Scream Blacula Scream (1973): written by Joan Torres, Raymond Koenig, and Maurice Jules; directed by Bob Kelljan; starring William Marshall (Blacula/ Prince Mamuwalde), Don Mitchell (Justin), Pam Grier (Lisa), Michael Conrad (Sheriff Harley), and Richard Lawson (Willis): Shaggy, uneven, immensely enjoyable sequel to Blacula moves the action to New Orleans, where an ambitious voodoo, um, guy resurrects Blacula (ie. Prince Mamuwalde) from the bones a fellow voodoo practitioner has stashed under the floorboards. I guess evidence control at the LAPD lost track of Blacula's bones after the end of the first Blacula movie.
William Marshall really towers over this movie with a charismatic performance that manages to convince one of the tragedy of Mamuwalde, turned into a vampire against his will by Count Dracula while Dracula was vacationing in Africa during the 19th century. Effective moments of bloodsucking horror occur throughout the film, but the most interesting parts involve Marshall talking to people. He may be tragic, but he's also a monster. And he knows it.
A subdued Pam Grier heads the rest of the cast. She and Don Mitchell wisely choose to soft-sell their characters, leaving the over-acting hijinks to Richard Lawson as the voodoo practitioner who resurrects Blacula and gets a lot more than what he bargained for. Michael Conrad (Sgt. Esterhaus on the first two seasons of Hill Street Blues: "Hey, let's be careful out there") plays the only major white character, a local sheriff who grudgingly comes to believe in vampires. Recommended.
Blacula: written by Joan Torres and Raymond Koenig; directed by William Cain; starring William Marshall (Blacula/Mamuwalde), Vonetta McGee (Tina/Luva), Denise Nicholas (Michelle), Thalmus Rasulala (Dr. Gordon Thomas) and Gordon Pinsent (Lt. Jack Peters) (1972): Blacula may be a cheesy slice of 1970's blaxploitation, but it's a lot of fun. It's also got a terrific performance in the title role by William Marshall, a stage actor otherwise best known in genre circles for playing computer genius Richard Daystrom in the original series Star Trek episode "The Ultimate Computer."
Credit to the film-makers for actually working the name in the title into the film once, and then never referring to it again. Dracula dubs the African prince Mamuwalde 'Blacula,' because why not? Then he locks him in a casket for 200 years. An unambiguously gay duo of antique dealers buy that casket in 1972, ship it back to Los Angeles, and then make the colossal error of opening it.
Thankfully, intrepid police scientist Gordon Thomas and Canada's own Gordon Pinsent are on hand to stop the vampire invasion of Los Angeles. Some pretty crazy and remarkable scenes occur along the way, including a completely bonkers vampire attack by an undead lady cabdriver and a warehouse battle that features a fortuitous crate of what appear to be explosive, vampire-killing light-bulbs.
Marshall invests Mamuwalde with about as much gravitas as can be expected under the circumstances. He's certainly a far more sympathetic vampire than any Dracula up to the time of the movie. Blacula also throws in a reincarnation sub-plot that would later appear in Bram Stoker's Dracula, among other subsequent movies. That sub-plot will be familiar to anyone who's seen the original 1930's The Mummy. Is this the first time that particular sub-plot has vectored into the vampire genre? I don't know. There's also a groovy soundtrack/score and a brief appearance by Elisha Cook Jr. as a coroner with a hook for a hand. Cool. Recommended.
