November Subscriber Gifts
Celebrating 50 Years of Blood for Dracula (1974) & Remembering Paul Morrissey
Last month we lost Paul Morrissey (1938-2024), a fascinating and important filmmaker known for his work with Andy Warhol. Morrissey was a political conservative who made groundbreaking arthouse comedies that were hugely influential. His films inspired generations of counterculture artists and independent filmmakers who admired his avant-garde techniques. Despite his reactionary and flat-out bizarre worldview, I happen to love his work, which was highly collaborative and featured an incredible array of LBGTQ+ performers.
During the 1970s he produced two of my favorite horror films; Flesh for Frankenstein (1973) and Blood for Dracula (1974). Both are considered horror comedies but they defy easy categorization due to their transgressive nature. This month is the 50th anniversary of Blood For Dracula so I wanted to give it some love and it also allows me to celebrate one of Morrissey’s best films.
Later in life, as he got bitter while feeling artistically neglected and misunderstood, Morrissey often claimed he was the sole creative force behind his films and that they held little political significance. But if you watch any of his earlier efforts you’ll see that they were typically collaborative works that encouraged creative participation and often played fast and loose with political allegories. Blood for Dracula is a wonderful example of the synergetic energy and complex politics that infuse Morrisey’s best work. In this cult classic, Udo Keir delivers one of his most sensitive, manic, and unforgettable performances as the frail and ultimately tragic Count Dracula who can only survive on the blood of virgins. But to survive he’ll have to subjugate Joe Dellesandro who plays a virile communist farmhand eager to start a revolution that will rid the world of all Counts and Countesses.