Blacula & Scream Blacula Scream

Introduction

In 1780, on a mission to Transylvania to try to persuade them to end their part in the slave trade, Prince Mamuwalde (William Marshall) and his wife Luva (Vonetta McGee) incur the wrath of Count Dracula (Charles Macaulay), who turns Mamuwalde, dubbing him Blacula.

In the present day (well, 1972), two gay interior decorators unwittingly free Blacula, who drains their blood and sets off to find Luva, but discovers Tina, her double. Although strange, Mamuwalde is able to socialise to get close to Tina and explain who she really is but, as the bodies start appearing with bite wounds on their necks, Dr. Gordon Thomas (Thalmus Rasulala) suspects the occult is involved and is on Mamuwalde's trail.

Video

A fair enough transfer with little in the way of spotting or scratches, but some low light scenes suffer from lack of clarity.

Audio

A decent Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack, with a suitably 'jive' score. Disappointingly there are no subtitles.

Extra Features

Just the theatrical trailer.

Conclusion

Blaxploitation movies tended to be action-oriented, like Dolomite, Foxy Brown or Shaft, so Blacula (although there was Abby, the black version of The Exorcist) was a bit of a departure. Casting stage actor William Marshall in the lead was a good move as it gives the character some gravitas in a film that defies all expectations by not descending into farce.

As a fan of vampire films, I was looking forward to seeing this, but didn't quite know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. It hasn't aged very well, but then it is 35 years old and obviously low budget, though it does stand up well against other films of comparable budget and age.

It's good to see this on DVD in the UK, but it's a shame that more effort didn't go into providing more extra features.

Introduction

In the best vampire franchise tradition, no matter how dead he seems, he always finds a way back! When a voodoo queen dies without leaving a successor, her son Willis (Richard Lawson) claims to be the rightful heir, but the voodoo community choose the most powerful practitioner, Lisa (Pam Grier) to lead them. Outraged, Willis uses voodoo to revivify and control Blacula to get his revenge, but Blacula turns him into a vampire and enslaves him.

Mamuwalde is less than pleased to be awakened from his slumber and starts creating an army of the undead, before meeting Lisa and realising that her voodoo powers could exorcise Dracula's curse from his body.

Video

A fair enough transfer with little in the way of spotting or scratches, but some low light scenes suffer from lack of clarity, same as Blacula. The costumes and hairstyles are outrageous.

Audio

Again, like Blacula, a decent Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack, with a suitably 'jive' score. Disappointingly there are no subtitles.

Extra Features

Again, just the theatrical trailer.

Conclusion

It must have been tempting to retread the same territory with this sequel and to an extent they do but, with a title like Scream Blacula Scream, it's clear they're not taking themselves too seriously and there's a self-referential nature to the film.

Starring the queen of Blaxploitation, Pam Grier, opposite such a refined actor as William Marshall, whose delivery is perfect for an African Prince, this is inferior to Blacula but, conversely, more enjoyable.

Scream Blacula Scream is a fun Blaxploitation vampire film and, with Blacula, makes a decent double-bill.