Oh my goodness! Fall weather has arrived in Tennessee and for two Euro-Horror fanboys that can only mean one thing- its time to break out the Dracula adaptations and discuss! In our second Beyond Naschy show focused on Jess Franco we talk about his moderately successful version of Bram Stoker’s classic tale of terror, blood and Victorian manners. “No sex- we’re British!”
While the consensus on this film in fan circles seems to be mostly negative we find a number of laudable things onscreen even if we are unhappy with several odd elements. The fact that the three main stars are never even in the same room is a big problem but there are a number of fine qualities on view – and we don’t just mean the lovely faces of Maria Rohm and Soledad Miranda. As an attempt to mount a faithful adaptation of the novel, COUNT DRACULA deserves to be studied. It is certainly a fine chance to see Christopher Lee speechify haughtily as the Count digs his fangs into Dracula family history to justify his arrogance and natural right to do with lesser humans as he sees fit. Ah, the joys of a self-righteous aristocracy!
As you might expect, the conversation takes many digressions including various versions of the Dracula tale in film; our continuing obsession with actor’s facial hair; Troy’s lustful thoughts about Maria Rohm; my own lustful thoughts about Soledad Miranda; Jack Taylor’s emoting; Jess Franco’s Cockney accent; quality fangs and a number of other strange and wonderful subjects. Neither of us can remember the name of the author of The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein during the podcast- which is a shame as Theodore Roszak is a great writer and his brilliant novel Flicker should be read by any fan of genre fiction. I also can’t recall the name of director Gordon Hessler for some reason. For me to forget the name of the fellow responsible for THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD, THE OBLONG BOX, and SCREAM & SCREAM AGAIN is unforgivable! All this and we end the show with a lengthy discussion of our favorite Hammer films. See what you can get when you write in with a question!
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