utgard14 Another of AIP's teenage horror movies like I Was a Teenage Werewolf and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein. This one's about a teenage girl who smokes so you know she's a rebel. Her father is remarrying just six weeks after her mom died, so she's got a lot to rebel against. Anyway the dad and stepmom send the girl to boarding school, where she meets a lady chemistry teacher who's also a bit of a mad scientist. She is pretty peeved that men are going to destroy the world and won't let her save it, so she uses an amulet to hypnotize the girl into a becoming a vampire, because why not? Obviously, as with most of these types of movies, it's got its share of flaws. The vampire makeup is pretty silly and that corny music number is unintentionally hilarious. The ending is abrupt like they decided they had better things to do one day and just called it quits. Still, it's not all bad. The script has some bite (no pun intended) and some of the characters are fun. There's also some subtext that, laughable though it may be, keeps things interesting. Sandra Harrison is good as the smart-mouthed lead. Louise Lewis is appropriately melodramatic as the scientist. The rest of the cast ranges in quality and includes babes Gail Ganley and Heather Ames. No one stinks up the joint. Even the lesser actors are worth watching for how much they ham it up. As a horror movie, it wouldn't scare an infant. But it does have value for fans of cheesy B movies from the '50s.

Scott LeBrun Teenager-oriented monster schlock from producer Herman Cohen and director Herbert L. Strock has only a mildly amusing premise. The troubled Nancy Perkins (Sandra Harrison) is shuffled off to a girls school by her father (Thomas Browne Henry) and stepmother (Jean Dean). Here Nancy falls under the influence of her science teacher Miss Branding (Louise Lewis), who believes that her crackpot ideas are being discounted by male colleagues because she's a woman. Soon a series of murders plagues the campus.The title is a misnomer, as the story & screenplay by Aben Kandel really have nothing to do with Count Dracula. The only fresh bit of business is having a female in the role of a Dr. Frankenstein type of character, and Lewis is okay in this role. But the rest of the parts are strictly nondescript, and that includes our protagonist Nancy. Some fans of the genre may be disappointed, as the body count is quite low, and the plot is unfortunately bogged down in talk and short on horror. The makeup is bargain basement stuff. A.I.P. do populate the movie with attractive young performers, one of whom (Jerry Blaine as Tab) pads the running time a little bit with a ditty called "Puppy Love".At the very least, it's nice to see a couple of reliable character actors in supporting roles: Malcolm Atterbury as Lieutenant Dunlap, Richard Devon as Detective Sergeant Stewart, Paul Maxwell as Dr. Mike, Carlyle Mitchell as Stanley Mayther, and Voltaire Perkins as Dr. Lawson.Although "Blood of Dracula" kills 70 minutes fairly painlessly, it's dull when compared to the likes of "I Was a Teenage Werewolf".Five out of 10.

trashgang I found this movie at a sale for just almost no money. That's the reason I bought it because I'm really not into the fifties. I can dig the old ones and the universal classic horrors but the fifties and also the sixties were a big let down for me. Why, because nothing really happens and if things happen it's all done off camera. The storyline is good in this flick but there are things that happen that make you want to push the fast forward button, for example, the scene were one of the guys start singing and that the whole song. The only good thing is the transformation from normal person to a vampire. Still, the vampire looks silly and really has to go to a dentist. When the vampire attacks it's all done off screen, no blood flows, no marks in the neck are shown. Glad that I have seen another flick from the fifties to confirm my statement...

mlraymond This low budget 1957 monster movie is typical of the drive-in fare produced by AIP in the late Fifties to attract the teenage audience. It's a moody, low key story with some nice atmosphere, about a teenage girl embittered by her father re-marrying shortly after her mother's death, and dumping his daughter in a private school at the request of his new wife.The new student makes a good impression on the leader of the secret clique that runs things behind the lines, who advises her chemistry teacher mentor that they've found the ideal subject for the teacher's secret project, a girl filled with barely suppressed anger and violence.Many viewers have commented on the lesbian subtext of the teacher's relationships with Myra, the clique leader, and Nancy, the new girl. Louise Lewis gives probably the best performance of the movie as the feminist scholar determined to prove her thesis to a " world run by men for men". She strikes just the right note as the sinister scientist with a benign exterior, seeming only to want to be a helpful mentor to the girl, polite and efficient with the school dean, spouting her lunatic ideas with reasonable sounding phrases about progress and science.Some night time scenes of terror on the darkened grounds of the school are very effective, and the acting is fairly good. As usual for a Fifties AIP movie, there are lots of pretty girls to look at, some rock and roll music and dancing, and a subversive undertone in which virtually all adults are suspect in their motives.The movie isn't as dynamic as I Was a Teenage Werewolf, from which it's obviously derived, but it works pretty well on its own terms as a spooky little thriller. Definitely worth seeing for Fifties horror movie buffs.