We’ve got an odd assortment for you this week. We’ll watch the new football-horror, “Him” recently released, as well as “Things Will be Different” from just last year. Then we’ll go way back to 1960 and the “Circus of Horrors.” In honor of Udo Keir’s recent death, we’ll watch his two early breakout hits, “Flesh for Frankenstein” and “Blood for Dracula” from the early 70s.
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Mainstream Films:
2025 Him
Directed by: Justin Tipping
Written by: Skip Bronkie, Zack Akers, Justin Tipping
Stars: Marlon Wayans, Tyriq Withers, Julia Fox
Run Time: 1 Hour, 36 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
Set in an alternate reality where the NFL is the USFF, we start out with little Cam who has the perfect combination of football obsession at a young age combined with an athletic physique capable of being a world class athlete. As he is groomed to possibly replace a retiring megastar, things get strange and ominous - or maybe he’s just seeing things from stress and head injuries. We both struggled with this because we give no weight or value to football. They take the obsession, the extremes required to stay at the top, idolatry, and cult level fandom to the extreme. Neither of us fault the acting or production values, but we didn’t enjoy it that much.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on Cam, a little boy, watching football on TV. The whole family gets very excited when their team wins. His hero, Isaiah White, gets injured badly. Credits roll.
Fourteen years later, Isaiah is still playing, better than ever, but everyone is talking about when he’ll finally retire - maybe another year at best. Now-adult Cameron Cade is said to be the next star of the game. During an interview with Cam, he says he wants to be the GOAT. One night while practicing, something very strange happens to Cam.
We cut to Cam’s brain scans, and something’s not right. He’s had a traumatic brain injury and a stapled wound on his head. On his return to the game, everyone talks about him surviving the attack. Half the family thinks he isn’t ready, and the other half insists there’s nothing wrong with him. He’s not fine.
Cam wants to be alone and sullen, so he goes to a big party and ignores everyone. Tom, Cam’s manager, calls and says that Isaiah White himself wants to train Cam for a week. On the way there, we see how cult-like some sports fans are.
Cam goes to see Isaiah, who lives in a really cool place. He’s going to put Cam through a special “Boot camp” for football. We then get a training montage. Cam gets a physical exam, and someone steals his underwear. Cam then meets Elise, Isaiah’s wife, who is a power blonde influencer selling jade vaginal eggs and offers Cam one of their anal jades for men before she heads off for travel. Cam talks to Marco, the doctor, about blood transfusions and injections.
On the second day, Isaiah and Cam go for a run in the desert, Cam passes out, and he sees something else that’s weird. Now it’s clear that he’s been hallucinating some of the weirdness we’ve seen. Marco gives him another special shot, and he’s suddenly feeling much better. Then things get weird and they torture a man to motivate Cam to play harder. Afterward, he sits in a hyperbaric chamber for several hours, where he hallucinates some more.
On the third day, they actually play some football, and one of the players gets hurt pretty badly, which seems to be what Isaiah had in mind. More hallucinations ensue– maybe? Did Isaiah really just kill an overzealous fan? That one seemed more real, as well as the aftermath.
The next day, Isaiah and Cam go out to the desert to shoot guns. Cam talks about his father and why he plays the game.
Elsie takes Cam to a party in the city. Marco is there, and he says, “Run!” He meets the owners of the team, and they like him. Meanwhile, Isaiah stays home and works out. There’s more hallucinations, and maybe a ritual of some sort. Maybe Marco loses his head. Stuff happens, and maybe some of it’s real.
On the next day, Cam starts injecting himself. He confronts Isaiah, who talks about generations of blood, a gift from the gods. The blood of their mentors give them the powers of the chosen one. The trick is, there can be only one, and Isaiah’s contract is nearly up. “You’re gonna have to take it from me.” The two men fight to see who really has the killer spirit. Cam has it and uses it.
In a surreal, impossible ceremony, where all the characters gang up on Cam and explain how he’s been groomed all his life for this. Cam instead beats the mascot to death with an ax before killing everyone else with a sword.
And then what?
Brian’s Commentary
What in the hell was that climax???
This is one of those is-it-real-or-a-hallucination stories that we’re so sick of. Cam had a head injury, so all the crazy stuff he sees later on is suspect.
I suspect the filmmaker is trying to show us everything that’s wrong with the mindset around sports obsession, but maybe I’m being charitable with that.
I suppose my problem here is that I have no understanding at all of the screaming, raw, passion and obsession with what is ultimately a pointless game.
The ending was cool and over the top, but it made no real sense at all.
It’s well made, looks great, and the acting is fine. On the other hand, I couldn’t wait until it was over and was bored half to death with it.
Kevin’s Commentary
Well into the movie, I thought there was too much of wondering if things happening are really that strange or if Cam is hallucinating from some combination of stress, obsession, and head injury. Though the effects and visuals are very cool.
As a not-at-all football fan who enjoys watching the spectacle of the Superbowl and really nothing else about the sport, it was hard relating to the passion for the game that so much of the movie revolves around.
Past the halfway point, I started to suspect that the whole thing, or most of it, was real, staged and arranged by Isaiah who is crazy with a God complex. Right from the beginning with the clonk on the head that Cam got. Isaiah thinks he can do or get away with anything, so he does. And with all the “supplements” and substances being administered to Cam, there could easily be hallucinogens in the mix - augmented by a head injury.
I guess in the end, it’s up to the viewer to decide how much of it was real and how much was not. I wouldn’t say I hated the film, but I’d only give it a five or six overall.
2024 Things Will Be Different
Directed by: Michael Felker
Written by: Michael Felker
Stars: Adam David Thompson, Riley Dandy, Chloe Skoczen
Run Time: 1 Hour, 42 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
A pair of siblings go into hiding after a robbery, in a farmhouse that has a time travel feature, which they know about going into. Things get complicated as what they expect to be a short wait turns into a quagmire of overlaps and loops. It’s well made, but too stretched out, and we both thought it would have benefitted from being compacted down. It’s a mystery that unfolds, but neither of us were very satisfied or comprehending of the ending.
Spoilery Synopsis
As the credits roll, we hear a phone call between two people planning a hideaway out of town after some kind of robbery; they’re brother and sister, and there are big bags of money involved.
We cut to Joseph and Sidney meeting in a diner. When they hear a siren passing by, they clear out quickly. They go to the woods, where Joseph knows of a house they can hide in.
They arrive at the house and run off some locals who are there target shooting. The house is trashed inside. They go inside and hear the police approaching. They both know a strange combination trick with the grandfather clocks in the house that unlock a special door. They’ve got a book with instructions along with a phone and some magic-sounding words.
When they come out of the closet, it’s winter outside, and the house is all clean and restored. “Now we wait for time to pass in our present, and when we head back, we’ll be clear. Two weeks and counting.”
The two talk about their lives and about the bar patron who told Joseph about the magical, time-traveling clocks in this house. It’s noticed that there are no cars, no planes, no signs of other people. When it’s time to go back where they came from, they find “Go to the mill” scratched on a wooden sign.
Inside the mill, they find a badly burned corpse. They find another cryptic message that demands their compliance. Sid freaks and runs outside to vomit blood when she crosses the perimeter. The body in the barn was the woman who gave Joseph the book with instructions.
They come into a possession of a tape recorder that allows them to have a conversation with… whoever’s behind all this. The man on the tape wants to “wipe” them, painlessly and instantaneously. The man says there’s someone coming to use the time doorway that they can’t see, and he wants Joe and Sid to kill that person. He sends them pistols.
They set up outside to watch the perimeter, and nothing happens for a long time. On day 352, Sid has researched that the place has been deserted since around 1955. The “Vice Grip” has since used the place as a sort of time-travelling safehouse. She’s had many theories about all this since they’ve been trapped here.
Finally, someone walks across the field toward the house. They get down, loaded with a sniper rifle and aim at Sid. Joe yells, and they both run inside. Joe and the intruder shoot at each other. Sid gets shot in the shoulder as the intruder plays disco music.
As Sid talks to the tape recorder, Joe is elsewhere being tied up and tormented. He tells the tape recorder that the intruder is dead– as the intruder controls the recorder for him.
The intruder makes a run for the house and gets into a fight with Sid. The intruder is finally unmasked, and it’s Steph (her own daughter, grown up). Joe runs in and shoots Sid by mistake as the intruder runs upstairs to the time closet.
Joe goes upstairs to find the time closet has been destroyed. Later, he buries Sid outside. He then meets “The Vice Grips” who want to know about the visitor. Since he failed, they are going to wipe him. They explain that Joe is just a small part in a much bigger project. Joe asks to go back and try again, he can fix the mistakes and get the results they need. “Things will be different.”
The Vice opens a door, and Joe sees that it’s the morning they arrived at the house. And there’s a plane flying overhead. He freely crosses the perimeter. He finds his old self, kills him, and takes his place. He grabs the money and heads off to the diner to meet Sid.
The Vice discusses whether or not he’ll be the first to break the cycle.
Sid arrives at the diner, but it’s not like before. He tells her about how many times he’s tried to fix things (how does she know?). He points her rifle at his head and tells her to end it. We see how old Joe has gotten, his beard is gray.
Brian’s Commentary
The basic plot is interesting with the odd time travel portrayal, but there’s so much waiting and angst that I nodded off at a couple of points. There’s only a cast of two, and they do a fine job; the setting also works well. Still, this feels like a fifteen minute short film with a ton of padding.
It’s very strange, and it’s NOT all clear at the end.
Kevin’s Commentary
It was an interesting take, I thought, having them know about the time traveling aspect of the property before they went to it. It was interesting how the time travel seemed to be a mix of retro tech and magic incantations.
It’s a beautiful location, perfect setting, and good cast. But it’s way too stretched out, with long periods of not much happening. It could have been improved by cutting the length down.
It’s a mystery that only sort of came together at the end. And there were things unexplained. Watching it again would probably make things clearer, but should I really have to do that? I wouldn’t say I disliked it, but I wasn’t very pleased either.
1960 Circus of Horrors
Directed by: Sidney Hayers
Written by: George Baxt
Stars: Anton Diffring, Erika Remberg, Yvonne Monlaur
Run Time: 1 Hour, 28 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
A plastic surgeon on the run after a surgery gone bad changes his own face and goes on the run with a couple sidekicks. When they take over a circus as a hiding place with new identities, we continue to see what a bad guy the surgeon is. The horror elements are low-key, it’s much more of a crime drama thriller, but it’s well made. And we thought it was entertaining.
Spoilery Synopsis
We’re in England, 1947, and a woman screams as she smashes the mirrors in her room. Two men in a car talk about one of their fiances has gone missing, probably to the cottage after plastic surgery, which is where they are headed. Dr. Rossiter may have experimented on Evelyn. The men break inside as the woman yells “Rossiter” and giggles insanely over her badly mangled face.
Next, we see Dr. Rossiter run down some men on the road who have set up a police blockade and then goes over a cliff. At another cottage, Martin opens the door and badly wounded Rossiter staggers in. He says the operation on Evelyn wasn’t botched, there should have been a sequence of operations, but she panicked and took off her bandages too soon. Still, the law is after him now. He recovers and says he wants to move to France to escape the law. He’s built himself a new face with Martin’s help, and he now calls himself Dr. Bernard Schuler.
“Bernard,” along with Angela and Martin (who are brother and sister), move to France and look for a place to hide out. They stop to ask directions at a circus. The little girl he talks to is all scarred up from a bomb. Bernard talks to Vanet, the owner of the circus, and offers to fix the man’s daughter’s face.
The operation on Vanet’s daughter Nicole proceeds quickly. Bernard removes the bandages, and she looks great. For his next trick, he wants to buy the circus from Vanet; the circus is worthless, and Bernard just wants to use it as a front. Very drunk Vanet signs the contract and then goes outside to abuse the dancing bear who promptly mauls him to death. Bernard didn’t cause it, but he didn’t help rescue him either.
Bernard goes to town and watches as a prostitute stabs and robs a man. She’s got a big scar on her face, and he offers to help her look good again. She’s Elissa, and Angela does not approve of fixing her up. Bernard wants to change criminals’ faces and employ them at the circus. “A circus of criminals? No, a circus of beauty!” he exclaims.
Ten years later, the circus has become very successful. Angela and Martin are still Bernard’s tagalong minions helping run things. Little Nicole has grown up to be one of the star performers, as has Elissa. Elissa complains that she deserves top billing, more so than Magda. Magda, on the other hand, plans to leave at the end of the week and let Nicole replace her. Bernard doesn’t want Magda to leave, since he “made” her.
Tonight is going to be Magda’s “farewell performance,” and Angela warns Bernard that he has to let her go. She gets involved in a knife-throwing, spinning-wheel act. The knives start flying, and at one point, Martin pulls the plug on the spinning wheel, which messes up the speed at just the wrong place so the knife-thrower’s timing is off; she dies.
The police inspector says this place is known as “The Jinx Circus” since there have been so many deaths among the performers. A new woman comes to see the doctor; her face has been burned up with acid. He says she’s going to be his masterpiece.
The whole circus packs up and goes back to England. Crime reporter Desmond immediately takes a liking to Nicole. He wants to write a big expose story about the circus and seems surprised that Bernard and his sidekicks aren’t on board with it. He’s done a lot of research on the many deaths, and he’s starting to catch on. He starts making out with Elissa, and she might tell him what he wants to know.
Desmond learns that all the dead performers had had plastic surgery at some point. He remembers Rossiter, the criminal plastic surgeon from ten years ago. He then talks to Scotland Yard.
Elissa is angry when she sees that Melina, the new girl, has gotten top billing for the show. She threatens to leave if she’s not the star and then she learns about “Rossiter” by eavesdropping on Desmond and Nicole. She threatens Bernard with exposing the secret, which seems like a bad idea when she knows how many “accidents” there have been.
Soon after, someone sneaks a snake into Elissa’s room. She screams, but she’s all right. She knows who did it and threatens to talk to Desmond after the show tonight. Bernard tells Martin to take care of it. During Elissa’s act, Martin messes with the rope, and she falls to her death.
Desmond and the chief know that Bernard is Rossiter, but they can’t prove it. Desmond suggests bringing in Evelyn from the opening scene.
That night, Bernard himself is attacked by a gorilla and gets some deep scratches on his face. He wants Martin and Angela to repair his face like before. He also announces that he’s marrying Melina, which really angers Angela.
Evelyn comes to the circus and looks at Bernard, whose face is half covered in a bandage. She recognizes his ring, which we hadn’t seen before. He knows who she is as well, and he knows that she knows. Martin and Angela want out, but he won’t allow that.
Tonight is Melina’s big act; she’s his masterpiece, and she’ll be in the lion’s cage. The lions, of course, will be sedated by Martin, who very well might double-cross his boss. As Melina goes into the cage for the act, Martin pulls Angela aside; they’re leaving. The lions are frisky because Martin didn’t sedate them properly, and she quickly figures that out. When she falls down, the lions are all over her.
Bernard/Rossiter catches Martin and Angela leaving and fights with them. He stabs Angela, but Martin releases the angry gorilla who hates Bernard. The police nab Martin, and the gorilla nabs Rossiter.
Meanwhile, crazy Evelyn steals a car and goes back to the circus. Injured Rossiter attacks Desmond as Nicole watches. As he makes his escape, Evelyn runs over him with her car. He dies.
Brian’s Commentary
Apparently, plastic surgery could be done on a coffee table in the 60s. The special effects for the various characters’ scars are very good. A lot of the plot itself doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it’s entertaining throughout.
It’s… alright. Not great.
Kevin’s Commentary
I thought the Elissa and Nicole actresses look too much alike. Then they brought in Melina for further confusion.
It’s really a suspenseful crime drama and barely horror. The doctor is a bad guy with a giant sized ego that lets him think he can get away with anything, which is his downfall.
All that aside, I thought the movie was well put together and entertaining.
1973 Flesh For Frankenstein
AKA “Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein” and “Frankenstein 3D”
Directed by: Antonio Margheriti, Paul Morrissey
Written by: Paul Morrisey, Tonino Guerra, Pat Hackett
Stars: Joe Dallesandro, Udo Kier, Dalila De Lazzaro
Run Time: 1 Hour, 35 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s a strange and raunchy version of the Frankenstein story with lots of dark humor. The doctor creates a male and female at the same time with the intention of breeding a personal race of beings that will obey only him. The visuals, script, and direction are interesting and the cast is a collection of strange characters. We both thought it was offbeat, weird, and entertaining.
Spoilery Synopsis
As the credits roll, we watch a little boy and girl, Erik and Monica, “operate” on a doll and put it in a guillotine. Later, we see the two children in a carriage with their mother, Baroness Katrin Frankenstein. Up at the castle, Baron Frankenstein yells at Otto about not keeping the lab clean.
We cut to the lab, where Frankenstein has created a perfect woman to accompany his perfect man. No– the men he’s been working on are all just bits and pieces. He talks to his wife/sister about sending the children away to school, but she doesn’t approve.
Two young farmhands talk about Sascha wanting to become a monk. One of them is Nicholas, and Katrin calls him out for messing with all the women. She tells him to report to her at the castle tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, Frankenstein tells Otto that he needs to find the head of a male who loves women a whole bunch. He needs to be the start of a whole new race. He tells a story about his visit to a whorehouse when he was young. What he really needs is… a Serbian!
Meanwhile, at the whorehouse in town Sascha and Nicholas arrive and want to play. Sascha’s not really interested in the girls; he only has eyes for Nicholas. The baron and Otto stand outside to see who comes out. They take one look at Sascha and decide that his head is the one they want. They soon take him by surprise and take his head with a big, curved hedge-trimmer.
The two villains head back to their lab and connect the head to the already-assembled man’s body they’ve been building.
Nicholas reports to the baroness as ordered. She has a job for him… in the bedroom.
The scientists work on the woman, and she wakes up– until Frankenstein pulls out her organs and apparently orgasms. He puts her organs back inside and then just has regular sex with her. “Why are you looking at me, you filthy thing? Turn around!” he commands. “To know death is to fuck life– right in the gallbladder!”
Frankenstein and Otto turn on the electricity, and both his creatures wake up. The next project will be to reduce the gestation period so their offspring will grow more quickly.
We cut to the dining room, where Frankenstein, his wife, and children are served by Nicholas. Otto brings in the two creatures to sit at the table for dinner with the family. It’s awkward and ridiculous.
The monster, with Sascha’s head and brain, still has eyes for Nicholas, who clearly recognizes him. Katrin explains that she doesn’t know much about what her husband does, and he wants to check out the laboratory himself.
Meanwhile, in the lab, Erik and Monica play with a disembodied hand and watch a beating heart. When their father shows up, they clear right out.
The servant, Olga, comes into the lab, looking for the children, and finds the man and woman. Before she can do anything, Otto catches her and chases her into the torture chamber, where he has his way with her. He rips her open and pulls her guts out.
It’s finally time to make the two creatures mate. She kisses him, but he doesn’t respond. She looks good, but since he’s playing for the wrong team, he isn’t aroused. Frankenstein takes the failure badly. He blames his wife.
Nicholas breaks into the lab and talks to Sascha’s head, which is on a much taller body now. Sascha speaks; he doesn’t really care about his life, he just wants to be dead. Nicholas starts to lead them outside, but Frankenstein and Otto intervene. They knock out Nicholas and plan to use his head on the monster next. Katrin shows up, and she’s fine with all of it.
Katrin decides she wants to have sex with the monster, and Frankenstein is willing to let her try. The two go off to her bedroom and get to work. They start making out, but then she tells him to squeeze her tight, and he does– until she can’t breathe and dies.
Downstairs, Otto tears open the woman creature as restrained Nicholas is forced to watch. Frankenstein comes in, sees what happened, and kills Otto. The male creature carries Katrin in at this point. The monster then turns on Frankenstein, who loses his hand before getting impaled. He still manages to give a speech before dying.
Sascha/The Monster says he’d rather be dead than go on like this. He tears himself open, and all his innards fall out on the floor.
The two children come in and find Nicholas still tied up as they look at the pile of dead bodies. They each pick up a scalpel and move in toward Nicholas…
Brian’s Commentary
Although it’s called “Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein,” Andy Warhol really had nothing to do with any of it other than a few visits to the set. They only used his name for advertising purposes, although there is a great deal of gaudy, tacky artworks on the walls.
There are some interesting gore effects, although the color and consistency of the “blood” doesn’t hold up. It took us a long while to put two and two together to see that Frankenstein and Katrin were brother and sister as well as husband and wife; it’s no wonder the kids can’t speak. It was filmed in 3D, and there are some really obvious shots designed to take advantage of that.
This one is gory, sexy, funny, and just plain weird. All kinds of weird. It’s not exactly what I’d call good, but it’s definitely unusual.
Kevin’s Commentary
I’d seen this before and enjoyed it just as much this time around. Everything about it is just weird and slightly off, with a 70s vibe running through it, and that’s what makes it good. It’s weird, gross, creepy, and funny all at once.
1974 Blood for Dracula
AKA “Andy Warhol’s Dracula”
Directed by: Paul Morrissey
Written by: Paul Morrissey, Pat Hackett, Bram Stoker
Stars: Joe Dallesandro, Udo Kier, Vittorio De Sica
Run Time: 1 Hour, 46 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
Sickly Dracula must have virgin blood to survive, and Italy is the only place he can find one in these modern times. So he and his faithful servant set off on a road trip to find one. It’s another strange take on a classic horror tale, with plenty of dark humor. It’s a little on the long and slow side, but we still both enjoyed it.
Spoilery Synopsis
We watch as Count Dracula puts on his makeup and paints his blonde hair black. Anton, Dracula’s servant, says there’s not much time, and Dracula will need to relocate to Italy, where they have lots of virgins. If he doesn’t get the blood of a virgin within two weeks, both he and his sister will die. Dracula doesn’t want to leave the castle, but he doesn’t have much choice. They put his sickly sister into her coffin; she can’t go along with them.
In Italy, a bunch of girls work in their garden, and since it’s hot, Rubunia and Saphiria decide to go topless. Mario, the Italian servant, has a very New York accent.
Dracula and Anton stop at a place to rent a room for the night. The landlady remarks on how thin and sickly Dracula looks, and they don’t have any food that Dracula can eat. They talk about one of the Di Fiore family who have four daughters that might be virgins, and this interests Anton a lot.
The Marquis Di Fiore and his wife discuss the rich new count who has arrived in town. The family needs money, so maybe they could marry off one of their useless daughters. Anton shows up at the door with a deal. The family offers them rooms at their huge house. The Marquis really liked the name “Dracula” and can barely stop saying it.
On the way out, Anton stops at a restaurant and likes a girl he sees there. She gets hit by a car, and Anton soaks up a bunch of her blood in a piece of bread. It’s tasty!
At the big house, Saphiria and Rubinia make love to Mario, as a group, so they clearly aren’t virgins. He points out that the family is broke and they’re about to lose everything. He prefers their 14-year-old sister, Esmerelda.
Dracula arrives at the house and makes introductions with all the girls. The girls wonder about the count. Anton and Mario clearly hate each other.
Saphiria brings Dracula some vegetables to eat in his room, and he talks to her about marriage. And tries to confirm if she’s a virgin or not. When she says that she is, he bites her. And quickly regrets it as he turns green and violently vomits it back up. Meanwhile, Mario makes love to another of the sisters as they discuss aristocracy and the lower classes.
Dracula rejects Saphiria for not being a virgin. Mario and Dracula argue over Communism, revolutions, and the aristocracy. Rubinia and Perla talk about Mario, Sex, and married life. Not long after, Dracula tests (and tastes) Rubinia, who also lies about her virginity. Again, he gets sick and it all comes back up.
Since neither of the middle daughters are actually virgins, Anton says they’re going back to Romania. He hints that the youngest daughter might be suitable and leaves it hanging at that. A bit later, Dracula comments on how run down and shabby everything is, pointing out the family’s poverty to Esmerelda. They talk and she mentions a long engagement that didn’t work out, so Dracula just assumes she isn’t a virgin.
Mario gets nosy and checks out the coffin, which he finds empty. He suddenly knows all about vampires. Rubinia and Saphirira check Perla and decide that she is a virgin; they try to take her to the count. She runs away into Mario, who tells her about vampires. He says she needs to lose her virginity before Dracula gets her, and then he makes it happen. The Marquesa soon learns about the vampire, as does everyone else. Esmerelda comes in, and she’s not feeling well. No one notices the scarf around her neck. Or the smile she gives the Count. Apparently she was a virgin after all.
Meanwhile, Dracula and Anton carry the coffin back out to the car, at least until Mario smashes it with an ax. Anton stabs the Marquesa, who shoots him in the back. Mario cuts off both Dracula’s arms and chases him around the house. Then he cuts his legs off. Finally, as he’s about to stake Dracula through the heart, Esmerelda runs out screaming. “No! He belongs to me!” She jumps on the stake as well.
Mario and Perla go back inside.
Brian’s Commentary
They don’t have a single virgin in Romania?
Just as with the Frankenstein film, Andy Warhol had nothing to do with this other than letting the producers use his name.
Dracula here goes out in the daytime and touches the cross, although he’s not happy to do either. He refuses to eat garlic.
It’s got plenty of funny bits, but it’s nowhere near as over-the-top as “Flesh for Frankenstein” which shared much of the same cast and crew. The four sisters all look too similar, so it’s a little hard to tell them apart, and the acting, all around, is exaggerated and more than a little hammy.
Kevin’s Commentary
I wonder why Dracula bothered using a mirror while putting on makeup in the opening credits. Though it was a good way to let us know right off the bat he’s a vampire. And speaking of bats, this version doesn’t seem to be able to shape shift. Though he’s also not too bothered by crosses or sunlight. And he does seem to have hypnotic power over women he’s bitten.
This has a lot of the vibe, and same cast, as “Flesh For Frankenstein,” but it’s more slow moving and not quite the same level of weirdness. It is still strange and pretty funny though.
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