Fans of the 1971 hit "Shaft" will not be new to the blaxploitation sub-genre. For those of you who are (shame on you) it's definitive feature is the use of black American culture and dialect in order to deliberately appeal to a black audience and provoke a humorous response from White audiences. Thrusting into this parody rich field of cinema only a year later in 1972 comes the hammer-horror "Blacula". Essentially a rehash of the Stoker classic with an "ethnic" twist, our undead hero "Prince Mamuwalde" takes a holiday from resisting the African slave trade (us big bad white folks!) in 1780 to visit Count Dracula in Eastern Europe (roll with it I promise it gets better). With a dash of racial prejudice more pronounced than a Klan member at Sasha Obama's birthday party he takes a bit of a shine to our Prince's missus "Luva". After a slapstick scuffle and some candle magic Drac turns our hero into a blood-sucking vampire and locks him in a coffin, imprisoning his wife in the same vault for all time. Two centuries later two queer queens (sorry male "interior decorators") purchase the coffin at a furniture auction at Castle Dracula (Bargain Hunt does USSR Satellite Sates can be seen on BBC2 at 2pm on Thursday afternoons) and ship it to 1970's L.A.
Various racial stereotype hilarity (White and Black) ensues and we learn that pretty young thing Tina is some sort of reincarnation of Mamuwalde's old lady and he'll stop at nothing to win her back. Things take a surprising turn when Blacula hypnotises doe-eyed Tina into falling in love with him (yes really). Meanwhile Dr. Gordon Thomas, afro and wide shirt collar included, the "rude nigger" cop of the film (i.e. he's bad ass and gets police work done black man style) is busily tracking down the pesky vamp, following the trail of expendable plot exposition characters, and kills his recently created minions before going after Blacula himself. A chase/fight ensues, Tina is killed and a distraught Mamuwalde commits suicide by sunlight, ending 93 minutes of glorious blacktion.
As cult classics go, this one is a gem. Snot-nosed hippies and screaming 16 year old girls might decide it's "racist" but in actual fact the grim realities of racial prejudice are not to be found in this film. All the characters are 2D card board stereotypes including the white ones wokin' fo da Man. The "special" effects and continuity errors add an endearing element of care-free nostalgia to the proceedings which play out in 35mm technocolour fabulousness. William Marshall actually excels in this role as the dammed African prince as does Thalmus Rasulala as the hard-bitten no-smiling black cop who seems constantly pissed off by everything and everyone who comes under the fearsome glare of his moustache. Blacula slipped under the radar of many niche-culture enthusiasts but retains a respectable cult following on both sides of the Atlantic, earning cameo mentions in both the Simpsons and Futurama. One to buy cheaply and enjoy for the retro-film fan and curious horror buff alike.
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