BLACULA (1972)

DIRECTED BY William Craig

SCREENPLAY BY Joan Torres, Raymond Koenig & Richard Glouner

STARRING - William Marshall as Mamuwalde / "Blacula",  Denise Nicholas as Michelle Williams,  Vonetta McGee as Tina Williams / Luva,  Thalmus Rasulala as Dr. Gordon Thomas,  Gordon Pinsent as Lieutenant Jack Peters,  Charles Macaulay as Count Dracula 

PLOT - The year is 1780. Prince Mamuwalde and his wife Luva travel to Transylvania on a diplomatic mission seeking to enlist the aid of Count Dracula in a bid to end the slave trade. 

After a brief discussion Mamuwalde and Dracula find themselves at odds with each other. A fight breaks out. Dracula reveals his true vampiric nature and in the process Mamuwalde is turned into a vampire and sealed in a coffin, whilst Luva is left to die...

Centuries pass, it is now the 1970's. Mamuwalde's coffin is acquired by a pair of art dealers and is transported to Los Angeles.

It isn't long before Mamuwalde is awoken. He finds himself alone, in a strange new world he doesn't understand whilst having to come to terms with his now being a member of the Undead.

Eventually Mamuwalde comes across a young woman named Tina who also happens to be the exact double of his long lost wife.

Believing Tina to be Luva's reincarnation Mamuwalde falls in love with her but the spate of vampiric killings in Los Angeles has been noted and slowly but surely the net is closing in on Mamuwalde...

TAGLINE - "HE'S DRACULA'S SOUL BROTHER !"

PERFORMANCES -  I'll just start by saying one thing - Blacula is NOT the main character's name in this film, despite what some people (and even this movie's sequel) would have you believe. The main character's name is Mamuwalde, he's played by the excellent William Marshall and the main reason he's ever referred to as "Blacula" is purely down to Count Dracula being a massive, massive dick.

The fact that Dracula is something of a bell end probably comes as no surprise to you - he is after all the "Prince of Darkness". However the version of Dracula we see here (as played by Charles Macaulay) is probably more dickish than most of his previous screen incarnations. For some reason this version is not only partial to supping on the blood of virgins, he's also (somehow) involved in human trafficking and slave trading (it's this reason Mamuwalde is even dealing with him in the first place - he's looking to stop the trade by seeking a diplomatic solution). Yep - This Dracula is a racist and it's this reason why he dubs the unfortunate Mamuwalde "Blacula" when he turns him into a vampire, basically he's taking the piss.

To add further insult to injury Dracula then seals poor old Mamuwalde into a coffin for a couple of centuries (hang on a minute - aren't vampires supposed to have super strength ? Why couldn't Mamuwalde have just punched his way out of the coffin ? It's a knackered looking old thing, I know he's only just been transformed and everything and he's probably a bit scared and confused but come on !!!).

Anyway, fast forward a few centuries and Mamuwalde awakes in 70's LA (Dracula is nowhere to be seen at this point - he's probably off being a dick to somebody else), it's at this point that the fun really begins.

Marshall is excellent as Mamuwalde. In fact I think he's one of my favourite screen vampires, he's definitely up there with Christopher Lee as Dracula and Reggie Nalder as Mr. Barlow. Given the silliness of the central premise (and the way the movie is promoted) he could have quite easily chosen to play Mamuwalde for laughs...but he doesn't. Instead he gives Mamuwalde a strong sense of dignity. Never at any point do we ever actually think of Mamuwalde as a villain. He's not, he was a guy just trying to do a bit of good who got royally shafted by an utter bastard.

Even when he's in full-on bloodsucker mode you never get the impression that Mamuwalde enjoys having to kill, he just does it to survive but doesn't seem to take any pride in it. The only time he ever comes across as anything even remotely as revelling in his actions is when he's taking down the cops who are trying to capture him at the end of the film and he only does that in self defence.

In short Mamuwalde is more of an anti-hero and one that you find yourself rooting for...oh and he's also a total badass as well.

We also see a more romantic side to Mamuwalde's nature in how he reacts to Tina (Vonetta McGee), unlike the many female victims of Dracula that we see in his movies, Mamuwalde genuinely loves Tina, firmly believing her to be the reincarnation of his long dead wife (McGee plays both roles). 

It's never really made clear if Tina really is Luva reborn (the physical similarity certainly seems to suggest so), Tina also seems to fall head over heels in love with Mamuwalde surprisingly quickly. In one scene she says that she doesn't know why she feels so drawn to him but she just is, this once more suggests that she IS Luva, it's implied she's remembering her past life and the feelings her previous self had for Mamuwalde. McGee is good in her dual roles even though she doesn't really get that much to do.

The film's hero is Gordon Thomas (Thalmus Rasulala) a police pathologist who's dating Tina's sister. He essentially becomes the Van Helsing figure, pledging himself to track down and kill what he perceives to be an evil vampire. Rasulala plays the role well, the only problem being that his character (as scripted) is nowhere near as likeable as Mamuwalde, so he's not a hero you ever find yourself actually rooting for.

SFX - Mainly vampire makeup for when Mamuwalde and friends are fully "vamped up".

Bizzarely Mamuwalde seems to acquire weird "mutton chop" sideburns underneath his eyes/across his cheeks and also the standard issue Bela Lugosi style widow's peak in his hair (even though he doesn't have a receding hairline the rest of the time). In some ways his vampire look more resembles a slightly less hairy version of the Wolf Man than your everyday run of the mill vampire.

The other vampires are all pretty cool too. Dracula's handmaidens look more like weird zombies than vampires (they act more like zombies as well).

The same could also be said of the vampires that Mamuwalde turns.

In fact the only vampires that DON'T act like shambling zombies are Dracula and Mamuwalde. Maybe it's because Dracula is an "alpha vampire" and he sired Mamuwalde that Mamuwalde isn't similarly afflicted.

My favourite vampire is the "traffic warden vampire", she's bloody terrifying.

Mamuwalde also gets a pretty decent decomposition scene at the end of the film. Tired of living, Mamuwalde kills himself by going out into the sunrise. He shrivels away to a skeleton. Amusingly his skeleton gets to keep his 70's moustache.

I can't understand where the maggots suddenly appear from though ?

VIOLENCE - Necks get bitten, vampires get staked and burned. Cops - LOTS of cops - get broken, smashed, throttled and thrown off buildings by an enraged Mamuwalde - he's the original Copkilla.

Tina is mortally wounded after being accidentally shot by a cop. Mamuwalde turns her into a vampire to save her life. The newly vampirised Tina is then later killed by a stake through the heart. This pushes Mamuwalde over the edge, in a state of depression he decides to end his own life by exposing himself to sunlight.

RATING - Blacula is a fun and cheesy 70's blaxploitation B-movie. What elevates it above the level of other Blaxploitation horror flicks such as Blackenstein or Dr. Jekyll and Mr Black is William Marshall's excellent portrayal of Mamuwalde. With his imposing and dignified screen presence, his deep, rich voice (which thinking about it doesn't sound unlike James Earl Jones's distinctive voice) and the sheer heart and soul he gives to the character, all these things make Mamuwalde a memorable and compelling central character. Truly one of the greats of vampire cinema and a massively underrated actor in general.

The rest of the film is certainly of it's time (it's very VERY 70'S) but in the best way possible. All in all an entertaining and fun vampire horror.

5 dickbag Dracula's out of 5. Go watch it, you'll be glad you did.

ART -