Friday, December 23, 2016

DRACULA'S CASTLE / Paragon International Pictures - 1969

I recently picked up the 91 minute TV version of Al Adamson's BLOOD OF DRACULA'S CASTLE that he added 7 minutes to and changed the title to simply... DRACULA'S CASTLE! This is the best last minute stocking stuffer I could come up with, with only two days to go before XMAS.

The cast includes John (THE UNEARTHLY) Carradine, Alexander (HORRORS OF SPIDER ISLAND) D'Arcy, Paula (HAND OF DEATH) Raymond, Robert (FORBIDDEN PLANET) Dix and Vicki (HORROR OF THE BLOOD MONSTERS) Volante.

Welp, the story starts with our model and photographer couple, during a fun day at Marineland of the Pacific. They get a telegram saying they just inherited a castle in Lancaster!

Back at the ranch, Count Dracula and Countess Townsend are brought their daily glass of life giving blood by their faithful butler, George.

Robert Dix plays nut job Johnny, he has bribed the cemetery guard and is ready to make his escape. Adamson production regular, John 'Bud' Cardos, plays the guard.

But first, the Moon comes out (??) and Johnny turns into a freakin' werewolf and kills the guard!! This is a segment added for the TV version.

Would you buy a stolen car from this psycho? I don't really think it would be a good idea!!

Here's a good, unobstructed view of Dracula's Castle, boy, talk about scary!

Later, Johnny, in a seemingly unrelated scene, changes into a werewolf again, he chases down a woman, and... GETS HER!! You can see how the colors do not match the rest of the movie. Good old low budget fix!

Back at the ranch, all the beans get spilled all over the place, and, our couple is caught up in the insanity in the Dungeon!

This is another scene I believe was added for the TV release, they take Vicki Volante out and tie her to a stake and burn her ass up! A little shocking, but, necessary I guess... John looks a little weird in that garb!

Johnny gets a silver bullet in the heart (almost) and dies... Hooray!!

The Count and Countess are tied to chairs, and, the curtain is drawn and our vampires go poof! Then, a bat comes out of each neck hole in the clothing and they just fly away!

Finally, Mango (great stupid name which reminds me, Eegah!! played Kiwi in our short film, SNAKE BAIT) is the only crazy left. He grabs a mace and chases the couple out to a cliff. For his effort, Mango get a big axe in the back, then our hero lights a match and ... BOOM! Mango had a burrito for breakfast and his pants light up like a lit gas leak, and, he falls off the edge of the cliff! So, Merry Xmas Ever'bloody, we're back with one more treat for you tomorrow...

2 comments:

Grant said...

Apart from seeing DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN once, this is the only Al Adamson movie I really know. And even if it isn't great, it's pretty tongue-in-cheek (as opposed to just plain bad).

Greg Goodsell said...

I re-watched this a couple months ago and it was just as shitty as I remembered it.

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