Blood of Dracula's Castle

Like many of the movies I've been writing reviews for, Blood of Dracula's Castle is part of a twelve movie boxed set from Mill Creek, a company that deals in very cheap (and sometimes public domain) films. The transfer isn't great. In fact, when I first started watching this, the screen was so completely covered with green lines (from wear) that it reminded me of The Matrix. Personally, though, I believe this adds to the aesthetic of the movie; something about the apparent age of the film makes it that much more enjoyable to watch.

In some ways, this movie reminds me a bit of a 60's version of The Addams Family, as it features a sophisticated, middle-aged couple that lives in a rented castle and are quite open about their vampirism (or their being "the living dead," to be grammatically correct). In addition to a standard manservant (George, played by the great John Carradine), they also keep around an orange-skinned feral guy named Mango around, who roams the surrounding wilderness, hunting and capturing the bikini-clad young women who, for some reason, seem to be in abundant supply in this area. The young hotties are collected and contained in a dungeon, where they are harvested for their blood. Occasionally the charming vampire couple also let Mango have one of the babes for his own purposes, which are thankfully never shown or fully described. They also have a younger friend, Johnny, who is an open and quite charming serial killer who goes nuts when the moon is full.

Enter into the picture a young couple, the incredibly condescending Glen and his fiancé Liz. They enter the scene because Glen has inherited the castle from some relative, and the two stumble around in a manner not unlike Scooby-Doo and the gang, slowly discovering the danger that surrounds them. It's actually very cute, in a campy sort of way. The dialog between the spooky castle residents and the innocent young couple is so corny, it could have been penned by Ed Wood himself.

Okay, so the whole premise of this flick doesn't make a lick of sense. And the print the DVD was made from is terrible. And the crazy man-beast that everyone keeps talking about is named after a tropical fruit which does, of course, prevent him from ever being taken as a serious threat to anyone. It doesn't matter. What matters is this is good, cheesy fun for the whole family, if your whole family is plenty drunk.

Okay I'm going to say something that I can rarely said to have ever willingly said, this is a watchable Al Adamson movie. Adamson was a bad filmmaker from the late 1960's and early 1970's who churned out a great deal of really bad, and not in a fun sort of way, films. A good many of them had John Carradine, which is apropos of nothing but its just the way things are. Most are so bad you'd want to pluck your eyes out rather than watch them. A few a precious few are awful but watchable in that bad but good way. This is one of those bad but good sort of films. Actually its bad but watchable which is a different kettle of fish. I don't know why this film kind of works in a 3am late late show way but it does. The plot has a couple inheriting a castle from a 108 year old uncle. The castle was and is being rented by a nice old couple who are really Dracula and his bride. Carradine is the butler who along with a 7 foot tall hunchback keep women chained in the basement for the vampires blood needs. Just as the couple decide to go to the castle to pitch the tenants Dracula has their werewolf buddy sprung from an insane asylum so that he can get them better blood. Jaw dropping silliness ensues. I think this film works on any level because I think its suppose to be funny. I don't think the humor works as intended but it does give this mess watchable quality, especially if you're into movies that are so bad they are good

A stinky, horrible, ghastly piece of cheese! (To quote the gnome statue in those television commercials for an intenet travel site.) Now that this horror is available for cheap-o prices, I would recommend it for bad film fans. Bad acting, cheap sets and leaden pacing abound. John Carradine is always fun to watch, no matter how bad the movie he is in, and he did many, many stinkers of Z-grade budgets. Probably my favorite part is the gratuitous opening scene which shows nice footage of Marineland in Los Angeles (Rancho Palos Verdes, I believe) closed and torn down decades ago. There was also some nice cinematography; I noted the scene where the robed, torch-bearing figures trudge across the beach in the moonlight. Nice image.

This film had exteriors shot mainly at Scotty's Castle (I think) in Death Valley, hundreds of miles from the ocean. But, through the magic of editing, it appears to be about a mile from the beach!

This movie is part of the Horrible Horrors Volume 2 Box Set from Rhino, eight bad horror movies for only $25 retail (about $18 street!)! Worth the freight for fans of cheesy, crusty, musty, dusty, horror flicks.

Yet another shlockfest on good ole Millcreek's 200 drive in cult cinema box set.

What is there to say. Mr and Mrs. Dracula kidnap young ladies for their blood. With the help on a butler, a psychopath and friendly old Mango.

Enter a photographer and his fiancé model who inherit the castle in which the vampires live.

Not much to get excited about here. The song at the beginning is catchy and it is well made but that is about all.

I didn't regret watching it.

BLOOD OF DRACULA'S CASTLE opens with a woman being abducted by Mango the monster-man (Ray Young) while the world's grooviest theme song plays (Next Train Out- yeah!).

Next, we're off to Sea World for a photoshoot featuring a beautiful model with the universe's most incredible beehive hairdo, ever! Ever!

We're eventually introduced to Count and Countess Townsend (the inimitable Alex D'Arcy and Paula Raymond). Their decrepit butler is played by the one and only John Carradine. In order to keep their blood supply flowing in the castle, the Townsends have a dungeon full of tender, young lasses.

By now we should be catching on that this is indeed another opus from Director Al Adamson.

Enter Johnny, an escaped convict with a love for all things homicide. Need proof? Well, within minutes he kills a bikini-clad sunbather. He then kills a motorist, steals his car, and mows down a hitchhiker for good measure. All, while ultra-dramatic music blares.

By the time Johnny arrives at the castle it seems like this is going to be an action-packed, insanely entertaining movie. We almost forget who created it.

Then, all action simply dies. The non-plot implodes, leaving the nonsensical remains to plod on to the end. At this point, many viewers have been rumored to have removed their own brains with salad tongs!

Meister Adamson has once again concocted a magnificently screwy, senseless, idiot masterwork of dunderheaded filmmaking!

Hallelujah!...