Blood of Dracula's Castle
Encyclopedia
Blood of Dracula's Castle is a 1969 horror
cult
B-movie
directed by Al Adamson
.
(Alexander D'Arcy
) and his vampire
wife (Paula Raymond
), hiding behind the pseudonym
s of Count and Countess Townsend, lure girls to their castle in the Arizona
desert to be drained of blood by their butler George (John Carradine
), who then mixes real bloody marys for the couple. Then the real owners of the castle show up, along with Johnny, who is a serial killer
or a werewolf
depending on which version you watch. The owners refuse to sell, so Dracula wants to force them to sell. In a final confrontation, the vampires are forced to stand in the sunlight and dissolve.
The role of Countess Townsend was originally intended for Jayne Mansfield
. A sequel, to be called Dracula's Coffin, was planned but never materialized.
Ostensibly located in Arizona, the film was actually shot at Shea's Castle
, near Lancaster, California
.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
cult
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
B-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
directed by Al Adamson
Al Adamson
Al Adamson was a prolific director of B-grade horror films throughout the 1960s and 1970s.After assisting his father, Victor Adamson, in making the 1963 movie Halfway to Hell, Adamson decided to work in the motion picture industry himself...
.
Plot
Count DraculaDracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
(Alexander D'Arcy
Alexander D'Arcy
Alexander D'Arcy was an Egyptian actor with an international film repertoire.Born Alexander Sarruf in Cairo, Egypt, D'Arcy, variously credited as Alexandre D'Arcy, Alex D'Arcy, Alexandre Darcy and Alex d'Arcy appeared in some 45 films, mostly as a suave gentleman or smooth rogue...
) and his vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
wife (Paula Raymond
Paula Raymond
Paula Raymond was an American model and actress.In 1950, she was put under contract by MGM, where she played opposite such leading men as Cary Grant and Dick Powell...
), hiding behind the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s of Count and Countess Townsend, lure girls to their castle in the Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
desert to be drained of blood by their butler George (John Carradine
John Carradine
John Carradine was an American actor, best known for his roles in horror films and Westerns as well as Shakespearean theater. A member of Cecil B DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, he was one of the most prolific character actors in Hollywood history...
), who then mixes real bloody marys for the couple. Then the real owners of the castle show up, along with Johnny, who is a serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
or a werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
depending on which version you watch. The owners refuse to sell, so Dracula wants to force them to sell. In a final confrontation, the vampires are forced to stand in the sunlight and dissolve.
The role of Countess Townsend was originally intended for Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
. A sequel, to be called Dracula's Coffin, was planned but never materialized.
Ostensibly located in Arizona, the film was actually shot at Shea's Castle
Shea's Castle
Shea’s Castle, also known as Sky Castle and Castle Ranch, is a castle built in 1924 by the developer Richard Peter Shea. Shea, a New Yorker, moved to the dry climate of Southern California in hopes of improving the health of his wife, Ellen. Shea made his fortune developing Hancock Park in Los...
, near Lancaster, California
Lancaster, California
Lancaster is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, in the high desert, near the Kern County line. Lancaster currently ranks as the 30th largest city in California, and the 148th largest city in the United States. Lancaster is the principal city within the Antelope Valley...
.