Blood For Dracula (1974) Movie Review
Written by: ML
Edited by: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Paul Morrissey
Producers: Paul Morrissey
Writers: Paul Morrissey
Date Released: March 1, 1974
Cast:
Udo Kier as Count Dracula
Joe Dallesandro as Mario Balato
Arno Juerging as Anton
Vittorio de Sica as Il Marchese di Fiore
Maxime McKendry as La Marchesa di Fiore
Milena Vukotic as Esmeralda
Dominique Darel as Saphiria
Stefania Casini as Rubinia
Silvia Dionisio as Perla
Rating = 1/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
The story is about Count Dracula being the last of his clan to suffer from starvation of virgin blood. With his remaining strength, he and his assistant set off to Italy because that is where they believe there is an abundant supply of virgin blood. They met a family going bankrupt who thought that their daughter’s marriage with the Count will save their estate. The only problem was that the 2 marriageable daughters were not virgins anymore. Count Dracula suffered even worse by drinking their lustful blood. He must discover who among the daughters is still a virgin before his health deteriorates and eventually die.
Gore Factor
This vampire movie had an ample amount of blood. The notable ones include the blood-soaked bread, Dracula biting and vomiting non-virgin blood, Dracula licking the virgin blood from the floor, Anton getting shot in the forehead, Dracula’s arms and legs getting chopped off one by one, and the wooden stake pushed through Dracula’s chest and Esmeralda falling on it.
The Grave Review
This was a very weird vampire movie where Dracula and his family ran out of virgin blood and had to go elsewhere to look for virgins.
In any case, it was a believable story because Udo Kier was perfectly cast as the thin and sickly Dracula. His awkward acting seemed natural for a dying vampire. His seizures and vomiting were acted so well.
However, the mellow background music used in the movie did not match the story. Instead of suspenseful music, the soft sound effects made the scenes ineffective to show horror to the audiences or to even connect to the scenes.
The acting from the other actors were emotionless, dull, monotonous, and overacting at times, especially the Marchesa and Anton.
There were also too many sex scenes that were long and had no substance. There were even incestuous scenes that were totally irrelevant to make the story terrifying. Even the dialogues seemed out of place and added just to prolong the naked scenes.
Shockingly opposite from all these was the brutal ending. Just when the helpless Dracula finally found his virgin, he was chased around the estate and got his limbs chopped off one by one with an ax. He and his vampire virgin killed by a wooden stake was a sad sight to see.
Overall, this movie is still recommended for those who want to see a different side of Dracula. Especially for those who are a fan of Udo Kier.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Blood of Dracula (1974) one grave out of five graves.
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