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Scream, Blacula, Scream
[MGM]
1973; color
Directed by Bob Kelljan
Starring: William Marshal, Don Mitchell, Pam Grier, Michael Conrad & Richard Lawson
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The first installment of the tale of Prince Mamuwalde, Blacula, often gets lumped in with other films of the Blaxploitation genre - and not without reason. In many ways however, the film has just as much in common with other "mainstream" vampire-out-of-water films of the era like Dracula AD 1972 or Count Yorga, Vampire. It's sequel, Scream, Blacula, Scream leans even farther towards the side of the good ol' fashioned horror flick although there are bits of jive talking and pimp suiting woven in for good measure. William Marshall is back in the title role (thankfully; the movie really wouldn't work with anyone else playing the character) and this time his leading lady is none other than Pam Grier. The story goes something like this; and I use the phrase "something like" because the plot is actually a little convoluted and confusing. I'm pretty sure I got the gist of it though. Anywhoo, as is the case with most horror movies featuring one or more undead heroes, there needs to be a reanimating to really get the party started but, in this particular horror movie, first we get some plot establishment. To this end we meet Lisa (played by Grier) as she is being dubbed the leader of a voodoo cult. The son of the soon to be deceased voodoo queen, Willis, is none too pleased with this fact and, later that day via the aid of some ritualistic chanting, bloodletting and bone worship, he conjures up Blacula himself in a fit of rage. (See, this is one of the confusing parts; as the revenge seeking and reanimating seem kind of unrelated. In other words, I never heard him say he was gonna try to bring Mamuwalde back from the dead so he could kill or otherwise vampirize Lisa.) Naturally the Prince's first royal act in his grand return to this mortal coil is to feed, and since Willis just so happens to be standing right there… It should also be noted that Blacula isn't all that excited about his new living undead status but he seems willing to try and make the most of it. For example, that night he decides to go to a party thrown by some of Willis' homies. (Willis wanted to go but Blacula forbade it.) Of course once he lays eyes on the lovely Lisa, not to mention the host of other nubile female party goers / potential victims, the whole being alive thing starts to be a little more appealing. If we were following the lines of the original film, at this point Blacula would begin a campaign to make Lisa his vampire bride but instead this introspective period inspires him to seek her voodoo powers to help rid him of his curse. (Thus making him husband material for one lucky lady?) It doesn't quite work out that way in the end but, you know, vampires pretty much never have happy endings. It's part of their burden. The actual end of this movie totally leaves things open for a third entry in the series but for whatever reason, there wasn't one.
—Bunny
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