“I curse you with my name. You shall be—Blacula!”

Upon the 2009 release of Black Dynamite, a modern day blaxploitation movie set in the 1970s, my curiosity in blaxploitation films began to grow. Written by and starring Michael Jai White (The Dark Knight, Why Did I Get Married), Black Dynamite received rave reviews and won the best film award at this year’s Seattle International Film Festival.

There was a certain feeling of nostalgia I had when watching the trailer for Black Dynamite. I remembered conversations my mother had with her friends about classic blaxploitation films like Shaft, Foxy Brown, and Superfly—my mom always made me leave the room whenever she watched Superfly. Since I wasn’t allowed to watch them I was forced to watch whatever my father had on, which usually consisted of military or gangster movies (Dirty Dozen, The Great Santini, The Godfather, etc.). The closest I came to watching a blaxploitation movie was back in the 80’s when I first saw the blaxploitation parody I’m Gonna Get You Sucka, which is still a favorite of mine. Still, that never sparked my interest to watch any of the films it spoofed.

Before watching Black Dynamite, I’ve decided to watch a few classic blaxploitation movies from the 1970s to have a better understanding of the genre. I swear there were hundreds of films on Netflix to choose from. Still fresh off of reviewing horror films, I chose to watch and review Blacula.

Let me start by saying that I’ve never seen such a combination of an orthodox yet original concept, a moronic yet compelling story, poor filmmaking, and all around cheesiness.

Blacula begins like any other classic horror movie—on a dark and stormy night in Transylvania of all places. Prince Mamuwalde (William Marshall - played the King of Cartoons on PeeWee's Playhouse) and his wife Luva are meeting with Count Dracula to discuss the ceasing of slave trading. I had no idea Dracula was an advocate for slavery. It isn’t long before Dracula reveals his true self and releases his fellow ghouls upon Mamuwalde and his wife. After being bitten and cursed to be Dracula’s darker self, the oh-so-creatively titled Blacula, Mamuwalde is subdued to a coffin for nearly two hundred years before he awakens in 1970s Los Angeles (posing as New York City) and begins his pursuit of his reincarnated lost love—all while wreaking havoc on random bystanders.

Let’s not talk about Blacula’s story, which isn’t such a bad concept. What kept grabbing my attention throughout the movie's 90 minute length (felt like hours) was money. The downfall of Blacula, and I imagine this was the case for most films in the genre, was a lack of money for production. Terrible actors, inexperienced directors/editors, and poor sound quality all stemmed from a lack of money. The movie could have been decent enough but the lack of production quality turned it into the ultimate cheese-fest. Don’t take my word for it. Watch the first ten minutes:



Now, here’s a list of all the elements that made this an unintentional comedy:

• Poor sound quality – not enough money for voiceovers.
  
• Choppy editing – note the fight sequence between Mamuwalde and Dracula’s goons. Not only did some of the shots use first person POV, but there was also no rhythm to the editing. I don’t mind first person shots in fighting, but audiences should be able to project themselves into a fight sequence if it’s shot well, rather than saying, “Oh, that shot used first person POV.”


• Costumes and makeup – I've seen better costumes on Halloween in DC. What was up with the vampires’ blue and purple faces?


• Bad lighting – Were we supposed to see the shadow of the camera just as Dracula bit Mamuwalde? And who chose that shot anyway? The first person POV was still in the back of my mind after watching Mamuwalde fight, so the tracking shot made it seem like one of Dracula’s ghouls or goons was running straight towards Mamuwalde.
  
• Goofs – Ok, Mamuwalde and his wife left their country in Africa to visit Dracula in Transylvania. Why the hell are they speaking English? I know it’s an American movie, but come on.


• Score – Doesn’t the eerie music sound exactly the same as Uma Thurman’s theme music just before she fought someone in Kill Bill? It somehow seems more annoying than scary in Blacula.

This is only the first ten minutes, people. What’s funny is the clip above is the best part of the movie. Surpisingly, Blacula’s quest for his lost love and his feasting upon helpless victims is—boring. Not to mention the lack of transitions between scenes.

A good use of transitions lets the audience know the mood of a particular scene, or may suggest the passage of time. Time was never a factor or concern for me while watching, even though the script called for Blacula to be concerned about the sun coming up. Each night seemed to last forever. And why were the regular people up so late each night anyway?

The reason I didn’t discuss the story of Blacula was because it deserves its own review. I really was intrigued by the many interpretations (love, loss, slavery, etc.) one could take from the story. I didn’t want my deriding of the technical aspects of the film to take away from it.
I still would recommend Blacula to anyone who wishes to increase their general knowledge of blaxploitation cinema; however, anyone looking for a random selection on Netflix should be sure to steer clear.

Rating: 3 out of 10

Up next - Super Fly