Monster of the Day #689

’70s exploitation offered examined the intersection of traditional, gothic monsters with (then) modern American scene. Today this fish out of water element is largely forgone; vampires and werewolves are more likely to be love interests than atavistic monster.

Surely the greatest ’70s vampire was Prince Mamuwalde, aka Blacula, who we’ve already featured in the past. Even so, the two Blacula films also presented some very new sorts of vampires, including what is probably cinema’s first gay interior decorator vamp. Then there’s this fellow from the sequel, a hip brother whose sole complaint about being undead was his dismay at learning he couldn’t examine his own fine self in a mirror any longer.

  • GalaxyJane

    I just re-watched Blacula a couple of weeks ago when it turned up on TV. I always remember that it’s a pretty serious flick, considering, but I forgot how intense some of the horror elements get. Which wouldn’t be a big deal, except I let the 7 year old watch it with me and he got pretty upset when the thawed vampire cop lady kacked Elisha Cook Jr. in the morgue, “Mom, that was a dream sequence, right? Mom?”

  • Ken_Begg

    Nothing is wrinkling that polyester.

  • Ken_Begg

    Yes! I usually try to take my friends’ kids to the Portage shows, but this time they are ending with Blacula. My friends’ daughter is too young to watch it, and I really want to see it again in a theater, so I guess I’ll wait and bring them to the next show. But boobies, language, violence (profanity and racist stuff)…it’s fairly intense.

  • bgbear_rogerh

    By what political process did Prince Mamuwalde become the King of Cartoons?

  • GalaxyJane

    Since it was the TV edit, I didn’t have to worry about the boobies or the language, but the intensity was definitely still there. My judgement with the boys and what they are ready for is usually pretty good (IMHO), but that was not one of my better “mom moments”. Oh well, they need a couple of complexes, just to be normal, right?

  • LT_Harper

    That sequence was a classic because they let you see only the beginning of the attack. Then when the two cops come in you see that the walls are splattered in blood. This tells you the lady didn’t give Elisha a little hickey on the neck! She ripped him up! But they leave it to your imagination which makes it scarier than if it had been a huge gore fest like today’s horror films.

  • zombiewhacker

    Wasn’t this directed by the same guy who directed Return of Count Yorga?