User reviews

Disorienting take on Dracula, its entire story told through sign language, giving the film a uniquely weird touch, making its lead seem even more alien, and bizarre, even with his sillier than normal appearance (why the silly looking moustache, and painted on eyebrows?)

This film also benefits from putting the Count in the foreign surrounding of a major, metropolitan area, rather than his Transylvanian abode, and in the (then) present day.

The problem, however, lies in putting Drac into a setting which has aged so poorly, (the mid 1970s) and such a weird twist as having Dracula signing his way through the story of the search for a killer.

Still worth watching, if you know what you are getting into, but I wonder if sticking to a more traditional Dracula plot, in American Sign Language might have worked more successfully?

The story of "Deafula" focuses on Steve Adams,a young theology student who just happens to turn into a vampire from time to time,but has no memory of doing so after the fact.After a chat with a friend who is investigating the bloodless corpses turning up around town,Adams begins to have flashbacks to his childhood-including one scene in which his bloodlust causes him to rip out the throat of his puppy.Having previously believed he had just been an unusually anemic youngster and the son of a simple minister these memories prompt Adams to investigate his past;he finds that he is actually the son of Count Dracula himself."Deafula" is a perfect cure for insomnia.It's silly and pretentious flick with plenty of psychotronic weirdness.The special effects are bad and the action moves at snail's pace.4 deafulas out of 10.

DEAFULA is by far, the strangest adaptation of Bram Stoker's vampire novel ever! The entire film is in sign language. It rarely plays. When I saw the film at the Museum of Modern Art, the entire audience was dead silent. All I could think was the film-maker's intent. They felt, deaf people need to enjoy movies more, and what's more enjoyable than a vampire movie?

I had zero expectations when viewing this film however I was quite amused throughout. The deaths throughout this film were cheesy however I really enjoyed watching this. Definitely meant for those more immersed in the Deaf community though!

Diagnosed with a rare disease when born, Steve Adams (Peter Wolf) requires monthly blood transfusions from his father Reverand Adams (James Randall); failing that, he transforms into the vampire Deafula, for Steve's real father is none other than Count Dracula!

Produced for deaf and hard of hearing audiences, Deafula's cast uses sign language throughout (with a voiceover for those of us who don't understand sign language); this makes it an undeniably unique viewing experience, but one that I found extremely tedious, the whole movie being cheap and amateurishly made, with a terrible script, crap acting, a leaden pace, an embarrassingly naff vampire (that fake nose!), and long periods of total silence.

Deaf viewers may appreciate the effort made, but I imagine most people will struggle to stay awake. For me, this ranks up there with William Shatner's Incubus (which is entirely in Esperanto) as one of the strangest yet most boring horror oddities.

I had low expectations of this movie. I knew it'd be a B movie. I thought it would be cheesy and fun to watch, yet still make me cringe at times. There are no cringing moments; this is spectacular cinema! As mentioned in the movie's description, this is done with all sign language. There are no speaking actors, yet the hearing viewer isn't lost because there are voice overs. I was shocked at the attention to detail. There are great camera angles, a good plot, interesting characters, and just a lot of plain old good times! This is a twist on the classic Dracula films that works so well. It has all the shock value and drama needed to make it the classic B, as well as the cheese factor that makes you fall in love with it. I adore this movie, and am so grateful to a friend for giving it me. I've never seen anything like it, and apparently never will again, being as it currently is the first and only deaf based movie. The whole movie is an experience that defies description; it's a must see on anyone B movie lovers list!

Good film that was done in sign, make-up was a downfall to the movie but understandig that this was the directors first film on his own. I can understand some of the mistakes. Visually the movie is shot in black and white giving this picture a classic look. For a fist time film, I have to give this picture a 10 for sheer attempt at something new, since this is the first film ever shot in american sign. The film from I understand is in the New York Film Institute. They reconized this picture as do most of the hearing-impaired culture as the first film in american sign, try to find a copy at SignScopePictures.com, I heard that a 30th annivesary ed. will be comming out later this year or next year.

I loved Deafula! This movie was made for Deafies, not the hearing. They do not and cannot understand us! I would rather watch this film (our deaf community film) than any captioned hearing movie. It's old, but for us ... it's a classic. If the hearing don't understand us, they shouldn't discriminate against us with their mocking. The Deaf look at the world in a different way and they should not be ashamed of it. Watching Deafula always makes me feel good, like I belong. When I watch hearing movies, I always feel like I am an outsider watching the hearing world from a distance. I know my Deaf friends feel the same way. True Deaf Classic ... for Deafies Only!!

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.

The first and last film to be shot entirely in sign language, DEAFULA is probably one of the most earth-shattering works of all time. Other IMDB users waste their breath on insults, but I dare you to find a better example of: *a toddler tearing the throat out of a puppy. *a policeman flapping his arms like a bird *hippies stabbing priests *hunchbacks with tin cans for hands *a tiny troll-like policeman that rightfully makes a mockery of all the people of England. ...If you can't enjoy this movie, you are not a human being.