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Released by: Shout! Factory
Released on: March 3rd, 2015.
Director: William Crain, Bob Kellijan
Cast: William Marshall, Pam Grier, Richard Lawson
Year: 1972/1973
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The Movies:
Shout! Factory unleashes AIP's two Blacula films on Blu-ray? You know it. Here's how this all goes down…
BLACULA:
In a pre-credits sequence we see an African prince named Mamuwalde (William Marshall) and his wife Luva (Vonetta McGee) visiting with Count Dracula (Chales Macaulay) at his home in Transylvania. Mamuwalde is there as a diplomat who hopes to put an end to slavery but Dracula is having none of it and decides to make both Mamuwalde and Luva his own personal slaves. He and his cronies wrangle up the African diplomats and Dracula bites Mamuwalde and then locks him inside a coffin. After that, he buries Luva alive behind a wall.
Cut to the present day, or what was the present day in 1972 where two gay men (Ted Harris and Rick Metzler) are on a bit of a shopping spree buying up relics from Dracula's old castle. One of the items that they buy and take back to Los Angeles with them is the coffin that Mamuwalde was buried in - and of course, he escapes from that coffin and starts to roam through Los Angeles making short work of various characters. Once he meets a woman named Tina (Vonetta McGee again), however, he starts to soften up a bit - she reminds him of his beloved Luva. Tina's sister and her boyfriend realize something isn't quite right with Tina's new boyfriend while all of those that Mamuwalde has bitten start turning into vampires and causing their own rash of problems…
Directed by William Crain in 1972, this first film plays fairly well as a pretty traditional vampire story relocated to an urban environment. Marshall takes the role completely seriously and the film is all the better for it as he brings a sense of nobility and class to the part. In the hands of a lesser actor, the film could have fallen completely into camp but here, despite occasional divergences, it stays on the right track. Marshall's work in front of the camera has to get a lot of credit for that, as we're able to buy him in the role even while he's decked out in strange makeup appliances and wacky seventies facial hair. His sense of cool is timeless.
Vonetta McGee is good here too, in her dual role. She's got enough sex appeal to make it work but handles the more sympathetic and dramatic aspects of her characters quite nicely. Macaulay is good in his cameo role as Count Dracula and both Ted Harris and Rick Metzler are amusing as ridiculous, outdated gay stereotypes. The story is bit on the predictable side but there was obviously enough commitment from all involved to make this one work. While there's no doubt the film was made to cash in on the Blaxploitation craze of the era, production values are decent enough and the film benefits from some decent cinematography and a pretty cool score too. This one holds up well and should be easily enjoyed by fans of either horror pictures or Blaxploitation/drive-in fare.
SCREAM, BLACULA, SCREAM:
In the second film, a voodoo priest named Willis (Richard Lawson) brings Mamuwalde back from beyond the grave in hopes of using the resurrected vampire to exact his revenge on his former voodoo cult for kicking him out. Of course, once Mamuwalde is resurrected, he makes Willis his man servant and goes on the hunt. Through Willis, however, Mamuwalde meets his rival, a beautiful voodoo priestess named Lisa (Pam Grier) who he believes has the ability to cure him of his vampiric curse.
Mamuwalde starts to obsess over Lisa, much to the dismay of her boyfriend, but again resumes his feeding habits on the streets of Los Angeles. It's for this reason that the cops start looking into things, eventually coming to the realization that Los Angeles really does have a vampire problem.
Bob Kellijan's follow up film made a year later again for AIP is a bit sillier than the first entry but no less entertaining for it. Once again William Marshall steals the show, bringing that same classy old school acting style to the role in grand fashion. The guy just has an amazing screen presence and you never get the impression he feels the material is beneath him. His commitment to the role is admirable and it's awesome watching him share screen time with the mighty queen of Blaxploitation, the lovey and talented Pam Grier. Having Grier in any movie is an asset but here she's in top form, bringing a brassy sense of street-smarts to her role as Lisa. Richard Lawson is also fun to watch here.
At times the movie feels like it takes place in the same world as Sugar Hill (which also starred Lawson) albeit in a more urban setting. Some scenes involving walking dead types help to create a few scenes of genuinely unnerving atmosphere and the makeup effects used in these scenes are quite good. The producers seem to have upped the 'monster movie/vampire movie' shenanigans here over creating more fleshed out characters but the movie works. It's an entertaining picture with some nice atmosphere, a cool score and some really memorable moments.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Shout! Factory presents both films in their original 1.85.1 widescreen aspect ratios in AVC encoded 1080p high definition and as it has been with most of their MGM titles, these movies look really good in HD. Colors pop nicely without looking oversaturated or artificially boosted while black levels stay solid throughout. Detail is quite noticeably improved over the previous MGM DVD releases for both titles, as are texture, depth and overall image clarity as well. Skin tones look nice and natural and there aren't any obvious issues with noise reduction. Both movies are quite clean, showing very little in the way of print damage, while grain is present and natural looking but never overpowering or distracting. All in all, both movies look great here.
The English language DTS-HD Mono tracks on each film also get a nice boost over their DVD counterparts. Clarity is strong throughout each film and there are no issues with any hiss or distortion. There's good depth and range, especially when the music kicks in, and the dialogue is consistently clean, clear and easy to follow.
Extras start off with a really strong commentary track for the first movie from David Walker, the man behind Dynamite's current Shaft comic and a blaxplotiation expert, having been the man behind Bad Ass Mofo and other related projects. Here Walker does a great job of putting the movie into its proper social and historical context and also offering up a lot of interesting information about the production. He spends a fair bit of time discussing William Marshall's background and elaborating on the importance of his contribution to the picture. Walker also offers a lot of critical analysis in regards to what works and what doesn't - so we wind up with a really interesting mix of insight and trivia delivered by someone who obviously has a genuine appreciation for the film. Great stuff.
Moving right along, we also get a thirteen minute on camera interview with Richard Lawson, who talks about the casting process and how he wound up working on this picture, what it was like being involved with the other cast members in the film and how he feels about the picture in hindsight. It's a fun and interesting interview worth checking out. Each film also gets its own individual still gallery of promotional and behind the scenes material as well as its own theatrical trailer. Menus and chapter stops are also included for each picture.
The Final Word:
Scream Factory has done these two Blaxploitation horror classics right with this special edition Blu-ray release. The commentary from Walker is a great addition to the release and the interview with Lawson enjoyable as well. Both movies look great in high definition, offering pretty substantial upgrades over their past DVD counterparts.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
