VinnieRattolle Nocturna, Dracula's granddaughter, falls in love with a disco guitarist and follows him to the Big Apple, where she takes up residence with Drac's ex. The Count and his lovelorn henchman soon follow to bring Nocturna home to Transylvania. I generally open with a bigger synopsis, but that's how light the film is on story. There are a few run-ins with other characters in various vignette-like sequences, but they don't have a whole lot to do with the plot. However, there's a WHOLE LOT of disco music and shots of Nocturna twirling! Years ago, someone recommended Nocturna to me and my initial reaction was, "Why'd he think I'd like this? It's awful!" It wasn't until I revisited the movie on a whim that I realized how FASCINATINGLY awful it is. The dialogue is abysmal, the performances are almost universally bad (though the always-delightful Sy Richardson managed to transcend the material a bit), the animated FX are beyond cheesy, the disco sequences seem endless, and a bathing scene drags on past the point of titillation into tedium. However, there's something oddly lovable about this obscurity. Years later, it dawned on me that it's essentially a lower-budget vampire version of "Xanadu": Starcrossed lovers with zero chemistry, a related antagonist who's weak (literally, in this instance), tons of music, some tacky animation, and a few dialogue scenes to loosely tie things together. I've chronicled the making of the film at length elsewhere (it's become a minor obsession), but allow me to briefly reiterate... This was a star vehicle for bellydancer Nai Bonet, who had appeared in a few films and TV shows in the decade+ preceding Nocturna (she actually wasn't bad in "Soul Hustler"), but her biggest accomplishment was becoming a socialite among the Studio 54 type of crowd. She conceived the idea for the movie, got director Harry Hurwitz to write the script, secured soundtrack music from disco divas Gloria Gaynor and Vicki Sue Robinson (in an odd twist, Robinson went on to star alongside Bonet in her next-and-final film venture, "Hoodlums"), threw a few measly bucks at typecast frequent-costars Yvonne DeCarlo and John Carradine, and got Compass International Pictures to produce and distribute the film. Critics universally panned the movie, audiences generally ignored it, and it only briefly blipped on big screens and video store shelves. Bonet made one final foray into film with a gangster disco-drama(!) she'd conceived and then she retired from acting for good.If I could pick one largely-unknown film to get a lavish Blu-Ray release, this'd be the one. It's developed a small cult following over the years and it's a travesty that the only prints in circulation are taken from early 1980s VHS transfers. Despite its many, many horrendous flaws, there's something sort of magical about this little disasterpiece. So is anyone from Shout Factory or Scorpion Releasing reading this? Or MST3K/Rifftrax, even? (Brother Theodore could be the next Torgo!)

Michael_Elliott Nocturna (1979)** (out of 4) This softcore-disco-vampire flick has pretty much been forgotten to time but for fans of John Carradine it will give you the final chance of seeing the legendary actor playing Count Dracula. In the film he must travel to New York City from Transylvania because his great-granddaughter Nocturna (Nai Bonet) has fallen in love with a drummer from a disco band and she wants to marry him and live life as a normal girl. I'm not sure who would think that a film like this would have been wanted even in 1979 but star Bonet apparently put up all the money to get the film in the can. This is a pretty bizarre little movie that's only going to appeal to those who enjoy campy horror-comedies. I'd be lying if I said I understood what the point was but if you sit back and just take things for what they are then this here isn't too bad. I'll say right up front that I'm not a fan of disco music so I found the extended dance sequences to be rather hard to sit through and I found the music incredibly annoying. The soundtrack includes Gloria Gaynor, Vicki Sue Robinson and Moment of Truth but none of the songs really jumped out at me and there's no question you won't get them confused with the work of the Bee Gees. What does work in the film is some rather nice humor including some bizarre dialogue including one scene where Dracula is complaining that he has to wear denture-fangs and then talks about his younger days when the women would tell him that his fangs were "hung like a walrus". We even get some more funny lines with Carradine delivering them at a high speed and this just adds to the entertainment. Speaking of Carradine, you gotta give the man credit for appearing in a film like this, obviously just picking up some cash, yet giving it all he has. At times he seems like he doesn't know what the heck all the disco stuff is but he's still going through all the motions and ends up turning in a rather memorable performance. Fans of Carradine will want to check this one out since it was his last time playing Dracula and sure enough it's just as strange as his BILLY THE KID VS. Dracula. Mrs. Munster herself Yvonne De Carlo plays a vampire named Jugulia and appears to be having a blast. Bonet was speaking her second language apparently and this certain effects her performance but I still found her to be rather charming in the part. I thought she did a good job getting across her "desire" to be human and I thought she worked well with both Carradine and De Carlo. Not only did Bonet star and put up the money but she also write the screenplay, which as I said features some pretty clever lines but she would have done herself a favor had she cut down on the dance sequences as well as got a director who could have handled the pacing better. I'm guessing at first thing film couldn't be sold so they had to spice things up a bit so we're got quite a bit of nudity including some full-frontal stuff. The most shocking scene is also one of the most gratuitous nude scenes in history and that has Bonet taking a hot bubble bath where she's constantly bend over in front of the camera while she rubs herself down. This sequence runs at least five minutes and is reason enough to track down a copy of this film. NOCTURNA isn't going to be considered a lost masterpiece but it's a shame this hasn't had a legit release because there's enough charm here to make it worth viewing.

Casey-52 I have to echo previous commentators' reviews and proclaim NOCTURNA as one of the best unseen exploitation films of the 70s! Where late-70s flicks like VAMPIRE HOOKERS, LUST AT FIRST BITE and Dracula aren't too hard to find, NOCTURNA has been unavailable for years. Contrary to popular belief, it is not because of music rights issues, but because of other behind-the-scenes issues. Hopefully they can be rectified and this cult-classic-waiting-to-happen can finally be unleashed to a brand-new audience of Midnight Movie lovers!The Nai Bonet nude scene was shot separately from the rest of the film and tacked on to spice up the movie. Other than this sequence and a sex scene with Tony Hamilton, this could have been rated PG. NOCTURNA is a feel-good vampire comedy with good-natured jokes, almost wall-to-wall disco music and a charming love story. Bonet is a very bad actress, but is simply stunning and definitely has a unique statuesque presence in her many flowing costumes. Sy Richardson, familiar from playing the jive-talking Fairy Godmother in Michael Pataki's Cinderella, is a jive-talking vampire pimp here, and Brother Theodore (whose bloodthirsty voice was lent to Dracula VS. FRANKENSTEIN and the trailer for MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND) hams it up magnificently as Hotel Transylvania's manager. John Carradine seems a little lost, but Yvonne De Carlo acts like she's having a grand time (as she did in the pretty abysmal BLAZING STEWARDESSES) and is given some juicy one-liners here. Look fast for a 42nd Street adult movie marquee advertising the classic A COMING OF ANGELS!NOCTURNA's double-disc soundtrack LP can still be found pretty easily in cutout bins and eBay auction listings, and I would recommend picking up a copy even if you haven't seen the film! Tracks by Gloria Gaynor, Vicki Sue Robinson, The Moment of Truth, Jay Siegel and The Heaven 'n' Hell Orchestra are wonderful and generally very hard to find elsewhere!

G-Man-25 It's a shame this movie never made it to video. Hell, you never even see it on cable! I remember seeing it at a drive-in in the summer of '79 and thinking it was great cheesy fun. If they released it on video today, it would be seen as a lost campy relic of the disco/drive-in age. It's hampered somewhat by an extremely low budget (check out those groovy cartoon transformation effects) and a few dry stretches here and there, but there's plenty of gratuitous nudity and sex (Nai Bonet may not be a great actress but she is NOT shy about showing off her terrific body!) and the script is occasionally inspired, with some great one-liners. John Carradine as an aging Dracula is a particular hoot! Worthy of cult status.