Themes: Fish Out of Water, Vampires, Woman In Jeopardy
Main Cast: Joe Dallesandro, Udo Kier, Vittorio De Sica, Maxime McKendry, Arno Juerging
Release Year: 1973
Country: IT/FR
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
The second of two horror films shot in a single production term and bearing the name of pop-art icon Andy Warhol (whose participation pretty much ended with the use of his name), this film is slightly superior to its higher-profile predecessor, Andy Warhol's Frankenstein. Direction is credited to Warhol factory filmmaker Paul Morrissey, though there still exists a very vocal camp who insist that the real credit should go to Italian director Antonio Margheriti. Euro-horror leading man Udo Kier assays the title role, playing the count as a pale, anemic-looking blood junkie with an overwrought accent. Finding the supply of "weer-gin" blood diminishing rapidly in Romania, Dracula is forced to seek a fix in a predominantly Catholic Italian province, where he is certain a few virgins still exist. He travels with his assistant (Arno Juerging) and his coffin-sealed sister to the decrepit, crumbling mansion of the financially-strapped Marquis DiFore (a tour-de-force performance from Bicycle Thief director Vittorio de Sica) who welcomes the affluent Count with open arms, hoping to marry off any one of his four daughters. Dracula clearly has other intentions for the girls... but his plans are rudely thwarted by beefy, socialist handyman Mario (Joe Dallesandro), who has been dutifully divesting the young maidens of their -- ahem -- virtue, thus tainting their blood and making it unsafe for vampiric consumption. Very unsafe, it turns out -- as we are treated to protracted scenes of the death-pale Count vomiting up gallons of blood. Rated "X" at the time of its release (and subsequently re-rated "R" ten years later), this outrageous catalogue of depravity features wildly campy performances, inane dialogue and an outrageous climax. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
Review
The companion piece to Flesh for Frankenstein is also available as a gorgeous widescreen DVD with audio commentary by Paul Morrissey, Udo Kier, and Maurice Yacowar. Like the other film, this one also features great photography and splattery gore dismemberments. It also has Kier as the villain, Arno Juerging as his assistant (here named Anton), and Joe Dallesandro as a virile stud. Once again, Kier and Juerging are marvelous, balancing the most ludicrous dialogue with a hilariously deadpan earnestness that is essential to good camp. That's where the comparisons end, because this film is much more elitist and philosophically oriented than its twin. Morrissey was unique in the Andy Warhol stable, a right-wing conservative, who, like his colleagues, delighted in hobnobbing with the rich and famous, but did so for much different reasons. In this film, an outspoken Marxist peasant (Dallesandro) becomes lord of the manor after deflowering a 14-year-old girl. This act defeats Dracula, who can only drink the blood of "weergins" and is left without sustenance, making him vulnerable to a flamboyant dismemberment. Dallesandro says he raped the girl to save her from Dracula, but the audience knows his true (Communist?) motives. Thus, the proletarian peasant is presented as more exploitive than the wealthy land barons. As Yacowar points out in the liner notes, "Mario represents not the triumph of the people, but the replacement of one tyranny with another, less dignified." Morrissey clearly believes in the superiority of the upper classes -- even those as decadent as presented in Flesh for Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula -- over the common rabble. That may be the root of the problem with both Morrissey horror spoofs, because once the viewer gets beyond the surface craziness and outrageous visuals, they're really sucker-punches at the audience, ostensibly playing to their instinctive delight in bashing the idle rich while simultaneously condemning the masses as a far worse horror. One can get past that, of course, because both of these films are still very funny and remain over-the-top splatter highlights of the '70s, but Morrissey's obvious disdain for the average man comes through in every smug frame. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Milena Vukotic - Esmeralda; Gil Cagne - Townsman; Stefania Casini - Rubinia; Dominique Darel - Saphiria; Silvia Dionisio - Perla; Roman Polanski - Man in Inn; Stefano Oppedisano; Maxime de la Falaise
Credit
Gianni Giovagnoni - Art Director, Paul Morrissey - Director, Jed Johnson - Editor, Franca Silvi - Editor, Ted Johnson - Editor, Claudio Gizzi - Composer (Music Score), Carlo Gizzi - Composer (Music Score), Enrico Job - Production Designer, Luigi Kuveiller - Cinematographer, Luigi Kueveillier - Cinematographer, Andrew Braunsberg - Producer, Carlo Ponti - Producer, Andy Warhol - Producer, Jean Yanne - Producer, Jean-Pierre Rassam - Producer, Carlo Rambaldi - Special Effects, Paul Morrissey - Screenwriter
A sickly and dying Count Dracula (Kier), who must drink virgin blood to survive, travels from Transylvania to Italy, thinking he will be more likely to find a virgin in a Catholic country. Dracula befriends Marchese di Fiori (de Sica), an impecunious Italian landowner who, with a lavish estate falling into decline, is willing to marry off one of his four daughters to the wealthy aristocrat.
Of di Fiori's four daughters, two regularly enjoy the sexual services of Mario, the estate handyman (Dallesandro), a Marxist with a hammer and sickle painted on his bedroom wall. The youngest and eldest daughters are virgins, but the latter is thought too plain to be offered for marriage, and is past her prime, and the youngest is only 14 years old (portrayed by 23 year old Silvia Dionisio). Dracula obtains assurances that all the daughters are virgins and drinks the blood of the two who are considered marriageable. However, both are non-virgins and their tainted blood makes Dracula ill, but still turning the two girls into mental slaves. Mario realizes the danger to the youngest daughter in time and rapes her ostensibly for her own protection. In the meantime Dracula has drunk the blood of the eldest daughter, turning her into a vampire. After the mother is stabbed by Dracula's servant (whom she then shoots) and Mario kills Dracula, the peasant Mario commands the estate.
Production
The film was shot on locations in Italy and was partly improvised as the filming of Flesh for Frankenstein by the same team had been quicker and less costly than expected.
Release
Blood for Dracula was initially released to theaters in a 103-minute version that was given an X rating by the MPAA due to its violent and sexual elements; it was later cut to 94 minutes and reclassified with an R rating for re-release. The original uncut version has been released to DVD several times, though it is now unrated.
