DEAFULA is an interesting curio, the first-ever film made for a deaf audience in sign language(with audio for those unfamiliar with sign). That said, it's also one of the weirdest and most unprofessional vampire films ever made. Nonetheless, its quirky catawampus charms should be highly embraceable to most fans of schizoid cinema.
The off-kilter story concerns Deafula(a pretty creepy looking aquiline-featured fellow), who is Count Dracula's son, at large in contemporary America. Bringing deliberate confusion to the story, it also seems that Deafula is actually(I think...?) a college student's manifest alter-ego of some sort. Nevermind, though...this picture takes plenty of liberties with traditional vampire lore(we witness our bloodsucker casually roaming about in the blaze of the afternoon sun, unless that was just some exquisitely botched day-for-night filming).
For something as outrageously off-hand and ill-administered as it is, DEAFULA does bear a few small strokes of efficacy...it generally maintains a stylish classic horror affectation(the black/white filming was certainly a thoughtful touch), and it can't be said that it's not entirely ORIGINAL. To card-carrying members of the Outre Cinema Club, I'd say DEAFULA is well worth a look...there was clearly a noble intention behind it, and although the finished product is beggarly in many directions, it appeals in a rather askew way.
