Blood for Dracula (Blu-ray) (1974)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Audio Commentary-Writer / director Paul Morrissey Gallery-Screen Tests with Paul Morrissey Commentary More…-Production Stills with Paul Morrissey Commentary
Rating
Year Of Production	1974
Running Time	103:12
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Paul Morrissey
Studio Distributor	Shock Entertainment	Starring	Joe Dallesandro Udo Kier Arno Juerging Maxime McKendry Milena Vukotic Dominique Darel Stefania Casini Silvia Dionisio Inna Alexeievna Gil Cagne Emi Califri Eleonora Zani Vittorio De Sica
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Claudio Gizzi

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 2.0 mono English Audio Commentary
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080i
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     A pale and sickly Count Dracula (Udo Kier) is dying in his family castle in Romania; he must drink the blood of a virgin to survive but unfortunately there are no virgins left in the local area. His servant Anton (Arno Juerging) persuades the Count that they should travel to Italy where there are more virgins and the Count reluctantly agrees. In Italy they hear of the Di Fiore family, an aristocratic family who are now almost penniless but with four daughters. Although the father of the girls (Vittorio De Sica) has some reservations, the mother, La Marchesa (Maxime McKendry), sees Dracula as an opportunity to repair the family fortunes by marrying off one of the girls, so she invites Dracula and Anton to stay at the family villa.

     There Dracula meets the four Di Fiore daughters; the staid eldest Esmeralda (Milena Vukotic), the beautiful middle daughters Saphiria (Dominique Darel) and Rubinia (Stafania Casini), and the youngest, fourteen year old Perla (Silvia Dionisio). Dracula takes an interest in Saphiria and soon has the opportunity to bite into her neck and drink her blood; but, alas for Dracula, Saphiria is no virgin as she, and her sister Rubinia, have been all too ready to jump into bed with the family’s Marxist servant Mario (Joe Dallesandro). Drinking Saphiria’s, then Rubinia’s, non-virgin blood sends Dracula into spasms of pain during which he vomits up the blood, making him even more sickly and frail. There are, however, two daughters remaining but Mario has become suspicious. Can Dracula find a true virgin before Mario discovers Dracula is a vampire?

     With the popularity of the Hammer horror monster franchises in the 50s, 60s and 70s, it was no surprise that other Frankenstein and Dracula films were made. Immediately after completing Flesh for Frankenstein in 1973 at Cinecitta studios in Rome (in fact he started the afternoon after completing shooting Flesh for Frankenstein in the morning) writer / director Paul Morrissey made this companion piece, Blood for Dracula, with many of the same cast.

     I recently reviewed Flesh for Frankenstein on this site and found it to be a strange beast, a film intended as a comedy that was filmed in 3D to cash in on the craze then currently in vogue. Blood for Dracula is an altogether different proposition; it was not a 3D film and is played straight as a more traditional horror story, although, being a Morrissey film with Joe Dallesandro, it is one with large helpings of female breasts and full frontal nudity, quite explicit sex, blood, gore and severed limbs with spraying blood. The film also includes wooden acting, stilted dialogue and accents / dialects all over the place. Udo Kier is, however, far more effective as an anaemic and sickly Dracula than he was as Frankenstein; there is vulnerability and pathos about his character and the scenes where the non-virgin blood induces violent convulsions and projective vomiting of the tainted blood even elicit some sympathy for his plight. He is not in control; instead he is very much a victim of the need for virgin blood to survive. Our sympathy for him is aided by the fact that La Marchesa is greedy and very ready to sell off any of her daughters while the ostensible hero of the film, Mario, is a cad, a pig, a rapist and a user and abuser of the daughters. Really, there is no one else you could sympathise with!

     Paul Morrissey was closely associated with Andy Warhol, including discovering the Velvet Underground , and Warhol’s name appears in the credits as presenting Blood for Dracula. This is a much better film, to my mind, than Flesh for Frankenstein. The acting and dialogue remain indifferent, but the plot is more concrete than the earlier film, there are beautifully detailed sets and locations that look anything but cheap, the central character is more interesting and the film has an excellent and diverse score by Claudio Gizzi.

Video

     Blood for Dracula is presented in the original 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio, in 1080i using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     This is a nice HD print. Fine detail is very good, with all the lines and shadows on Dracula’s anaemic face clear. Colours are generally natural except the blood is appropriately deep and bright red. The sets look expensive, blacks are solid and shadow detail good. Grain is well controlled, brightness and contrast consistent, skin tones good.

     There are regular small marks on the print plus the odd scratch or hair, but nothing too serious. There was also minor motion blur against mottled surfaces such as stonework or trees.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

     The audio is an English DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono. The theatrical film release of the film featured a mono audio, so nothing is lost.

     Dialogue is clear and easy to understand. While this is a mono audio the effects, such as the car engine or footsteps, have some depth. The score by Claudio Gizzi is diverse and interesting.

     There is no surround or subwoofer use.

     I noticed some slight crackle in moments without music or effects early in the film.

     Lips were occasionally out of sync with the dialogue.

Audio Ratings Summary

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Audio Commentary with Paul Morrissey

    This commentary was on the previous Criterion US release and features not only Morrissey but also actor Udo Kier and historian Maurice Yacowar cut together. This is an interesting commentary, covering a diverse range of topics including the shoot, intentions, Morrissey’s techniques and lighting effects, plot and character points, the social background, the score and adapting the vampire legends. An excellent commentary that is well worth the listen.

Screen Tests with Paul Morrissey Commentary (4:09)

     Screen tests of a Yugoslav actor who Morrissey intended to play Dracula until he was arrested, with the director’s comments.

Production Stills with Paul Morrissey Commentary (24:49)

     Recorded in 2005, this is more a mini-director’s commentary as Morrissey talks about the film while watching production and behind the scenes stills (some black and white, some colour) that play in the sequence of the completed film. Morrissey talks about setting the film in the 1920s, working without a script, the producer Carlo Ponte, the budget, shooting two films back to back, the cameo by Roman Polanski, casting, accents and his shooting style. Morrissey is an interesting speaker with firm points of view so this is definitely worth a listen.

     While there are some DVD releases of Blood for Dracula listed on Amazon, our Australian Blu-ray release from Shock Entertainment seems to be the only one currently available on sites.

     Immediately after Paul Morrissey completed Flesh for Frankenstein he started Blood for Dracula with a lot of the same cast. To my mind Blood for Dracula is the better film; it plays the story pretty straight although it features a search for the blood of a virgin, breasts, full frontal nudity, raunchy sex, rape, blood, gore and severed limbs. The film is a must for Morrissey fans or anyone interested in a very different take on the Dracula story.

     The video and audio are fine, the extras interesting and genuine. The DVD of Blood for Dracula has been out for some time and was reviewed on this site here. That DVD had numerous artefacts and no extras, so if you enjoy the film and have Blu-ray capacity updating to this release is a no-brainer.

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