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Blacula

Blacula

List Price: $14.95
Your Price: $13.46
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: FANTASIC AFRO
Review: Kids, this movie is brilliant.

I have waited an eternity to find this on DVD, and here it is. It's trash...but good trash.

mike

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: No Longer a Horror, But Still Sometimes Moving
Review: Now the idea of casting Afro-American actor as a vampire is not a strange one (look Eddie Murphy, for example), but in those days things were different. Quickly cashing in on the raging trend of the blaxploitation, many films starring black actors were born. This is one of them.

In the opening scene, Count Dracula turns The Black Prince into a vampire, swearing "You shall be Blacula!!" Now what next comes, you alreadly know. He comes back to life in modern-day America, to taste blood. Interesting thing is, though it gives still chill a little to your spine, it is the love between Blacula and his love (so he thinks) that moves us today. William Marshall's charismatic voice (like that of James Earl Jones) is really amazing, and the star-crossed love between him and Vonetta MaGee should not be dismissed lightly. Certainly, it has something moving that can be found in Coppola's "Dracula," which also gives much stress on the count's lost love. Speaking of Coppola, it is also interesting to see the uncanny resemblance between Vonetta McGee and Winona Rider. Compare their eyes.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: "Wow, man, nice threads. Dig the fangs bro...NOOOOOOO!!!"
Review: The 1972 film "Blacula" is a much better example of the Blaxploitation period, which began with the success of "Shaft" the previous year, than it is as a vampire movie. William Marshall, with his booming voice, plays the title character and gives the film a sense of credibility that probably only James Earl Jones could have matched. Without Marshall's sense of dignity, "Blacula" would have been reduced to slapstick.

The story is that interior decorates buy the coffin of Prince Manuwalde andbring it back to Los Angeles, unaware that the African prince had been bitten by Dracula (Charles Macaulay) centuries before and locked inside. While wandering the nights in his eternal search for human blood, the prince sees Tina (Vonetta McGee), a woman who looks like his dear departed wife, Luva, and he is convinced she is his beloved reincarnated. While Blacula woos Tina, her friend Dr. Gordon Thomas (Thalmus Rasulala) figures out that this guy is a blood-sucking fiend and tries to hunt the vampire down.

Today the racial humor of this film seems dated, but in 1972 this movie was hip in being self-conscious about its blackness, which was the whole point of the Blaxploitation movement: to black movies made by black casts and crews for black audiences, instead of leaving it to Hollywood to ignore and denigrate blacks in the films that had been produced up to that point. The horror scenes are hokey in the extreme, but since they are basically being done for fun by director William Crain, it is hard to complain. Some critics have bemoaned the miss opportunity to make a telling critique of sexual hypocrisy in society, the way Bram Stoker's original novel did for the Victorian era (if you are inclined to read it that way), but the social agenda here is clearly race and not sex, which is totally appropriate as far as I am concerned.

In addition to the 1973 sequel, "Scream, Blacula, Scream," other Blaxploitation horror films that followed this one included "Blackenstein," "Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde," and "The House on Skull Mountain." However, none of them would enjoy the reputation of "Blacula," which remains the defining film of this particular genre.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: "Wow, man, nice threads. Dig the fangs bro...NOOOOOOO!!!"
Review: The 1972 film "Blacula" is a much better example of the Blaxploitation period, which began with the success of "Shaft" the previous year, than it is as a vampire movie. William Marshall, with his booming voice, plays the title character and gives the film a sense of credibility that probably only James Earl Jones could have matched. Without Marshall's sense of dignity, "Blacula" would have been reduced to slapstick. The story is that interior decorates buy the coffin of Prince Manuwalde andbring it back to Los Angeles, unaware that the African prince had been bitten by Dracula (Charles Macaulay) centuries before and locked inside. While wandering the nights in his eternal search for human blood, the prince sees Tina (Vonetta McGee), a woman who looks like his dear departed wife, Luva, and he is convinced she is his beloved reincarnated. While Blacula woos Tina, her friend Dr. Gordon Thomas (Thalmus Rasulala) figures out that this guy is a blood-sucking fiend and tries to hunt the vampire down.

Today the racial humor of this film seems dated, but in 1972 this movie was hip in being self-conscious about its blackness, which was the whole point of the Blaxploitation movement: to black movies made by black casts and crews for black audiences, instead of leaving it to Hollywood to ignore and denigrate blacks in the films that had been produced up to that point. The horror scenes are hokey in the extreme, but since they are basically being done for fun by director William Crain, it is hard to complain. Some critics have bemoaned the miss opportunity to make a telling critique of sexual hypocrisy in society, the way Bram Stoker's original novel did for the Victorian era (if you are inclined to read it that way), but the social agenda here is clearly race and not sex, which is totally appropriate as far as I am concerned. In addition to the 1973 sequel, "Scream, Blacula, Scream," other Blaxploitation horror films that followed this one included "Blackenstein," "Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde," and "The House on Skull Mountain." However, none of them would enjoy the reputation of "Blacula," which remains the defining film of this particular genre.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Has anyone but me noticed...
Review: There is a scene in this great movie that I have never heard or read any comments about. I can't possibly be the only person who's noticed. It's the scene directly after the opening credits and the discovery of the coffin, where the box is lifted by a crane and deposited in the back of a pickup truck: this scene is lifted directly from the opening of the movie 'Count Yorga, Vampire', from the previous year!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: it takes a bite out of you
Review: this film alway's trip's me out everytime i see it.it's so funky&Raw that you can't put a finger on it.this film keeps your full attention from start to finish.this film will crack all of your funny bones.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: This retro-vampire is "One Strange Dude"
Review: This film has some very low budget special effects and a few somewhat scary scenes. Blacula also has hysterical dialogue, funky costumes, groovy funkadelic 70's background music and a disco club scene that could pass itself off as a Soul Train episode. As a result of these, it's a campy horror? classic that makes a few "offcolor" sociocultural comments and is sure to give you a few laughs.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Scary & Funny...never a dull moment
Review: This is a great piece of work! William Marshall is at his best. There is everything in this film...horror,drama,suspense and comedy. Marshall gives an excellent performance as Mamawaulde. He is very seductive with his character and is very strong. I absolutely recommend this movie to everyone. I loved the cameo by The Hues Corporation. This is one entertaining movie.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Alright Then...
Review: This is quite a...bizarre...movie. I thought it would be some sort of a comedy or maybe a black comedy or maybe even a horror black comedy. It's not really any ot these. I think it's supposed to be a horror, but the story's so old and the plot in this movie is so predictible it's not scary. I don't think it was supposed to be a comedy, but I found humor in how fake it looked when Blacula transformed into a bat. I have to admit, they could have made a great whack-ass comedy type parody out of this, but they tried to take it seriously and got...this. I think someone like Marlon or Damon Wayans should remake this and make it intentionally funny. But seriously, this is a baaaad movie. Stay away.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cheesy fun
Review: This movie has to be one of the best blaxploitation films that came out the seventies.I recoomend this movie if you love cheesy movies,although it wasnt meant to be a comedy you cant help but to laugh at this great movie.


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