Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Fantastic!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

from the title and trailer, i was expecting comedy, and the film does start out fairly campy but quickly assumes a more serious tonedirector William Crain is, according to Wikipedia, 'one of the first black filmmakers from a major film school to achieve commercial success'. the screenplay by Joan Torres and Raymond Koenig, who evidently only ever wrote this film and its sequel, Scream Blacula Scream, is basically a retelling of Dracula set in Los Angeles in the early '70s. the film has the makings of a Gothic romance but with a funk soul atmosphere, driven by a lively rhythm and blues soundtrack composed by Gene Page the acting is hit-and-miss, with excellent performances from Thalmus Rasulala as Dr. Gordon Thomas, the film's version of Van Helsing, and William Marshall in the title role. the police brutality (i.e, the brutality with which Mamuwalde, a.k.a. Blacula, handles the police when they get in his way) is great fun, and i love the animation sequence during the opening credits if you haven't seen this, you should fix that. i'll definitely have to check out the sequel, which features Pam Grier in a leading role

1780: African prince Mamuwalde (William Marshall) and his wife Luva (Vonetta McGee) visit Count Dracula to enlist his help in the fight against slavery. When Dracula reveals that he is not only in favour of slavery, but wants to buy lovely Luva for himself, Mamuwalde and his wife try to leave but are restrained by the Count's men. Enraged, the vampire bites Mamuwalde, and locks him in a coffin, entombing Blacula (as Dracula names him) and Luva in a crypt.Present day: two hilariously camp antiques dealers buy the contents of Dracula's castle, including the coffin containing Blacula, and ship it to Los Angeles, where they break off the padlock securing the casket. Released from his prison, Blacula sates his thirst with the two antiques dealers, before heading for the streets of L.A. where he encounters Tina, the reincarnation of his beloved wife, who he proceeds to woo whenever he's not biting necks. Meanwhile, scientific investigator Gordon Thomas (Thalmus Rasulala) comes to believe that the spate of recent deaths are the work of a vampire and tries to convince the police of what is happening.The first example of Blaxploitation horror, Blacula succeeds in being both scary and silly, with a side order of camp. Marshall plays his role surprisingly straight, but the general atmosphere is one of lightheartedness, the film even taking time out for a couple of funky musical interludes courtesy of The Hues Corporation (who would later top the charts with their disco hit 'Rock The Boat'). Notable fun frights include the exhumation of a victim who leaps from his grave to attack Gordon, and the creepy return from the dead of a female vampire taxi driver. Also adding to the enjoyment are the stylish opening credits, some cool animated transitions to bat form, the sight of Blacula's hairy face in full on vamp mode, and a touching ending as Blacula ends his own life after losing his love once again.

In the opening to this film, William Marshall as Prince Mamuwalde visits Charles Macaulay's impressive Count Dracula about suppressing the slave trade. Dracula is more interested in Mamuwalde's wife Luva (Vonetta McGee), and when his advances are spurned, sentences Mamuwalde to vampirism and death to Luva. With a film entitled 'Blacula', and the mantle of 'blaxploitation' regularly directed at it, this kind of serious and violent opening was not what I expected. Only after the credits, and when things move from 1780 to the (then) present day, do we enter more familiar, somewhat expected territory.William Marshall is EXCELLENT as the noble vampire. Literally towering above everyone else, he exudes charm, melancholy and – despite some over-the-top vampire make-up – rage and terror. Yet he resists the temptation overplay anything, something other Draculas could not manage. His attraction to the character Tina Williams is played absolutely for real and the audience is completely on their side, despite the growing number of vampiric 'deaths'.As with Blacula himself, the make-up on the vampires is (probably deliberately) heavy-handed, making them appear as green-tinged zombie-types when they could have been terrifying. But is that the aim of the film? Probably not – this prefers to settle for being a compelling supernatural comedy/thriller (although very much 'of its time, the humour is held pretty firmly in check throughout) that aims to entertain, which it does.Having said that, a few deaths stray happily into 'shock' territory, not least Blacula's climactic demise. We aren't glad to see the back of the reign of a tyrant, or even the killer he is, but rather sad, admiring of his nobility. One of my favourite Dracula actors. This is a fine film lifted by Marshall's consistently brilliant performance. Luckily 'Scream Blacula Scream' was released a year later, presumably resurrecting Marshall's character.

This is a lot scarier them people what to give it credit for. This about a black man this bitten by Dracula in the seventeen hundreds. He becomes a vampire and live into modern times. This is a very scary movie. It has a great story line. It also has great acting. It also has great special effects. This scarier then The Exorcist. If this movie does not scary you then no movie will. This wills make your heart race and give you goose bumps. It will make your hair stand on end. This one very scary Dracula spin off. People like to underrate this movie. William Marshall was a great actor. He know how to be scary. T.h.a.l.m.u.s R.a.s.u.l.a.l.a was a great actor.