BLOOD OF DRACULA (1957)

BLOOD OF DRACULA (1957)

Tagline: In her eyes ... desire! In her veins ... the blood of a monster!

(Horror, Drama, Blood Sucking Fiend from The Depths of Mad Science) [PG]

Note: This movie was never given an MPA rating, but it would have landed a PG rating if it had been released today. It came out as a double feature with I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN. 

Nancy, have you ever been hypnotized? 

In this one Nancy Perkins is sent to a boarding school because she’s kind of nuts, but also her parents suck. She ends up as part of a test her science teacher Miss Branding is doing concerning atoms. Because why not test crazy stuff on your students. It doesn’t take long before via hypnosis Nancy becomes the tool of Miss Branding's experiments and murders begin to occur on campus. 

First off, it should be noted that this movie has nothing to do with Dracula, but they do mention Dracula and vampires in the script. It is however the first English-language vampire movie where the fangs of the vampire are visible. If you came to see hair-pulling, screaming, vindictive boarding school girls take their anger out on the new girl, lots of flasks, a teen who hates her stepmother, Carpathian amulets, you came to the right freakin place ladies and gentlemen. This is that movie. 

I think with the poster for this thing I was expecting more of a dark tone happening in some run-down abandoned school somewhere, but this has more of an “aimed at teen horror fans” feel. We have a couple sequences where there is definitely some Scooby-Doo! dancing going on. There is even a musical number, so just a heads up on all that. 

When it comes to the acting Heather Ames plays Nola, who is kind of like the girl that preps all of Miss Branding’s science stuff for class. She is a bit of a teacher’s pet but also likes to have fun and be a jerk from time to time. Heather also shows up in HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER and some other films, so she definitely knew how to take on this role. Sandra Harrison plays Nancy Perkins and is very solid in the role. This was one of only 2 movies she was in, but she did show up in quite a few TV shows. Gail Ganley (NOT OF THIS EARTH) plays Myra and also does a pretty good job in the role. Her character is kind of like the student aid, rather than a teacher’s pet. She actually has an invested interest in having a scientific career, but questions Miss Branding’s methods. Louise Lewis (I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF) is pretty convincing and creepy as Miss Branding. I also thought that Paul Maxwell stood out as Mike in this. He doesn’t have a ton of lines, but he gives a bit of the backstory of “vampires” pretty well. Maxwell was best known for INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE. 

One thing I think they could have done a bit better is include some more direct interaction with the girls, rather than taking time to show the cops trying to figure out one of the girl’s deaths. They do have the girls interacting though which is a good way to get us to care about them a bit even though they mostly suck. I also like that this thing happens around Halloween, it makes it great for an October horror classics movie marathon. The effects are super cheese and I love it.

Critically this thing doesn’t get much love, but this is actually a bit of a gem from the era and I thought it was pretty fantastic. Great score, solid acting, nice pacing, a diabolical villain, and a cool setting that doesn’t feel quite as claustrophobic as a lot of other vamp flicks. 

Overall this is a solid 7 out of 7 for me. Yes, the science is nonsense, and yes the motives are wild, but the enjoyment level is way up there. Just the vampire makeup job alone makes it worth watching. Best eyebrows in the business. 

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