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Blacula

Blacula is a 1972 blaxploitation horror film produced for American International Pictures. It was directed by William Crain and stars William Marshall in the title role. The film deals with the character of Mamuwalde, an African prince transformed into a vampire and then imprisoned in a sealed coffin by Count Dracula, only to find himself released in the 1970s. Blacula was the first film to win the "Best Horror Film" award at the 1972 Saturn Awards.

A sequel, Scream Blacula Scream, was released in 1973, in which Marshall resumed his role as Blacula/Mamuwalde.

Synopsis

In 1780, Prince Mamuwalde (Marshall), the ruler of an African nation, seeks the help of Count Dracula (Charles Macaulay) in suppressing the slave trade. Dracula, who along with his other evils is revealed as a racist, not only refuses to help but also turns Mamuwalde into a vampire (denigrating him with the name "Blacula" into the bargain) and imprisons him in a sealed coffin. Mamuwalde's wife Luva (McGee) is also imprisoned but, not being a vampire, dies in captivity.

Almost two centuries later, in 1972, the coffin has been purchased as part of an estate by two gay interior decorators, and shipped to Los Angeles. The men open the coffin and become the vampire's first victims. Mamuwalde travels around the city and soon encounters Tina (McGee), who appears to be a reincarnation of his deceased wife, and begins stalking her. This brings the vampire to the attention of Dr Gordon Thomas (Rasulala), who is helping Lt. Peters (Pinsent) with the investigation of the series of strange murders that are occurring, and whose girlfriend Michelle (Nicholas) is Tina's sister (by an unlikely coincidence, Tina and Michelle are also friends of Bobby, one of the murdered gay men).

The film continues as the vampire kills several more victims and romances Tina, who falls in love with Mamuwalde. Meanwhile Thomas, Peters, and Michelle are following the trail of victims and come to realize that a vampire is responsible and Mamuwalde is their culprit. In the final scenes, the police shoot at Mamuwalde and Tina; he is unharmed but she is mortally wounded. Mamuwalde saves her by turning her into a vampire. Thomas, Peters, and Michelle find Tina and kill her with a stake through her heart. Mamuwalde decides that he does not want to go on after losing his love a second time and walks out through a subway tunnel into the sun to kill himself. We then see Mamuwalde melt and worms suck his flesh, and eat his bones.

Response

The film was not reviewed by most mainstream critics, but those that did were typically unfavorable toward the film. Despite this, the film has a strong cult following, and William Marshall's performance in the lead has been widely praised. The film also won the first ever Saturn Award for Best Horror Film.

The film found a new audience in the early '80s, when Elvira featured it on her syndicated TV series, Movie Macabre. It has since become a cult classic, and is now available on DVD and as a rental on iTunes, from MGM Home Entertainment, the current copyright owners of the AIP catalog.

Legacy

Blacula was a financial success when it was originally released. It was immediately followed by a sequel, Scream Blacula Scream (1973), in which the vampire is made corporeal again by a Voodoo practitioner. The success of the film also inspired the making of several other blaxploitation/horror crossovers in the mid-seventies, including Abby, Blackenstein, Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde, Ganja and Hess, The House on Skull Mountain, J. D.'s Revenge and Sugar Hill, although none of these films were as successful commercially as Blacula. Rumors circulated that Brides of Blacula and Son of Blacula were to have been made as well. Some more recent horror films with predominantly black casts were Def by Temptation (1990), Vampire in Brooklyn (a 1995 film which shares many themes and source material with Blacula), the anthology Tales from the Hood (1995), and Bones (2001).

References in popular culture

Dr. Dre's hit single "Keep Their Heads Ringin'" (from the Friday soundtrack) had a reference to Blacula.
Jefferson Twilight, a vampire hunter that specializes in hunting black vampires in the cartoon series The Venture Bros., uses the word "Blacula" to refer to all black vampires, citing at one point that "African-American vampire" is not universally applicable (i.e. there are no "African-American" vampires in England), and he doesn't know the politically correct term for a black vampire.
The Simpsons has also referenced the character and film Blacula multiple times:

In Simpson Tide, Homer is watching TV, and hear an announcer's voice say "Next, on Exploitation Theatre...Blacula, followed by Blackenstein, and The Blunchblack of Blotre Blame!"
In All's Fair in Oven War, a clip from the fake film Blacula Meets Black Dracula can be briefly seen.
In the "I've Grown a Costume on Your Face" segment of Treehouse of Horror XVI, Dr. Hibbert dresses as Dracula for Halloween, but Mayor Quimby confuses him for Blacula. When Hibbert appears offended by this, Quimby whispers to his bodyguard "Get him the standard racist remark apology letter. It's in the middle drawer."

In a segment from the "Anthology of Interest I" episode of Futurama, Fry's old boss Mr. Panucci states "There's only three real monsters, kid: Dracula, Blacula and Son of Kong. Now, quit picking your nose and knead that dough!"
In The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, there's a character named Dracula who looks to be an aged version of Blacula with the mannerisms of Fred Sanford. A full-sized puppet of this Dracula was used in Cartoon Network commercials and as the narrator during the "Grim and Courage Hour", which showed Billy and Mandy and Courage the Cowardly Dog cartoons.
The music video for the Gnarls Barkley song "Who Cares" revolves around the misfortunes of a jaded black vampire character named Blacula.
There is a pornographic spoof of Blacula titled, "Lust of Blackula".
Daniel Carver was Blacula for Halloween on a 2006 episode of The Howard Stern Show.
In the novel Anno Dracula, Prince Mamuwalde is mentioned in passing as a notable non-Caucasian vampire.
Cartoon Network's Robot Chicken made a reference to Blacula in one of their sketches.
Tom Delonge of Blink-182 has been seen wearing a Blacula shirt in the "Adam's Song" music video
The Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13 have a song entitled "Back in Blacula" on their album Songs from the Recently Deceased
In the illustrations of Andrew Craven , Blacula is re-represented in ' Penny Dreadful and the Blacula Encounter' where he is the subject of one of Penny's decadent adventures.
In the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the character Peter Bretter watches scenes from Blacula for inspiration while composing a musical based on the story of Dracula.