Disco Drácula

Supremely trashy 'disco vampire' film. Worth watching for Nai Bonet's bathroom scene - UNBELIEVABLE! Since she wrote this one, it's narcissism of the highest order. You won't believe your eyes!!! Also worth watching for that great disco band.

Nocturna (1979)

** (out of 4)

This softcore-disco-vampire flick has pretty much been forgotten to time but for fans of John Carradine it will give you the final chance of seeing the legendary actor playing Count Dracula. In the film he must travel to New York City from Transylvania because his great-granddaughter Nocturna (Nai Bonet) has fallen in love with a drummer from a disco band and she wants to marry him and live life as a normal girl. I'm not sure who would think that a film like this would have been wanted even in 1979 but star Bonet apparently put up all the money to get the film in the can. This is a pretty bizarre little movie that's only going to appeal to those who enjoy campy horror-comedies. I'd be lying if I said I understood what the point was but if you sit back and just take things for what they are then this here isn't too bad. I'll say right up front that I'm not a fan of disco music so I found the extended dance sequences to be rather hard to sit through and I found the music incredibly annoying. The soundtrack includes Gloria Gaynor, Vicki Sue Robinson and Moment of Truth but none of the songs really jumped out at me and there's no question you won't get them confused with the work of the Bee Gees. What does work in the film is some rather nice humor including some bizarre dialogue including one scene where Dracula is complaining that he has to wear denture-fangs and then talks about his younger days when the women would tell him that his fangs were "hung like a walrus". We even get some more funny lines with Carradine delivering them at a high speed and this just adds to the entertainment. Speaking of Carradine, you gotta give the man credit for appearing in a film like this, obviously just picking up some cash, yet giving it all he has. At times he seems like he doesn't know what the heck all the disco stuff is but he's still going through all the motions and ends up turning in a rather memorable performance. Fans of Carradine will want to check this one out since it was his last time playing Dracula and sure enough it's just as strange as his BILLY THE KID VS. Dracula. Mrs. Munster herself Yvonne De Carlo plays a vampire named Jugulia and appears to be having a blast. Bonet was speaking her second language apparently and this certain effects her performance but I still found her to be rather charming in the part. I thought she did a good job getting across her "desire" to be human and I thought she worked well with both Carradine and De Carlo. Not only did Bonet star and put up the money but she also write the screenplay, which as I said features some pretty clever lines but she would have done herself a favor had she cut down on the dance sequences as well as got a director who could have handled the pacing better. I'm guessing at first thing film couldn't be sold so they had to spice things up a bit so we're got quite a bit of nudity including some full-frontal stuff. The most shocking scene is also one of the most gratuitous nude scenes in history and that has Bonet taking a hot bubble bath where she's constantly bend over in front of the camera while she rubs herself down. This sequence runs at least five minutes and is reason enough to track down a copy of this film. NOCTURNA isn't going to be considered a lost masterpiece but it's a shame this hasn't had a legit release because there's enough charm here to make it worth viewing.

Universal's 1979 "Dracula" remake has been called the Disco Dracula, which I'll agree with in a derisive sense that the filmmakers, including the director of "Saturday Night Fever" (1977), lacked an appreciation for period atmosphere--importing late 1970s fashion into the story's early-20th-century setting. There was also a disco dance scene in another 1979 Dracula film, the parody "Love at First Bite." But, the real Disco Dracula of '79 is this one, "Nocturna." It's chock-full of musical interludes and disco dancing, which is welcome if you like the music, and it's a welcome relief from what is otherwise, at best, a so-bad-it's-good type of film--or, maybe, it's just the music that's good and the rest that's bad.

Dracula, himself, however, only has a supporting role here, as the grandfather of the titular Nocturna. Played by John Carradine in his fourth and last film in the role, it's a rather embarrassing part even for an actor whose last appearance as the Count was in "Billy the Kid Versus Dracula" (1966). When not complaining about his granddaughter, the old master is either complaining about how he has to earn money in the modern world (by running Hotel Transylvania), about his dentures or about the malfunctions related to his genitals common to one of advanced age, apparently, even for vampires. The rest of the cast is no better and, frequently, worse. Star, producer and writer Nai Bonet's delivery is horrendously awkward. Meanwhile, Brother Theodore, as the disgruntled werewolf servant, mumbles much of his monologues, although he does deliver my favorite bad line of the script, "If only I could get in her coffin." The acting, however, couldn't be expected to be much better with a script so heavy on exposition and characters expressing their every feeling out loud and repeatedly, even when alone, lest the stupidest person in the audience barely paying attention gets lost. The wolfman's mean-spirited monologues and Nocturna's internal narration are the worst examples. Fortunately, much of the movie is spent with only the soundtrack to listen to. Early on, there's also a nude make-out session and a bath scene complete with a werewolf peeping tom.

The actual story concerns Nocturna as a lovesick vamp longing to be human, a formula that was trite even by 1979. "Blacula" (1972), its sequel "Scream Blacula Scream" (1973), and "Dracula and Son" (1976), just among the Dracula films I've seen, had already done it. And, the lovesick part alone also polluted "The Great Love of Count Dracula" (1973), the 1974 TV-movie Dracula, as well as the 1979 remake of "Nosferatu." I believe this is the first instance, however, of a vamp discovering disco as the solution for their conversion from vampirism to humanism. By comparison, I can more easily tolerate the film's flimsy animated bats synchronized with ridiculous sound effects during transformations and the mostly misfired gags concerning stereotypical gangster and pimp vamps and the BSA: Blood Suckers of America meeting where the vamps complain about diabetic blood being on the rise. Regardless, you never need to wait long for the film's next disco track.

(Mirror Note: Nocturna sees her reflection and then its vanishing in a mirror on the disco floor. This convinces her that she can convert from vampirism to humanism.)

Very cleverly written disco vampire flick that could have been terrific were it not for the uneven direction and acting. Nai Bonet, who wrote the script, is extremely good to herself - she not only displays her body to full advantage but has the late Antony Hamilton, a contender for the role of James Bond and one of the handsomest men to hit Hollywood, as her love interest! Some hilarious lines and the casting of Yvonne DeCarlo and John Carradine don't hurt either. The cartoon special effects only add to the overall campiness of the film. If it had just moved a little faster and been a tad slicker, this would be a real classic.

This is one of two films released in 1979 that attempted to combine vampires and disco (the other being the German sex comedy "Dracula Blows his Cool"). I actually don't know why there weren't even more films than this since disco and vampires have a lot in common (i.e. they both suck). This one was produced by and stars Nai Bonet, who made quite an impression belly-dancing naked while rubbing oil all over herself in Charles Band's sexpoitation/musical "Fairy Tales". Bonet was kind of more voluptuous version of 70's sex star Laura Gemser, but she really made the latter look like Meryl Streep when it came to acting. (To be fair though Bonet is acting here in what is obviously her second language while Gemser had the advantage of being dubbed). Once again, Bonet has some nice nude scenes in this movie, but I would strongly recommend turning the sound down during them because the music is SO bad it might end up like the "Clockwork Orange" Ludvico technique where ever afterward the sight of beautiful naked women will remind you of this music and make you violently ill.

Then there's the disco dancing. There's WAY too much of that here. There's also very little blood and gore, and the special effects are so bad they pass good several times before finally alighting back on bad. Oh yeah, then there's the "plot". Bonet plays Nocturna, an ancient bloodsucker and "grandaughter of Dracula", who comes to New York City from Transylvania, falls in love with a mortal man, and loses the urge to kill (which is odd because the blonde male douchebag playing her boyfriend greatly INCREASED my urge to kill).

The real saving grace of this movie though is the supporting cast. John Carradine doesn't give one his better performances as Nocturna's grandfather (aka Dracula), but he certainly doesn't embarrass himself either like he did in "Vampire Hookers" that same year. And speaking of vampire hookers, Sy Richardson has pretty good cameo as a vampire pimp whose stable of sexy vampire hookers serve him the blood of their johns in wine glasses. Yvonne DeCarlo has a rather pointless role as an older female vampire who give Nocturna tips on surviving in the big city, but she's not bad. The best by far though is Brother Theodore who plays Nocturna's manservant, who is madly in lust with his mistress. His inimitable scenery-chewing monolgues are definitely the closest this movie comes to genuine hilarity. This is certainly not good, but it's pretty hard to totally dislike.