.000 --> 1:03:38.560 but he can't, so then, in a very funny turn, 1:03:38.760 --> 1:03:42.280 Gordon he explains to Michelle that they're just gonna have 1:03:42.320 --> 1:03:45.480 to go and illegally dig up Billy's body. Themselves that night, 1:03:45.880 --> 1:03:48.600 and Michelle is kind of resistant to this idea at first, 1:03:48.640 --> 1:03:51.400 but he likes sweet talks her into it. He basically 1:03:52.160 --> 1:03:54.280 he kisses her and he's like, come on, do it 1:03:54.320 --> 1:03:56.080 for me, and she's like, okay. 1:03:56.080 --> 1:03:59.000 Okay, Well we'll go violate the graveyard. 1:04:00.000 --> 1:04:02.560 And so that night, while Gordon and Michelle are out 1:04:02.600 --> 1:04:06.760 digging up a grave, Mama Walde comes and visits Tina's apartment. 1:04:07.200 --> 1:04:09.120 He says he couldn't wait to see her and he 1:04:09.200 --> 1:04:12.640 needed to speak to her alone. They've been dying to 1:04:12.680 --> 1:04:16.600 see one another again, and Tina explains her complicated feelings. 1:04:16.640 --> 1:04:19.520 He frightens her, but also when he left the night before, 1:04:19.600 --> 1:04:22.680 she wanted to run after him. So he says he 1:04:22.760 --> 1:04:25.360 needs to speak to her about something and she asks, 1:04:25.600 --> 1:04:28.720 is it about your wife? And he says, you are 1:04:28.840 --> 1:04:32.720 my wife. She says that's impossible, Mama al Day and 1:04:32.760 --> 1:04:35.920 he says, and yet you believe it, and it seems 1:04:35.920 --> 1:04:39.840 like she does. She's a bit confused, but he explains 1:04:40.240 --> 1:04:45.480 as if she is Luva reincarnated. He explains who they are, 1:04:46.280 --> 1:04:49.919 that they come from the Abani people and were sent 1:04:49.960 --> 1:04:53.160 as diplomats to Europe to gain allies who would support 1:04:53.360 --> 1:04:57.920 their protest of the slave trade. And then Mama Walde says, 1:04:58.000 --> 1:05:01.880 on that mission, I myself was enslaved, my wife murdered, 1:05:02.160 --> 1:05:04.560 and I was placed under the curse of the Undead. 1:05:05.000 --> 1:05:09.800 Our assassin was the vampire Count Dracula. Now Tina protests 1:05:09.880 --> 1:05:12.880 that Count Dracula is a myth, he wasn't real, but 1:05:12.920 --> 1:05:16.480 Mama Walde explains he was real. Quote as real as 1:05:16.520 --> 1:05:19.280 I am now, as real as you are, and as 1:05:19.320 --> 1:05:23.120 real as my need for you. You are my luva recreated. 1:05:23.960 --> 1:05:26.320 So she asks again what he wants, and he says 1:05:26.400 --> 1:05:30.400 that he wants her to rejoin him. And it's not 1:05:30.440 --> 1:05:33.520 spelled out exactly what that means, but it seems that's 1:05:33.600 --> 1:05:38.440 understood as join him in undeath. Now she seems torn. 1:05:38.600 --> 1:05:41.960 She wants to, but she's afraid. She says I can't, 1:05:42.480 --> 1:05:44.720 and then he says, you must come to me freely, 1:05:44.760 --> 1:05:47.439 with love or not at all. I will not take 1:05:47.480 --> 1:05:50.560 you by force, and I will not return. I have 1:05:50.640 --> 1:05:54.040 lived again to lose you twice, and he rises to leave. 1:05:54.160 --> 1:05:56.360 He goes to the door, but she stops him and 1:05:56.440 --> 1:05:59.480 asks him to stay. They embrace. It seems she does 1:05:59.520 --> 1:06:01.920 want to reach join him whatever the cost. 1:06:02.480 --> 1:06:03.840 It's a pointed scene. 1:06:03.600 --> 1:06:06.320 It is, and it's emotionally complex because you can see 1:06:06.320 --> 1:06:09.200 in his performance that when they embrace and kiss that 1:06:09.640 --> 1:06:11.560 it's not just that he loves her, it's not just 1:06:11.640 --> 1:06:15.440 that he desires her, but there is a feeling of relief, 1:06:17.160 --> 1:06:21.400 of like of a burden being lifted, and because, I guess, 1:06:21.480 --> 1:06:25.680 because he won't have to be like this alone. And 1:06:25.840 --> 1:06:31.960 so meanwhile Gordon and Gordon and Michelle are doing their 1:06:32.040 --> 1:06:34.800 grave digging. Gordon digs up Billy's grave in the middle 1:06:34.800 --> 1:06:38.000 of the night while Michelle holds a flashlight. They open 1:06:38.080 --> 1:06:40.240 the coffin and what do you know, Billy pops up 1:06:40.280 --> 1:06:44.200 a full vampire. He attacks Gordon. Gordon throws some really 1:06:44.240 --> 1:06:47.120 good punches some haymakers, beats him up with a shovel 1:06:47.400 --> 1:06:51.160 and stakes him. And now it seems Michelle and Gordon 1:06:51.200 --> 1:06:55.120 have both seen the proof. They are definitely dealing with vampires. 1:06:55.640 --> 1:06:57.120 Yeah, there's no denying it now. 1:06:57.440 --> 1:07:00.200 And Michelle is like, oh, all those books you've been reading. 1:07:00.200 --> 1:07:02.760 Apparently Gordon has been doing a lot of vampire research. 1:07:04.200 --> 1:07:08.400 But Gordon quickly realizes that the other vampire victims will 1:07:08.440 --> 1:07:12.680 also rise from their slumber and attack, including the cab 1:07:12.800 --> 1:07:16.440 driver at the morgue, So he calls Sam from a 1:07:16.480 --> 1:07:19.880 payphone that Sam was what's his name? Elisha Cook Junior 1:07:21.160 --> 1:07:24.040 calls him from a payphone and tells him to take 1:07:24.080 --> 1:07:26.480 her body out of the freezer so he can come 1:07:26.520 --> 1:07:29.960 and perform an autopsy with Peters, but also to leave 1:07:30.000 --> 1:07:32.560 her in a locked room, lock the door, and stay away. 1:07:33.080 --> 1:07:35.240 And then Gordon goes to pick up Peters to show 1:07:35.320 --> 1:07:38.240 him the evidence of the vampire menace. What's going to happen? 1:07:38.280 --> 1:07:42.080 Of course, there is a vampire attack, So vampire Juanita 1:07:42.800 --> 1:07:46.520 rises from her frozen slumber to attack Sam. 1:07:46.840 --> 1:07:49.680 And this is another really well done vampire attack sequence. 1:07:49.720 --> 1:07:53.080 The music is really great. This is this is awesome. 1:07:53.280 --> 1:07:57.120 Yeah, it's a creepy, unusual shot where the door opens 1:07:57.120 --> 1:07:59.480 and we see from Sam's perspective, he's like at the 1:07:59.480 --> 1:08:03.280 phone in the hall and she's running directly at the 1:08:03.360 --> 1:08:07.800 camera in slow motion, just eyes wild, fangs out. 1:08:08.400 --> 1:08:11.120 You can imagine this whole sequence playing really well in 1:08:11.120 --> 1:08:13.800 the theater too, because you get that moment where he 1:08:13.920 --> 1:08:16.880 almost he has the keys out right, He's almost gonna 1:08:16.920 --> 1:08:19.479 do it. He's almost gonna gonna lock the body in 1:08:19.479 --> 1:08:21.679 the room, but then the phone rings. So yeah, it's 1:08:21.720 --> 1:08:24.599 like you can imagine like the energy in the theater. 1:08:25.000 --> 1:08:29.320 Right, No, no, no, So back at Tina's apartment, we 1:08:29.360 --> 1:08:32.080 see Tina and Mama weel day in bed and she 1:08:32.360 --> 1:08:35.680 expresses a desire to join him, but he says that 1:08:35.760 --> 1:08:38.679 can wait now. He has to leave before daylight because 1:08:38.760 --> 1:08:41.760 daylight would be fatal to him, and she tells him 1:08:41.760 --> 1:08:45.160 that she loves him. Gordon and Peters arrive at the 1:08:45.200 --> 1:08:48.040 morgue and they are attacked by the vampire. But Gordon, 1:08:48.360 --> 1:08:50.479 he's got the he knows what to do now. He 1:08:50.600 --> 1:08:54.600 subdues the vampire with a big, chunky silver cross. I 1:08:54.720 --> 1:08:56.880 like this cross. It looks really substantial. 1:08:57.479 --> 1:09:00.160 It's really huge, like as it's not one that you 1:09:00.160 --> 1:09:02.240 would normally just carry on your person, and it would 1:09:02.280 --> 1:09:05.639 look ridiculous on like a chain around your neck. I'm 1:09:05.680 --> 1:09:06.439 not sure where you got this. 1:09:06.760 --> 1:09:13.520 Yeah, and Gordon explains to Peters that vampires multiply geometrically. 1:09:13.600 --> 1:09:16.280 He's done the math. They have to stop this fast, 1:09:16.439 --> 1:09:19.599 so they put out an APB to look for dead 1:09:19.600 --> 1:09:22.640 people who have gone missing, like Bobby, and then we 1:09:22.680 --> 1:09:24.920 get another club scene. I guess it's the next night 1:09:25.080 --> 1:09:27.479 and they're at the club again. The Hues Corporation is 1:09:27.479 --> 1:09:31.679 playing again. It's another jam and Gordon, Michelle, and Tina 1:09:31.720 --> 1:09:34.880 are sitting around at a table and Mama Welde joins 1:09:34.920 --> 1:09:39.880 them once again. He cheekily orders a bloody Mary and 1:09:39.920 --> 1:09:42.960 then Gordon is like, hey, Mama Weldey, can maybe you 1:09:43.000 --> 1:09:46.719 can help me? Are you into the occult? It seems 1:09:46.800 --> 1:09:49.120 kind of out of nowhere, but I think maybe it 1:09:49.200 --> 1:09:51.559 means like he's asking him because he wears the cape, 1:09:51.640 --> 1:09:53.919 so he, you know, looks like a vampire. 1:09:53.960 --> 1:09:56.759 I guess because of the I and the follow up question, 1:09:56.840 --> 1:09:58.040 how about the heavy stuff? 1:09:58.760 --> 1:10:02.880 Yeah, exactly which craft all that? And this is so 1:10:02.920 --> 1:10:05.240 it turns into a general quiz on the subject of 1:10:05.280 --> 1:10:08.720 the occult, vampires and the devil, and Mama all Day 1:10:08.920 --> 1:10:11.800 is like, oh, yeah, vampires are the most interesting of 1:10:11.840 --> 1:10:16.599 all that stuff. We get another visit from Skillet and 1:10:16.680 --> 1:10:19.960 when he arrives, mamualde leaves and takes Tina with him. 1:10:20.840 --> 1:10:25.080 More talk about how he wants the cape. But there's 1:10:25.080 --> 1:10:27.640 a little tip off here. What happened to the photographer 1:10:27.640 --> 1:10:30.120 who was here the night before or I guess two 1:10:30.240 --> 1:10:34.000 nights before. Maybe Gordon decides to investigate. He goes next 1:10:34.000 --> 1:10:37.760 door to her house and there he finds the photos 1:10:37.840 --> 1:10:42.680 where Mamaualday is missing. Gordon realizes that he is the 1:10:42.760 --> 1:10:45.920 vampire he's been looking for, and of course this makes 1:10:45.960 --> 1:10:48.320 him worried for Tina, who just went home with him, 1:10:48.680 --> 1:10:52.160 so Gordon and Michelle rushed to Tina's apartment to rescue her. 1:10:52.360 --> 1:10:55.840 They bust in. Gordon and Mama Alde fight and Mama 1:10:55.920 --> 1:10:58.839 Alde runs off, and the police arrive on the scene, 1:10:59.360 --> 1:11:02.040 and then there's like chase. The people are running around 1:11:02.040 --> 1:11:05.200 through alleyways trying to find the vampire, and then he 1:11:05.240 --> 1:11:09.200 finally appears. He gets one cop isolated and he appears 1:11:09.240 --> 1:11:13.439 in vampire mode and kills the cop. So now Gordon 1:11:13.520 --> 1:11:16.360 and Peters know who the King Vampire is, but they 1:11:16.360 --> 1:11:20.280 don't know where he is, so they begin an investigation 1:11:20.400 --> 1:11:25.760 to find his coffin because, in accordance with standard lore, 1:11:26.160 --> 1:11:28.759 the way you can destroy him is to destroy his coffin, 1:11:28.840 --> 1:11:30.040 destroy his resting place. 1:11:30.760 --> 1:11:32.880 Yeah yeah, especially I hunt him out during the day. 1:11:33.280 --> 1:11:34.960 Oh yeah, I guess that's the other way is find 1:11:35.040 --> 1:11:37.200 him during the day and stake him while he's sleeping. 1:11:38.360 --> 1:11:40.320 So from here on out, the film becomes a lot 1:11:40.360 --> 1:11:44.120 more action oriented. Like there's a scene where they find 1:11:44.360 --> 1:11:47.560 vampire Bobby and trace him back to the antique warehouse, 1:11:47.920 --> 1:11:50.439 and there's like a raid on the vampire nest there 1:11:50.439 --> 1:11:53.799 at the warehouse, and there's a big fight with Gordon 1:11:53.880 --> 1:11:58.200 and the other police getting ambushed by vampires and in 1:11:58.280 --> 1:12:00.800 the sort of maze of crates and bobs boxes and 1:12:00.840 --> 1:12:04.120 they end up throwing these oil lanterns to fight them off. 1:12:04.160 --> 1:12:06.320 There are a bunch of like a person in a 1:12:06.360 --> 1:12:09.880 fire suit stunts. Oh yeah, there's a scary moment where 1:12:10.000 --> 1:12:12.160 you remember the cop Barns who went to help the 1:12:12.200 --> 1:12:15.120 photographer at her house. He of course we saw it 1:12:15.160 --> 1:12:18.200 in Bitten, but he's like one of their investigating party, 1:12:18.240 --> 1:12:20.639 and of course he turns on them. At the end 1:12:20.680 --> 1:12:23.960 of this fight, Mama Walde appears and then escapes in 1:12:24.080 --> 1:12:26.200 bat form by transforming into a bat. 1:12:26.560 --> 1:12:30.400 Yeah, of course this is a classic bit, right, vampire 1:12:30.400 --> 1:12:33.479 transforms into a bat. But from an effects standpoint, it's 1:12:33.600 --> 1:12:37.040 kind of a daring vampire movie trope to include, because 1:12:37.200 --> 1:12:41.120 I think we've all seen examples of it that look 1:12:41.160 --> 1:12:43.400 a bit silly, right, you know, you can imagine like 1:12:43.439 --> 1:12:46.519 here's here's a human poof of smoke, and then a 1:12:46.520 --> 1:12:47.719 floppy bat on a string. 1:12:47.840 --> 1:12:50.599 Right, it almost always looks silly. I'm trying to think 1:12:50.600 --> 1:12:53.200 of a movie where the transformation into a bat does 1:12:53.240 --> 1:12:54.800 not look silly. 1:12:55.960 --> 1:12:58.800 And you know, maybe I'm being super generous here because 1:12:58.800 --> 1:13:00.479 I like so many other things about the picture, but 1:13:00.720 --> 1:13:03.600 I thought this one looked reasonably good considering what the 1:13:03.640 --> 1:13:04.200 effect is. 1:13:04.439 --> 1:13:06.200 This is one of the better ones. I like it. 1:13:06.640 --> 1:13:09.240 But anyway, this all leads up to a big final 1:13:09.320 --> 1:13:13.320 showdown a set piece at a chemical factory, which is 1:13:13.400 --> 1:13:18.280 where Mamaelde's coffin is stored now, so he Mamaelde takes 1:13:18.320 --> 1:13:23.120 Tina there and the police give chase. And then tragically, 1:13:23.200 --> 1:13:26.559 while the police are running around in this place looking 1:13:26.560 --> 1:13:30.000 through them through these like mazes of pipes and you know, 1:13:30.080 --> 1:13:33.120 chemical tanks and things, they see the two of them, 1:13:33.320 --> 1:13:37.200 and then a cop shoots at them and Tina is killed. 1:13:38.360 --> 1:13:42.400 Horrible tragedy Tina. And then of course Mama Weelde turns 1:13:42.439 --> 1:13:45.280 Tina into a vampire because at that point it's the 1:13:45.320 --> 1:13:48.000 only way to save her. But he is now of 1:13:48.040 --> 1:13:52.240 course furious, and he he yells at the at all 1:13:52.280 --> 1:13:54.960 of their pursuers through and it like sort of echoes 1:13:55.040 --> 1:13:59.519 throughout the entire building. Is sort of a curse of vengeance. 1:13:59.560 --> 1:14:02.800 He says, this will be your inglorious tomb. 1:14:03.000 --> 1:14:06.439 Yeah, and then follows it up with your tomb, your tomb, 1:14:06.800 --> 1:14:10.240 your tomb. And I have to say this bit just 1:14:10.320 --> 1:14:13.200 keeps playing through my mind because on one hand, just 1:14:13.200 --> 1:14:15.519 an absolutely great moment in the film that drives home 1:14:15.600 --> 1:14:19.120 just the vengeful power of vampire Prince Mama Walde. You know, 1:14:19.360 --> 1:14:22.840 his enemies here are clearly doomed. They have crossed the line. 1:14:23.320 --> 1:14:25.559 But it's also one of those bits of dialogue that 1:14:25.680 --> 1:14:29.040 on paper or coming from a lesser actor, it might 1:14:29.040 --> 1:14:31.080 have come off a bit silly, a bit fake, but 1:14:31.640 --> 1:14:35.120 Marshall absolutely imbues it here with Shakespearean power. 1:14:35.479 --> 1:14:38.960 It's strong. You can feel his rage. And then it 1:14:39.080 --> 1:14:44.760 becomes even worse because so he turns Tina into a 1:14:44.840 --> 1:14:47.400 vampire because it's the only way to save her at 1:14:47.400 --> 1:14:52.280 this point. And then Gordon and Peters come across the 1:14:52.360 --> 1:14:55.400 vampire's coffin. They think they've discovered his coffin and they're 1:14:55.439 --> 1:14:58.439 going to stake him to end this. They rip the 1:14:58.439 --> 1:15:02.400 lid off, throw the stake down and then they realize 1:15:02.439 --> 1:15:06.920 they have staked Tina by accident. I guess they would 1:15:06.960 --> 1:15:08.960 have had to stake her either way because she is 1:15:09.000 --> 1:15:12.400 a vampire now. But yeah, it wasn't what they were 1:15:12.439 --> 1:15:13.280 intending to do. 1:15:13.800 --> 1:15:17.040 Yeah, but at this point, Mamalalde shows up. He sees this, 1:15:17.680 --> 1:15:20.519 and this takes the fight out of him, you know, 1:15:20.520 --> 1:15:22.680 because this was his whole reason for being, and he 1:15:23.000 --> 1:15:26.080 says as much. There's this great moment where Gordon reaches 1:15:26.120 --> 1:15:29.240 in to get that big chunky cross out of his jacket, 1:15:30.000 --> 1:15:32.599 you know, like he's pulling a gun or something, and 1:15:32.680 --> 1:15:34.920 Mamalde says that won't be necessary. 1:15:35.600 --> 1:15:38.519 Right. It's an incredibly sad turn. You could see he's 1:15:38.560 --> 1:15:42.800 just given up now and with his love gone, he 1:15:42.920 --> 1:15:48.280 surrenders himself to his ultimate fate and decides that he's 1:15:48.360 --> 1:15:51.160 going to walk out into the daylight, which he does. 1:15:51.240 --> 1:15:53.679 He like struggles, you can see the pain in him, 1:15:54.080 --> 1:15:56.240 but he walks up the staircase under the roof of 1:15:56.280 --> 1:15:59.919 the building and bathes himself in sunlight, and then Collapse 1:16:00.160 --> 1:16:03.519 is dead. And then we see like his skin rots 1:16:03.560 --> 1:16:07.639 away and turns to worms, and it's a very bleak 1:16:07.680 --> 1:16:10.840 and tragic ending. There's not really anything. There's not really 1:16:10.880 --> 1:16:13.920 anything happy to redeem it that comes back. You just 1:16:14.200 --> 1:16:19.680 end on this moment of absolute loss, and yeah, I 1:16:19.680 --> 1:16:21.439 don't know what to say about that. It's one of 1:16:21.479 --> 1:16:23.080 the bleakest endings I can think of. 1:16:23.640 --> 1:16:25.679 Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't want it any other way. 1:16:25.800 --> 1:16:28.360 You could imagine cuts of the film where you could 1:16:28.400 --> 1:16:30.240 have had something different, like, you know, the sort of 1:16:30.280 --> 1:16:34.280 like police chummy chummy having that moment where they're like, hey, well, 1:16:34.280 --> 1:16:36.280 well at least we stop the vampires. It's sad, but 1:16:37.160 --> 1:16:39.720 the good guy's won. Or you could have gone in an 1:16:39.840 --> 1:16:42.240 entirely different direction. It also wouldn't be out of keeping 1:16:42.280 --> 1:16:43.880 with other films and just just cut back to the 1:16:43.960 --> 1:16:47.080 Hughes Corporation doing another number, you know, and just sort 1:16:47.080 --> 1:16:50.600 of almost like insisting on a change of pace. But 1:16:51.040 --> 1:16:53.080 they stick to the ending here, and the last thing 1:16:53.120 --> 1:16:56.320 we see is the skull of Mamma Walde. Now a 1:16:56.400 --> 1:16:58.800 quick note about the fate of Mama Walde. Here in 1:16:58.840 --> 1:17:02.519 the film, the main hoster for Blacula features an image 1:17:02.560 --> 1:17:06.200 of him being staked, an image that appears to be 1:17:06.439 --> 1:17:09.200 very manipulated, like it's not I don't think it's a 1:17:09.200 --> 1:17:12.960 shot from the film, And this, of course is dumb, 1:17:13.000 --> 1:17:15.200 but in line with plenty of other vampire movies and 1:17:15.240 --> 1:17:18.759 trailers that show the movie's main vampire being staked. 1:17:20.680 --> 1:17:23.080 If that were true, it would seem to be a spoiler. 1:17:23.560 --> 1:17:25.880 Yeah, but again, it wouldn't be out of line with 1:17:26.000 --> 1:17:27.960 marketing for other vampire films. 1:17:28.360 --> 1:17:30.600 Yeah, and it's not even true. In this case. He 1:17:30.640 --> 1:17:33.920 does not get staked. He just surrenders himself to death 1:17:33.960 --> 1:17:34.519 by the sun. 1:17:35.200 --> 1:17:37.680 Yeah, but it makes me wonder, Like was just like, 1:17:37.720 --> 1:17:40.519 I'm wonder of what stage in production the poster was 1:17:40.560 --> 1:17:43.400 made and maybe at one point he was the character 1:17:43.520 --> 1:17:47.120 was going to be staked, and William Marshall was like, no, 1:17:47.240 --> 1:17:49.680 that's not going to work for me. And if that's 1:17:49.680 --> 1:17:51.800 the case, I applaud him for sticking to his guns 1:17:51.800 --> 1:17:53.639 and going and pushing for this ending. 1:17:54.160 --> 1:17:58.280 So I guess that's Blacula. A really good tragic romance 1:17:58.320 --> 1:17:59.760 and a really good horror movie too. 1:18:00.200 --> 1:18:03.920 Yeah. Absolutely, I was really impressed with it on the whole. So, 1:18:04.720 --> 1:18:06.720 as always, we'd love to hear from folks out there 1:18:06.720 --> 1:18:10.160 if y'all have any thoughts on the film, any memories 1:18:10.200 --> 1:18:14.000 of seeing it originally for the first time, or revisiting it, 1:18:14.080 --> 1:18:18.240 and so forth. Everything is fair game. Just want to 1:18:18.240 --> 1:18:20.880 remind everybody that's stuff to blow your mind. Is primarily 1:18:20.960 --> 1:18:24.720 a science podcast with core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 1:18:24.920 --> 1:18:26.800 We do a listener mail episode. On Mondays, we do 1:18:26.840 --> 1:18:29.280 a short form episode on Wednesdays, and on Fridays we 1:18:29.320 --> 1:18:31.400 set aside most serious concerns to just talk about a 1:18:31.400 --> 1:18:34.040 weird movie on weird House Cinema. If you want to 1:18:34.040 --> 1:18:37.280 see a complete list with thumbnails or posters of all 1:18:37.280 --> 1:18:40.280 the movies we've considered so far on weird House Cinema, well, 1:18:40.280 --> 1:18:42.120 you can go over to letterbox dot com. It's l 1:18:42.120 --> 1:18:44.720 E T T e r box d dot com. Our 1:18:44.800 --> 1:18:47.320 username is weird house. We have a fabulous list there. 1:18:47.320 --> 1:18:49.160 You can see everything we've done. Sometimes there's a peak 1:18:49.160 --> 1:18:52.559 ahead at what's coming next, and you can sort by genre. Now, 1:18:52.600 --> 1:18:54.439 I don't think you can go so specific as to 1:18:54.520 --> 1:18:58.080 just say, show me only the vampire movies, but you 1:18:58.120 --> 1:19:00.519 know you could. You can set it to are and 1:19:00.560 --> 1:19:03.080 then figure it out on your own. I don't know 1:19:03.120 --> 1:19:05.160 how many vampire movies we've done at this point, but 1:19:06.040 --> 1:19:08.439 we've done a few and we'll do a few more. 1:19:08.479 --> 1:19:08.920 I'm sure. 1:19:09.200 --> 1:19:13.200 Here's thanks as always to our excellent audio producer JJ Posway. 1:19:13.360 --> 1:19:14.920 If you would like to get in touch with us 1:19:15.000 --> 1:19:17.759 with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest 1:19:17.760 --> 1:19:19.840 a topic for the future, or just to say hello, 1:19:19.960 --> 1:19:22.559 you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 1:19:22.600 --> 1:19:30.599 your Mind dot com. 1:19:30.760 --> 1:19:33.680 Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 1:19:33.760 --> 1:19:36.559 more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 1:19:36.720 --> 1:19:40.080 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.