Our first movie is Blacula and surprise surprise, this is actually a legitimately well made movie. Seriously, it's not perfect but the fact there's two movies out there with Blacula in the title and they were both taken very seriously blows my god damn mind. Seriously, when you think Blacula you think of the cheesiest thing ever made, but it isn't, sure theres some weird comic relief (from what I remember...yes, I'm going by memory because I'm too lazy to go rent / download / buy this movie.). Most of the acting is not great except for William Marshall, Blacula himself. This guy was a trained Shakespearean actor if I recall correctly (I'm too damn lazy to check) and he does a really good job, and takes the movie incredibly seriously. He was also on Pee Wee's Playhouse. In fact I'm so crazy that I'm going to say this I like Blacula more than I like Dracula with Bela Lugosi. That's right. I WENT THERE SON.
Now for the sequel of Blacula, Scream Blacula, Scream, and wouldn't you know it. This is actually a BETTER movie than the original. It's got a better plot, better acting, and more vampires and action than you can shake a stick at. William Marshall does a pretty solid job again, and this time he's joined by the lovely Pam Grier who also does a damn good job too. The plot involves Blacula trying to become a human again! Wild stuff! I don't know how many times that plot has been done before but I don't remember seeing it done too many times... which makes it interesting to watch! and he kills this dude with a giant afro and it's hilarious! Uh... see this movie. It's a bit silly but it's a pretty good movie I think.
Now for the final movie of part one, and sadly we aren't going out on a high note. The last movie is the movie I just finished watching and had to throw this shitty review together just to express my dislike of it. Blackenstein is an incredible disappointment. You probably didn't expect a seriously well made movie but you did expect to get some fucking entertainment out of it. Seriously, Blackenstein is honestly boring as shit. I don't like referring to movies as boring it makes me feel like I'm some 12 year old with A.D.D. but that's what this movie is. Boring, mostly because of the weird pacing but also because it seems that the actors themselves aren't even enjoying themselves. They aren't having fun, they aren't even trying to act. The guy who plays Blackenstein just looks bored to be there. Seriously bored out of his goddamn skull. The movies pacing is weird too, it spends about 45 minutes of an 86 minute movie building up Blackenstein's back story. You already know his goddamn back story, it's the same goddamn back story as Frankenstein just with a few different changes. Seriously, I knew I wasn't going to hit greatness with Blackenstein. It wasn't going to be a good movie, but I did think I was going to get something I'd enjoy watching. Sadly I was mistaken. Still one good part of this movie is the doctors assistant Malcolm, he always talks in a monotone voice, even when declaring love to Blackenstein's fiancee... seriously his voice and mannerisms were hilarious to watch, sadly he couldn't save this incredibly shitty feature.
I'll be back hopefully more times this month with more weird and wild blaxploitation mini reviews, or maybe I'll just forget about my blog again because I'm too busy watching reruns of Thundercats, Desiging Women and Newhart. We shall see!
I never have seen the Blacula movies, but I used to own 2 copies of Blackenstein. I'll have to talk about that some other time, but it was pretty funny.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Blackenstein is pretty bad. Gotta love when boom microphones enter the camera!