Mama Dracula (1980)
BOMB (out of 4)
Oscar winner Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) and Oscar nominee Maria Schneider (Last Tango in Paris) star in this Belgian horror/comedy that has to be one of the worst films ever made. In a mixture of the Dracula and Elizabeth Bathory stories, Fletcher plays a female Dracula who needs to take a bath in the blood of virgins in order to live. Her two gay sons own a clothing store that keeps them supplied but it's getting harder and harder to find virgins in today's times. Man, oh man what a horrible film this one turned out to be. This was a minor holy grail to me as I've been wanting to see it for ages just to see if it was really as bad as the reputation that goes with it. It's every bit as bad and I'd say it's even worse than any of the reviews I've read for it. I'm really not sure what the hell they were going for or how they got Fletcher to star in this but the movie is a complete misfire from the opening scenes to the very last. There's plenty of slapstick and silly situations but I didn't laugh a single time nor did I ever crack a smile. The story makes very little sense and it appears that the screenwriter was a drunk because the movie jumps all over the place so much that you can't help but wonder what they're trying to do. As for Fletcher, believe it or not she comes off fairly well and never embarrasses herself too much. She's seems to be playing everything straight as if the producer's didn't tell her this was a spoof. Maria Schneider, like the rest of the cast, comes off horrible. The "wirgins" gag from Blood for Dracula is ripped off here but that doesn't even get a laugh here. There's plenty of naked women but not even that can save this turkey.
