Young Dracula

Young Dracula

Aka: Dracula in the Provinces

Original Title: Il cav. Costante Nicosia demoniac, ovvero: Dracula in Brianza

Directed By: Lucio Fulci

Italy, 1975

Comedy/Horror

I like to refer to it as the calm before the storm, the calm before second coming of Lucio Fulci. The movies he made after the impressive Gialli/thrillers, but before the magnificent grotesque movies that firmly placed him in horror mythos.

As you most likely know, Fulci started his career with comedies and dramas, so they are an important part in the fundament of what would come later on. With that I’m referring to the at times terrifyingly dark humour that is found in his films. Light dramas, saucy comedies, and fun fun fun is somewhat of a strange contradiction to the images and movies one associates The godfather of Gore with, but at the same time, if you weren’t making salty thrillers, westerns or horrors then it was the sexy comedy that the audiences in Italy wanted. Fulci was no stranger to making comedies; he even began his career as an assistant to the legendary Italian comedy director Steno, so comedies have an important place in his filmography. And before that second coming, Fulci directed some very interesting comedies that deserve to be rediscovered.

Young industrialist Costante Nicosia [Lando Buzzanca, who did a brilliant job as the politician with a bum-grabbing fetish in All'onorevole piacciono le donne (Nonostante le apparenze... e purché la nazione non lo sappia) (The Senator Likes Women) 1972, and his last leading role for Fulci] is the Toothpaste King. Despite being tremendously wealthy, the envy of town and married to beautiful wife, Mariú [Sylva Koscina], Costante is somewhat unhappy in his life as it is. His superstition has him convinced that he’s plagued with bad luck and watches carefully for all omens of evil forces. After insulting an old aunt at, a very gothic, dinner, Constanta takes off for a business trip to Romania.

In Romania, he goes to visit Count Dragulescu [John Steiner who’d starred in films for Fulci previously, and would go on to act in many classic genre pieces from here on] for a grand feast. After a series of comedic encounters and misunderstandings, Costante is binging champagne and making out with luscious women… only to wake up in the bed of Dragulescu. Upon his return to Italy, Costante is a changed man in more than one way. Convinced that night in the Romanian Count’s bed has turned him into a homosexual vampire, Constanta starts a transformative soul search that will take him on an unforgettable journey.

Getting into an Italian comedy from the seventies isn’t really as difficult as one would think. Fulci’s comedies are seldom straight forward slapstick routines, but more on the satirical side. Young Dracula goes for the jugular; the jokes sometimes racial, crude and chauvinistic, sometimes classic situation gags still do the job. Perhaps not as much tongue in cheek as something like The Senator Likes Women, Young Dracula has its moments where I almost feel as if Fulci is parodying the erotic comedy genre too. A specific scene where Costante confronts Mariú in the bath, should have been an obvious place for a saucy shot of nudity, instead Fulci uses it to present a gag about Costante‘s lust for blood. It’s also a vital scene for the shock ending that Fulci has prepared.

The main question is obviously does it work? Well yeah sure it works. It may not have the same natural appeal as the horror pieces do, but at the same time it’s a movie that mocks the genre and specifically the vampire niche. It does deliver quite a lot of laughs, there’s some nudity, and Buzzanca delivers a solid performance once again despite sporting a terrible Harry Reems moustache. I only mention that, as Christa Linder who’s to be seen in the movie would star against Reems the following year in his last adult film, Mac Ahlberg’s Bel Ami 1976. Young Dracula also features a tiny, but early appearance by very young Ilona Staller long before the days of being an Italian politician...

There’s no doubt about it, this is very much a Fulci movie. It’s riddled with typical Fulci surrealism. There’s a creepy atmosphere pre-dating David Lynch whilst an odd opera is held in a dining room at the hotel in Romania. A serious injury at the factory is shown in its gory glory. Costante has weird and frightening, but at the same time erotic nightmares. A slaughtered horses head is graphically on display, there’s an ungodly warlock [Ciccio Ingrassia] who holds an séance and one woman slits her wrist with a straight razor to feed Costante the blood of the proletariat. So yeah, this is Fulci-land indeed.

There’s a wonderful confusion to be found in Lando’s Costante character arc, on several occasions I find myself thinking of Robert Bierman’s Vampire’s Kiss 1988 and Margheritti/Morrissey’s Blood for Dracula 1974, the year before Young Dracula, which also is an alternative title to the Udo Kier, Joe Dallasandro vehicle. It’s a decent character arc that he has through the movie. After all he goes from superstitious, frustrated man to calm and relaxed, with a few bumps along the way.

Every approach to his wife, she’s got some excuse to avoid being intimate. This obviously results in a couple of skits and laughs in the early half of the flick when establishing Costante's sexual frustration of never being allowed to get cosy. Lines like “Don’t mess my make up, don’t tear my dress, don’t mess my hair… then you complain that a man picks up a hooker once in a while…” establish a clear image of this love sick man longing for some closeness. Although he’d probably never approach a whore, it’s still this yearning that makes him fall for the Vampires

erotic seduction later in Eastern Europe. Another important plot device presented in the first half is Costante's superstitious mind frame. He points out that he’s cursed with bad luck, freaks out when seeing a black cat cross the road, get’s hysterical when he accidently breaks a mirror in his wife’s room, and even tosses salt over the shoulder of the airplane pilots for good luck when he travels to Romania. Just like the sexual frustration, the superstitious side of Costante goes away with his transformation. Even the dog Gestapo that barks and snarls at him every time he arrives at his office block, runs and hides after Costante’s trip to Romania.

There’s a gay undercurrent to be found. At first Costante is avoidant of the male vampire in the castle despite several approaches, Costante backs away, almost repulsed. After almost fainting in the showers of his basketball team, he goes to a doctor pulling the old classic “ a friend of mine…” only to come up with the answer that he’s probably becoming a homosexual! When the doctor encourages Costante to go straight to his mistress to find out if a woman can still arouse him or if he actually was “deflowered” in Romania. But whilst chasing her across a field she trips and cuts her knee… Costante cant resist when being requested to sucking the bloody wound to save his mistress from blood poisoning, and in a metaphorical way, his vampire virginity is taken. Moments later she slaps him hard in the face because of the “love bites” on his neck. Despite the serious topic, Fulci quickly returns to the gags, after all this is a comedy.

The movie is high on production value and sees most of the familiar names that I associate with the really great Fulci movies. Frequent collaborator on early Fulci movies, editor Ornella Micheli is on-board, and does a wonderful job of it too. Sergio Salvati who shot almost all of the great classic Fulci movies brings a familiar look to the movie, and some scenes – even though being comedic – would easily fit into the horror canon.

The screenplay – written by amongst others Pupi Avati, Mario Amendola and Bruno Corbucci does what it should, there are some genuine laughs in there, and Fulci obviously brought his surreal grotesque to the table considering certain moments of the movie mentioned above.

But why is this a lost movie, still only available on shoddy bootlegs sourced from that even rarer Greek VHS? It’s odd, as Young Dracula easy could compete with the other comedies released so far. Perhaps the movie was forgotten by time, as Fulci himself never really appreciated the movie. A shame as it’s certainly got a lot going for it, and a restored version should be of interest for fans. Considering that I maniaci 1964, The Senator Likes Women 1972, La Pretora 1976, all received this treatment – not to mention those titles released in Italy - there’s no reason why Young Dracula shouldn’t. I’m keeping my fingers crossed because this one is an entertaining, and interesting movie considering that this is the Fulci comedies that plays closest to the sphere we all associate his name with - the horror genre.

Polish up on your Italian and enjoy, this would never have happened in the days of VHS.

The Eroticist

The Eroticist
Aka: The Senator prefers Women
Original Title: All’onorevole piaccionio le donne
Directed by: Lucio Fulci
Italy/France, 1972
Comedy, 109min
Distributed by: Severin Films

Good old Lucio Fulci, mostly know for those fantastic eighties horror flicks and his early seventies Gialli. Unfortunately those great movies have him pigeonholed as a horror director, and not the skilled craftsman that he actually was. If you haven’t already been there, I’d encourage any fan of the Maestro, to track back-over and watch the stuff he directed in between those two periods of dark features – some, like The Eroticist where directed during the first period, and you will see that these movies are a definitive reminder of just how talented Lucio Fulci really was.

But even if we decide that The Eroticist is a funny and entertaining comedy with some kinky tricks up it’s sleeve, just keep in mind that this is a Lucio Fulci movie and like many other of his features, there will be a certain bitterness lingering in your mouth after watching it.

The Eroticist is a political satire, with comedic and erotic elements (even though I hate using the word erotic - as it's so individual what you see as erotic) as that’s not really what the movie is after, it’s merely a device just like in the films of Pasolini or Fellini, and is closer to the kinky farce than erotica – that stands out amongst Fulci’s non-horror cannon as a real likeable piece of film. Set during the last days of the Presidential election, between senator Torsello and Christian Democrat Giancinto Puppis [Lando Buzzacanca – who starred in Lucio’s earlier film Operazione San Pietro 1967, and would return to Fulciville later in the third comedy Il cav. Constante Nicosia demoniaco, ovvero: Dracula in Brianza (Dracula in the provinces) 1975. Being a mere puppet for the church, Puppis is obviously the man that they – or rather Cardinal Maravigli [Lionel Stander] - wants' put in office to rule the proud country.

But there’s a problem, as Puppis has a compulsive disorder that unaware forces him to grab women's behinds. A news crew who are balefully watching footage to seek out material to cause scandal and prove that the senator is gay, end up finding him catching a quick grab off the elderly Indian ambassadors bum instead. This sets off a series of events that has Puppis old college buddy Father Lucion [Renzo Palmer] attempt to approach the Senator with the compromising material. Puppis has no recollection of the ass grabbing taking place at all, and because of their old friendship, Lucion offers to get Puppis into a rehab programme to solve his unfortunate problem. The rehab location though couldn’t have been in a worse place - a monastery run by Father Scirer [Francis Blanche] – and there are nuns everywhere to Puppis despair. Amongst them Sister Hildegarde [Laura Antonelli] whom he unconsciously clamps his bottom grabbing hand on, and later will return to play a vital part of the twist ending.

Father Scirer tries to cure the poor senator who’s absence now is major business. With everyone searching for the Senator, Cardinal Maravigli finally sees the footage of Puppis grabbing ass – and as he’s been preparing Puppis, and manipulating him for the role of president since he was a small child – throws a tantrum claiming that Puppis affection for young boys is preferable over the scandalous womanizing. After Puppis tells Father Scrier of his surreal and erotic dreams – which a definitive highlight of the movie and simply outstanding – he feels cured and takes off for official business. But he’s definitely not cured and instead ravages the French Ambassadors wife Anita Strindberg in the bushes during an official ceremony. Strindberg here in her in her Second Lucio Fulci movie, the first being Una lucertola con la pelle di donna (A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin) 1971. - I love that title - Someone really needs to track Strindberg down and interview her about her work in Italian genre cinema – that would be an exclusive. Spinning out of control completely, Cardinal Maravigli steps in to halt the carousel surrounding Puppis, and it’s no laughing matter at all as this man of the clergy comes out in all his wrath and fury sparing no one in his divine mission to put Senator Puppis at the power of the state.

The Eroticist contains an obviously commentary on state and church – themes that Fulci returned to on several occasions in one-way or another. He’d previously used these methods of critique in Operazione St Pietro 1967, somewhat in Beatrice Cenci 1969 and would yet again go after them thematically in Non si sevizia un paperino (Don’t Torture a Duckling) 1972. It's not by chance that it's Father William Thomas [Fabrizio Jovine] who opens the gates to hell in Paura nella città dei morti viventi (City of the Living Dead) 1980. But The Eroticist is the movie that drives these themes the hardest (until Duckling – but that story is for another time) and definitely contains some of his most harsh critique against the church. Fulci had a catholic background, and knew exactly what to plug into to get his point across.

Here’s it’s presented both with complexity as the Church interfering and manipulating national politics, in Cardinal Maravilgli’s atrocities, and also through simple ways as all the priests having pornographic magazines in their desk draws. It’s an age-old complex problem that haunts the Catholic Christians still to this day, and just as Fulci points out, they tend to look lighter on paedophilia than on sexual relations with women. It's that strange Latin relationship that fuels the old Freudian dichotomy the Madonna and the Whore. No wonder the Nunsploitation genre was such a success!

If you know your Fulci, - which I'm sure you all do - you can see that the movie holds his many trade marks and traits that regularly returned to, there’s also a few scenes – mainly the erotic fantasies of Puppis – that are shot in the same floating camera style as the dream sequences of A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin, but this time with Eva Czemery’s as Puppis’ fantasy woman instead of Strindberg. In an amusing way the lustful, happy dream sequences of The Eroticist are polarizations of the dark unpleasant dream sequences of movies to come. And then there’s the darkness of the movies climax, a trait that Lucio Fulci used in many, many of his films.

Remember that this is a comedy, but it still ends on a classic Fulci down note. On that earlier statement of Fulci’s frequent use of downbeat endings and profound cynicism that saps through his body of work, well I hold a theory that this started after his wife passed away – or rather after her depression and suicide after learning of her cancer. That’s heavy shit and it’s definitely going to affect the people in the close family, so I see that as a starting point to Fulci’s exploration of the dark. The movies that predate this event are nowhere near as baleful and gloomy as the work that followed. Probably due to his own depression, and most likely loss of faith in those beliefs he may once have held. Lucio Fulci was exorcising his own personal demons, and mocking the world around him. This is what drove him to become the misogynistic, shaggy malcontent man that we all love and cherish so much.

Character wise, comedian Lando Buzzacana gives a great performance, and the constant battle between his Catholicism and his desire for women, a desire that brings him guilt; anguish and self-loathing at times, are hilarious. These character traits make him a much more interesting character than the regular man in office who misuses his stature to feel up young women. And at the same time there’s a risk of Puppis’ compulsive disorders running his career – which is a great value to put at risk, and amusingly it’s constantly a current topic as politicians and celebrities one after the other get caught with their pants down bringing their careers to a grinding halt. Unless you are Berlusconi and can ordain a new law to get you off the hook.

The Eroticist has a neat little plot that is played out through a cheeky and frisky narrative. The script was written by Fulci, Sandro Continenza (Riccardo Freda’s The Iguana with The Tongue of Fire 1971, and Jorge Grau’s Let Sleeping Corpses Lie 1974] and Ottavio Jemma who Fulci previously wrote the screenplay to his debut feature I ladri (The Thieves) 1959. And it is a great movie almost like one of those transplanted hand horror stories, but instead of the hand having its owner commit crimes, Puppis' hand forcefully grabs female bottoms.

Finally I’ll just point out that The Eroticist also saw the start of a fabulous collaboration, between the great director and his frequent editor, as this was the first movie Vincenzo Tomassi and Lucio Fulci worked on together.

So put aside your blu-ray versions of City of the Living Dead and The New York Ripper, and start tracking backwards to see how this fantastic director evolved from comedic genius to the godfather of gore.

Image:
Widescreen 1.85:1

Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono, Italian dialogue, with optional English subtitles.


Extras:
There’s a great documentary - The History of Censorship on the Severin release which sees Lando Buzzacana, Gianetto de Rossi and Cinematographer Sergio D’Offfizi discuss the history of the movie, share some memories and dark secrets and talk of the problems it came upon when it was released.

And today I'll give you a little teaser of the great humour of Lucio Fulci with this clip from the movie. The Senator and Father Lucion on their way to rehab stop at a gas station.