BLACULA - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION

It hardly feels like it was 6 years since Studiocanal released a nice double-bill of these films onto UK DVD.

Well, now these prime examples of early 70s low budget schlock are back ... and this time it's courtesy of those fine folk at Eureka! that the films are being released onto both DVD and - shock horror - blu-ray.

Of the films themselves...

BLACULA opens in the austere dining room of one Count Dracula (Charles Macaulay). The place is Transylvania, the year is 1780. Dracula addresses his guest Mamuwalde (William Marshall) fondly after having had a most enjoyable evening in his company. Or is it Mamuwalde's sexy wife Luva (Vonetta McGee) that the Count is most interested in?

The mood turns sour when Mamuwalde asks for Dracula's support in his plight to abolish the slave trade. Dracula is unsympathetic to the cause and, furthermore, chooses this awkward moment to vocalise his lust for the busty Luva. Mamuwalde understandably kicks off but, following an amusing fistfight, is overpowered by Dracula's henchmen.

Dragging the unconscious Mamuwalde down into a crypt beneath his castle and laying him into a coffin, Dracula takes a chunk out of his victim's neck and places a curse on him, proclaiming, "A hunger will grow in you, a hunger for human blood". He then christens Mamuwalde with the much snappier moniker Blacula and locks him in the crypt with Luva …

Following the snazzy animated opening titles, the film catapults without delay into the 20th century. Well, that is "Transylvania, Present Day" (1972) where a camp gay couple of interior decorators buy some antiques from Dracula's castle and ship them over to their warehouse in Los Angeles.

The couple unpack their new acquisitions and chat excitedly about positioning their "gorgeous" antique coffin in their bedroom to freak visitors out. Alas, their plans backfire when the coffin opens and out lunges Blacula - no doubt aroused by the deep gash one of the men has made in his arm. Predictably, our festive couple swiftly expire. The next time we see them is in coffins of their own … and a pair of black detectives stand over them baffled. An investigation, of course, ensues.

But none of this curtails Blacula's fun over the remaining hour as he grows into the sights and sounds of early 70s black America and ultimately falls for Tina - a dead ringer for his true love Luva.

BLACULA is pedestrian in look and camera movements, and unevenly paced in terms of plotting. It starts off well but the main gag soon grows old and the so-so humour that follows ranges between camp, juvenile and tasteless.

Also, it's fair to say the film is heavily schizophrenic in tone. Is it a horror film? At times, certainly. A comedy? When it remembers to be, although there are extended periods of straight-faced drama. A tragedy? Marshall seems to think so, judging by his heartfelt performance.

In its favour, there are a few genuinely tense scenes - a chase down a corridor here, a showdown confrontation there - and the odd moments of horror that exist are filmed with a sincere, dark glee. Although there are minimal FX on display, what we do get is pretty poor. Blacula's facial hair as a vampire is lamentable. The most the low budget extends to in terms of grue is a bit of fake blood on Marshall's lips.

Elsewhere, visually this is very much a product of its time, offering a wealth of flared trousers, pimp-talking jive, huge Afros and glitter balls. The disco soundtrack pushes the Blaxsploitation buttons in further still, although the occasional scenes of nightclub acts singing disco on stage are unnecessary padding.

When there's not disco on the soundtrack, the original score is sensational and melodramatic, adding a surreal overplay to the horror scenes that is curiously effective. Ultimately though, BLACULA exists as a gimmick - an attempt to take a popular fictional character and relocate it in the then-lucrative Blaxsploitation genre - and the film is not strong enough in terms of William Crain's direction or the script by Raymond Koenig and Joan Torres to come across as anything more.

But BLACULA was successful enough to spawn a sequel in 1973. SCREAM BLACULA SCREAM is a fantastic title for a film (it was also paraphrased to create the title of a great album by Rocket from the Crypt) and on the surface it appears to be the better movie: Pam Grier is the love interest, the budget's clearly bigger and there's lots more horror motifs being played out effectively - voodoo, cult rituals etc.

The story this time around primarily concerns Lisa (Grier), another busty dame who this time is a member of a dodgy voodoo cult. When the cult's queen dies, Lisa is voted as her replacement by the rest of the group.

However, the former queen's son Willis (Richard Lawson) is irate. Also smarting is Ragman (Bernie Hamilton), who gives Willis some bones with which to chant a sinister spell onto.

The result is the resurrection of Blacula. But Blacula is not happy to be back in the land of the living and thanks Willis for his troubles by biting his neck.

Still, Blacula's purpose for being brought back is to teach new queen Lisa a lesson. Which he initially does, murdering people around her, resulting in the cops treating her as prime suspect. But in time Blacula realises he needs the help of Lisa and her beau Justin (Don Mitchell) if he's ever to be free of his curse …

Marshall is a more aggressive vampire in SCREAM, at times almost approaching being convincingly scary. The art design and the consistent red hue suggest a more focussed visual approach this time around too. And the ante has definitely been upped in terms of horror. But the unwise humour still creeps through, and the overall effect is one of more effort, less fun.

SCREAM is undeniably darker and more stylish than its predecessor, arguably more Gothic at times too. But, and despite the presence of Grier in her prime, it's not as captivating. It doesn't expand on its central conceit and therefore feels like a punchline that's been repeated one time too many. It's little wonder that the franchise didn't extend any further.

We were provided with screeners of the two DVDs for review purposes.

Disc 1 houses BLACULA, uncut and in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The picture is 16x9 enhanced and looks very good indeed: stable blacks, nicely saturated colours, clean images. Minor print damages doesn't distract from the fact that this is a very solid presentation - on a par with Studiocanal's impressive efforts of yore during wider shots; where this new transfer really excels is in detail during closer shots, such as when the contours and perspiration in characters' faces comes across more acutely than ever before.

English mono audio is clearer and more evenly balanced than it has been in previous releases. Optional English subtitles for the Hard-of-Hearing are well-written and always easy to read.

The only extra on disc 1 is a theatrical trailer for BLACULA, clocking in at just under 2 minutes in length and arguably better than the main feature in terms of entertainment value - best line from the deep-voiced narrator comes when the lead is described as "Dracula's soul brother".

Over on disc 2, SCREAM is also presented uncut and in anamorphic 1.85:1. Again, picture quality is largely clean and very impressive. Detail is fine; colours (especially reds) pop agreeably from the screen. Fine grain assures the more anal that DNR has been kept firmly in check.

English mono audio is again clean and reliable, with more quality optional English HoH subtitles also to hand.

Extras on disc 2 include a 2-minute theatrical trailer - "the black prince of darkness is back!" - and an enjoyable 24-minute featurette in which critic Kim Newman offers his thoughts on both films. Sitting in his study while surrounded by books and other paraphernalia (nice poster of TENEBRAE on the wall too), Newman provides a quick history of Blacksploitation's genesis before embarking on a spoilerific assessment of BLACULA and its sequel (in fairness, the featurette opens with a text disclaimer advising viewers to watch the films first ...).

Both discs open with discreetly animated main menu pages, and proffer static scene selection menus allowing access to the respective films via 16 chapters.

BLACULA - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION is being released in a 3-disc dual format edition. From my viewing of the DVDs, I daresay the HD transfers are going to look very nice indeed.

Review by Stuart Willis