Blacula
1972 · Directed by William Crain · USA
A vintage slice of blaxploitation from 1972. William Marshall is the cursed African prince dubbed Blacula by the original Count Dracula, then encased in a coffin in the Count’s Transylvanian castle. He is shipped to the States by “two faggot interior decorators”, in the film’s own words, who really should have checked the contents of the coffin beforehand.
Played straight by all involved, it belongs to the spate of modern vampire films such as Count Yorga and Kolchak: The Night Stalker which, like Hammer’s films, relocated the vampire story to the present day. It must have done sufficiently well at the box office to get William Marshall to don the cape, sideburns and teeth one more time in Scream, Blacula, Scream. Hot on its heels came Blackenstein. They really knew how to exploit those black audiences in the 70s looking for something outside the Hollywood staple.
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