Smoreni Zmaj At the end of the 18th century, the African prince comes to Europe to negotiate the abolition of slavery. After receiving, he remains a guest at the Count Dracula's castle, who kills his wife and turns him into a vampire. Two centuries later, in Los Angeles, he encounters a girl he believes is the incarnation of his wife. The story is quite original, full of interesting details and well-told, but everything else in the movie is cheap (budget $ 500,000), lousy and unconvincing. There is a lot of idling and a good part of the movie we watch club performances of the soul band "The Hues Corporation." The film was, at least to me, mostly boring, and it does not deserve more than four, but for the quality story I will honor it with5/10

re-animatresse from the title and trailer, i was expecting comedy, and the film does start out fairly campy but quickly assumes a more serious tonedirector William Crain is, according to Wikipedia, 'one of the first black filmmakers from a major film school to achieve commercial success'. the screenplay by Joan Torres and Raymond Koenig, who evidently only ever wrote this film and its sequel, Scream Blacula Scream, is basically a retelling of Dracula set in Los Angeles in the early '70s. the film has the makings of a Gothic romance but with a funk soul atmosphere, driven by a lively rhythm and blues soundtrack composed by Gene Page the acting is hit-and-miss, with excellent performances from Thalmus Rasulala as Dr. Gordon Thomas, the film's version of Van Helsing, and William Marshall in the title role. the police brutality (i.e, the brutality with which Mamuwalde, a.k.a. Blacula, handles the police when they get in his way) is great fun, and i love the animation sequence during the opening credits if you haven't seen this, you should fix that. i'll definitely have to check out the sequel, which features Pam Grier in a leading role

utgard14 Cheesy but fun blaxploitation horror classic about an African prince turned into a vampire by Dracula. He's locked in a coffin for nearly two hundred years until a couple of gay antique dealers open it. Now unleashed on the streets of Los Angeles, the vampire prince wastes no time searching for fresh victims to drain of their blood. Soon he encounters a woman that is the spitting image of his long-dead wife and the two fall in love.Beautiful Vonetta McGee plays Blacula's reincarnated love. Equally beautiful Denise Nicholas (in her film debut) plays her friend. I would watch anything with these ladies, two of the loveliest actresses of the '70s. Thalmus Rasulala plays the heroic doctor who figures out what's going on. Basically he's the Van Helsing of the story. Gordon Pinsent is good in a small role as a police lieutenant friend of Rasulala's. The star of the movie, Blacula himself, is William Marshall. He was a fine actor with a memorable voice and distinguished presence. In the hands of an actor with less gravitas, this could have been much more campy than it was. I think it's safe to say he rises above the material. It's still an often laughable movie with no real scares but a couple of good shock scenes such as when the lady cab driver awakens as a vampire and attacks poor Elisha Cook, Jr. I like the ending, too. Some great songs by The Hues Corporation. Decent makeup for the vamps. Followed by a sequel, Scream Blacula Scream, which features blaxploitation queen Pam Grier.

Wizard-8 I think it's pretty obvious that a blaxploitation horror movie that goes by the name "Blacula" is not to be taken completely seriously. Indeed, there are some humorous moments to be found here and there, though some gags (like the treatment of the gay antique dealers) come across as quite dated more than forty years later. There are other flaws to be found in the movie, like the fact that the title character actually becomes a secondary character for significant portions of the movie. As well, the screenplay has some plot flaws like why no one opened Blacula's coffin back in Transylvania, or why Blacula is not the least bit confused when he awakens and goes around 1972 Los Angeles.Despite flaws like these, I think the movie is worth a look. For starters, it's one of the first black-themed horror movies, and the movie is also kind of a time capsule for black culture of its era. The star feature of the movie, however, is William Marshall playing the title character. He gives a very commanding performance, giving this particular vampire character an intelligence and dignity that's rarely found in vampire movies, and his appearances make it worth your while to sit through the movie's occasional lulls.