Many years ago, I saw a TV documentary on blaxploitation that described the Blacula movies (rather aptly) as 'the final nail in the genre's coffin'. Well, over 30 years on since they first shocked and amused audiences, the movies are still as popular as ever - and now back with a bite on DVD.
With a plot even Hammer would be ashamed of, Blacula somehow manages to tie the original Count Dracula to the slave trade. When tribal leader Mamuwalde (William Marshall) goes over to Transylvania with his wife Luva (Vonetta McGee), he falls foul of the Count, finding himself under a vampire curse, confined to a coffin for eternity. Fast forward 200 years and two camp interior designers from L.A. are buying up the castle's fittings for 'kitsch value', unwittingly shipping over Blacula to cause mayhem on US streets.
Indeed, his lust for (mainly) black blood sees a trail of victims including a taxi driver, several policemen, a photographer, a doctor and the two designers, all left in a zombie-like state to clock up their own body count. But there's a couple of twists - Blacula's wife Luva has been re-incarnated in the city as Tina - with Blacula desperate to get her back. And local pathologist Dr. Gordon Thomas (Thalmus Rasulala) is on his trail. Can he stop the vampire? Will Tina fall for Blacula's charms? Or will she be his downfall? All will be revealed in an action-packed final few minutes.
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