Dracula Dead and Loving It (1995) starring Leslie Nielsen, Steven Weber, Peter MacNicol, Lysette Anthony, Mel Brooks
I’ve been doing reviews of various movies with Harvey Korman, since his recent death. This led me to watch Dracula: Dead and Loving It starring Leslie Nielsen, Steven Weber, Peter MacNicol and Lysette Anthony. Most of the reviews that I’d read led me to believe that it was a very unfunny movie, with only one or two laughs during the entire movie. In my opinion, they were totally wrong–I would describe this as Mel Brooks’ most underrated movie.
Count Yorga, Vampire (1970) starring Robert Quarry
Count Yorga, Vampire begins with a coffin being unloaded from a ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles. It’s then driven to a mansion in the California hills.
Hotel Transylvania (2012) starring Adam Sandler, Selina Gomez, Andy Samberg, Kevin James
Hotel Transylvania aims at a juvenile audience. Complete with the fart jokes and low humor that we’ve come to expect from Adam Sandler. And that’s a real pity. It’s actually a much better film than that.
Dracula vs Frankenstein (1971) starring J. Carrol Naish, Lon Chaney Jr.
Before talking about Dracula vs Frankenstein itself, I would like to point out that it was the final appearance by two excellent actors: J. Carrol Naish (Sahara, Annie Get Your Gun) and Lon Chaney Jr. (The Wolf Man, The Defiant Ones) — and both frankly deserved better. Lon Chaney Jr. was mute in the film, due to the damage done by throat cancer. Although I doubt that it would have improved the film very much if he had been able to speak. Yes, Dracula vs Frankenstein is that bad.
The plot is …
The basic plot for Dracula vs Frankenstein, such as it is, is as follows: the lovely and successful Judith Fontaine (Regina Carrol) is looking for her missing sister, Joan (Maria Lease, St. Elsewhere) who has disappeared into the hippie community of Venice, California. However, Joan has become the victim of Groton (Lon Chaney Jr.), a mute, axe-wielding homicidal maniac who alternates with playing with little puppies. Groton, in turn, is working for Dr. Durea (J. Carrol Naish), a wheelchair-bound mad scientist who is experimenting with re-attaching decapitated heads and resuscitating the victims. Dr. Durea is secretly the last descendant of Dr. Frankenstein and is running a house of horrors by the beach as a cover, assisted by Grazbo the Evil Dwarf (yes, that’s the character’s name, portrayed by Angelo Rossitto).
Blacula (1972) starring William Marshall, Vonetta McGee
Blacula is a blaxploitation film, that rises above its origin. largely because of the quality of the acting, especially the title character, portrayed by William Marshall.
The story begins in 1780, with African Price Manuwalde (William Marshall) seeking the help of a European count to end the slave trade. Unfortunately, he’s chosen to ask the aid of Count Dracula (Charles Macaulay). Dracula is all about enslaving people of all colors and having them join his undead army. And the count is offended by the African prince …
