WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Blacula 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:10.400 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:15.280 Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:18.280 This is Rob Lamb and I am Joe McCormick. And 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:20.840 today on Weird House Cinema, we are going to be 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:27.000 talking about the nineteen seventy two tragic romantic horror film Blackula. 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:32.160 Yeah. Yeah, so this is in a sense another Dracula movie. 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:34.839 We'll get into that in a bit, and I'm generally 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:38.160 down for any Dracula film. We've covered various Dracula movies 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:41.400 already on Weird House Cinema. Most recently we talked about 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:45.160 nineteen seventy two's Dracula Ad nineteen seventy two, in which 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:49.280 the Count awakens in contemporary London. Today's movie is also 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:52.320 a nineteen seventy two release, and it also centers around 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:56.520 a vampire prints awakening in the contemporary world, only this 0:00:56.600 --> 0:00:57.800 time it's Los Angeles? 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:00.680 Is it Los Angeles? I kept thinking that the exterior 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:04.160 shots looked like LA But then I would see, like 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:06.280 there was a scene at the police station where in 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:08.200 the background, I'm pretty sure they had a map of 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:09.839 Staten Island on the wall. 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:13.880 Well, I didn't notice that. I believe the movie when 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:15.559 it told me it was Los Angeles. 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:17.520 Well wait, did the movie even say it was LA 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:18.440 I didn't remember that. 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.560 Yeah, our character, doctor Thomas, supposedly works for the Los 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:24.680 Angeles Police Department. 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:28.000 Oh okay, then, oh, maybe he's just like a Staten 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:32.560 Island map hobbyist. That's myself there. I don't know, but 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:35.520 you know what. So this movie had been on my 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:39.120 radar for many years, but I hadn't seen it until 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:40.480 you picked it for the show. 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:40.800 Rob. 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:43.880 First of all, I really liked it, But second, it's 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:47.400 a very different movie than I imagined. I think because 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:51.640 the title is a pun, and because I understood it 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:55.320 to be part of the black exploitation wave. I had 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:59.480 always expected it would be more of a satirical horror comedy, 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:02.480 that it would be sort of a satirical take on 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:07.400 American culture from a black perspective, using some using like 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:12.200 vampire themes to get across some of its like comedic observations. 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:15.680 But it's really not a comedy at all. Instead, it 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:20.079 is a I think, very serious and very effective, tragic 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:22.200 romantic horror film. 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:25.200 Yeah. Yeah, and it's interesting and we'll be discussing this 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:28.560 a bit like the degree to which that transformation seems 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.000 to have taken place, because I think the studio initially 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:33.840 envisioned something that was more of a comedy and was 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:37.360 more of more satire and was just about, you know, 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.760 given the audience a good time. But this was transformed 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:43.440 by at least two of the key individuals involved, if 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:44.000 not more. 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:47.440 Also, I have to say the comparison to Dracula nineteen 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:51.760 seventy two AD is hilarious because multiple things. So, first 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:53.840 of all, I think Blacula is a much better film 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:55.919 than that. But the other thing is that we kept 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.880 joking in that episode that Dracula in nineteen seventy two 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.440 a D did not really put Dracula in nineteen seventy 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:04.560 two a D. He was almost like he just hangs 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:08.160 out in an abandoned church the whole time, and then 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:11.920 victims are brought to him, so he never encounters modern 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:15.360 culture or anything like that. And we talked about the 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:19.240 potential for realizing, you know, Dracula as a sort of 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:22.280 fish out of time character who's running into all of 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:26.960 the texture of the modern world and having friction when 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:30.920 interacting with it. You could expect that Blacula could be 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.839 like that as well, but really there is not much 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:36.360 fish out of time about it at all. In fact, 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:42.600 by the time our vampire hero arrives in nineteen seventy two, 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:45.760 he's like the coolest person in nineteen seventy two. He's 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:48.960 like more at ease and at home than anybody who 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:50.760 just normally lives their life here. 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:55.280 Yeah. Absolutely so. Yeah, Black Ela is a very well 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:58.040 known film in the history of horror and vampire movies, 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:02.680 and certainly has has its place in the history of 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:05.520 black cinema. So like yourself, Yeah, I've been familiar with 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:07.800 it for a long time, but I'd never taken the 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:10.320 time to actually sit down and watch it. And and 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:11.920 part of, you know, part of that was, like I 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:14.240 assumed it was more of a comedy, you know, I 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:16.800 wasn't sure how it might have aged, how it was received, 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.159 and what its legacy was, because you know, not everything 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:21.320 that is often categorized under the broad label of black 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:24.880 exploitation is worth a revisit. But I just kept seeing 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:29.839 more film creators, more artists, more historians, especially artists and 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.760 historians of color, singling it out for its strengths. One 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:38.520 such artist is Rodney Barnes, an American screenwriter and producer, 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:43.480 whose writing credits include Everybody Hates Chris, The Boondocks, and 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:47.720 also the TV series Winning Time on HBO. He was 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:51.080 also apparently and he has an additional crew credit. I'm blade. 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:53.080 I'm not sure what he did on that, but still 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:57.440 in nice vampire connection. But I picked up his twenty 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:00.719 twenty three graphic novel Blackula, Rich Turn of the King, 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:05.240 illustrated by Jason Seawan Alexander, and it's really fun. It's 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:11.599 a modern sequel to the film Blackula, reawakening our central 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.960 Prince character once more in contemporary Los Angeles and on 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:19.600 a collision course, this time with his vampiric maker. It's 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:22.320 really again, really good, really fun, and it includes an 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:26.360 extended intro in which Barnes describes being a horror fan 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:30.160 as a kid and being at the time mostly dependent 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:34.200 on a diet of hammer horror films which featured predominantly 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:39.000 white casts and never a black vampire. So he mentions 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:41.440 like seeing the ads for the first time. I think 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.479 he says that he saw them during the commercial breaks 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:48.160 for a Soul Train and he was instantly excited as 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:50.320 a child. He was like, you know this, this is 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:53.159 something different, This is here here is a case where 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:57.000 I get to see like a black vampire character in 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:01.320 a film. So Blacula, the movie called to him ultimately 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.520 helped inspire him to become a creator himself. And you know, 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.000 he acknowledges that the film has its flaws, but that 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:11.080 its power was undeniable. Now, I want to throw into 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:13.599 one quick note about the language of the film. While 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:16.680 the film is rated PG and doesn't really contain anything 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:20.640 objectionable in terms of gore or sexuality, we should stress 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:23.920 that a homophobic slur is used at least a couple 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:28.000 of times, one instance by a key protagonist, and once 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:32.240 in a really unnecessary and hurtful way. It certainly ding's 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.160 enjoyment of the film, especially since there's so many captivating 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.760 elements of the picture otherwise, so I wanted to single 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:40.680 that out. I was reading a little bit more about 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:44.280 this in The Dracula and the Blacula nineteen seventy two 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:47.719 Cultural Revolution by Lemon and Browning. This was published in 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:50.599 two thousand and nine s Dracula's Vampires and Other Undead 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:54.080 Forms Essays on gender, race, and Culture. And this article 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:56.839 makes a case that you know, we also see efforts 0:06:57.200 --> 0:07:00.839 in the movie at challenging homosexual stereotype, just as the 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:05.400 film challenges stereotypes of black and African characters. Though the 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:07.960 authors here acknowledge that the film fumbles in this and 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:13.400 ultimately quote encourage stereotypes and bigotries concerning homosexuality more than 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:15.640 they challenged them. So I just wanted to throw that 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:17.720 out there in case anyone was looking to pause the 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:20.560 podcast go watch the film. I think it's just a 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:23.520 good heads up to have. All Right, well, at this point, 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:26.120 let's go ahead and have a little trailer audio. The 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:28.760 actual trailer for the film is a bit long, but 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:31.160 we were able to dig up the radio spot here. 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:33.800 I love a good radio spot, so let's listen to 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:37.720 the original radio spot for Blackma. 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:40.880 You shall. 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:48.000 Black Prince, I press' wait my name? 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:58.120 You shall be black Tula, the Black Avenger, rising from 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:05.520 this tool to fill the night with horror. Black Cula 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:14.480 Dracula soul brother, deadlier even than he Blacula the First 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:19.600 for your blood. He hung less for your soul, more 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:29.880 horrifying than Draccula, the Black Avenge. Black Cula an American 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:35.600 International release rated PG. Parental guidance suggested. 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:42.080 Now of note you that voice you heard at the beginning. 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:45.720 That is the voice of Count Dracula, as we'll discuss. 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:48.800 Hmmm. You know that raises another way in which this 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:50.960 movie I think is different than what some people might 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:53.680 assume going into it, which you might assume of the 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:57.360 premise is what if Count Dracula were black, but instead 0:08:57.400 --> 0:08:59.760 our black vampire prints in the movie is very much 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:03.640 set in opposition to Count Dracula. Like Count Dracula is 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:04.520 still the villain. 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:08.760 Oh yeah, absolutely, a complete and utter villain, but then 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:12.719 also one that will not factor into the film directly 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.080 after after just a few minutes into the film. 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:18.720 Really yeah, he disappears after like three or four minutes in. 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.280 Yeah. All right, Well, if you're intrigued, if you're interested 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:24.880 in watching this one on your own before proceeding with 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:28.920 the rest of the episode, it's pretty widely available. We 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:31.480 watched it on the twenty twenty three Blu ray from 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:35.320 Sandpiper Pictures. It's bare bones, doesn't really have anything in 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:37.640 the way of extras, but the quality is great. We 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:40.200 rented it from Video Drum here in Atlanta, though I 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:43.040 believe it's also streaming on Prime and other sources, So again, 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:45.959 you shouldn't have any problem getting a hold of this movie. 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:50.400 All right, Let's get into the people who made this film, 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:53.920 starting at the top with the director. William Crane born 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:58.440 nineteen forty nine, American director in UCLA Film School graduate, 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:02.280 best remembered for this film and thus his contributions to 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.000 black cinema of the seventies and more broadly, the horror 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:09.080 genre itself. Prior to Blackula, he'd worked in TV. He 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:12.400 directed a nineteen seventy one episode of Mod Squad, though 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.280 he apparently worked as an uncredited intern director on the 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:19.480 nineteen seventies Sydney Quaidier movie Brother John, which also features 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:24.040 Paul Winfield. But anyway, After Blacula, he continued to direct 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:27.520 episodes of such TV series as Startsky and hutch Swatt 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:30.960 and The Rookies, before returning to the world of black 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:33.959 centric horror films with nineteen seventy six is Doctor Black 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:37.959 Mister Hyde, starring Bernie Casey in the lead roles. 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:40.360 No, I'd be interested to see that one too. 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:43.960 Yeah, yeah, I saw a bit from an interview with 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:46.600 him where he said he had more freedom in that one, 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.480 So I'm interested to read more about it, see how 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:52.560 it was received, and potentially watch it now. Afterwards, he 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:56.520 directed episodes of The Dukes of Hazzard, Matt Houston, and 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:59.079 Designing Women. There are a lot of interviews with him 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:01.400 out there. I ran across one from a This is 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:05.280 a twenty twenty one interview on WBBM News radio with 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:10.679 Mike Ramsey. He says, AIP, that's American International Pictures. They 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.520 were doing exploitive movies. The rumor was they were in 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:15.200 the red and so they were going to do a 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.240 black vampire movie. I happened to be in the right 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:21.920 place at the right time. The original concept was Count 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:25.920 Brown's in Town. It was this Shuckin' and jivin and 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:28.040 I didn't want to do it, but they hired me 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:31.640 to do this movie. William Marshall said, let's just make 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:32.240 this straight. 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:36.640 So William Marshall is the actor who plays Memo Walde, 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:39.680 the main vampire in the movie. And yeah, this is 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:41.600 in line with what I've read that he was a 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:44.720 big force in reimagining the movie as a more serious, 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:45.840 dramatic project. 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:49.560 Yeah. According to Lemonon Browning in that article, I decided 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:51.360 when he came on board to star in the picture, 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.800 he insisted on certain changes to Mama Walde's character and 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:58.680 wrote or rewrote key scenes concerning memal Walde's eighteenth century 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:03.040 mission to Europe, as well his connection to his wife Luva, 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:05.400 So he seems to have been heavily involved in the 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:07.800 choices that made this film notable. 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:11.600 But by emphasizing the tragic romance at the core of it, 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:14.160 I don't want to undersell the horror elements of this 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:18.080 film now, because to come back to Crane's approach to 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.319 it as a horror film, I think the scary scenes, 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:24.400 though it's not wall to wall scares, the scary scenes 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:28.000 are quite effective. There are some extremely creepy shots in 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:31.720 this movie, like it does a thing a couple of 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:36.600 times where a character like a monster, a vampire character 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:40.400 is just directly approaching the camera, so the camera is 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:44.880 at a fixed position and the vampire is just gliding 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.840 straight into your face. And I don't know, that's not 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.040 a kind of shot that I think of is very 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:54.280 common in horror films. But even though it seems like 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:55.840 it would be, I don't know why it's not, but 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:57.240 it's very effective here. 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:02.240 Yeah. Yeah, you can imagine these scenes really sizzling on 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:05.240 the big screen in front of a pack house and 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:07.679 it's worth noting that this film was quite a success 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:12.160 so and certainly played an important part in sort of 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:17.000 paving the way for additional black horror films that came 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:20.760 out afterwards. Though we should also note this was not 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:24.600 I think sometimes this is described as the quote first 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:28.199 black horror film, which is not the case. There were 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:31.640 earlier examples of this. The credited writers on this are 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:35.760 Joan Torres and Raymond Koenig. I don't have dates for them. 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.040 I don't think dates are available, though I believe Joan 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:41.880 Torres at least is still still around. This and the 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:45.600 nineteen seventy three sequel Scream Blackula Scream are their only credits. 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.800 Joan Torres has a website, Joan Torres dot com, which 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:52.280 details her additional work as a playwright and a novelist. 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:55.240 Given the subject matter of the film, it's notable that 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:58.560 neither of the credited writers was themselves black, but again, 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:02.600 the film's black director and black lead evidently further crafted 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:04.960 the screenplay in this more serious direction. 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.679 Just wanted to note you mentioned the sequel screen Blacula Screen, 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:11.720 which does also have William Marshall in it. I don't 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:13.800 know anything about the reputation of that movie, but I 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:15.920 wanted to note it does have Pam Greer in it, 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:18.160 so that's the reason to watch true. 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:22.200 All right, Well, let's come back to William Marshall again. 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:25.840 This is our star who plays Prince Mama Walde, the Vampire. 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:30.960 William Marshall lived nineteen twenty four through two thousand and three. Yeah, 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:33.720 the star of this picture and just an irrefutable central 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:36.960 force in the making of the film. What it making 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:39.680 the film? What it is bringing dignity, power and complexity 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:42.560 to a character that otherwise could have unlikely would have 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:46.560 been a much more shallow exercise in vampire horror. Marshall 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:50.320 was an American actor, director, and opera singer with impressive 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:53.560 credits across stage, screen and TV. He studied at the 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:56.720 Actor's Studio in New York and was I believe had 0:14:56.720 --> 0:15:00.280 some opera training. I'm not as informed about his his 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.680 career regarding opera, but he performed on Broadway in the 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:07.040 late forties and early fifties, and he played the title 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:10.320 role in Othello in both the US and Europe. There's 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:13.000 a nineteen eighty one production of A Fellow with him 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:15.920 in the lead role that was filmed and I believe 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:16.720 is available. 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:19.720 I'm not surprised to hear that he was an opera 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:24.720 singer because he has an absolutely magnificent voice, just a 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:28.560 beautiful bass, like a I'm trying to think, what's the metaphor, 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:31.800 it's like a ship sailing through smooth water. Is It's 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:34.200 just like an amazing voice. It is the kind of 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:37.120 voice that every time he speaks, people just turn and listen. 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:41.800 Yeah, it's captivating. So his TV credits, he has a 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:44.440 lot of TV credits, include a second season episode of 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.480 the original Star Trek. This one was titled The Ultimate Computer, 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:51.520 in which he played a brilliant human computer scientist. And 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:54.640 then he may also be a familiar face from his 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:56.480 later years for some of you, because he played the 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:59.760 King of Cartoons on Pee Wee's Playhouse. According to his 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:03.240 New Times obit. In nineteen eighty three, he appeared in 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:06.560 a one hour one man show for PBS called Frederick Douglas, 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:10.000 Slave and Statesman, and he adapted this for the theater 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:14.160 as inter Frederick Douglass, which he performed for many years. 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:17.760 And yeah, he has a whole bunch of credits. I 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:20.600 did note that on the old nineteen eighty Spider Man cartoon. 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:26.320 He voiced both the Juggernaut and Tony Stark, whoa in cinema. 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:30.320 His other credits include nineteen fifty four's Demetrius and the Gladiators, 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:33.720 the nineteen seventy three sequel Screen Blackulas Scream of Course, 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:38.040 the nineteen seventy four zombie movie Abby, seventy seven's Twilight's 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:41.720 Last Gleaming, and nineteen ninety four's Maverick. So again, yeah, 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:44.600 he's absolutely commanding in this role. You can see how 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.040 he was such a powerful force on the trajectory of 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.320 this film as well, first of all in pushing for 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:53.440 these changes, and secondly, according to Crane in that interview, 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:55.640 I was looking at in being able to deliver on 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.480 those changes in such a way that as the dailies 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:01.280 or the raw footage was rolling in from the filming 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.040 the studio like, they just fall it suit. They didn't 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:13.960 fight it because they saw that it was absolutely working, 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:17.879 all right. So moving on to the rest of the cast, 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:20.760 we have a dual role here of Tina and Luva, 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:23.560 which we'll get into what that means here in a bit. 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:28.280 But these characters are played by Vanetta McGee who lived 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:31.439 nineteen forty five through twenty ten American actress who had 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.320 been in several films prior to this, including the Italian 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:38.639 western The Great Silence. Her subsequent films included nineteen seventy 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:42.960 three's Shaft in Africa and Detroit nine thousand. In nineteen 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.280 seventy five, she was in The Eiger Sanction opposite Clint Eastwood. 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.720 I believe that was She's like second build on that. 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.160 She's in nineteen eighty four's Repo Man in nineteen nineties 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:56.679 to Sleep with Anger all Right, now playing Tina's sister 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:01.200 in nineteen seventy two. The sister's name is Michelle, played 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:04.960 by Denise Nicholas born nineteen forty four, American actress with 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:08.520 extensive television credits, including an episode of Night Gallery Love 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:12.520 American Style, Different Strokes, The Love Boat, and sixty nine 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:15.160 episodes of In the Heat of the Night. Her film 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:19.560 credits include seventy seven's Capricorn One, nineteen nineties Ghost Dad, 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:22.480 in two thousand's Ritual. She won a nineteen seventy six 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:25.800 NAACP Image Award for her role in Let's Do It Again. 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:28.520 I feel like a big part of Michelle's role in 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:31.560 the plot is we have to have somebody who is 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:36.520 skeptical of the vampire stuff, because Tina ultimately is going 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:39.960 to become wooed by the power of Memo wall Day, 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:43.000 and you know she ultimately is like, Yeah, Okay, I'll 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:45.880 be a vampire because I love you. The character we're 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:49.520 about to talk about, doctor Gordon Thomas. He's pretty much 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:52.320 from the beginning is like, I think a vampire could 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:55.840 be responsible for these killings. So Michelle is going to 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:58.199 be the one who's like, I don't believe this, and 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:00.280 I do not want to go dig up a grave tonight. 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:04.639 Yeah. Yeah, Yeah. So let's get to doctor Gordon Thomas 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:09.280 because he's essentially the Van Helsing character of the movie. 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:11.640 He's the investigator, the human hero. 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:18.240 Yeah, and he is played by Thalmus Rassulula. He lived 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:21.639 nineteen thirty nine through nineteen ninety one American actor with 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:25.880 extensive TV credits going back to nineteen sixty including Perry Mason, 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:29.439 The Original Twilight Zone, All in the Family, Mission Impossible, 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:33.840 Sanford and Son, The Jefferson's Kojak, The Incredible Hulk. He 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:36.159 also shows up in an episode of Star Trek the 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:41.160 Next Generation, playing the character Captain Donald Varley. Also notable. 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:45.000 He pops up on a nineteen seventy five episode of 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:50.359 Saturday Night Live, specifically in a skit titled Exorcist two 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:53.159 in which he plays Father Marrin. 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:57.040 I like that the implied comedy of this skit is 0:19:57.160 --> 0:19:59.600 how ridiculous it would be to make a sequel to 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:01.440 the X, Or says, But then just a couple of 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:02.960 years later, they literally did. 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:08.760 Yeah. Of Note that episode of Saturday Night Live was 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:12.200 hosted by Richard Pryor, you know, the great stand up comedian, 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:17.160 and the musical guest was a legendary Gil Scott Heron. Reportedly, 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:20.280 Pryor only agreed to host the show if both of 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:23.119 these men were involved, so they were like handpicked. He's like, 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:24.879 I'll do it. You got to bring in Gil Scott Heron, 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:27.840 and you got to bring in Thalmus to be in 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:28.639 this skit with me. 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:33.240 He's really effective in this movie, and he has a 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:36.960 sort of thankless role to play because William Marshall's character 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:39.159 gets to be the vampire, gets to be the tragic 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:42.399 prince and at the center of this tragic love story, 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:48.760 whereas Gordon Thomas Thomas Roussoula's character has to be hunting 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:52.159 him down and doing so in a like. The character 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:56.520 is written as an irascible and business oriented man. Like 0:20:56.560 --> 0:20:59.399 he's not fun, and yet it is fun watching the 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:00.560 character do what he does. 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:03.480 Yeah, I think it's a really solid performance. You know, 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:09.640 he's like here grumpy, uh but smooth Van Helson character. Yeah, 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:11.680 all right, this is a minor character. But I also 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:14.800 want to call out that Jaitu Kombuka is in this 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:20.119 playing the character Skillet. Skillett is a bit comic relief 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:24.600 character who really likes Memowalde's cape. Yes, but it's a 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:28.800 memorable brief bart. He lived nineteen forty through twenty seventeen. 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:31.320 He was a main cast member on the spy series 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:34.439 A Man called Sloan with Robert Conrad and Dan o'hurlhay. 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:39.720 He was in Roots He's. His other credits include Doctor Black, 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:43.159 Mister Hyde, nineteen seventy one's Brian Song, seventy six is 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:46.760 Bound for Glory eighty five Brewsters Millions in nineteen eighty 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:47.760 nine's Harlem Knights. 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:52.000 This character appears multiple times to admire Memo Walde's cape 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:54.480 and to comment that he is one strange dude. 0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:58.280 Yeah, that's his sole purpose here, all right, We mentioned 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:01.560 that Dracula is in this movie, and we'll discuss the 0:22:01.560 --> 0:22:04.639 way Dracula is envisioned in this film here in a 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:08.159 bit in more detail. But Dracula here is played by 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:11.680 Charles McCauley, who lived nineteen twenty seven through nineteen ninety 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:14.680 nine an American actor of stage, screen, and TV, whose 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:18.160 earliest film role is an uncredited part in Roger Corman's 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:22.120 horror comedy Creature from the Haunted Sea nineteen sixty one. 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:24.320 We haven't watched this one on Weird House, but it's 0:22:24.359 --> 0:22:28.320 often considered part of a trilogy of horror comedies that 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:32.600 Corman did, along with Bucket of Blood and The Little 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:36.960 Shop of Horrors. McCauley also worked with Corman, credited, this 0:22:37.040 --> 0:22:40.480 time in nineteen sixty two's Tower of London. His filmography 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:42.879 features a great deal of mainstream TV work, along with 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:46.040 various entries in the horror genre. On TV, he appeared 0:22:46.040 --> 0:22:48.440 on two episodes of The original Star Trek, thirty five 0:22:48.480 --> 0:22:51.880 episodes of Days of Our Lives, He was on Mission Impossible, Night, 0:22:51.920 --> 0:22:56.160 Gallery Colombo, and much more. In film, his credits include 0:22:56.240 --> 0:23:00.000 sixty eight's Head, seventy two's Twilight People, seventy four's House 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:03.920 of Seven Corpses seventy five is the Hindenburg Airport seventy seven, 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:06.080 and he played the President of the United States in 0:23:06.119 --> 0:23:10.480 the nineteen eighty four Mermaid comedy Splash, which is I 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:12.320 haven't seen Splash in a while. Watched it a lot 0:23:12.359 --> 0:23:15.119 as a kid, but now I'm just imagining like President Dracula. 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:17.560 Uh huh, I've never seen it, but now there's a 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:19.600 treat waiting for me if I ever get there. 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:23.840 Oh yeah, I remember it as being fun. More on 0:23:24.080 --> 0:23:26.160 Dracula in a bit, but it is. It's a very 0:23:26.200 --> 0:23:29.879 memorable Count Dracula. Yeah. This is just an aside, I 0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:32.480 guess mostly for people who are big into like the 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:36.320 history of stunt work and or grappling and so forth 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:40.119 and pro wrestling. But one of Dracula's henchmen is played 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:42.840 by Jean LaBelle, who lived nineteen thirty two through twenty 0:23:42.880 --> 0:23:46.840 twenty two. Noted grappler, judo practitioner, pro wrestler, stunt man. 0:23:47.280 --> 0:23:48.800 He pops up in a lot of things, often in 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:50.120 just like really small roles. 0:23:50.359 --> 0:23:52.520 It is funny in this movie that Dracula just has 0:23:52.560 --> 0:23:55.639 wrestlers working for him, Like he calls out his wrestlers 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:57.879 and they've got the you know, the Lacey cravats on, 0:23:58.040 --> 0:24:01.439 but they're just like these beefy guys. 0:24:02.560 --> 0:24:05.640 All right. Get a few credits from behind the scenes here. 0:24:06.560 --> 0:24:09.840 Sandy DeVore is the title designer on this film who 0:24:09.840 --> 0:24:13.960 lived nineteen thirty four through twenty twenty American artist, graphic designer, 0:24:14.000 --> 0:24:16.840 and title designer who worked with some big recording artists 0:24:17.240 --> 0:24:19.800 of the day, including Sammy Davis Junior, and went on 0:24:19.880 --> 0:24:22.320 to create title sequences for such TV shows as The 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:27.240 Partridge Family. We've actually seen some of Sandy Devorre's work 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:30.000 on Weird House Cinema before, because he did the excellent 0:24:30.040 --> 0:24:33.160 title sequence for The Dunwich Horror, which had a very 0:24:33.200 --> 0:24:37.479 similar style, only instead of like red, black and white, 0:24:37.640 --> 0:24:39.119 it was like blue and black. 0:24:40.160 --> 0:24:42.879 Yeah. I really like the title design in this movie. 0:24:43.160 --> 0:24:46.919 It's sort of a like an animated bat chasing a 0:24:46.960 --> 0:24:50.199 red outline of a woman around in this abstract landscape 0:24:50.320 --> 0:24:54.400 that almost looks like you've zoomed in a lot on calligraphy, 0:24:54.600 --> 0:24:57.880 and the figures are trying to navigate in the spaces 0:24:57.920 --> 0:24:59.480 between the bars of the letters. 0:25:00.280 --> 0:25:02.960 Yeah. Yeah, it's really cool and it's like a nice 0:25:03.280 --> 0:25:04.760 I like how it breaks up the film too, because 0:25:04.760 --> 0:25:07.840 we have a very heavy opening and then we get 0:25:07.880 --> 0:25:11.119 this fun title sequence before Trent's pourting to the modern 0:25:11.200 --> 0:25:14.359 day of nineteen seventy two. And I'll also add that 0:25:14.400 --> 0:25:18.200 there's an excellent website called artofthetitle dot com and they 0:25:18.240 --> 0:25:22.800 have multiple examples of Divorre's work, including the intros to 0:25:22.880 --> 0:25:26.399 Blackula and the intro to The Dunwich Horror. He also 0:25:26.440 --> 0:25:29.600 did one on a nineteen sixty nine film called Desad. 0:25:30.440 --> 0:25:34.920 This was a Roger Corman film starring Keer Dooley as 0:25:34.960 --> 0:25:37.479 the Marquis de Sade. Also has John Houston in it, 0:25:37.720 --> 0:25:40.880 but it's also like similar style and also very amusing 0:25:40.920 --> 0:25:45.119 to watch. The composer on this film on Blackula is 0:25:45.200 --> 0:25:48.399 Gene Page, who lived nineteen thirty nine through nineteen ninety 0:25:48.440 --> 0:25:52.800 eight American composer and record producer. He also did arrangements 0:25:52.840 --> 0:25:55.920 on tracks for some of the biggest musical acts of 0:25:56.080 --> 0:26:00.560 the time period. He has something like ten one hundred 0:26:00.560 --> 0:26:03.680 and fifty five writing and arrangement credits on discogs what 0:26:03.840 --> 0:26:06.639 including Yeah, it's like this man works a lot working 0:26:06.640 --> 0:26:08.800 with artists. I can't even list them all, but just 0:26:08.840 --> 0:26:13.240 as a brief overview, people like Barry White, James Taylor, 0:26:13.600 --> 0:26:18.160 Michael Jackson cher that it seems to be the main 0:26:19.800 --> 0:26:22.800 main work that he did. This is his most well 0:26:22.840 --> 0:26:25.280 known film score out of only a handful of score 0:26:25.320 --> 0:26:26.600 composition credits. 0:26:27.000 --> 0:26:29.560 I love the music in Blackula, and it works I 0:26:29.560 --> 0:26:33.560 think on every level. Like there's some just non diegetic 0:26:33.680 --> 0:26:39.000 background music that you know, it brings the right horror ambiance, 0:26:39.040 --> 0:26:41.920 but then there is also plenty of funk in the movie, 0:26:41.920 --> 0:26:46.399 and then even some diegetic on screen band performances that 0:26:46.440 --> 0:26:47.720 are fantastic as well. 0:26:48.960 --> 0:26:52.399 Yeah, yeah, we're going to discuss them in just a second, 0:26:52.440 --> 0:26:55.679 but yeah, I all agree. Absolutely wonderful score. It's funky 0:26:55.720 --> 0:26:59.040 and soulful, blazingly upbeat in places, but it also does 0:26:59.080 --> 0:27:01.240 get into that what I like to think of is 0:27:01.240 --> 0:27:05.159 like the horror jazz night gallery zone as well, tweaked 0:27:05.200 --> 0:27:08.600 with some synth weirdness in places, really drives on the 0:27:08.600 --> 0:27:13.080 creepy moments. Now, the musical performances that you mentioned these 0:27:13.119 --> 0:27:17.000 are performances by the Hughes Corporation. They were a pop 0:27:17.040 --> 0:27:20.440 and soul trio best known for a hit that would 0:27:20.480 --> 0:27:23.040 come out a couple of years later in nineteen seventy 0:27:23.040 --> 0:27:25.920 four Rock the Boat. I mean, I don't even have 0:27:25.960 --> 0:27:27.760 to hum it. You all know it. You've all heard 0:27:27.840 --> 0:27:31.600 Rock the Boat. At the time of Blackula, they consisted 0:27:31.720 --> 0:27:35.240 of Saint Clair Lee who lived nineteen forty four through 0:27:35.280 --> 0:27:39.959 twenty eleven. This is the vocalist with the headband. H M. 0:27:40.040 --> 0:27:44.240 Kelly born nineteen forty seven, and Carl Russell. I believe 0:27:44.320 --> 0:27:48.520 he left the group after the movie, but also maybe 0:27:48.560 --> 0:27:51.520 returned later during a time period when they got back 0:27:51.520 --> 0:27:55.119 together again. I'm a little foggy on how all that works, 0:27:55.160 --> 0:27:58.240 but they are a lot of fun in their performances 0:27:58.280 --> 0:27:59.160 in Blackula. 0:27:59.240 --> 0:28:02.879 They get at least two on screen musical performances in 0:28:02.920 --> 0:28:04.880 the film, or are there even more? 0:28:05.560 --> 0:28:08.920 They have at least three tracks on the soundtrack. There's 0:28:09.320 --> 0:28:12.560 There He Is Again, which we'll talk about, Oh yeah, wonderful, 0:28:12.880 --> 0:28:15.720 There's What the World Knows, which is a more soulful, 0:28:15.800 --> 0:28:19.399 romantic number, and then I'm Gonna Catch You, which is 0:28:19.440 --> 0:28:22.000 also a really fun song. It's like a cheating heart song, 0:28:22.240 --> 0:28:23.240 but it's it's really good. 0:28:23.680 --> 0:28:26.359 There He Is Again is my favorite because it's it 0:28:26.400 --> 0:28:28.760 can The lyrics can be read as a song about 0:28:28.760 --> 0:28:29.920 a vampire. 0:28:30.119 --> 0:28:32.920 Yeah, absolutely, Like it feels if you're not analyzing the 0:28:33.000 --> 0:28:35.480 lyrics too closely, like yeah, yeah, of course it's about 0:28:35.560 --> 0:28:39.680 Mama Waldi, it's about this vampire. I also note there 0:28:39.680 --> 0:28:42.960 are two tracks on the soundtrack by the twenty first 0:28:42.960 --> 0:28:48.240 Century LTD. This is or I guess I would say 0:28:47.840 --> 0:28:52.360 the twenty first Century limited heavy changes and main chance. 0:28:52.880 --> 0:28:55.520 These are both romantic numbers, and I honestly can't remember 0:28:55.560 --> 0:28:58.840 how they're integrated into the film, or you know, to 0:28:58.880 --> 0:28:59.720 what extent they are. 0:29:08.160 --> 0:29:10.800 Okay, you ready to talk about the plot, let's do it. 0:29:10.880 --> 0:29:13.640 So we open on the exterior of a castle on 0:29:13.720 --> 0:29:18.000 a darkened, stormy night. Rain pours down, battering the castle towers, 0:29:18.040 --> 0:29:21.080 and bolts of lightning cut through the darkness, and a 0:29:21.160 --> 0:29:26.960 chiron text on the screen says Transylvania seventeen eighty Castle Dracula. 0:29:27.880 --> 0:29:31.120 So we cut inside the castle to an ornate dining 0:29:31.200 --> 0:29:35.160 room illuminated by candles and a roaring fireplace, and Count 0:29:35.240 --> 0:29:38.440 Dracula is here and he is hosting a pair of 0:29:38.560 --> 0:29:41.680 guests after what seems to have been some kind of 0:29:41.800 --> 0:29:46.880 international diplomatic function meeting with dignitaries. Now, this Count Dracula 0:29:47.080 --> 0:29:51.640 is not exactly of the Bela Lugosi variety. He has 0:29:51.680 --> 0:29:54.680 like longer hairs, kind of grayish brown in color, and 0:29:54.720 --> 0:29:58.120 a goatee. He's wearing a black and gold coat over 0:29:58.160 --> 0:30:01.960 a blue vest with a frilly white cravat, and he 0:30:02.080 --> 0:30:07.920 is immediately unlikable, smarmy, palpably untrustworthy, and we will soon 0:30:08.000 --> 0:30:13.000 come to realize racist. He's at first kind of superficially 0:30:13.040 --> 0:30:16.760 friendly to his two guests, and the guests are Prince 0:30:16.800 --> 0:30:21.440 Mamuwalde and his wife, Princess Luva, who are royalty from 0:30:22.200 --> 0:30:25.320 what is initially an unnamed African country, but we will 0:30:25.400 --> 0:30:28.240 later learn that they are from the Ibani nation in 0:30:28.320 --> 0:30:32.360 the northeast of the Niger Delta. Memo Walde is dressed 0:30:32.440 --> 0:30:35.440 in a dark suit with a powder blue cravat, and 0:30:35.520 --> 0:30:40.600 Luva is wearing a beautiful, elaborate multicolored dress with beadwork jewelry. 0:30:41.160 --> 0:30:44.200 So they've just seemingly finished a meeting with an array 0:30:44.280 --> 0:30:47.200 of diplomats and heads of state from around the world, 0:30:47.360 --> 0:30:51.760 and Dracula is pouring cognac all around. Memoalde and Luva 0:30:51.880 --> 0:30:55.320 explain to Count Dracula that they're here for a reason. 0:30:55.600 --> 0:31:00.160 They are on a mission to gain international allies in 0:31:00.240 --> 0:31:03.320 support of what seems to be a treaty, a treaty 0:31:03.360 --> 0:31:07.719 to do what Well, Luva pulls out a text, a 0:31:07.760 --> 0:31:10.560 document to present to Count Dracula, and he reviews it, 0:31:11.040 --> 0:31:15.120 and then he recoils from the document in disbelief. Apparently 0:31:15.160 --> 0:31:18.480 this treaty that they're pursuing would bring about the cessation 0:31:18.880 --> 0:31:23.360 of the international slave trade. Dracula doesn't like this idea. 0:31:23.400 --> 0:31:27.160 He counters that he says, surely slavery has merit, and 0:31:27.240 --> 0:31:30.800 Memoilde raises an eyebrow. He asks how one would find 0:31:30.920 --> 0:31:34.560 merit in barbarity, But Dracula says, well, slavery may be 0:31:34.680 --> 0:31:37.000 barbaric from the point of view of the slave, but 0:31:37.080 --> 0:31:39.960 it holds lots of appeal to the slave owner. And 0:31:40.000 --> 0:31:44.520 then he transitions to making revolting comments with sexual overtones 0:31:44.600 --> 0:31:47.040 about how it would in fact be appealing to him 0:31:47.440 --> 0:31:48.479 to own Luva. 0:31:50.040 --> 0:31:54.280 Yeah, the overt racism of Dracula is quite fascinating here. 0:31:54.520 --> 0:31:57.440 I think the film delivers the vibe in a way 0:31:57.480 --> 0:32:00.400 that a mere summary doesn't really capture. But Yeah, this 0:32:00.520 --> 0:32:03.880 Dracula is, in many respects presented, is almost a kind 0:32:03.920 --> 0:32:08.440 of He's almost the institution of slavery incarnate. You know, 0:32:08.920 --> 0:32:11.360 it's all done in a few short scenes here, but 0:32:11.800 --> 0:32:15.000 you know, he dismisses objections to the practice on economic 0:32:15.120 --> 0:32:17.880 and sort of this is the world grounds, but quickly 0:32:17.920 --> 0:32:23.560 slides into it increasingly overtly racist rhetoric before directly provoking 0:32:23.800 --> 0:32:27.080 Mammal Waldy by offering in cruel jess to buy his wife. 0:32:27.520 --> 0:32:32.240 And this then quickly transcends into physical assault, separation, murder, 0:32:32.560 --> 0:32:35.760 and a curse that transcends human lifetimes. And we also 0:32:35.840 --> 0:32:40.280 see his aristocratic mass completely slip from again from this 0:32:40.480 --> 0:32:44.959 like snide aristocrat to just absolute evil, cruelty and hunger. 0:32:45.560 --> 0:32:49.560 Yeah. So at the beginning of the exchange, Dracula is 0:32:50.000 --> 0:32:53.640 condescending and smarmy, but it's it's interesting to see how 0:32:53.680 --> 0:32:56.680 it just flips to overt hostility as soon as he 0:32:56.880 --> 0:33:01.000 is faced with something he disagrees with. So, of course 0:33:01.080 --> 0:33:05.280 Mamiwalde won't tolerate this shocking behavior from Dracula, but he 0:33:05.360 --> 0:33:08.320 keeps his composure. He rises from his seat and he 0:33:09.280 --> 0:33:12.080 gathers Luva and says that they are leaving, but the 0:33:12.160 --> 0:33:16.000 evil Count will not allow it. He summons his minions, 0:33:16.040 --> 0:33:18.760 his hinchman to take hold of them, and then violence 0:33:18.800 --> 0:33:22.480 breaks out. Memowalde puts up a valiant fight. He uses 0:33:22.560 --> 0:33:25.160 like improvised weapons from the room. I think he grabs 0:33:25.160 --> 0:33:27.480 a torch off the wall, and then one of the 0:33:27.520 --> 0:33:30.840 henchmen grabs a saber off the wall and they fight 0:33:31.040 --> 0:33:34.479 there in front of the fire. But eventually Mimiwalde is 0:33:34.560 --> 0:33:38.480 outnumbered and overpowered by the Count's fighters, and eventually we 0:33:38.520 --> 0:33:41.920 see the Count's side including not just like the muscly 0:33:42.000 --> 0:33:45.160 wrestlers the stuntman we were talking about earlier, but like 0:33:45.200 --> 0:33:49.160 a whole coven of looming ghouls and these wheezing hooded 0:33:49.200 --> 0:33:54.240 blood drinkers, and this whole group approaches Prince Mama Walde 0:33:54.640 --> 0:33:57.560 and then Dracula exposes his neck and bites. 0:33:58.120 --> 0:33:59.680 It's all very well done, but I will note that 0:33:59.720 --> 0:34:03.640 one of the vampires in that scene does look to 0:34:03.640 --> 0:34:07.440 be an actual, actual, actual vampire from the apple she has. 0:34:07.520 --> 0:34:10.320 It's kind of like wide eyed and big, big fangs. 0:34:10.360 --> 0:34:13.839 But uh, that's that's still It doesn't doesn't attract from 0:34:13.840 --> 0:34:14.800 the sequence. 0:34:14.680 --> 0:34:19.560 But it goes onto a horrifying escalation here. So there 0:34:19.600 --> 0:34:23.000 is an interment scene Luva and Mama Walde are walled 0:34:23.080 --> 0:34:26.719 up in a secret room in the castle where Dracula 0:34:26.800 --> 0:34:29.440 is going to doom Luva to die of thirst and 0:34:29.480 --> 0:34:33.520 starvation in the room, while Mamo Walde is locked inside 0:34:33.560 --> 0:34:37.720 a coffin to transform into a vampire and forever yearn 0:34:37.800 --> 0:34:41.040 for blood that he cannot have. And here Dracula he 0:34:41.880 --> 0:34:44.680 places a curse. He says, quote, I shall place a 0:34:44.719 --> 0:34:47.160 curse of suffering on you that will doom you to 0:34:47.280 --> 0:34:51.600 a living hell. A hunger, a wild, gnawing animal. Hunger 0:34:51.640 --> 0:34:55.000 will grow in you, a hunger for human blood. Here 0:34:55.080 --> 0:34:58.840 you will starve for an eternity, torn by an unquenchable lust. 0:34:59.160 --> 0:35:02.680 I curse you with my name. You shall be Blacula, 0:35:03.040 --> 0:35:06.680 a vampire like myself, a living fiend. You will be 0:35:06.760 --> 0:35:09.720 doomed never to know that sweet blood which will become 0:35:09.840 --> 0:35:14.239 your only desire. And then slam slam shut the coffin door. 0:35:14.360 --> 0:35:17.959 They pad lock it, and they close the wall, and 0:35:18.120 --> 0:35:21.920 the curse to mam Mawalde and Luva are left trapped 0:35:21.960 --> 0:35:23.160 in this room forever. 0:35:23.880 --> 0:35:27.479 Yeah, it's it's heavy stuff, and it's also worth noting. 0:35:27.520 --> 0:35:30.839 Here like this, we hear the name Blacula here, and 0:35:30.920 --> 0:35:34.160 we'll hear an echo of this later. But Mama Walde 0:35:34.200 --> 0:35:37.400 never in this film self identifies as Blacula, Like this 0:35:37.560 --> 0:35:41.000 is the name uttered by Dracula as he curses him. 0:35:41.320 --> 0:35:47.160 Yes, now, it might seem curious why Dracula is portrayed, uh, Robin, 0:35:47.400 --> 0:35:48.920 I bet you picked up on the same thing. He's 0:35:48.960 --> 0:35:53.080 portrayed not just as being cruel to them, but specifically 0:35:53.120 --> 0:35:58.280 as having an orientation of vengeance. He is vengeful towards 0:35:58.280 --> 0:36:01.799 Mamma Waldey and Luva, and they've done nothing whatsoever to 0:36:01.840 --> 0:36:04.520 harm him, Like there's no reason for he for him 0:36:04.520 --> 0:36:07.360 to be vengeful. But I think it fits. It goes 0:36:07.400 --> 0:36:11.200 with the theme like this is a common posture of racism, 0:36:11.360 --> 0:36:15.239 like vengeance, a feeling of need for vengeance in response 0:36:15.320 --> 0:36:15.840 to nothing. 0:36:16.400 --> 0:36:16.640 Yeah. 0:36:16.840 --> 0:36:21.160 I think that's a great point. I want to again 0:36:21.200 --> 0:36:24.120 mention that macaulay is really great in this sequence. He 0:36:24.200 --> 0:36:28.880 continues to lay on Dracula's evil very effectively. And I 0:36:28.920 --> 0:36:31.000 love the way that they made him up. So blood's 0:36:31.040 --> 0:36:33.160 dripping from his lips after he has fed on Mama 0:36:33.200 --> 0:36:37.120 Walde and he's taunting Luva, but it's also draining from 0:36:37.120 --> 0:36:40.719 his eyes, you know, like he's like he's he's a 0:36:40.800 --> 0:36:44.080 vicious beast that's so fatted on blood that his body 0:36:44.080 --> 0:36:46.560 can't contain it all anymore. It's just kind of leaking 0:36:46.600 --> 0:36:51.240 out of every orifice. And yeah, it's just brutal stuff. 0:36:51.440 --> 0:36:53.319 Well yeah, and I think the blood running out of 0:36:53.360 --> 0:36:55.880 the eyes, to me, it is a visual signal to 0:36:55.960 --> 0:36:58.319 convey hate. Do you get the same thing? 0:36:59.000 --> 0:36:59.279 I think? 0:36:59.320 --> 0:36:59.920 So? Yeah. 0:37:00.280 --> 0:37:02.640 So here we go to the credits, and again I 0:37:02.680 --> 0:37:06.240 love the design of the credits. There's groovy modern music. 0:37:06.320 --> 0:37:08.840 There's the animated bat chasing a woman around in the 0:37:08.880 --> 0:37:13.360 abstract landscape. It's very cool. After the credits, we returned 0:37:13.360 --> 0:37:17.040 to Dracula's castle, but it's the present. Dracula's house is 0:37:17.160 --> 0:37:20.239 undergoing an estate sale, and we've got a couple of 0:37:20.320 --> 0:37:24.839 wholesale antique buyers from America who are here to they're 0:37:24.840 --> 0:37:27.800 about to sign the paperwork to buy everything from the castle. 0:37:28.239 --> 0:37:31.440 The two antique dealers are the characters Bobby McCoy and 0:37:31.520 --> 0:37:34.480 Billy Schaefer. And these are the characters I think you 0:37:34.560 --> 0:37:38.439 alluded to earlier, rob who are portrayed as very stereotypically gay. 0:37:39.840 --> 0:37:43.160 Apparently they don't find out until the last minute that 0:37:43.320 --> 0:37:46.279 all of the stuff they're about to buy belonged to 0:37:46.560 --> 0:37:50.399 Count Dracula. The seller is worried that this is going 0:37:50.440 --> 0:37:53.160 to endanger the deal and gives them a discount. But 0:37:53.520 --> 0:37:56.120 do they really need one. Answer is no, because the 0:37:56.200 --> 0:37:59.759 Dracula thing is a bonus to them. Bobby says, where 0:37:59.800 --> 0:38:02.520 we come from, Dracula is the Krim de la crim 0:38:02.640 --> 0:38:05.320 of camp. We're going to get a fortune for these things. 0:38:05.719 --> 0:38:09.719 Yeah, the guy here was worried about about having to 0:38:09.760 --> 0:38:13.759 deal with a Dracula refund or a Dracula discount. He 0:38:13.800 --> 0:38:16.320 should have been he should have been adding to the price. 0:38:16.360 --> 0:38:18.800 He should have been asking more for all this Dracula stuff. 0:38:19.400 --> 0:38:22.880 Billy also says that he has seen all of Dracula's movies, 0:38:23.920 --> 0:38:26.719 So I think it's interesting that, like, what is the 0:38:27.040 --> 0:38:32.680 understanding of Dracula in the world of this movie. Here's 0:38:32.680 --> 0:38:34.760 what it seems to be. First of all, in this movie, 0:38:34.880 --> 0:38:40.200 vampires are real. Count Dracula was a real historical vampire 0:38:40.360 --> 0:38:44.520 in the late seventeen hundreds, though some modern characters believe 0:38:44.600 --> 0:38:47.680 he was just a myth, and this character is separate 0:38:47.719 --> 0:38:51.960 from Vladdi Impaler, who lived in the fifteenth century. Also, 0:38:52.160 --> 0:38:56.279 in this universe, Dracula exists as a character known in 0:38:56.560 --> 0:39:01.560 horror films and stories, presumably the novel Dracula exists. 0:39:01.880 --> 0:39:04.920 Yeah, it's interesting to tease all this apart. Rodney Barnes 0:39:04.960 --> 0:39:07.960 in the in blacular Return of the King, the way 0:39:08.000 --> 0:39:12.239 he kind of treated it was okay, Mama Walde had 0:39:12.520 --> 0:39:14.680 like knew that this Count Dracula had there were some 0:39:14.760 --> 0:39:17.600 rumors about him about how he might be connected to 0:39:17.760 --> 0:39:23.640 this earlier tyrannical figure, but he just dismissed it as myth. So, yeah, 0:39:24.080 --> 0:39:28.200 there are multiple layers of fiction and history and fictional 0:39:28.280 --> 0:39:30.680 history that you have to juggle in this scenario. 0:39:31.040 --> 0:39:35.400 But it also portrays the historical figure Count Dracula in 0:39:35.440 --> 0:39:39.920 the late seventeen hundreds as having been an influential player 0:39:40.120 --> 0:39:45.320 in international politics, because the reason Luva and Mama Walde 0:39:45.320 --> 0:39:48.240 are going to his castle is to get his support 0:39:48.400 --> 0:39:51.400 for trying to get allies for an international treaty. So 0:39:51.440 --> 0:39:54.000 he's not just seen as like, you know, a reclusive 0:39:54.080 --> 0:39:57.200 figure of mystery. This is like somebody who has influence 0:39:57.280 --> 0:39:58.720 over the affairs of state. 0:39:59.280 --> 0:40:02.640 Yeah, he is not an evil in the background of 0:40:02.680 --> 0:40:07.640 Europeans aristocracy. He is in the forefront, which which I 0:40:07.640 --> 0:40:10.799 think is key here. But anyway, he's long dad at 0:40:10.800 --> 0:40:11.360 this point. 0:40:11.560 --> 0:40:13.719 Oh that's right. In fact, the guy at the estate 0:40:13.800 --> 0:40:16.240 sale mentions how Dracula died. 0:40:16.800 --> 0:40:20.200 Yeah, he says, you know, don't worry about him. It 0:40:20.360 --> 0:40:23.960 was all over hyped anyway, and Van Helsing destroyed him 0:40:23.960 --> 0:40:27.200 one hundred and fifty years ago. So it's interesting, you know, 0:40:27.239 --> 0:40:31.560 we're set to encounter a reawakened Mamma Walde in a 0:40:31.600 --> 0:40:36.719 world where his greatest adversary is himself long destroyed, but 0:40:36.840 --> 0:40:38.920 the legacy of his crime still resonate. 0:40:39.400 --> 0:40:42.560 Right, So while going around with the seller, Bobby and 0:40:42.600 --> 0:40:46.160 Billy in the castle here discover an undisturbed coffin in 0:40:46.239 --> 0:40:50.000 a hidden room behind a wall, and we see we 0:40:50.320 --> 0:40:53.239 the audience know that this is the room where Memowalde 0:40:53.280 --> 0:40:57.280 and Luva were buried alive. So they add the coffin 0:40:57.440 --> 0:40:59.840 to their hall and we see it brought back to 0:40:59.880 --> 0:41:02.440 the States to be a cargo ship. And here we 0:41:02.480 --> 0:41:05.560 get some a little bit of fish out of time texture, 0:41:05.880 --> 0:41:08.560 so we see modern streets and traffic and it's set 0:41:08.600 --> 0:41:11.839 to a funk soundtrack. We get some you know, wuah 0:41:11.880 --> 0:41:15.960 wah guitar, and then we see Bobby and Billy get 0:41:16.040 --> 0:41:19.840 the coffin back to their warehouse, and Billy is discussing 0:41:19.880 --> 0:41:22.319 the idea of using it as a guest bed at 0:41:22.360 --> 0:41:24.040 their house. I like this idea. 0:41:24.840 --> 0:41:28.239 Bobby is doubtful though, He's clearly doubtful of this idea, 0:41:28.280 --> 0:41:29.240 and he's like, okay. 0:41:29.560 --> 0:41:32.200 So they start trying to open the stuff. But before 0:41:32.280 --> 0:41:34.840 Bobby can get the coffin open, I think he breaks 0:41:34.880 --> 0:41:37.239 off the lock, but he doesn't open it yet. At 0:41:37.280 --> 0:41:39.600 the other end of the room, Billy cuts himself while 0:41:39.640 --> 0:41:42.400 prying at the lid of another crate, and it seems 0:41:42.480 --> 0:41:46.120 the smell of fresh blood stirs something inside the coffin, 0:41:46.640 --> 0:41:49.200 and so while Bobby and Billy are not looking, the 0:41:49.239 --> 0:41:54.040 lid creaks open and Mama Walde, now transformed into a vampire, 0:41:54.320 --> 0:41:55.560 begins to rise. 0:41:56.280 --> 0:41:58.640 Yeah, this is our first real shot of the awakened 0:41:58.640 --> 0:42:03.080 prince Man w Walde facing the camera, Dracula's curse audibly 0:42:03.120 --> 0:42:06.399 resonating in his mind. Pretty haunting stuff. 0:42:06.520 --> 0:42:09.279 Right, So he rises from the coffin and he he 0:42:09.320 --> 0:42:14.319 looks almost confused, like he's he's changed now, but he's 0:42:14.440 --> 0:42:18.840 torn between his conscious horror at his fate and his 0:42:18.960 --> 0:42:22.480 immediate thirst for blood like the you know, his conscious 0:42:22.520 --> 0:42:26.319 mind is fighting the vampire within him, and here might 0:42:26.360 --> 0:42:30.520 be a good place to discuss Memoilde's two looks as 0:42:30.520 --> 0:42:34.600 a vampire. So sometimes basically, when he's not about to 0:42:34.640 --> 0:42:37.120 bite someone, he just looks like himself. He looks like 0:42:37.120 --> 0:42:40.760 the regular prince Mamuelde from before. But when he goes 0:42:40.840 --> 0:42:43.920 into vampire mode, when he is about to bite someone 0:42:44.040 --> 0:42:47.520 or transform into a bat or something, he grows fangs, 0:42:47.560 --> 0:42:50.640 of course, but he also grows an interesting pattern of 0:42:50.800 --> 0:42:54.280 facial hair where it's like his eyebrows become very bushy 0:42:54.760 --> 0:42:57.920 and they sort of connect to the hair on his temples, 0:42:58.360 --> 0:43:01.439 and his mustache grows out longer, and he gains these 0:43:01.520 --> 0:43:07.840 sharply sculpted sideburns, and there's a redness added to his eyes. 0:43:07.880 --> 0:43:11.640 He has a different look when he is about to 0:43:11.920 --> 0:43:15.799 behave more like a predatory vampire. And the fact that 0:43:15.840 --> 0:43:19.520 there is this physical transformation is almost a bit werewolfy. 0:43:19.880 --> 0:43:24.120 I like the visual transformation because it coincides with the 0:43:24.200 --> 0:43:28.080 dual nature of Mamoulde the vampire, so he hasn't been 0:43:28.200 --> 0:43:31.880 changed into just a demon of pure evil. Most of 0:43:31.920 --> 0:43:34.960 the time he is simply like himself, like he was 0:43:35.040 --> 0:43:38.600 before the change. And even in the form of even 0:43:38.680 --> 0:43:42.040 as a vampire, Memo Walde is shown to be a 0:43:43.239 --> 0:43:47.320 good and moral man. He has thoughtful, kind, suave, even 0:43:47.360 --> 0:43:52.000 tempered charming, but when he goes into vampire mode, he 0:43:52.080 --> 0:43:55.000 thirsts only for blood and it is almost like a 0:43:55.000 --> 0:43:56.080 werewolf transformation. 0:43:56.719 --> 0:44:00.680 Yeah, I think the pronounced widow's peak he develops when 0:44:00.680 --> 0:44:04.200 he's in full vampire mode in hunger mode is key. 0:44:04.480 --> 0:44:06.640 And I think the real take home here is if 0:44:06.640 --> 0:44:08.880 someone you know you suddenly encounter them and they have 0:44:09.239 --> 0:44:15.239 a pronounced widow peak that extends further down than their 0:44:15.239 --> 0:44:18.600 hairline originally was, then you need to run because that 0:44:18.640 --> 0:44:21.080 person has become a dracula of some sort. 0:44:21.320 --> 0:44:25.080 So Mema Walde bites and drains Billy and Bobby there 0:44:25.120 --> 0:44:28.440 in the antique warehouse, and next we go to a 0:44:28.480 --> 0:44:31.399 scene at a funeral home where we're going to meet 0:44:31.440 --> 0:44:35.680 our other main characters. So Bobby's body is lying out 0:44:35.800 --> 0:44:39.200 for it's lying out in the coffin for visitation, and 0:44:39.320 --> 0:44:42.600 somehow Mima Walde is there like he's looking on from 0:44:42.640 --> 0:44:45.279 behind a curtain at the back of the room, and 0:44:45.440 --> 0:44:48.600 slowly we see Bobby's hand to begin to move from 0:44:48.640 --> 0:44:51.840 its resting place and grip the wall of the coffin, 0:44:52.400 --> 0:44:55.680 but then Bobby stops moving when the living approach, and 0:44:55.760 --> 0:45:00.160 our living characters are Michelle. This is Denise Nicholas we 0:45:00.239 --> 0:45:05.680 mentioned her earlier. Michelle's coworker and romantic partner, doctor Gordon Thomas. 0:45:05.760 --> 0:45:10.919 This is Thalmas Resulola. We get Michelle's sister, Tina, who 0:45:10.960 --> 0:45:14.640 is played by Vanetta McGee, the same actress who played Louva. 0:45:16.160 --> 0:45:19.640 And so Michelle and Tina are visiting Bobby because they've 0:45:19.640 --> 0:45:23.000 known him since childhood. And at first, Tina is wearing 0:45:23.040 --> 0:45:25.920 a hood covering her face when she comes into the room, 0:45:26.640 --> 0:45:28.960 but there's a reveal moment. She pulls it back to 0:45:29.000 --> 0:45:33.480 reveal her face and Mama Walde sees her and he whispers, Luva. 0:45:33.760 --> 0:45:36.279 The hood is almost too much because I initially thought 0:45:36.320 --> 0:45:38.120 she was going to be some sort of sorceress or 0:45:38.600 --> 0:45:41.080 cult member or something, but we quickly learned that she's 0:45:41.120 --> 0:45:42.239 just very stylish. 0:45:42.840 --> 0:45:45.400 Well, I would say, by and large, all of the 0:45:45.480 --> 0:45:49.400 modern costumes in this movie are awesome, Like everybody's clothes 0:45:49.440 --> 0:45:52.480 look really cool. I was gonna mention this later, like 0:45:52.719 --> 0:45:56.920 essentially everything Thalmas rasoulil awares looks awesome. He has this 0:45:57.000 --> 0:46:00.680 great collection of coats and jackets. He has cool like 0:46:00.760 --> 0:46:05.240 a herringbone blazer, and he has a double breasted jacket 0:46:05.320 --> 0:46:07.839 he wears later that looks really cool, often paired with 0:46:07.840 --> 0:46:12.200 a turtleneck. He's got a great look. But Michelle, Michelle 0:46:12.200 --> 0:46:15.920 and Tina also have really cool clothes. Absolutely, and I 0:46:15.920 --> 0:46:19.120 would put the sorceress hood and cloak in that category 0:46:19.160 --> 0:46:22.160 as well. I think it looks great. You know, people 0:46:22.160 --> 0:46:27.080 should dress like sorcerers more often. So anyway, Tina and Michelle, 0:46:27.120 --> 0:46:30.280 they're confused about what happened to Bobby. His death doesn't 0:46:30.320 --> 0:46:33.920 make any sense, and they're asking Gordon if he can 0:46:33.920 --> 0:46:36.840 get any answers for them, because Gordon is not just 0:46:36.960 --> 0:46:42.120 any boyfriend of Michelle. Gordon is some kind of science cop. 0:46:42.280 --> 0:46:45.160 We've talked about science cops on a Weird House before. 0:46:45.640 --> 0:46:49.840 He is a forensic investigator. We're later told he works 0:46:49.920 --> 0:46:54.280 for the Scientific Investigation Division, I suppose of the police. 0:46:54.719 --> 0:46:56.480 So it seems I think he's supposed to be a 0:46:56.480 --> 0:46:59.160 medical doctor at Core, but he is. He works as 0:46:59.200 --> 0:47:03.479 a forensic investment togator. So after Tina and Michelle leave, 0:47:04.120 --> 0:47:08.239 the funeral director is there alone. With Gordon, and he explains, 0:47:08.280 --> 0:47:10.840 I worked very hard on that neck wound, trying to 0:47:10.840 --> 0:47:12.800 make it look as natural as I could so it 0:47:12.840 --> 0:47:15.759 wouldn't be offensive to his loved ones. The flesh was 0:47:15.880 --> 0:47:18.600 just torn right out in a big chunk. I've never 0:47:18.640 --> 0:47:23.400 seen a rat bite that size, and Gordon says rat bite. 0:47:23.719 --> 0:47:26.320 He wants to know how deep was the wound before 0:47:26.360 --> 0:47:28.960 it was repaired, and the funeral director says two or 0:47:29.000 --> 0:47:33.720 three inches at least. So Gordon is his radars pinging. 0:47:33.840 --> 0:47:38.520 Something is seeming off to him, and he's perplexed by 0:47:38.560 --> 0:47:40.640 what he sees. So a rat bite in the neck 0:47:40.719 --> 0:47:43.399 two or three inches deep. He starts looking at other 0:47:43.480 --> 0:47:46.480 things about Bobby's body. He notices that the body is 0:47:46.600 --> 0:47:50.400 drained of blood, even though the funeral director says that 0:47:50.520 --> 0:47:54.560 no embalming has taken place. Gordon points out that the 0:47:54.680 --> 0:47:58.200 veins collapse under pressure. Why would he have been drained 0:47:58.239 --> 0:48:01.440 of blood? Gordon decides he wants to see the body 0:48:01.480 --> 0:48:06.160 of the other victim. But the other victim, Billy, is 0:48:06.200 --> 0:48:09.200 not at this funeral home. He was white and he 0:48:09.239 --> 0:48:12.040 was sent to a white funeral home. The funeral director 0:48:12.080 --> 0:48:16.240 tells us, So our investigator is now on the case. 0:48:16.480 --> 0:48:19.680 He can tell something weird is up. We cut to 0:48:19.800 --> 0:48:22.839 Michelle and Tina walking outside the funeral parlor and they 0:48:22.880 --> 0:48:25.720 split up because Michelle is going to go visit Bobby's family. 0:48:26.120 --> 0:48:28.600 Tina is tired and she wants to go straight home, 0:48:28.920 --> 0:48:31.920 And while walking alone on the sidewalk at night, Tina 0:48:32.000 --> 0:48:36.480 starts to become uneasy. Something doesn't feel right. She picks 0:48:36.520 --> 0:48:40.040 up the pace. She glances around nervously. Then suddenly she 0:48:40.160 --> 0:48:43.440 comes round a corner and runs straight into Mama Welde. 0:48:43.480 --> 0:48:46.880 And he's not in vamp mode here, but he is 0:48:46.920 --> 0:48:50.040 in a full vampire costume, which he pretty much always wears, 0:48:50.760 --> 0:48:54.239 so he's in his dark suit. He's got the cravat, 0:48:54.320 --> 0:48:57.800 and he's got this trailing black cape. And he addresses 0:48:57.840 --> 0:49:02.000 her hopefully at first, saying love, but Tina doesn't know 0:49:02.000 --> 0:49:04.640 what he's talking about. She tries to back away and 0:49:04.680 --> 0:49:07.000 he takes hold of her. He says, Luva, it's me, 0:49:07.960 --> 0:49:10.960 but she doesn't know him. She screams let go, and 0:49:11.000 --> 0:49:13.719 he does. She runs away in a panic, and she 0:49:14.160 --> 0:49:17.720 drops her purse in a pedestrian underpass tunnel, and Memo 0:49:17.719 --> 0:49:21.280 Walde follows and picks up the pocketbook He's still looking 0:49:21.280 --> 0:49:23.759 around for where she went when suddenly he is hit 0:49:23.840 --> 0:49:24.520 by a cab. 0:49:25.080 --> 0:49:27.600 I also want to just mention really quickly. William Marshall 0:49:27.840 --> 0:49:30.719 a very physically imposing actor as well. I think he 0:49:30.800 --> 0:49:34.319 was like six ' five, so that's notable in all 0:49:34.400 --> 0:49:36.600 of these scenes where he is either perceived as a 0:49:36.640 --> 0:49:39.560 threat or is an active threat in vampire mode. 0:49:40.040 --> 0:49:42.560 That's right, and he is about to change from pining 0:49:42.600 --> 0:49:46.799 for his lost love to thirsting for blood because he 0:49:46.880 --> 0:49:49.120 was hit by a cab. The cab driver gets out, 0:49:49.160 --> 0:49:53.359 and this is a character named Juanita. She is sort 0:49:53.400 --> 0:49:56.440 of vulgar and starts scolding Memo waal Day, telling him 0:49:56.680 --> 0:49:59.719 that chasing tail could get him killed. Mema Walde is 0:49:59.840 --> 0:50:02.560 very frustrated. He says I lost her because of you, 0:50:03.200 --> 0:50:06.839 and they trade insults, and after she hurls some disrespected him, 0:50:07.200 --> 0:50:09.880 we suddenly see a change come over him. He needs 0:50:09.880 --> 0:50:13.560 blood once again, and he transforms into vampire mode and 0:50:13.680 --> 0:50:17.600 bites her. Now later, Tina makes it back home. She 0:50:17.600 --> 0:50:19.680 has to use a hidden spare key to get into 0:50:19.719 --> 0:50:22.080 her apartment because she lost her purse in the tunnel 0:50:22.120 --> 0:50:26.160 and she's extremely rattled. Michelle comes home and Tina confesses 0:50:26.200 --> 0:50:30.520 what happened. Michelle says, maniacs are running in the streets, 0:50:31.040 --> 0:50:34.120 and meanwhile, Mima Walde goes back to his coffin in 0:50:34.160 --> 0:50:38.440 the antique warehouse dejected. He's broken by the fact that 0:50:38.840 --> 0:50:41.759 his Louva ran away from him. Now the next day 0:50:41.800 --> 0:50:45.680 we see Gordon Thomas on the case. The doctor is 0:50:45.680 --> 0:50:48.040 paying a visit to the city Morgue to check out 0:50:48.040 --> 0:50:51.680 the body of a cab driver found dead the night before, 0:50:52.160 --> 0:50:55.600 and here we meet a minor character, Sam the Morgue worker, 0:50:55.680 --> 0:50:58.680 played by Elisha Cook Junior, who is a character actor 0:50:58.680 --> 0:51:01.439 you've probably seen in lots of stuff. In this movie, 0:51:01.480 --> 0:51:04.360 he plays a surly mortician with a hook for a hand. 0:51:05.080 --> 0:51:07.520 Yeah. He lived nineteen oh three through nineteen ninety five, 0:51:07.760 --> 0:51:10.240 probably best known for such films as The Maltese Falcon, 0:51:10.560 --> 0:51:14.239 The Killing House on Haunted Hill, and Rosemary's Baby. I 0:51:14.280 --> 0:51:16.719 found an image here for you Joe from nineteen forty 0:51:16.719 --> 0:51:20.000 four's Phantom Lady, in which he's pulling this shocked face 0:51:20.040 --> 0:51:23.200 that I'm pretty sure he pulls at least once in 0:51:23.880 --> 0:51:24.480 this movie. 0:51:24.560 --> 0:51:26.959 It's his signature. Look, it's his blue steel. 0:51:27.600 --> 0:51:30.920 He's like, oh, and then inevitably he's about to be murdered, 0:51:31.040 --> 0:51:33.080 or has discovered a murder, or is about to be 0:51:33.120 --> 0:51:33.840 killed by a monster. 0:51:34.200 --> 0:51:37.320 Yeah, or in these movies from the forties and fifties, 0:51:37.320 --> 0:51:38.520 he just saw a skeleton. 0:51:39.000 --> 0:51:40.160 Yeah. 0:51:40.360 --> 0:51:43.200 So Sam leads Gordon inside. They pulled the victim out 0:51:43.200 --> 0:51:46.799 of the freezer. Sam's just kind of like gabbin at him, 0:51:46.840 --> 0:51:48.920 so Gordon has to like get him to leave, leave 0:51:48.960 --> 0:51:51.360 him alone so he can investigate. And what do you know, 0:51:51.840 --> 0:51:55.359 he finds bite marks on the victim's neck. This cab 0:51:55.480 --> 0:51:59.120 driver was also bitten, just like Bobby. So we know 0:51:59.239 --> 0:52:01.920 what he's thinking, and we see him reacting to his 0:52:01.960 --> 0:52:04.959 own thoughts. He laughs and says to himself, come on now, 0:52:05.120 --> 0:52:09.439 that's ridiculous. But he still he has to pursue this lead. 0:52:09.520 --> 0:52:13.680 So Gordon goes to consult with police Lieutenant Jack Peters. 0:52:14.239 --> 0:52:18.000 Gordon says he needs reports on the post mortem examinations 0:52:18.000 --> 0:52:21.279 of both Bobby and Billy, the first two victims, but 0:52:21.480 --> 0:52:24.239 the department bureaucracy is giving him the run around while 0:52:24.239 --> 0:52:26.840 he's been looking for these reports, and eventually they admit 0:52:26.960 --> 0:52:29.560 that the reports seem to have been lost. They don't 0:52:29.560 --> 0:52:32.799 know where they are and Gordon says, strange, how many 0:52:32.840 --> 0:52:38.040 sloppy police jobs involve black victims. Peters, who is a 0:52:38.080 --> 0:52:41.239 white police commander, seems to suggest he's like, hey, what 0:52:41.280 --> 0:52:43.640 if all these neck bite murders were caused by the 0:52:43.640 --> 0:52:47.359 black panthers? Think about it, and Gordon is like, get real. 0:52:48.200 --> 0:52:51.760 So Peters promises they will keep looking for the info 0:52:51.840 --> 0:52:55.320 that Gordon needs, and he puts a cop named Watson 0:52:55.360 --> 0:52:58.920 on the job. Gordon explains that if they find the reports, 0:52:59.200 --> 0:53:01.799 he'll need them brought by the club tonight because he's 0:53:01.840 --> 0:53:04.200 going to be at the club tonight with Michelle celebrating 0:53:04.200 --> 0:53:07.040 her birthday. Oh and we also see here Gordon wants 0:53:07.080 --> 0:53:09.640 to do an autopsy on Bobby, so he calls the 0:53:09.640 --> 0:53:12.040 funeral home and says that he's going to send some 0:53:12.120 --> 0:53:23.240 cops over after closing to collect the body. So next 0:53:23.280 --> 0:53:26.360 comes the club scene, a scene that is great for 0:53:26.480 --> 0:53:30.520 multiple reasons, one of which is the awesome performance by 0:53:30.560 --> 0:53:34.800 the house band, the Hughes Corporation, who we already mentioned earlier, 0:53:35.440 --> 0:53:38.040 but this is a full musical number. We get to 0:53:38.040 --> 0:53:42.400 see the entire song, full band playing. There are three 0:53:42.600 --> 0:53:46.439 lead singers like a singing ensemble in the group, and 0:53:46.920 --> 0:53:49.600 they are awesome dancers. They each have their own like 0:53:49.680 --> 0:53:52.680 solos and all that. The song is called there he 0:53:52.760 --> 0:53:56.080 Is Again, and the Hughes Corporation just rocks. I thought 0:53:56.120 --> 0:53:59.800 the song was killer, as I think we said this earlier, 0:53:59.840 --> 0:54:02.480 but it sounds like the lyrics could be about the 0:54:02.560 --> 0:54:06.000 vampire in the film. So the lyrics are like, there 0:54:06.040 --> 0:54:08.600 he is again looking at me from across the street. 0:54:09.000 --> 0:54:11.480 There he is again, making my heart skip another beat. 0:54:12.000 --> 0:54:14.680 There's some line in there, oh well. The chorus is 0:54:14.719 --> 0:54:17.319 look the other way when he comes by you. There's 0:54:17.320 --> 0:54:19.239 one part where they're talking about how they think he 0:54:19.280 --> 0:54:22.080 can read your mind. There's a line where he says, 0:54:22.160 --> 0:54:24.640 I know he thinks I want his love so much. 0:54:24.760 --> 0:54:27.160 I love the levels of mental simulation in that. 0:54:29.080 --> 0:54:32.280 Yeah, this is my favorite of the Hughes Corporation tracks, 0:54:32.760 --> 0:54:36.480 And if I haven't mentioned it already, the combined score 0:54:36.520 --> 0:54:40.000 and soundtrack is widely available on music streaming platforms, so 0:54:40.040 --> 0:54:42.000 you can definitely dip in and get a taste of this. 0:54:42.640 --> 0:54:44.640 It originally came out on vinyl as well, but I 0:54:44.680 --> 0:54:47.160 don't think it's benefited from one of those awesome modern 0:54:47.239 --> 0:54:49.920 vinyl restorations, which which seems like a missed opportunity. 0:54:50.239 --> 0:54:53.000 Oh yeah, this is truly great stuff. It doesn't just 0:54:53.200 --> 0:54:55.120 like work in the movie. I'd love to just put 0:54:55.120 --> 0:55:00.160 this on anytime. So anyway, Gordon, Michelle, and Tina are 0:55:00.000 --> 0:55:04.360 at the club. They're celebrating Michelle's birthday and Mama Welde 0:55:04.480 --> 0:55:07.920 arrives and at first it's like, oh no. But then 0:55:08.160 --> 0:55:12.719 he meets with Tina and maybe she's a little apprehensive 0:55:12.760 --> 0:55:16.040 at first, but he very kindly returns the purse that 0:55:16.160 --> 0:55:20.040 she dropped the night before, and she rethinks her initial 0:55:20.080 --> 0:55:24.800 impression of him, and Tina then surprisingly invites Mama Walde 0:55:24.920 --> 0:55:28.400 to join them at their table. And this is not 0:55:28.840 --> 0:55:32.480 vamp mode Mama wel dey, obviously, this is evening attire 0:55:32.560 --> 0:55:36.360 Mama Wlde. He is super charming at the absolute height 0:55:36.480 --> 0:55:40.360 of debonair sophistication. Now, it's been kind of a running 0:55:40.400 --> 0:55:44.400 theme so far that Gordon, despite being our hero in 0:55:44.400 --> 0:55:48.080 a way, he is somewhat brusque and anti social. He 0:55:48.120 --> 0:55:51.759 doesn't exactly play nice with people. He's not polite. The 0:55:51.800 --> 0:55:54.000 more charitable way of putting this that I is that 0:55:54.080 --> 0:55:56.440 I think he's very like task oriented and most of 0:55:56.480 --> 0:55:58.120 the time he's all business. 0:55:58.440 --> 0:56:01.239 Yeah, yeah, and sometimes rough some feathers, for sure. 0:56:01.560 --> 0:56:06.560 Yeah. But his sort of antisocialness comes through in this 0:56:06.640 --> 0:56:10.000 scene as well, because Mama Walde sits down and tries 0:56:10.040 --> 0:56:13.720 to order French champagne and Gordon is like, that won't 0:56:13.719 --> 0:56:17.440 be necessary, but then the ladies overrule him, so they 0:56:17.440 --> 0:56:18.800 do get the champagne service. 0:56:19.120 --> 0:56:22.560 Now. Side note, this is another scene in a film 0:56:22.719 --> 0:56:26.000 where they're sipping champagne from coop glasses, you know, from 0:56:26.080 --> 0:56:29.719 wide glasses as opposed to flutes. I really need to 0:56:29.719 --> 0:56:32.360 dive into the history of appropriate glass wear for Bubbley 0:56:32.760 --> 0:56:35.080 because I've seen that. I feel like we've seen this 0:56:35.120 --> 0:56:38.280 in some films we've watched on Weird House. In HBO's 0:56:38.280 --> 0:56:40.440 The Gilded Age, which is set in the eighteen eighties, 0:56:40.440 --> 0:56:42.960 they're also drinking all their champagne out of coop glasses 0:56:43.320 --> 0:56:47.200 or something very close to a coop glass, And I 0:56:47.200 --> 0:56:50.120 feel like I've always heard that argument was like, oh, no, 0:56:50.160 --> 0:56:52.160 you want a narrow glass because you know the way 0:56:52.200 --> 0:56:53.880 the bubbles form and so forth. 0:56:55.120 --> 0:56:58.640 I feel like coop blesses for champagne have come in 0:56:58.680 --> 0:57:00.640 and out of fashion over time. 0:57:00.640 --> 0:57:02.560 It would seem to be. But my main area of 0:57:02.600 --> 0:57:05.760 research on this is seeing it in movies that sometimes 0:57:05.840 --> 0:57:07.759 have vampires in themselves. I don't know. 0:57:08.760 --> 0:57:11.520 Well anyway, One interesting thing about the scene is that 0:57:11.800 --> 0:57:16.720 I had expected Mama Welde would be more coy about 0:57:16.760 --> 0:57:20.000 who he is and his relationship to Tina, but instead 0:57:20.000 --> 0:57:23.560 he comes right out and tells, Tina, you bear You 0:57:23.640 --> 0:57:26.360 bear an amazing resemblance to my wife, whom I lost 0:57:26.360 --> 0:57:29.160 a short while ago. I loved her very much. When 0:57:29.160 --> 0:57:31.760 you left the mortuary, I had to follow you. I 0:57:31.760 --> 0:57:35.200 didn't consider that I might frighten you, so leading with 0:57:35.440 --> 0:57:39.680 you look like my beloved dead wife. And just judging 0:57:39.720 --> 0:57:42.200 by the way she looks back at him, I think 0:57:42.240 --> 0:57:46.800 Tina is already over whatever apprehension she had previously. She 0:57:46.960 --> 0:57:47.959 is charmed now. 0:57:48.680 --> 0:57:51.000 Yeah, the film will stress this later, but it's definitely 0:57:51.000 --> 0:57:55.880 worth noting that she is charmed but not bewitched. We 0:57:55.920 --> 0:57:59.000 see either, and perhaps sometimes both in different vampire movies. 0:57:59.040 --> 0:58:03.160 You know, Sometimes a Dracula figure or a vampire lord 0:58:03.200 --> 0:58:07.000 figure is definitely controlling people and overwhelming their senses. Other 0:58:07.040 --> 0:58:09.200 times it is more of a I guess, a pure 0:58:09.280 --> 0:58:13.520 charisma role. So yeah, he is not controlling her, and 0:58:13.600 --> 0:58:17.440 their connection across time would seem to be legitimate. 0:58:17.400 --> 0:58:21.480 That's right, And she seems to imply in a later 0:58:21.520 --> 0:58:24.200 scene that maybe she feels this is true as well. 0:58:24.800 --> 0:58:26.280 But I guess we'll get there in a few minutes. 0:58:26.320 --> 0:58:28.760 So first of all, there's a cutaway to the funeral 0:58:28.760 --> 0:58:31.080 home where we mentioned that the cops were going to 0:58:31.120 --> 0:58:33.919 go collect Bobby's body. But when they get there, they 0:58:34.120 --> 0:58:36.120 like throw open the lid to the coffin in the 0:58:36.200 --> 0:58:39.760 visitation room and the body is missing. Gordon gets a 0:58:39.800 --> 0:58:42.840 call at the club reporting this. He has to like 0:58:42.920 --> 0:58:44.760 go up to the bar and take a phone call, 0:58:45.200 --> 0:58:47.280 and then for some reason, when he comes back to 0:58:47.320 --> 0:58:50.360 the table for Michelle's birthday party, he shares the news 0:58:50.400 --> 0:58:55.040 that Bobby's body is missing, and Mama Walde says, perhaps 0:58:55.120 --> 0:58:57.880 he wasn't dead. At Gordon is like, what does that 0:58:58.000 --> 0:59:01.520 mean he was dead? I examined him my and Mama 0:59:01.560 --> 0:59:04.440 Weelde says, I'm just a passing thought. But then we 0:59:04.520 --> 0:59:07.560 get the arrival of Skillett. This is the guy who 0:59:07.640 --> 0:59:11.919 keeps showing up to admire Mamaelde's cape and to say 0:59:11.920 --> 0:59:16.680 that he's strange. But Mama Walde is suddenly driven away 0:59:16.960 --> 0:59:21.200 from the table because a photographer comes by, and as 0:59:21.200 --> 0:59:24.480 soon as she snaps a photo of their table, Mamaulde 0:59:24.760 --> 0:59:28.360 stands up and abruptly excuses himself, saying that it has 0:59:28.400 --> 0:59:31.480 been a rare pleasure. Tina chases after him, and then 0:59:31.520 --> 0:59:33.560 near the door, she catches him to say that she 0:59:33.680 --> 0:59:36.680 wants to see him again, and they promised to meet 0:59:36.800 --> 0:59:40.160 again at the club the next night, but the photographer 0:59:41.160 --> 0:59:43.600 comes barges in one more time and takes a picture 0:59:43.640 --> 0:59:46.200 of them a second time. This picture is just Mama 0:59:46.200 --> 0:59:50.120 Weelde and Tina, and this drives Mama Walde away. He 0:59:50.160 --> 0:59:53.360 seems alarmed at having his picture taken. So here I 0:59:53.360 --> 0:59:57.240 guess we should describe what appears to be the photographer's 0:59:57.320 --> 0:59:59.880 business model. Maybe this is a thing that used to 0:59:59.880 --> 1:00:02.680 have happen. I don't know, but it seems what she 1:00:02.440 --> 1:00:06.040 She goes around the club taking pictures of people, and 1:00:06.080 --> 1:00:08.960 then she has a house right next door to the club, 1:00:09.360 --> 1:00:12.200 and so she runs out of the club next door 1:00:12.240 --> 1:00:15.880 to her house, develops the photos and makes prints, and 1:00:15.920 --> 1:00:18.560 then brings the prince back to the club the same 1:00:18.680 --> 1:00:20.640 night and sells them to people. Is that how you 1:00:20.720 --> 1:00:21.320 understood it? 1:00:21.920 --> 1:00:22.320 I think so. 1:00:22.480 --> 1:00:22.640 Yeah. 1:00:22.720 --> 1:00:24.200 I feel like this might be something that would have 1:00:24.200 --> 1:00:26.240 been more clear to the audience of the time. And 1:00:26.320 --> 1:00:30.520 I know, based on conversations with my wife who's a photographer, 1:00:30.640 --> 1:00:34.280 there were you know, there were all sorts of practices 1:00:34.400 --> 1:00:35.920 kind of like this back in the day when you 1:00:35.960 --> 1:00:38.560 had to develop your film. There was one in particular 1:00:38.640 --> 1:00:41.000 that I remember hearing that involved like a zipline, like 1:00:41.040 --> 1:00:43.240 they had to like take the photo, get the film, 1:00:43.360 --> 1:00:45.400 zipline it down to where it was going to be produced. 1:00:45.440 --> 1:00:47.280 So there are all sorts of things like that that 1:00:47.400 --> 1:00:51.200 had to occur given the limitations of film technology. Nowadays, 1:00:51.200 --> 1:00:52.800 you know, it's all digital and so you have an 1:00:52.880 --> 1:00:55.200 entirely different model and everything moves so much faster. 1:00:55.680 --> 1:00:57.840 The only other way I could understand this is if 1:00:57.920 --> 1:01:00.560 she's is if this is not her job and she's 1:01:00.680 --> 1:01:03.880 just like a hobbyist photographer and taking pictures of her 1:01:03.920 --> 1:01:06.520 friends and happens to live next door to the club. 1:01:06.640 --> 1:01:07.080 I don't know. 1:01:08.400 --> 1:01:11.120 But the real take home here is that it gives 1:01:11.160 --> 1:01:13.720 us an excuse for a dark room scene, which I 1:01:13.760 --> 1:01:15.280 absolutely love in my movies. 1:01:15.440 --> 1:01:18.040 Oh yeah, this is great. So she runs off next 1:01:18.120 --> 1:01:20.880 door to develop the photos, and here we get a 1:01:20.960 --> 1:01:24.080 vampire attack and I think a very creepy one at that. 1:01:24.520 --> 1:01:26.600 So she's in her house. She puts on a record, 1:01:26.800 --> 1:01:29.600 music is playing, but other than the music playing, it's 1:01:29.720 --> 1:01:34.960 very still inside, and she's developing the photos and she 1:01:35.240 --> 1:01:38.680 notices when looking at the negatives that Mama Waldey is 1:01:38.800 --> 1:01:41.760 missing from the pictures she took. So it's just like Tina, 1:01:42.160 --> 1:01:45.919 they're embracing with no one. And then she peeks out 1:01:45.920 --> 1:01:48.520 through the curtains of her dark room and suddenly Mama 1:01:48.520 --> 1:01:54.640 Waldey's there in vampire mode, gliding frictionlessly directly toward her 1:01:54.760 --> 1:01:57.600 fangs showing. It's a really scary moment. 1:01:57.920 --> 1:02:00.360 Absolutely yeah, this is this is This is one of 1:02:00.520 --> 1:02:04.200 two really good scares in the picture. This is probably 1:02:04.200 --> 1:02:05.360 my favorite. 1:02:04.880 --> 1:02:07.440 And in fact, this scene develops into a double scare 1:02:08.200 --> 1:02:10.800 no pun intended on develops with the dark one. But 1:02:11.280 --> 1:02:14.520 it's a double scare because shortly after this a cop 1:02:14.600 --> 1:02:17.560 shows up. Because remember Gordon was supposed to get those 1:02:17.800 --> 1:02:20.800 reports delivered to him at the club. So this cop 1:02:20.920 --> 1:02:24.680 named Barnes appears to deliver the reports and he's in 1:02:24.720 --> 1:02:27.160 the parking lot of the club and he sees at 1:02:27.160 --> 1:02:29.760 the house next door a woman stumbles out of the 1:02:29.760 --> 1:02:31.800 front door and she appears to be dying, so he 1:02:31.880 --> 1:02:34.160 goes to help her, but when he picks her up 1:02:34.200 --> 1:02:38.160 to carry her inside Fangs, it's the photographer and she 1:02:38.320 --> 1:02:43.120 has changed rapidly. So in the way the mythology, the 1:02:43.160 --> 1:02:46.240 vampire mythology works here, you can change and I don't know, 1:02:46.240 --> 1:02:47.200 it seems like minutes. 1:02:47.600 --> 1:02:49.520 Yeah, yeah, it's very viral. 1:02:49.920 --> 1:02:53.480 So she vamps the cop and Gordon never gets his reports, 1:02:54.160 --> 1:02:56.560 and he tells Peters as much. The next day at 1:02:56.560 --> 1:03:00.040 the police station. Peters is mad about this Gordon. He 1:03:00.080 --> 1:03:03.600 wants to get permission to dig up Billy Schaefer's grave 1:03:03.800 --> 1:03:06.680 to do an autopsy. Peters tries to get a permit 1:03:06.760 --> 1:03:08.960 for this, but he can't, so then, in a very 1:03:08.960 --> 1:03:12.840 funny turn, Gordon he explains to Michelle that they're just 1:03:12.920 --> 1:03:15.520 gonna have to go and illegally dig up Billy's body 1:03:15.560 --> 1:03:18.560 themselves that night, and Michelle is kind of resistant to 1:03:18.640 --> 1:03:21.240 this idea at first, but he likes sweet talks her 1:03:21.240 --> 1:03:24.440 into it. He basically he kisses her and he's like, 1:03:24.480 --> 1:03:27.080 come on, do it for me, and she's like, okay. 1:03:27.080 --> 1:03:30.000 Okay, we'll go violate the graveyard. 1:03:31.240 --> 1:03:33.920 So that night, while Gordon and Michelle are out digging 1:03:34.000 --> 1:03:37.760 up a grave. Mama Walde comes and visits Tina's apartment. 1:03:38.200 --> 1:03:40.160 He says he couldn't wait to see her and he 1:03:40.240 --> 1:03:43.680 needed to speak to her alone. They've been dying to 1:03:43.680 --> 1:03:47.560 see one another again, and Tina explains her complicated feelings. 1:03:47.640 --> 1:03:50.520 He frightens her, but also when he left the night before, 1:03:50.600 --> 1:03:53.720 she wanted to run after him. So he says he 1:03:53.800 --> 1:03:56.400 needs to speak to her about something, and she asks, 1:03:56.600 --> 1:03:59.720 is it about your wife? And he says, you are 1:03:59.760 --> 1:04:04.200 my wife. She says that's impossible, Mamualde, and he says, 1:04:04.560 --> 1:04:07.640 and yet you believe it, and it seems like she does. 1:04:07.720 --> 1:04:11.960 She's a bit confused, but he explains as if she 1:04:12.360 --> 1:04:18.280 is Luva reincarnated. He explains who they are, that they 1:04:18.320 --> 1:04:21.800 come from the Abani people and were sent as diplomats 1:04:21.840 --> 1:04:25.440 to Europe to gain allies who would support their protest 1:04:25.560 --> 1:04:29.160 of the slave trade. And then Mama Walde says, on 1:04:29.240 --> 1:04:33.320 that mission, I myself was enslaved, my wife murdered, and 1:04:33.400 --> 1:04:36.200 I was placed under the curse of the Undead. Our 1:04:36.240 --> 1:04:41.320 assassin was the vampire Count Dracula. Tina protests that Count 1:04:41.360 --> 1:04:44.600 Dracula is a myth. He wasn't real but mamu Walde 1:04:44.680 --> 1:04:48.280 explains he was real quote as real as I am now, 1:04:48.480 --> 1:04:50.920 as real as you are, and as real as my 1:04:51.040 --> 1:04:55.240 need for you. You are my luva recreated. So she 1:04:55.360 --> 1:04:57.640 asks again what he wants, and he says that he 1:04:57.720 --> 1:05:02.000 wants her to rejoin him. And it's not spelled out 1:05:02.000 --> 1:05:05.360 exactly what that means, but it seems that's understood as 1:05:05.600 --> 1:05:10.280 join him in undeath. Now she seems torn. She she 1:05:10.520 --> 1:05:13.600 wants to, but she's afraid. She says I can't, and 1:05:13.640 --> 1:05:15.880 then he says, you must come to me freely, with 1:05:16.040 --> 1:05:18.560 love or not at all. I will not take you 1:05:18.640 --> 1:05:21.960 by force, and I will not return. I have lived 1:05:21.960 --> 1:05:25.080 again to lose you twice, and he rises to leave. 1:05:25.200 --> 1:05:27.400 He goes to the door, but she stops him and 1:05:27.480 --> 1:05:30.520 asks him to stay. They embrace. It seems she does 1:05:30.600 --> 1:05:34.360 want to rejoin him, whatever the cost. It's a pointed scene, 1:05:34.640 --> 1:05:37.320 it is, and it's emotionally complex because you can see 1:05:37.320 --> 1:05:40.200 in his performance that when they embrace and kiss, that 1:05:40.640 --> 1:05:42.600 it's not just that he loves her, it's not just 1:05:42.640 --> 1:05:46.480 that he desires her, but there is a feeling of relief, 1:05:48.160 --> 1:05:52.240 of like of a burden being lifted. And because I 1:05:52.240 --> 1:05:55.760 guess because he won't have to be like this alone. 1:05:56.440 --> 1:06:02.760 And so meanwhile Gordon and Gordon and Michelle are doing 1:06:02.800 --> 1:06:05.520 their grave digging. Gordon digs up Billy's grave in the 1:06:05.560 --> 1:06:08.640 middle of the night while Michelle holds a flashlight. They 1:06:08.720 --> 1:06:11.040 open the coffin and what do you know, Billy pops 1:06:11.120 --> 1:06:14.960 up a full vampire. He attacks Gordon. Gordon throws some 1:06:15.000 --> 1:06:17.720 really good punches some haymakers, beats him up with a 1:06:17.720 --> 1:06:21.680 shovel and stakes him. And now it seems that Michelle 1:06:21.720 --> 1:06:24.720 and Gordon have both seen the proof. They are definitely 1:06:24.840 --> 1:06:26.160 dealing with vampires. 1:06:26.680 --> 1:06:28.160 Yeah, there's no denying it now. 1:06:28.440 --> 1:06:31.200 And Michelle is like, oh, all those books you've been reading. 1:06:31.200 --> 1:06:33.800 Apparently Gordon has been doing a lot of vampire research. 1:06:35.200 --> 1:06:39.440 But Gordon quickly realizes that the other vampire victims will 1:06:39.480 --> 1:06:43.680 also rise from their slumber and attack, including the cab 1:06:43.800 --> 1:06:47.440 driver at the morgue, So he calls Sam from a 1:06:47.480 --> 1:06:50.880 payphone that Sam was what's his name? Elisha Cook Jr. 1:06:52.200 --> 1:06:55.040 Calls him from a payphone and tells him to take 1:06:55.080 --> 1:06:57.480 her body out of the freezer so he can come 1:06:57.520 --> 1:07:00.640 and perform an autopsy with Peters, but also to like 1:07:00.800 --> 1:07:02.840 leave her in a locked room, lock the door and 1:07:02.920 --> 1:07:05.880 stay away, and then Gordon goes to pick up Peters 1:07:05.920 --> 1:07:08.680 to show him the evidence of the vampire menace. What's 1:07:08.720 --> 1:07:11.439 gonna happen? Of course, there is a vampire attack, so 1:07:11.920 --> 1:07:17.560 vampire Juanita rises from her frozen slumber to attack Sam. 1:07:17.840 --> 1:07:20.720 And this is another really well done vampire attack sequence. 1:07:20.720 --> 1:07:24.120 The music is really great. This, this is this is awesome. 1:07:24.280 --> 1:07:27.280 Yeah, it's a it's a creepy, unusual shot where the 1:07:27.360 --> 1:07:30.240 door opens and we see from Sam's perspective, he's like 1:07:30.280 --> 1:07:33.840 at the phone down the hall and she's running directly 1:07:34.000 --> 1:07:38.800 at the camera in slow motion, just eyes wild, fangs out. 1:07:39.440 --> 1:07:41.840 You can imagine this, this, this whole sequence playing really 1:07:41.880 --> 1:07:44.160 well in the theater too, because you get that moment 1:07:44.240 --> 1:07:47.280 where he almost he has the keys out right, he's 1:07:47.320 --> 1:07:49.560 almost gonna do it. He's almost gonna gonna lock the 1:07:50.080 --> 1:07:52.280 body in the room, but then the phone rings. So yeah, 1:07:52.520 --> 1:07:55.920 it's like you can imagine like the energy in the theater. 1:07:56.000 --> 1:07:59.960 Right, No, no, no, So back at Tina's a part, 1:08:00.120 --> 1:08:02.959 and we see Tina and Mama Weelde in bed and 1:08:03.040 --> 1:08:06.480 she expresses a desire to join him, but he says 1:08:06.600 --> 1:08:09.360 that can wait now he has to leave before daylight 1:08:09.440 --> 1:08:12.520 because daylight would be fatal to him, and she tells 1:08:12.600 --> 1:08:16.080 him that she loves him. Gordon and Peters arrive at 1:08:16.080 --> 1:08:18.599 the morgue and they are attacked by the vampire. But 1:08:18.680 --> 1:08:21.360 Gordon he's got the he knows what to do now. 1:08:21.439 --> 1:08:25.479 He subdues the vampire with a big, chunky silver cross. 1:08:25.520 --> 1:08:27.880 I like this cross. It looks really substantial. 1:08:28.479 --> 1:08:31.120 It's really huge. I guess it's not one that you 1:08:31.120 --> 1:08:33.280 would normally just carry on your person, and it would 1:08:33.320 --> 1:08:36.680 look ridiculous on like a chain around your neck. I'm 1:08:36.680 --> 1:08:37.479 not sure where he got is. 1:08:37.800 --> 1:08:44.560 Yeah, and Gordon explains to Peters that vampires multiply geometrically. 1:08:44.640 --> 1:08:47.280 He's done the math. They have to stop this fast, 1:08:47.439 --> 1:08:50.599 so they put out an APB to look for dead 1:08:50.640 --> 1:08:53.640 people who have gone missing, like Bobby. And then we 1:08:53.680 --> 1:08:55.920 get another club scene. I guess it's the next night 1:08:56.120 --> 1:08:58.479 and they're at the club again. The Huges Corporation is 1:08:58.520 --> 1:09:02.679 playing again. It's another jam and Gordon, Michelle and Tina 1:09:02.760 --> 1:09:05.920 are sitting around at a table and Mama Walde joins 1:09:05.960 --> 1:09:10.880 them once again. He cheekily orders a bloody Mary, and 1:09:10.920 --> 1:09:14.000 then Gordon is like, hey, Mama Walde can maybe you 1:09:14.000 --> 1:09:17.719 can help me? Are you into the occult? It seems 1:09:17.800 --> 1:09:20.120 kind of out of nowhere, but I think maybe it 1:09:20.240 --> 1:09:22.559 means like he's asking him because he wears the cape, 1:09:22.680 --> 1:09:26.000 so he, you know, looks like a vampire, I guess because. 1:09:25.760 --> 1:09:28.320 Of the and the follow up question, how about the 1:09:28.320 --> 1:09:29.040 heavy stuff? 1:09:29.760 --> 1:09:34.000 Yeah, exactly, witchcraft all that and this is so it 1:09:34.040 --> 1:09:36.839 turns into a general quiz on the subject of the occult, 1:09:37.000 --> 1:09:40.920 vampires and the devil, and Mama Walday is like, oh, yeah, 1:09:41.040 --> 1:09:45.479 vampires are the most interesting of all that stuff. We 1:09:45.560 --> 1:09:49.160 get another visit from Skillett and when he arrives, mamualde 1:09:49.320 --> 1:09:52.840 leaves and takes Tina with him. More talked about how 1:09:52.840 --> 1:09:57.080 he wants the cape, but there's a little tip off here. 1:09:57.120 --> 1:09:59.479 What happened to the photographer who was here the night 1:09:59.520 --> 1:10:03.479 before or I guess two nights before maybe. Gordon decides 1:10:03.520 --> 1:10:06.479 to investigate. He goes next door to her house and 1:10:06.520 --> 1:10:10.679 there he finds the photos where mamaul Day is missing. 1:10:11.600 --> 1:10:15.439 Gordon realizes that he is the vampire he's been looking for, 1:10:16.000 --> 1:10:18.120 and of course this makes him worried for Tina, who 1:10:18.240 --> 1:10:21.280 just went home with him. So Gordon and Michelle rushed 1:10:21.320 --> 1:10:24.880 to Tina's apartment to rescue her. They bust in, Gordon 1:10:24.920 --> 1:10:28.320 and Mama Alde fight and Mama Alde runs off, and 1:10:28.360 --> 1:10:31.000 the police arrive on the scene, and then there's like 1:10:31.040 --> 1:10:34.240 a chase. The people are running around through alleyways trying 1:10:34.280 --> 1:10:37.960 to find the vampire, and then he finally appears. He 1:10:38.000 --> 1:10:41.360 gets one cop isolated and he appears in vampire mode 1:10:41.400 --> 1:10:45.439 and kills the cop. So now Gordon and Peters know 1:10:45.520 --> 1:10:48.599 who the King Vampire is, but they don't know where 1:10:48.760 --> 1:10:52.000 he is, so they begin an investigation to find his 1:10:52.120 --> 1:10:57.280 coffin because you know, in accordance with standard lore, the 1:10:57.320 --> 1:10:59.719 way you can destroy him is to destroy his coffin, 1:11:00.000 --> 1:11:01.040 Troy's resting place. 1:11:01.800 --> 1:11:03.960 Yeah yeah, especially I hunt him out during the day. 1:11:04.280 --> 1:11:05.960 Oh yeah, I guess that's the other way is find 1:11:06.040 --> 1:11:08.200 him during the day and stake him while he's sleeping. 1:11:09.360 --> 1:11:11.360 So from here on out, the film becomes a lot 1:11:11.360 --> 1:11:15.120 more action oriented. Like there's a scene where they find 1:11:15.360 --> 1:11:18.600 vampire Bobby and trace him back to the antique warehouse, 1:11:18.920 --> 1:11:21.439 and there's like a raid on the vampire nest there 1:11:21.479 --> 1:11:24.799 at the warehouse, and there's a big fight with Gordon 1:11:24.880 --> 1:11:29.240 and the other police getting ambushed by vampires and in 1:11:29.320 --> 1:11:31.960 the sort of maze of crates and boxes, and they 1:11:32.040 --> 1:11:35.120 end up throwing these oil lanterns to fight them off. 1:11:35.200 --> 1:11:37.320 There are a bunch of like a person in a 1:11:37.360 --> 1:11:40.920 fire suit stunts. Oh yeah, there's a scary moment where 1:11:41.000 --> 1:11:43.200 you remember the cop Barnes who went to help the 1:11:43.200 --> 1:11:46.160 photographer at her house. He of course we saw it 1:11:46.160 --> 1:11:49.200 in Bitten, but he's like one of their investigating party, 1:11:49.280 --> 1:11:51.680 and of course he turns on them. At the end 1:11:51.680 --> 1:11:55.360 of this fight, Mamualde appears and then escapes in bat 1:11:55.439 --> 1:11:57.240 form by transforming into a bat. 1:11:57.560 --> 1:11:59.439 Yeah, and of course this is a classic bit, right 1:12:01.000 --> 1:12:04.160 vampire transforms into a bat. But from an effects standpoint, 1:12:04.360 --> 1:12:07.639 it's kind of a daring vampire movie trope to include, 1:12:07.720 --> 1:12:10.400 because I think we've all seen examples of it. Look 1:12:10.960 --> 1:12:13.920 that look a bit silly, right, you know you can 1:12:13.960 --> 1:12:17.120 imagine like here's here's a human poof of smoke and 1:12:17.160 --> 1:12:18.759 then a floppy bat on a string. 1:12:18.880 --> 1:12:21.599 Right, it almost always looks silly. I'm trying to think 1:12:21.640 --> 1:12:24.200 of a movie where the transformation into a bat does 1:12:24.240 --> 1:12:25.800 not look silly. 1:12:26.960 --> 1:12:29.840 And you know, maybe I'm being super generous here because 1:12:29.840 --> 1:12:31.519 I like so many other things about the picture, but 1:12:31.720 --> 1:12:34.600 I thought this one looked reasonably good considering what the 1:12:34.640 --> 1:12:35.200 effect is. 1:12:35.439 --> 1:12:37.240 This is one of the better ones. I like it. 1:12:37.680 --> 1:12:40.240 But anyway, this all leads up to a big final 1:12:40.360 --> 1:12:44.320 showdown a set piece at a chemical factory, which is 1:12:44.439 --> 1:12:48.920 where Mama ALDE's coffin is stored. Now, so he Mamaelde 1:12:49.000 --> 1:12:54.160 takes Tina there and the police give chase. And then tragically, 1:12:54.200 --> 1:12:57.559 while the police are running around in this place looking 1:12:57.600 --> 1:13:00.439 through them through these like mazes of pipes and and 1:13:00.800 --> 1:13:03.760 you know, chemical tanks and things, they see the two 1:13:03.800 --> 1:13:06.800 of them, and then a cop shoots at them and 1:13:06.960 --> 1:13:11.920 Tina is killed. Horrible tragedy Tina. And then of course 1:13:12.000 --> 1:13:15.519 Mama Welde turns Tina into a vampire because at that 1:13:15.600 --> 1:13:18.320 point it's the only way to save her. But he 1:13:18.520 --> 1:13:22.439 is now of course furious, and he he yells at 1:13:22.439 --> 1:13:25.040 the at all of their pursuers through and it like 1:13:25.120 --> 1:13:29.040 sort of echoes throughout the entire building. Is sort of 1:13:29.439 --> 1:13:31.960 a curse of vengeance. He says, this will be your 1:13:32.160 --> 1:13:33.360 inglorious tomb. 1:13:34.040 --> 1:13:37.479 Yeah, and then follows it up with your tomb, your tomb, 1:13:37.840 --> 1:13:41.080 your tomb. And I have to say this This bit 1:13:41.240 --> 1:13:43.800 just keeps playing through my mind because, on one hand, 1:13:44.120 --> 1:13:46.360 just an absolutely great moment in the film that drives 1:13:46.400 --> 1:13:49.839 home just the vengeful power of vampire Prince Mama Walde. 1:13:49.960 --> 1:13:52.600 You know, his enemies here are clearly doomed. They have 1:13:53.040 --> 1:13:55.800 crossed the line. But it's also one of those bits 1:13:55.840 --> 1:13:59.120 of dialogue that, on paper or coming from a lesser actor, 1:14:00.200 --> 1:14:02.080 have come off a bit silly, a bit fake, but 1:14:02.680 --> 1:14:06.160 Marshall absolutely imbues it here with Shakespearean power. 1:14:06.520 --> 1:14:10.000 It's strong. You can feel his rage. And then it 1:14:10.080 --> 1:14:15.760 becomes even worse because so he turns Tina into a 1:14:15.840 --> 1:14:18.400 vampire because it's the only way to save her at 1:14:18.400 --> 1:14:23.320 this point. And then Gordon and Peters come across the 1:14:23.400 --> 1:14:26.400 vampire's coffin. They think they've discovered his coffin and they're 1:14:26.439 --> 1:14:29.439 going to stake him to end this. They rip the 1:14:29.479 --> 1:14:33.400 lid off, throw the steak down, and then they realize 1:14:33.439 --> 1:14:37.960 they have staked Tina by accident. I guess they would 1:14:38.000 --> 1:14:39.960 have had to stake her either way, because she is 1:14:40.000 --> 1:14:43.439 a vampire now, but yeah, it wasn't what they were 1:14:43.439 --> 1:14:44.320 intending to do. 1:14:44.840 --> 1:14:47.519 Yeah, but at this point, the Malaldi shows up. He 1:14:47.560 --> 1:14:50.880 sees this, and this takes the fight out of him, 1:14:51.360 --> 1:14:53.479 you know, because this was his whole reason for being, 1:14:53.520 --> 1:14:56.200 and he says as much. There's this great moment where 1:14:56.280 --> 1:14:59.400 Gordon reaches in to get that big chunky cross out 1:14:59.400 --> 1:15:02.000 of his jack get, you know, like he's pulling a 1:15:02.040 --> 1:15:06.840 gun or something, and Mamaldi says that won't be necessary. Right. 1:15:07.360 --> 1:15:09.680 It's an incredibly sad turn. You could see he's just 1:15:09.720 --> 1:15:14.560 given up now and with his love gone, he surrenders 1:15:14.680 --> 1:15:19.360 himself to his ultimate fate and decides that he is 1:15:19.400 --> 1:15:22.120 going to walk out into the daylight, which he does. 1:15:22.240 --> 1:15:24.679 He like struggles, you can see the pain in him, 1:15:25.080 --> 1:15:27.280 but he walks up the staircase under the roof of 1:15:27.320 --> 1:15:31.599 the building and bathes himself in sunlight and then collapses dead. 1:15:31.680 --> 1:15:35.000 And then we see like his skin rots away and 1:15:35.080 --> 1:15:39.559 turns to worms. And it's a very bleak and tragic ending. 1:15:39.560 --> 1:15:42.840 There's not really anything there's not really anything happy to 1:15:42.960 --> 1:15:46.000 redeem it that comes back. You just end on this 1:15:46.439 --> 1:15:51.120 moment of absolute loss. And Yeah, I don't know what 1:15:51.160 --> 1:15:53.479 to say about that. It's one of the bleakest endings 1:15:53.479 --> 1:15:54.080 I can think of. 1:15:54.680 --> 1:15:56.720 Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't want it any other way. 1:15:56.840 --> 1:15:59.479 You could imagine cuts the film where you could have 1:15:59.479 --> 1:16:01.400 had something different, like, you know, the sort of like 1:16:01.479 --> 1:16:05.280 police chummy chummy having that moment where they're like, hey, well, 1:16:05.280 --> 1:16:07.320 well at least we stop the vampires. It's sad, but 1:16:08.200 --> 1:16:10.720 the good guys won. Or you could have gone an 1:16:10.840 --> 1:16:13.280 entirely different direction. It also wouldn't be out of keeping 1:16:13.280 --> 1:16:14.920 with other films and just just cut back to the 1:16:14.960 --> 1:16:18.080 Hughes Corporation doing another number, you know, and just sort 1:16:18.120 --> 1:16:21.640 of almost like insisting on a change of pace. But 1:16:21.880 --> 1:16:24.080 they stick to the ending here, and the last thing 1:16:24.120 --> 1:16:27.320 we see is the skull of Mama Walde. Now a 1:16:27.400 --> 1:16:29.800 quick note about the fate of Mama Walde here in 1:16:29.840 --> 1:16:33.519 the film. The main poster for Blackula features an image 1:16:33.560 --> 1:16:37.240 of him being staked, an image that appears to be 1:16:37.479 --> 1:16:40.240 very manipulated, like it's not I don't think it's a 1:16:40.240 --> 1:16:44.000 shot from the film. And this, of course is dumb, 1:16:44.000 --> 1:16:46.240 but in line with plenty of other vampire movies and 1:16:46.240 --> 1:16:49.759 trailers that show the movie's main vampire being staked. 1:16:51.640 --> 1:16:54.120 If that were true, it would seem to be a spoiler. 1:16:54.600 --> 1:16:56.880 Yeah, but again, it wouldn't be out of line with 1:16:57.040 --> 1:16:58.960 marketing for other vampire films. 1:16:59.360 --> 1:17:01.600 Yeah, and it's not even true. In this case, he 1:17:01.640 --> 1:17:04.960 does not get staked. He just surrenders himself to death 1:17:05.000 --> 1:17:05.559 by the sun. 1:17:06.240 --> 1:17:08.680 Yeah, but it makes me wonder like was this Like 1:17:08.720 --> 1:17:11.519 I'm wonder of what stage in production the poster was 1:17:11.560 --> 1:17:14.600 made and maybe at one point was the character was 1:17:14.640 --> 1:17:18.120 going to be staked and William Marshall was like, no, 1:17:18.240 --> 1:17:20.680 that's not going to work for me. And if that's 1:17:20.720 --> 1:17:22.840 the case, I applaud him for sticking to his guns 1:17:22.840 --> 1:17:24.639 and going and pushing for this ending. 1:17:25.200 --> 1:17:29.280 So I guess that's Blackula a really good tragic romance 1:17:29.320 --> 1:17:30.800 and a really good horror movie too. 1:17:31.200 --> 1:17:34.400 Yeah. Absolutely, I was really impressed with it on the whole. 1:17:34.800 --> 1:17:37.639 So as always, we'd love to hear from folks out 1:17:37.640 --> 1:17:40.639 there if y'all have any thoughts on the film, any 1:17:40.680 --> 1:17:44.320 memories of seeing it originally for the first time, or 1:17:44.360 --> 1:17:48.800 revisiting it and so forth. Everything is fair game. I 1:17:48.920 --> 1:17:51.120 just want to remind everybody that's stuff to blow your mind. 1:17:51.280 --> 1:17:54.880 Is primarily a science podcast with core episodes on Tuesdays 1:17:54.880 --> 1:17:57.639 and Thursdays. We do a listener mail episode on Mondays. 1:17:57.680 --> 1:18:00.360 We do a short form episode on Wednesdays, and we 1:18:00.360 --> 1:18:02.400 set aside most serious concerns to just talk about a 1:18:02.439 --> 1:18:05.040 weird movie on weird House Cinema. If you want to 1:18:05.040 --> 1:18:08.280 see a complete list with thumbnails or posters of all 1:18:08.320 --> 1:18:11.280 the movies we've considered so far on weird House Cinema, well, 1:18:11.280 --> 1:18:13.120 you can go over to letterbox dot com. It's l 1:18:13.120 --> 1:18:15.760 E T T E r box d dot com. Our 1:18:15.840 --> 1:18:18.360 username is weird House. We have a fabulous list there. 1:18:18.360 --> 1:18:20.160 You can see everything we've done. Sometimes there's a peak 1:18:20.160 --> 1:18:23.599 ahead what's coming next, and you can sort by genre. Now, 1:18:23.600 --> 1:18:25.439 I don't think it can go so specific as to 1:18:25.520 --> 1:18:29.120 just say show me only the vampire movies, but you 1:18:29.120 --> 1:18:31.519 know you could. You can set it to horror and 1:18:31.560 --> 1:18:34.120 then figure it out on your own. I don't know 1:18:34.120 --> 1:18:36.200 how many vampire movies we've done at this point, but 1:18:37.080 --> 1:18:39.439 we've done a few, and we'll do a few more, 1:18:39.479 --> 1:18:39.920 I'm sure. 1:18:40.200 --> 1:18:44.240 Here's thanks, as always to our excellent audio producer Jjposway. 1:18:44.360 --> 1:18:45.960 If you would like to get in touch with us 1:18:46.000 --> 1:18:48.759 with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest 1:18:48.760 --> 1:18:50.840 a topic for the future, or just to say hello, 1:18:51.000 --> 1:18:53.599 you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 1:18:53.640 --> 1:19:01.559 your Mind dot com. 1:19:01.760 --> 1:19:04.720 Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 1:19:04.800 --> 1:19:08.640 more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, 1:19:08.720 --> 1:19:10.439 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.