The Return of Dracula in '50s Horror and Sci-Fi Forum

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The Return of Dracula

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Jay Maggio	Re: The Return (or Curse, if you prefer) of Dracula	#61	[-]
Jul 7 07 12:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Jay here: Thanks for poster Skel,as for us lucky west coasters, to use a phrase from an old classic, I'm melting,I'mmelting!! What about little Jimmy Baird,(Mickey) is on the schedule? thanks,JM
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Monsterpal	Re: The Return (or Curse, if you prefer) of Dracula	#62	[-]
Jul 7 07 2:03 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* I believe Norma Eberhardt is still with us, but living in New Jersey. A fate worse than debt.
skelton knaggs	Re: The Return (or Curse, if you prefer) of Dracula	#63	[-]
Jul 7 07 6:48 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* I believe Norma Eberhardt is still with us, but living in New Jersey *Quote:* A fate worse than debt. I resemble that remark !
Monsterpal	Re: The Return (or Curse, if you prefer) of Dracula	#64	[-]
Jul 9 07 4:14 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Now that you mention it, I have noticed a likeness there.
ProfessorWalgate	Re: The Return (or Curse, if you prefer) of Dracula	#65	[-]
Jul 9 07 4:22 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	www.mypicshare.com/ea5gdpr2pic.html
Butcher Benton	Re: The Return (or Curse, if you prefer) of Dracula	#66	[-]
Jul 9 07 8:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Nice poster, prof, even though the babe looks *nothing* like Norma.
skelton knaggs	Re: The Return (or Curse, if you prefer) of Dracula	#67	[-]
Jul 9 07 8:20 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This kinda looks like her...
Jay Maggio	Re: The Return (or Curse, if you prefer) of Dracula	#68	[-]
Jul 9 07 9:22 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Jay here: Would one of you kind people care to give Miss J some infor on the upcoming horror sci/fi festival that is going to be held in Hollywood this August, a link perhaps, thank u Ms.J I might finally get to go, its been a Monster Kid dream of mine for years.
Omega Man		#69	[-]
Oct 12 07 12:45 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	My review of the Midnite Movies edition for EC, freshly posted: http://www.eccentric-cinema.com/cult_movies2007/return_dracula.htm "Dammit, it's jammed!" www.eccentric-cinema.com
Joe Karlosi		#70	[-]
Oct 14 07 7:04 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, OM, in your review you say that this film makes you thankful for Hammer Films, but I have to wonder how you'd feel about their attempt to "update Dracula to modern times" in DRACULA A.D. 1972 or THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA? You've also wondered what Dracula's motivation was for choosing the Mayberry-like town, and mention that it makes no sense. I think it does for a couple of reasons -- first to escape far from where the vampire hunters are looking for him, and also the old standby of perhaps Dracula's homeland being drained, and looking for fresh food. Going back to the Hammers as a comparison, very little of anything Dracula does in that series makes much sense (especially later on in DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE, TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA and the aforementioned "modernized" efforts). Heck, has Dracula down through the ages ever REALLY made sense in what he does? Especially not investing in a watch to know when sunrise is! Whatever the case, we need not invest so much lucidity when it comes to vampire movies. Of course all of this is subjective, and you don't like the "look" of Dracula... well at least he speaks and has some good lines! (Unlike Lee). I also like that he looks older and not a kid, as Chris does in HORROR OF DRACULA Last Edited By: Joe Karlosi Oct 14 07 7:07 AM. Edited 2 times.
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Omega Man		#71	[-]
Oct 14 07 10:04 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Joe Karlosi wrote: Well, OM, in your review you say that this film makes you thankful for Hammer Films, but I have to wonder how you'd feel about their attempt to "update Dracula to modern times" in DRACULA A.D. 1972... That comment in my review was concerned the Hammer films that were contemporaries (late 1950s) of RETURN OF DRACULA -- pics like CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, HORROR OF DRACULA, etc. Much better movies, obviously, reinvigorating the classic monsters (like Count Dracula) in a way that nobody in America was at the time. As for DRACULA A.D. 1972, Hammer's first attempt to place Drac in a 20th Century setting, I'd say that it's not a very good movie, either. The Count wakes up in swinging London but stays pretty much confined to one location. It's all pretty silly, actually. However, it does have a number of advantages over the Lederer film. Such as... It's in color, it's got Cushing and Lee and a number of attractive byrds. To me, it's just more entertaining. Even so, I rated it a "5" (out of a possible 10) in comparison to RETURN OF DRACULA's "4" -- not that much of a difference, and with the caveat of an "Extra Cheese" icon (a.k.a. "so bad it's good"): http://www.eccentric-cinema.com/cult_movies/dracula_1972.htm "Dammit, it's jammed!" www.eccentric-cinema.com
cadmandd		#72	[-]
Oct 14 07 10:12 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This film has always been special to me. When it first came on TV in the early 60's, it was shown on Chiller as "Curse of Dracula". Back in those days, you hardly saw a drop of blood on TV. To see the blind girl get staked with blood gushing out, and then to see his grisly demise with the blood soaked shirt in the pit at the end, Well, I can remember my brother & cousins sitting in the living room going "WOW". I guess we almost felt like we got away with something. Cadmandd
Robert Troch		#73	[-]
Oct 14 07 10:36 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Speaking of Hammer the stakinf scene in ROD (I am pretty sure) is in color because it was lifted straight from the staking scene in Horro of Dracula. Even the audio! The same scene was also lifted for the first Pakastani vampire film called.....sheesh I am drawing ablank on the name right now but I have it here on my shelf and watched it once. A very strange curiosity and it lifts a whole bunch of audio tracks straight from Horro of Dracula. Funny thing about ROD I watched this many times when I was a kid (1970?) on our Ken films super 8 version and thought Dracula looked very silly with his curly hair and over coat substituting for a cape but now as I watch it I don't think it is that bad. Yes the music is a little over the top but there is some atmosphere here and at least it was a fresh take on Dracula...and it is entertaining. As far as making sense I don't spend to much time on that line of thinking. As another poster already stated.....when has Dracula ever made much sense anyway?? At least in many of the Hammer ones. BTW in case anyone thinks I am dissing Hammer HOD is one of my all time favorites! Robert T.
DonM435		#74	[-]
Oct 14 07 11:48 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Robert Troch wrote: Speaking of Hammer the stakinf scene in ROD (I am pretty sure) is in color because it was lifted straight from the staking scene in Horro of Dracula. Even the audio! . . . That seems unlikely. I'll bet that RofD was completed before HofD was released, or at the worst they were simultaneous. I don't see how they could have lifted that scene.
DonM435		#75	[-]
Oct 14 07 11:51 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Omega Man wrote: As for DRACULA A.D. 1972 . . . it does have a number of advantages over the Lederer film. Such as... DRAC '72 has a horrible, horrible "music" score that ruins even the otherwise good scenes. RETURN OF DRACULA's score is unusually intense, but I think that it works. A better comparison for the traditional vampire on the U.S. left coast is Count Yorga in the 1970s. Those were good, low-budget efforts.
TomWeaver999		#76	[-]
Oct 14 07 12:18 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	RETURN OF DRAC producer Arthur Gardner told me about the shooting of that insert shot; co-producer Jules V. Levy drove the stake into a goat bladder filled with makeup blood. It must have been messy in unused takes, because Gardner said he had "blood" all over him by the time they finished shooting.
Bill Warren		#77	[-]
Oct 14 07 12:41 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Speaking of Hammer the staking scene in ROD (I am pretty sure) is in color because it was lifted straight from the staking scene in Horro of Dracula. Even the audio! I think it's pretty likely that the makers of RETURN OF DRACULA were deliberately copying that sequence from Hammer's movie, but it's not the same footage nor the same sound. Both those are new in this film--as Tom Weaver points out above. Using the exact same footage would not have escaped U-I's notice.
Ted Newsom		#78	[-]
Oct 14 07 12:53 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It may seem like a similar shot, but it's not, except in the blood-spurt execution. They're not even really mirror images. ROD is framed left to right (the lady's unseen head being, supposedly, directly off-screen and to the left); in HOD, the shot is framed right to left, with Lucy's head being to the right of the upper part of the frame (presumably, since it's offscreen, too). The difference in the stakes is apparent, too-- the long, sharp, pointy one in ROD, the square-cut little portable vampire-destroying-kit one in the Hammer film. And the blood in ROD spurts like a faucet-- although only for about 24 frames. If Mr. Gardner got splattered, he must've had his nose right down in there.
TomWeaver999		#79	[-]
Oct 14 07 12:54 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	<< I think it's pretty likely that the makers of RETURN OF DRACULA were deliberately copying that sequence from Hammer's movie << Dunno about that ... RETURN OF DRAC was made several months before HORROR OF DRAC was released here.
DonM435		#80	[-]
Oct 14 07 2:54 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	With all the rumors about bloodier stakings in foreign versions of Horror of Dracula being cut, I think it would be fun to splice in the ridiculous staking sequence from Mel Brooks' Dracula picture, dub the whole thing badly in Japanese, and release it on unsuspecting audiences.
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The Return of Dracula