This page was last updated on June 13, 2003 12:42 AM
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Blood of Dracula's Castle ©Crown International Pictures Inc.
This page was last updated on June 13, 2003 12:42 AM
This page is graphics
heavy...please be patient while it loads!
Blood of Dracula's
Castle ©Crown International Pictures Inc.
the release by Best Film & Video
Below the box cover pics are some
amusing comments about the movie, plus
a commentary/review of this particular video release's quality, contributed to
this site by a fan
(Best Film & Video
rerelease
video box front and back)
Some critics point to Citizen Kane, Deliverance, or The Godfather as the crowning achievement of American cinema. I say it was Al Adamson's preposterous, schlocky, ultra low budget, kinky horror/comedy throwaway masterpiece THE BLOOD OF DRACULA'S CASTLE from 1967. Truly one of the highest cultural apexes of the nation who has given the world K-Mart, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, prozac, the drive-thru fast food window, and Fox TV events like WHEN ANIMALS GO
BERSERK.
JOHN CARRADINE heads a cast filled with such diverse talents as ALEX D'ARCY and PAULA RAYMOND as a Bloody Mary sipping, cigarette puffing vampire Count & Countess Townsend, VICKY VOLANTE as the cute chick with a nice figure who spends the bulk of the film chained to a wall in the basement & is a good enough screamer, ROBERT DIX as a sandwich-munching psychopath who may or may not supposed to be a werewolf depending upon budget constraints [a plot point critics & historians continue to debate to this day], and RAY YOUNG's timeless, emotive and truly moving portrayal as MANGO, the shuffling mute Igor-type who lives under a paper mache staircase painted to look like vaulted stone.
Yes, truly a missed opportunity here for Academy Award nominations in every department of consideration -- acting, direction, cinematography [a young Lazlow Kovaks lenses the unique visual stylistics], musical scores [Howard Shore cannot hold a candle to the film's incedental mood music and stunningly timed opening theme song, The Next Train Out], and set design are still an inspiration to filmmakers some three generations later, and it is important to remember that without this film, our culture would not be endowed with the immortal dialogue line:
"Listen, Johnny, don't worry -- Five thousand bucks 'll buy a lot of aspirin."
Who says the pharmaceutical industry didn't have global muscle even back then ... OK, so this is the semi restored 1999 release by BEST VIDEO. Those of you who might be familiar with VCI's good old "Mom & Pop Home Rental Shop" 1986 video release [the ones in the funky purple & yellow box, and the Canadian release with the red scratch marked cover] can now enjoy the film with far less of the screen grit, picture noise, unwanted color modulations, sepia rot, and projector splices we all came to regard as "nuances"; Quite startling for those who may have the older version -- Apparently made from a cleaned and carefully reconstructed print, the video actually LOOKS GOOD for the first time since we saw it on late nite creature feature as 12 year olds in B&W back when TV used to be "fun". A great opportunity to buy back your youth for 84 minutes. Plays back at SP mode in glorious hi-tech dual channel mono [whatever the heck THAT means].